I think this post on Forumosa by plasmatron eloquently puts what it is like to live in Taiwan from a Western perspective. He is spot on.
I think one of the main underlying reasons for Taiwan’s multitude of social and cultural shortcomings is that Taiwanese are almost all “temporally challenged” that is they only have the ability to act, plan, think and reason in the immediate present, and notions such as consequence, cause and effect and the possibility that one’s actions can both directly and indirectly effect others are all incomprehensible to the Taiwanese… the meaning of the phrases “long term” and “future repercussions” are as unintelligible and ethereal to your average Taiwanese as the color of Buddha’s underpants…
it seems that in almost any other area of Taiwan outside Taipei, and to some extent within Taipei too, the peasant mentality reigns supreme, and god help any law enforcement office that tries to enforce any laws… the notion that as a citizen you are responsible for you actions and should be held accountable should you break the law is utterly unimaginable…