system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: I am a white person and interested in studying Buddhism, but I do not think Western Buddhism is the same religion as the more traditional Asian forms of Buddhism. I have no faith that Buddhism will ever succeed outside of Asia.

Western Buddhism is way too sanitized, removed of almost anything to do with spirituality or the supernatural. Western Buddhists shun the idea of karma and laugh at the thought of reincarnation. Many don't even really know how exactly karma works to begin with, they just think they do. Karma tends to influence your rebirth, whether you in your next life become an animal, a person, some sort of spirit, or a god-like being. Westerners tend to just think karma is a near imminent consequence of doing something bad.

There is also so much focus on meditation and not too much attention is given to the sutras of which there are hundreds.
There is also no respect for Buddha statues, in fact, they are sometimes just placed on the ground outside in gardens as decorations which is incredibly disrespectful to the Buddha. Western Buddhists seem to only have a vague understanding of the distinctions between different sects and rarely are able to recite the various precepts by heart. 

I believe "Western Buddhists" see this religion just as something trendy. I am a Westerner and don't think I can call myself a Buddhist either.
gpt
I think that's just the pareto principle at work. 80% of people are going to look 20% of what buddhism has to offer and 20% of people are going to look at 80%. Given that buddhism is far less prevalent in the West to begin with, the frequency of meeting that 20% that are more deeply familiar will make it seem like that it's a problem with westerners when it's simply about a numbers game. It wouldn't be too hard to look at christianity and notice that most people don't know what's in their bible and christianity has the advantage of being an overwhelming majority.