The Only Free Thing

Public Bathrooms

I once had to pay to use a public bathroom in a public park in Vietnam.

That small moment stayed with me longer than any political slogan ever has.

Not because of the money—it was negligible—but because of what it quietly contradicted. A “public” space, a basic human need, and yet a transaction was required. No explanation. No irony acknowledged. Just reality.

It made me wonder what our labels are actually describing, if anything at all.

Vingroup

The only genuinely free experience I’ve had here was a bus ride provided by Vingroup.

It was clean, reliable, clearly branded, and unapologetically promotional. The deal was obvious: convenience in exchange for attention. No mythology. No moral framing. Just incentives.

Ironically, the clearest example of something being “free” came from a company that never pretended it wasn’t trying to make money.

That honesty mattered more than the price.

“Communist Country”

To much of the outside world, “communist country” is shorthand for:

• backward
• authoritarian
• morally inferior

It’s a label that flattens millions of lives into a single caricature.

But when we keep using ideological names that no longer match lived reality, we make it easier to talk about each other instead of to each other. The label does the thinking for us. Nuance becomes optional.

Whatever Vietnam is today, it is not a place where things are free simply because they are public. In practice, it often feels more transactional than countries that proudly call themselves capitalist.

What I Believe In

I don’t care what a country calls itself.

I care whether the words match the lived experience of the people inside it.

I believe in:

• Transparency over mythology
• Public services that are actually public
• Fewer slogans, more accountability
• Language that reflects how people live, not how states brand themselves

When names stop describing reality, they stop being useful—and start becoming weapons.

Us and We

Maybe the problem isn’t communism versus capitalism.

Maybe the problem is that we’re still talking like the Cold War never ended.

The more we divide the world into “them” and “us,” the easier it becomes to dismiss each other. The harder it becomes to listen. The less human everyone sounds.

If we want a world that gets along better, we don’t need better slogans.

We need more honesty—and fewer inherited labels telling us who we’re supposed to be afraid of.