Comments on: On the movie front: ?????? ???????…

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 20:25:36 +0000

Drambuie Man, the marathoner you're thinking about is Sohn Kee-chung (or however you want to romanize it these days), 1936, Berlin: http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/heroes/bio_uk.asp?PAR_I_ID=88103 http://blog.marmot.cc/archives/2004/07/19/chinese-use-sea-of-japan-and-other-name-issues/

By: lirelou

lirelou — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 19:48:09 +0000

Kimbob, Reference you comment on the 1919 demonstrations and Korean demonstrations in general. The latter first. Violent street actions by partisans of various political factions was a fact of life in 1890s Korea, back before any “military dictatorship” had ever been established. (Not that the Yi’s were any less autocratic.) I did not say the the 1919 Samil demonstrations were, per se, violent. What I implied is that with a million (or more?) people in the streets, it is inevitable that there were violent factions operating under cover of those demonstrations. This is based upon my general experience with human nature, and my own stuident strike days, and not gained from any review of first hand historical documents (which would be challenged by partisans of the oppposite view in any case). Were the Samil demonstrations motivated by patriotism and love of country? Certainly they were, and their size (I merely took Carter Eckhart’s 1 million figure as a reasonable one) shocked the Japanese into reviewing their Korean policies. I refer here to the 1921 conferences, and not the crackdown. Does that mean everyone taking part in those demonstrations was motivated solely by “patriotism”? Hardly. Patriotism was the glue that bound them together, but you can bet that there were other motivators as well, as well as the inevitable “10 percent” of both saints and sinners. Just as you can bet that there were a few of Boston’s finest second-story break and enter artists in the ranks of the Sons of Liberty back during the American Revolution.

By: kushibo

kushibo — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 22:57:35 +0000

On the subject of Chinese dialects and which language is taking over what, the Los Angeles Times has an interesting article on Mandarin starting to take over Cantonese in American Chinatowns.

By: wjk

wjk — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 20:29:19 +0000

Koreans should hate Japan, but not at their own expense. Koreans need to learn how to build each other up. They’re already too good at tearing each other down. Myth or not, it is said that the Japanese are great at group work, while the Koreans excel at individual accomplishments, but far from group accomplishments. It’s just a stupid movie, and the lady’s dead. Let it be a story and that be that. What’s the point of torturing rich and powerful South Koreans whose parents were pro-Jap? Maybe it’s because they’re rich and powerful. Indeed. No one would care if they were made poor and desolate. Then go to North Korea. Crap. Life is really beautiful over there. They have their own hypocrisy blatant as well. I think one of their biggest traders has been Japan. Time and again, I get pretty disappointed, when I find out a lot of stuff I thought was cool in Korea turns out to have a lot of influence from Japan.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 19:48:23 +0000

Zhang Fei said: “Today, the remnants of these unequal treaties that remain unfinished business include Siberia, Arunachal Pradesh (in India), Burma, Vietnam, Korea, Formosa (Taiwan) and Mongolia. It is quite forward-looking of the Roh administration to pre-emptively align with China.”

Sonagi and Gerry,

Great questions, I personally think Zhang Fei is being fascicious here. Several entries in his blog is particularly anti China (did I read wrong, Zhang?). But only Zhang Fei can explain his own mis-statement, I am only observing.

By: snow

snow — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 22:51:08 +0000

Kushibo, I don’t intend to imply you are a sop to leftist crap, cause I know you’re not. But I still disagree with the idea that the US is turning towards lesser and lesser freedom. There are just far too many media outlets and such a variety of communication mediums that I don’t think it would really be possible for any government to shut down criticism to any meaningful degree.

I agree that there might be some people who are pushing for some types of censorship and as a self-respecting conservative, I find that element of the right wing to be very distasteful. But I still don’t see those types really having the power to put the country under censorship. There are just too many people that would never buy into it, and as the country has such strong free-thinking traditions, I highly doubt that things will get more oppressive.

For one, I’m sure wide swathes of the right, including libertarians, would never stand for it.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 22:18:55 +0000

The real story in internet news is the growth of blogs. The government and corporations can pressure large, for-profit news organizations, but I don’t see how they can go after blogs unless they sic the NSA on a blogger to dig up some dirt. Even Chinese bloggers are able to evade the net nanny. Young, college-educated Chinese are informed about bloody suppressions of demonstrations and other stories censored in the Chinese media.

By: kushibo

kushibo — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 20:22:40 +0000

“Korea is screwed unless it stick to the US like a fly on a horse dung.”
That is hilarious Baduk! Your views are sometimes a bit on the extreme, but i have to admit I often agree, and you say some very funny things sometimes. Thanks.

I want to point out that I completely agree with Baduk and Snow on this matter. But Korea should be sided with the United States (and Taiwan and Japan) just as much because those countries share its democracy- and free enterprise-oriented values, not just because the US is the strongest kid on the block.

“Let’s hope it lasts. I was told recently by a fellow American citizen that, as an American citizen myself, it was “un-American” for me to criticize Bush while living abroad.”

Kushibo, I don’t know if the person who told you that was being serious,

Deadly serious. It has come up and become a contentious issue several times.

but the idea that things are changing to the point that criticism will be reduced or not allowed, is total bs.

I would hope that that’s true. But when Rush Limbaugh says in the run up to the war that the New York Times editors should be called up on treason (I heard the show myself on AFN; it’s not something I read about after the fact) and I have relatives back in the States saying something like what I wrote above, it’s a disturbing pattern to me. Of course, my family lives in a very conservative part of the country, and maybe this notion would get shouted down elsewhere. To be fair, another person in our group said that telling someone they shouldn’t criticize the president because it’s un-American is itself the epitome of un-American-ness.

It sounds like a typical canard of the left.

I’m as worried about the far left taking over as I am of the far right. This is not some “canard” I am formulating my opinions on based on talking points I’ve read. My concerns (and they are not yet major concerns) are based on my own personal experiences, not some left-wing machine telling me what to think.

If anything, criticism and commentary is freer than it’s ever been, what with the advent of the internet and other forms of communication.

In 2003 Rush Limbaugh says the NYT is treasonous for not supporting Bush; CNN is pressured by the White House (apparently) for re-airing a humorous clip from David Letterman’s “The Late Show” that shows a kid yawning behind Bush during a speech, saying that the actually undoctored video was doctored.

When attempts to pressure or cow media outlets are occurring, that may disrupt the free flow of information to the Internet and “other forms of communication,” rendering the criticism and commentary therein hollow and misdirected.

Related to this post’s original subject, it is in the same league as when the Roh government pressured daum.net to not connect to “pro-Japanese” websites.

By: Michael

Michael — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 19:55:05 +0000

All the late-night TV shows mock Bush on a daily basis–Snow’s right, if anything the criticism has increased.

As for this movie, it looks like a chick flick Seriously, Hollywood has made sanitized biopics since dirt was invented, so if they can, why not Korea?

By: snow

snow — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 19:33:17 +0000

“Korea is screwed unless it stick to the US like a fly on a horse dung.” That is hilarious Baduk! Your views are sometimes a bit on the extreme, but i have to admit I often agree, and you say some very funny things sometimes. Thanks.

“Let’s hope it lasts. I was told recently by a fellow American citizen that, as an American citizen myself, it was “un-American” for me to criticize Bush while living abroad.”

Kushibo, I don’t know if the person who told you that was being serious, but the idea that things are changing to the point that criticism will be reduced or not allowed, is total bs. It sounds like a typical canard of the left. If anything, criticism and commentary is freer than it’s ever been, what with the advent of the internet and other forms of communication.