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Comment by jzwinck | Hacker News Reader

Why does the author repeatedly refer to the clients climbing Everest as "Westerners?" There are a lot from Japan, China, South Korea, and India. Is the implication that the Westerners are somehow responsible while the Easterners are not? Are Sherpas more likely to recede from danger when their climbing party is from Japan than when it is from Germany?

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I think the intention is to deliniate between 'western' and 'eastern' standards of living - in that context, Japan, South Korea and to an extent China are quite 'western'. This is as opposed to the Nepalese, who as the article says live on an annual income of ~USD$600.

This opens up another can of worms in implying that 'eastern' civilisations are poorer than western ones. I agree it is not a good use of the term but it's arguably better than 'first world' and 'third world' and I cannot think of a better equivalent.

This is exactly right. "Westerners" has less to do with the exact geography and more with economic indicators including standards living/income. I was traveling with Singaporeans who kept being referred to as "westerners"; it was odd initially, but to the locals it was about the group's purchasing power, expectations of luxury/comfort, and nothing else. It was their way of identifying big spenders from the rest.

How about "Developed" vs "Developing" nations?

Sherpa mean "eastern people" maybe that is why he is referring to everyone else as Westerners.

Google: from Tibetan sharpa ‘inhabitant of an Eastern country’.

[Also first time I've found the infobox to answer my query.]

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