Eddie did nothing wrong in the whole documentary, he isn't even lazy

Lao is a nightmare boss who nags him nonstop for nothing

Pretty much this. I also believe that the part where he talks shit about Lao to the quarry's boss was actually a smart move on Eddie's side rather than, you know, real shit talk in a language the chinaman couldn't understand.

The scene where Eddie eats alone is pretty sad and tells a lot about how colonialism works: first you complain about stupidity of the natives, then you alienate the ones who are actually trying to catch up.

 

God I wish Eddie and Lao could get their comedy show. I wonder what they're up to nowadays.

 

A kc-tier (in good sense) documentary named "Empire of Dust".

Yeah, checks out.

Ah, this is where it's from

I recommend giving this cult classic a watch, it truly is the "Heart of Evil" of the 21st century.

I can't find it anywhere, not even on private trackers. And pic related must be dogshit quality with 200mb filesize...

Never skip the easiest way fren

 

true..., merci

Don't forget to leave your opinion ITT as German outlook on work ethics is important.

Why is he wearing a hat? Is is that cold in Congo?

Okay, so I managed to find the full DVD on a private tracker. I remuxed it into a .mkv file and uploaded it to anonfiles. It's much better visual quality than the YouTube upload. So, if any Bernd is interested in it, here is the link:

https://anonfiles.com/W7b8xfSey9/Empire.of.Dust.PAL.DVD.REMUX.AC3_mkv

First you have to write your opinion so we can correct you on all the things you are wrong about.

I finished watching. I enjoyed it very much, thank you for recommending it. I rate the Congolese work ethic -10/10 and I understand Lao's frustration. I would have gone crazy there. Eddies served as a scapegoat for the faults of the Congolese people as a whole to Lao.

It has been a long time since I last saw it and I'm kind of disappointed at how little happens in the movie. There is no fraud seen in the movie. Only the chinese guy accusing people of doing stuff.

 

I was at a foundry once in germany for my job and the foreman there said that the workers steal everything that is not bolted down. They had lamps on their forklifts that were regularly stolen. In these labor intensive minimum wage worker environments you will always have a high crime rate even without negers.

 

Also if the belgians didn't build schools and taught the congolese on how care for the infrastructure you can't expect anyone to care for it properly. Only if you put proper self-regulating system in place and then the negers ruin you can really blame them.

I suppose that the post-Soviet work ethic lies somewhere in between "civilized" and "uncivilized", somewhat similar to Chinese work ethic akchually, as you see that to this day, they struggle with the "made in China" stigma whilst tofu dreg projects are still a thing. However, it's hard to ignore the marvelous productivity and the Chinese are indeed quick learners. Recently I watched another film, somewhat similar, called "American Factory". To me it seemed like the Chinese are trying to mimic Japanese work practices. which is good. Taking notes from the best is a trusty way to improve and obviously the Congolese didn't take any notes from their Chinese supervisors, but the funny thing is, some potentially useful notes were not taken by the Chinese themselves because they considered the blacks their inferiors. Therefore, I feel that some responsibility for the construction process being a mess lies on the Chinese themselves, who failed to adapt and communicate with the workers and suppliers in a different environment where Americans or Germans would probably quickly come up with some way to get things moving.

 

Agreed's

Could you provide any examples of situations where the Chinese missed to take notes? I think, another problem for the communication and whole construction process was that not only did the Chinese regard the Congolese inferior, but the Congolese did the same. They didn’t respect them enough to actually put in hard work. Maybe they were all too aware of the fact that the Chinese were only interested in the Congolese minerals and not in the advancement of the Congolese people and nation. I wonder, whether they ever ever finished that road and how well it was actually made. And even if they did finish it, I can’t imagine it lasted long.

What I also failed to mention in my previous post: the radio host was definitely my favorite character.

I think this goes to any sort of interactions they had with the locals. They didn't come up with a way to motivate these people to work and not abandon their job, and they cheaped out on every basic comfort they could realistically provide (from food to accommodation) to keep people interested in doing their job properly.

Indeed, as it brings up the most interesting topic: the Congolese don't care, they know they are lazy and "useless" in Western terms, but they enjoy their careless lifestyle and this is one of the things that the Chinese will never be able to understand, they cannot grasp the kind of mindset where being successful is not a sort of a "religious goal", and neither can the Chinese understand a mindset where it isn't.

BTW are there more assburger documentaries like this? Does any Bernd have recommendations? I can only recommend the documentary „Encounters at the End of the World“ by Werner Herzog. It’s about the McMurdo station on Antarctica and it’s inhabitants.

"American Factory" for sure. It's the same story more or less: a comparison of work ethics of two different civilizations (the Chinese are involved, again) that have to work together, only to find out they're barely compatible. Except for both parties are actually competent this time.

I was definitely on the American side although it's obvious that the old proletariat is doomed. And by who? By those who claim to be "communist". Very dramatic movie.

Thanks.