In fact it is interesting to note about Southeast Asia. They are newly rich with new highrises and skyscrapers literally everywhere - they are going through what Boston or NYC went through 100 years ago. They have the newest rapid transit systems (subway/metro), and literally everyone owns 3G mobile phones and with the latest PDA and iPod in their pockets. They are not starving. When you were taught at school that we are progressing and the West is stagnating, you would have assumed the US is like Europe in stagnation. Of course they then become confident and thinking that they will be destined to become the driving seat of history in the 21st century.
Another thing to consider is that there is no postmodernism as an intellectual current in Southeast Asia. They have nationalism and modernistic development, and they view the West's postmodernism as a sign that "their primes are now a thing of the past". Of course American heartland disagrees with postmodernism, but most Southeast Asians are extremely ignorant of the American heartland like Missouri or Kentucky or Iowa.
If you look at photos of major Southeast Asian cities, you will notice how uniformly modernistic they are. Photos of Kuala Lumpur:
Singapore:
Jakarta
Bangkok:
Little do they realize how actually Middle America lives. Or maybe they do, but they are thinking "Look at these poor Americans! They are still using analogue mobile phones!"