I would agree with # 58.

As for Mr. Thomas- he wasn’t high once he got into jail…

mins0306,
You are Korean? I had no idea….

That’s the thing … there’s obviously a certain toeing of the line that is expected … mins0306’s writings do not contain the catchphrases and obligatory opinions that Korean readers expect to see in articles about Korean topics written by Koreans.

Well, I just don’t understand how a guy like Cullen Thomas could go to a jail in Korea and come out appreciating the country better then a lot of fellows who make a descent living with a relatively comfortable life in Korea but shit on Korea daily in cyberspace, but I digress…

That’s because Cullen Thomas is high most of the time.

well, perhaps he, too, has contracted “yellow fever”, but from a different perspective…

Wang, you make a very valid point.

The only thing I would disagree with you on, though, regarding the above comments is this: If The Marmot’s Hole were a blog dedicated to the ups and downs of living in Thailand (or Botswana, or Russia, or Brasil, or Guatamala, or Papua New Guinea, or anywhere else), there would be a lot of negative comments toward those countries. This would be even more especially true if there existed (and there very well might be), on the part of the home country in topic, a seemingly general lack of understanding of foreigners and things international, a heightened sense of insecurity by its citizens about that country’s status in the world, an insatiable need to promote the country’s goodness to the world, blatant nationalism from even the more benign quarters of the populace, and so on.

This is not to say that expats from around the world who live here shouldn’t be more culturally sensitive toward Koreans and their culture, more understanding as to how Koreans tick, and more tolearant toward the reasoning behind many of the aforementioned lines of Korean thought, because we expats, as a whole, should be more aware. On a nearly daily basis, I get just as irritated with fellow expats’ lack of understanding–indeed, lack of even willingness to understand–of all that goes on around them as I do with the sometimes mindboggling peccadilloes of the natives. And I would imagine that I’m not alone in this.

As it is, you’re right that there is lots to like about living in Korea, there is lots of good to Korea, and maybe there should be more focus on these aspects here. Yet, I do feel that there is too much sensitivity on Koreans’ part when there is negative criticism of anything Korean.

Certainly, this sensitivity is understandable when the criticism is unfair or seems to be the result of cultural insensitivity, xenophobia, or racism. On the other hadn, the sensitivity in less understandable in this case of Pawi’s comments on Min’s article and, of course, in other such cases where there is nationalistic fervour wrapped in an overboard reaction to a simple opinion about something Korean.

There is imbalance, as you say, and, in a perfect world, there would be less of it here amongst the Hole’s denizens, myself included.

However, also in a perfect world, there would not be stupid-ass comments by the likes of Pawi toward his own country(wo)men for not toeing the nationalistic line, or for giving his or her unfavourable opinion toward some domestic issue or product–and there would be less apologists for these and any other aforementioned inane kinds of actions.

What I think Pawi is hinting at but explaining in a very poor manner regarding “balance” is that Korea has a lot of things right and wrong with it. In “the hole” a lot of time is spent on what is wrong with Korea. There is a lot that is right with Korea also. I’ll even use a phrase that the Marmot himself uses: “Let’s face it, as a country, Korea generally has its shit together.” However, I’d argue that very little time in “the hole” is used to talk about what is right with Korea. There is where the “imbalance” lies in my opinion. We Koreans are a sensitive lot and we need our back padded every once in awhile too. However, again in my opinion, there is a lot more kicking around then padding on the back here in “the hole.”

# 19,

The issue of innovation is not simply a touch screen. Hell, touch screen technology has been around for ages (talking in relative “technology” years where 5 years is like 15 in real years), when PDAs use to be in b/w in the late 90’s. It’s what Apple has been able to do with that touch screen technology in marrying it with an intuitive user interface, to create a well blended phone, music player and multi media device that’s the big deal.

Apple is a different animal then Motorola. It lives and dies by innovation and “thinking outside the box” industrial design. Their products don’t have the thinnest chips, the brightest screens or flash memory with lots of capacity squeezed in. They live and breath by adding a “cool” factor to their products and simply get their technology from contract manufacturers- including Samsung!

Korean R&D dollars, more per percentage of sales then probably Motorola and Apple spends combined, buys incremental improvements of existing technology, but doesn’t buy innovative epiphanies a la the RAZR or the iPhones of the world. With China able to emulate Korean products, regardless of the level of advancement of the technological sophistication of the hardware, in a matter of weeks upon introduction, Korea needs exactly this kind of innovation to not only continue to grow, but to survive.

You didn’t know? I assumed you knew.