Cosmetics firm Coreana probably should have thought this ad campaign through a bit longer.
But Surely, You Admit that Park Jin-hee Looks Hot in SS Black
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{ 182 comments… read them below or add one }
Do you reckon Max Mosley’s Nazi-themed prostitutes looked as hot as Park Jin-hee? Actaully, she would have looked far sexier dressed up as a Japanese Imperial Army officer, but I have a strange feeling that wouldn’t have gone over all that well here…
“I’ve never even seen these month-old commercials run on TV,”
Brian said this on his board, but these were in heavy rotation on OnStyle TV in Seoul last week. Haven’t seen em for a couple of days now, though. Wonder why…
globalvillage: Isn’t it weird, though, how they find the Nazis so cool even though they were allied with the Japanese? No one here seems to hold that against Adolf and crew.
Story of the S-W Center protest got picked up by the German news.
http://www.netzeitung.de/vermischtes/961437.html
On CNN, too. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/04/04/skorea.makeup.ap/index.html
There was an article in The Korea Herald about ten years ago whose title perfectly sums up these kinds of unfortunate occurrences:
“Korea: The Land That PC Forgot.”
What were the motives behind creating the ad campaign and is there such a thing as bad publicity nowadays? Discuss amongst yourselves.
Maybe the cosmetics company just miscalculated the “too soon” factor here. After all, it’s usually fairly acceptible to mock tragic deaths after just a few years to a decade… Natural and man-made disasters seem to take a little longer, maybe a couple decades… So what’s the rule for genocide? I’m guessing at least a century, maybe longer. After all, nobody seems particularly morally aghast when someone dresses up like a crusader or Ghengis Khan these days.
Anyhow, yeah… Too soon for the SS to be selling cosmetics.
Achtung baby!
The swiftness of the reaction is startling. Mere hours after a Dave’s ESL poster alerted the Simon Wiesenthal Centre about the ads, a letter to the Korean firm was issued and *poof!* there’s the story up on the front page of CNN International: from obscure blog to niche message board to CNN in 48 hours.
Ah, they don’t care. After all, Korea is the land of Hitler bars and ‘HItleresque’ pure blood ideology….
What bothers me sometimes is that people seem to be singling out Korea as the prime example here. Nazi symbols etc. are used for marketing througout East Asia, particularly in Taiwan where Wehrmacht uniforms were standard issue with Nationalist forces in the mid-1930′s.
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/00E7d0sd8K7MS/340x.jpg
http://foreignerinformosa.typepad.com/the_foreigner_in_formosa/images/2007/07/26/hitler_drink_shop_3.jpg
Nazi marketing and symbols are also popular in Japan…
http://www.mutantfrog.com/2006/04/16/which-cosplay-girl-is-the-creepiest/
… and Thailand…
http://absolutelybangkok.com/?p=442
Korea is responsible for its own Nazi fetish, WK. Dont try to pass the buck.
all much ado bout nothing though we have proof that the jews do run our media. anyway, let me be honest here; asians (not just koreans, sorry) don’t really care what the germans did to the jew just like westerners couldn’t care less what the japanese did to asians.
if it’s ok for you, it’s ok for us.
oh, and nazi bar? is that different than stores selling confederate nicknacks?
i think the expat needs to shut up.
# 13,
Listen NK… I didn’t say that openly displaying nazi symbols was right or a good thing. I actually think the opposite. Nor did I say that some Korean appeal to said symbols are the fault/result of others in Asia.
All I said is that there is similar appeal in OTHER Asian countries and that it isn’t FAIR to single out Korea. Nazi symbols are used way too casually without enough thought or appreciation to its dark history in many countries in the region and that’s all I was saying.
Kinda like dog eating. Carcasses of dogs are openly sold in the streets of Hanoi. Does Reuters shoot off a press release about it? Nope. At some point people need to ask themselves whether or not they are constructively criticizing or bashing for the sake of bashing just to be a prick. At the end of the day, my thought is that there are A LOT of pricks at the ‘hole…
I don’t think it is realistic to expect a decidedly Korea-focused blog to capture all the similar topics in Thailand or elsewhere. If a magazine or newspaper came out with an article titled “What’s with Koreans and Nazi themes?” without noting that the phenomenon is region-wide, you’d have a gripe.
#14,
The troll needs to get a new hobby.
That’s rich coming from a son of “Hirohito’s Willing Executioners.”
#15,
Well, this is a blog about Korea, isn’t it? So, who’s the prick?
#13,
Actually, the pre-WW2 fascist tendencies of some Korean intellectuals was designed to incite widespread acceptance of Japanese colonial rule (http://www.geocities.com/volodyatikhonov/aasfascisminKorea.htm).
Admittedly, that of post WW2 is another story, though.
# 16,
Well the CNN article isn’t exactly titled as such, but it does appear to say that SWC doesn’t know that nazi symbols are used anywhere else in Asia…
The kyopo also needs to shut up. Let’s face it, using Nazi symbols is wrong, plain and simple. Although there are some Koreans who flaunt the symbols, there are some who think it is wrong. The kyopo, in the name of “Korean honor”, justifying its use by stating that “other Asians use it too” only helps to give more ammunition to the anti-Korean crowd who believe (wrongly) that all Koreans are anti-Semitic.
The kyopo may think that he’s helping Korea, but in fact he’s making things worse.
“justifying its use…”
Which kyopos are you talking about? Cuz I never said that. I actually said this:
“Nazi symbols are used way too casually without enough thought or appreciation to its dark history in many countries in the [Asia] region…”
I’m quite sure the SWC responds to all cases that it is made aware of. The Taiwan one for sure drew their fire.
The one in Thailand also drew a letter from SWC… so you are right. My apologies.
Good background on the tolerance of nazi symbolism throughout all of Asia… http://absolutelybangkok.com/?p=442
Well, the Nazi’s did have a sense of style …
They made it cool to kill.
Which is why, I suppose, that the fashion company
Hugo Boss is still in business.
Fascist uniforms could still do without the Nazi regalia
and Luftwaffe wings on the hat, however.
i can’t speak for all koreans or gyopos but when a post like this appears, many of us (koreans/gyopos) expect a shit piling on korea by few expats. so naturally, without justifying what the koreans did/do, we become defensive. for us, the comments that are thrown around here by expats, while justifiable to some degree, appear as if they are throwing shit from a moral high ground. while the focus of the blog is korea-related, koreans/gyopos roll their eyes because, well, koreans/gyopos can find something equivalent from a western country/culture. i mean, i’m not saying koreans are ok to err here and there because the america/west has done something wrong, but without context, it’s only natural for koreans/gyopos to think some of the expats here are being hypocritical.
i think i need to make few things clear about my above post. i am no way justifying this ad or many things koreans do. right or wrong, i was just writing on why some koreans/gyopos may get defensive. and while there really isn’t exactly shit piling going on here, i was thinking more in general from other posts and other korean blogs.
#12 WangKon
“Nazi marketing and symbols are also popular in Japan.”
WRONG. Coreana uses the Nazi attire because they think the Korean people at large consider it to be cool and attractive. The Japanese girl cosplaying a Nazi officer is doing something to enjoy herself, not targeting on a large audience to sell something.
I don’t really know how many expats are conscious of the fact that nazi symbols here are quite different than in the states. It truly means something different. In the states, because we have become exceedingly educated on the holocaust, those who sport these symbols truly are, for the most part, racist. Here in Korea those who are wear or produce nazi symbols and regalia are, for the most part, doing it for more innocuous reasons. They like it for its chop off my genitalia, rip out my gold fillings and gas me look. They live in a status of pure ignorance.
While this may be true I truly believe it is more insidious. Because of its ignorance the adoption of the style could more easily lead to the adoption of other things without knowing how wrong it all is. Korea as well as the rest of asia needs more education on all that the nazis did and to realize how it is not fashionable but unspeakably ugly.
#22,
And tell me, why did you feel compelled to make that point?
#10,
#10,
Why are you so surprised? It’s obvious the ad offended some expats here and only natural that some quickly forwarded it to the Simon Wiesenthal Center. After all, they are the authority on Nazism and antisemitism (if there is such a thing).
#29,
I don’t know if you are aware, but that cosmetics company sells its products in European countries where Nazi symbolism has been outlawed. They simply should have known better.
14. “all much ado bout nothing though we have proof that the jews do run our media. anyway, let me be honest here; asians (not just koreans, sorry) don’t really care what the germans did to the jew just like westerners couldn’t care less what the japanese did to asians.”
Ok, if Loreal made an ad featuiring Milla Jovavich and Beyonce dressed up like comfort women and subdoing themselves to Imperial Japanese soldiers I bet there would literally be a lot of people from a certain nation not only protesting it be taken down, but cutting off the fingers in mass hysteria over it.
#10
“The swiftness of the reaction is startling. Mere hours after a Dave’s ESL poster alerted the Simon Wiesenthal Centre about the ads, a letter to the Korean firm was issued and *poof!* there’s the story up on the front page of CNN International: from obscure blog to niche message board to CNN in 48 hours.”
Just goes to show how influential the Jews are.
Although Koreans are so passionate about education and knowledge that they will send their kids to the hagwon till midnight every night, I can understand how they might not have heard of the most infamous mass-murderer of the 20th century.
I can also understand how some of the Korean-Americans on this blog have been so busy falling in love with America that they forgot to do their ethics homework.
I can picture pawi strapped in his chair wearing a football helmet, drooling into a cup.
“koreans/gyopos can find something equivalent from a western country/culture.”
You can find something equivalent? Really? Please, show me something equivalent from Western advertising. Stuff from the 1950′s doesn’t count.
“westerners couldn’t care less what the japanese did to asians.”
Er, other than liberate Korea from Japan?
“i think the expat needs to shut up.”
I think the Korean/American/kyopo needs to really think about why I should have to watch some ignorant Korean airhead model on TV marching around in a Nazi uniform in the yer 2008. I was sick of looking at that bimbo on TV, so I wrote a letter. Now, you’re all telling me to shut up. Well, Korea, maybe the world would be better off without you too.
#35,
Oh, please. So, whose sock are you?
Jesus McChrist… Holocaust IS being taught during World History class back home, right? Or is it the whole ‘memorization without learning’ thing again?
Enough with the Nazi shit already.
“Korea: The Land That PC Forgot.” indeed…
@#21/#37
You two are as bad as pawi when it comes to categorizing people without any consideration. I mean, MrMao,
“Now, you’re all telling me to shut up.”
When the hell did ‘pawi = all Koreans/gyopos’ happen? Shall I pick the crews at occidentalism and decide “well, I guess that’s how a westerner/expat thinks”?
“Ok, if Loreal made an ad featuiring Milla Jovavich and Beyonce dressed up like comfort women and subdoing themselves to Imperial Japanese soldiers I bet there would literally be a lot of people from a certain nation not only protesting it be taken down, but cutting off the fingers in mass hysteria over it.”
But of course, by calling that ‘mass hysteria’, you’re also belittling the sensitivity towards anti-antisemitism. And I think this attitude is what pawi wants to address. (aka: Belittling Holocaust is not okay, but belittling 일제시대 is?) Neither events weren’t exactly a walk in the park, yet there is a sentiment of “Oh, get the fuck over it” when it comes to the latter around here. I don’t agree with pawi, but I sure as hell don’t blame him.
But I’m glad at least someone got to see their Nazi-fetish fleshed out.
#35: and that must rankle, considering how long it took VANK to get google maps to change “Sea of Japan” to “East Sea”
“When the hell did ‘pawi = all Koreans/gyopos’ happen?”
About the same time a large Korean multi-national company produced a TV ad with the help of a large Korean advertising agency that had an ad campaign that was specifically meant to invoke Nazism to sell makeup, approved by a senior manager and then broadcast commercially on a national television network for weeks at a time to millions of people which was then defended by some people that are actually Korean and some people that just think they are but are actually not as if it were totally unimportant. That’s when.
this quote from the CNN article really got me upset:
“A Korad official, Seo Sang-hee, confirmed the ad was meant to invoke a Nazi soldier and Hitler, which she said symbolize “revolution” in keeping with the lotion’s “revolutionary” dual functions.”
I’d like to know where Ms. Seo and her counterparts at Korad went to school to think that the Nazi’s and Hitler symbolize “revolution” To think that Korean kids are being taught that scares the living daylights out of me. They have no clue that the Nazi’s were buddies with the Japanese who tried to do the same thing to them that the Nazis attempted in Europe.
sickening
You quoted pawi telling you to shut up about Korean insensitivity to Nazis, then proceeded to equate/assign the entire Korean/gyopo to his opinion (“shut up about korea’s problems, expats”). And yet you defend your overgeneralizing comment (that equates pawi’s over-generalization) by trying to imply I was talking about the jaw-dropping insensitivity to Nazism.
That is one fine-looking strawman you got there.
Pawi,
So you won’t mind when someone opens a Pre-WW2-themed Japanese bar, complete with Korean comfort women as waitresses?
bumfromkorea is a smart man. even though i didn’t say it directly, he understood my point exactly. cheers to him.
i think it’s time for the jew to get over it. i think it’s time for him to stop whinning. i think it’s time for the majority world to take a hard look at israel. i think it’s time for the svc to shut down and get on with things. the holocaust that occurred in the west happened over 60 years ago. germany has gone on to become a productive nation that has been at peace with it’s neighbors for over six decades. i think the jew needs to get over it.
afterall, if the koreans gotta shut up about the japanese people paying homage to class a war criminals, i think the jew AND the expat gotta shut up about the actions of a few koreans.
gee, when you think about it, they kind of don’t compare.
let’s see, japanese people worshipping people who brought about the death of over 30 million asians or korean pop star wearing nazi uniform.
hmmmmmm, expat tell korean shut up about yasukuni but goes ballistic over nazi uniform worn by korean actress.
yeah, i can see who has the moral compass. hint: it ain’t you, expat.
#43,
Don’t feed the troll. He will eat you up.
I would disagree with that, pawi. We still have holocaust survivors and (more importantly) a generation of Jews with ‘postmemory’ as Marianne Hirsch puts it (indirectly influenced by traumatic experience of the previous generation as the experience dominates their childhood as an aftereffect). Until either they all die of old age or come to a consensus that it is time to completely move on, I think no one has the right to tell them “Oh, get over it”. It would be a dick move in my book.
It never ceases to amaze me just how stupid a person sounds when they insist on using terms like the “jew,” the “expat,” the “paki,” the “chinaman” while trying to get a point across.
As if the Holocaust and the Japanese colonial period are even remotely comparable…
I think all you folks need to lay off Poor Pawi. All your reverse analogies, your feeble attempts at logic and cool reasoning mean nothing in the face of the pure narcissism that is Korean nationalism. Korean nationalism is concerned solely with its own self-regard, and all your criticisms merely bounce off the mirror of its own reflection.
It is obvious that Korean nationalists would admire the volk ideology of Hitler’s own particular and legendary form of ethnic nationalism, and see in it a reflection of themselves, of their own longing for pure-blooded unity and volk strength. At the same time, the point of this ad is that not even Nazi nationalism was as strong as that of Korean nationalism. Thus, while the rest of the Nazi world crumbles in the background of Park Jin-hee, her resplendent Korean body alone survives, crucially supplemented by a protective ideological facemask of Korean cosmetics — which of course is the blemish-free face of Korean nationalism.
This ad is not selling cosmetics. It is selling Korean nationalism. Purchasing Coreana cosmetics is thus not an end in itself for a self-interested company selling shallow and false illusions, but rather the ultimate gesture of patriotism for all noble Korean women in this glorious land.
Consume and affirm the nation! Indeed, consume Korean nationalism!
Daehan Minguk for 10,000 years!
#44 rac
“To think that Korean kids are being taught that scares the living daylights out of me. They have no clue that the Nazi’s were buddies with the Japanese who tried to do the same thing to them that Nazis attempted in Europe.”
The Japanese never tried to do the same thing to Koreans that Nazis attempted in Europe. Koreans were Japanese during WW2. If you are talking about the ethnic cleanzing committed by the Nazis, the Japanese didn’t do it either.
pawi compares nazi to the confederates!!!
what a f’ing idiot
anyway i dont think expats are offended as much as we think korea really needs to think before they put something like this before the public
it kind of shows their ignorance or lack of knowledge about the Nazi’s
as someone pointed out before they were allies with the japanese who obviously was well under way of wiping korea off the map so to glorify nazi’s via marketing commercial products kind of makes koreans look rather silly
“As if the Holocaust and the Japanese colonial period are even remotely comparable…”
But does that make it okay to belittle the experiences during the colonial period? Reminds me of a running jest that a friend of mine always make whenever someone’s complaining about anything – “Get over it. There are kids starving in Somalia.”
If kid A’s dad became paraplegic in a car accident while kid B lost his entire family in a car accident, would you tell kid A “Stop crying, you wussy. Kid B lost his entire family.”? Kid B’s experience cannot logically reduce the significance of Kid A’s experience. And how big of a dick would one have to be to tell either of the kids “Jesus Christ, are you STILL crying over that? Get over it, you narcissistic idiot.”
It never ceases to amaze me that out of five kyopos who commented on this post none says that the use of Nazi symbols by the cosmetic company is wrong while the reaction of the other four is to circle the wagons.
The kyopos accuse the expats of generalization, but how hard is it for a non-Korean to not generalize if 4 out of 5 kyopos act in a similar manner and go about implying that the use of Nazi symbols by a major Korean comestic company in a commercial broadcast on national TV is not a big deal?
To put it simply, the kyopos should be careful, because words like this will only give the anti-Korean folks the perfect reason to say “I told you so” and thus make Koreans look bad.
Most importantly, kyopos should not be going around and claiming to represent the Korean point of view.
#39
SomeguyinKorea
Posted April 5, 2008 at 12:18 pm | Permalink
#35,
“Oh, please. So, whose sock are you?”
sock?
what made you think that I am a sock?
isn’t it true that the Jews are very influential? why, they control even the federal reserve!
# 42
changnan
Posted April 5, 2008 at 1:42 pm | Permalink
“#35: and that must rankle, considering how long it took VANK to get google maps to change “Sea of Japan” to “East Sea””
let’s hear it from the Koreans!
#57,
There you go again. Drop it, it’s not funny.
#52 Well put.
As a Jew I am not really offended by the ads. It’s iconography is purely satirical. It’s sort of sexy – a typical S&M fantasy. I wish everyone would calm the fuck down about this.
It’s still on OnStyle with the changed slogan.
Coreana sent me a couple messages asking me to take the videos off youtube, saying that they changed the slogan. Not going to happen, the videos will stay up. http://briandeutsch.blogspot.com/2008/04/coreana-wants-ads-removed-from-youtube.html
I had never heard of Park Jin-hee before this. I don’t think she looks very attractive in the commercial, and the uniform doesn’t help. But so I don’t get a reputation I navered her (not a euphamism), and she is pretty hot most of the time. http://www.funclub.co.kr/upload/4/200708291711060.jpg
Looks kinda like Lee Yeong-ae, but I don’t approve of that.
Holy shit, just saw it on TV. The new, Jew-friendly one. Dumbasses. If anyone wants copies of the videos, I have them, just send me an email or pm me on Dave’s.
Brian, what does the new caption/text say? Can you post the Korean?
@#56
“Nazi symbols are used way too casually without enough thought or appreciation to its dark history in many countries in the [Asia] region…” -WangKon
“Jesus McChrist… Holocaust IS being taught during World History class back home, right? Or is it the whole ‘memorization without learning’ thing again?
Enough with the Nazi shit already.” -bumfromkorea-
Your overgeneralizing aspect seems to have overpowered your simple ability to read and comprehend. Is this like a personal thing, or do you hastily make judgments on everything without thinking it through?
Neither is kid A’s experience nearly as horrific as kid B’s.
japan was korea’s nazis and to tell koreans to shut up about japan’s worship of war criminals while demanding koreans fall to their knees for offending your pet jew is bit too much. but it’s consistant with expat mantra.
as for condemning the k actress, no, i don’t think so. it ain’t a big deal. you know, it’s like prince henry going to party with nazi uniform, no big deal.
‘Koreans were Japanese during WW2.’ natto
uh, koreans were koreans during your people’s attempt to erase the people who civilized yours-. you got that? and what’s with that kabuki? i just saw some the other day. ridiculous!
Prince Harry’s costume choice was a big deal, making front page news in Britain and attracting international coverage. He publicly apologized for causing offense.
‘He publicly apologized for causing offense.’
let’s hope the k actress doesn’t do the same thing.
#52 King Baeksu,
Absolute best post I’ve read in a long, long time!
‘Not going to happen, the videos will stay up.’ brian wieselthal
you’re gonna show them, expat, aren’t ya? can i ask how you feel about yasukuni? any letter writing there? no? that’s what i thought.
you live unshaven in korea, don’t you?
‘but rather the ultimate gesture of patriotism for all noble Korean women in this glorious land.’ baeksy
i’m startin to think this guy got his woman taken back by the k guy.
most, if not all, koreans would say holocaust is wrong. but they haven’t been taught the specifics of it. so any perceived glamorization of nazism is ignorance. perharps that’s not an excuse but look at the lack of understanding from the region in general. they haven’t been taught european history. what do you want?
if you don’t think that’s an excuse, then try being a minority in the states. i love the USA but if you don’t think minorities go through subtle racism everyday, then you are holocaust denier. the general american public is not racist, but are some ignorant? yeah. i can’t blame them though. i mean, i don’t expect them to know things they haven’t been taught about or been exposed to.
seriously, can’t you guys see why some gyopos think some of the comments are seen as double standardish/hypocritical or just snobbish? in past posts, a mention of japanese occupation of korea was met with “it’s in the past, move on” crowd. koreans can be shallow, insensitive and whatever, but so are some of you posters here.
an ad that’s equivalent in the west? abercrombie (shirts with off-color humor re: asian people). now, is making some off-color humor at the expense of asians same as highlighting a nazi symbol, which killed millions of people the same? of course not! but that’s not my point. my point is that both ads are insensitive. but really, should we as more educated about the holocaust judge a country for being ignorant about the issue? of course one is worse than the other in terms of distastefulness but which country is more aware and exposed to different cultures?
just because korea wants to be global doesn’t mean korea can satisfy global standards overnight. if this company and the korean population in general can learn from this, great. but give her a chance go through the growing pains.
This is a commercial for assholes made by assholes.
The hottest chicks in Korea, or anywhere else, don’t
wear make-up. Old acne scars, stretch marks, belly scars,
overgrown incissors, etc…That’s where it’s at. Flab,
flubber, yellow toes and heels..Fuck Hitler and fuck
cosmetics.
and Fuck Fashion too.
#47 Pawi, you are right you should be outraged at Yasukuni! You should be upset with the fact that your imperial fathers did not bring home and enshrine all of the Korean conscripts who carried out a great deal of the atrocities during WW2.
Do you feel too uncomfortable to answer the question in #46?
Your self loathing shine brightest when the expat points out the fact of your country’s freedom was granted at the behest of the U.S. of A. I find it curious as to why you would abandon your country to live in the land of the expat. You hide in the country you hate the most. The patina of your own self-shame and guilt can never be scrubbed off with Ajax or Brillo pads. You also have a bad case of little dick syndrome. At least the expat is unapologetic with the fact we came to your county to make a buck. Have a cup of shut the fuck up.
“give her a chance”
No. There is no excuse for this ridiculous behaviour in this day and age. By the way, I’ve never told anyone to shut up about Yasukuni.
#69, 70,
Man, you really crave attention, don’t you? Were you breastfed as a child?
#63.
Who said I was generalizing? It looks YOU are the one who has a hard time comprehending what others are saying. And get off the generalization high chair already. I’ve read you whine about generalization in the other posts. I meant don’t you get tired from all the whining?
And in regards to your quotes, well WangKon was stating a matter of fact, which he added by saying that Korea shouldn’t be “singled out” while you were wondering whether history was being taught in schools in Korea. And your “Enough with the Nazi shit” to me sounds like you are saying “hey expats, stop talking about the use of Nazi symbols in Korea, already”.
That in no way shows that the you and WK have expressed the position that the use of Nazi symbols by Coreana is wrong.
”
That in no way shows that the you and WK have expressed the position that the use of Nazi symbols by Coreana is wrong.”
No, in fact nobody has. It’s like talking to a wall.
#72. Ahh the old defense of ignorance, how many times will Korea and/or Koreans be allowed to use this ‘get out of jail free’ defense before they acquire a modicum of social sensibility and join the rest of the world? Pawi is a case in point and obviously needs some kind of remedial schooling and perhaps a course in why as a Korean male the world does not revolve around his perceived grievances.
“just because korea wants to be global doesn’t mean korea can satisfy global standards overnight. if this company and the korean population in general can learn from this, great. but give her a chance go through the growing pains.”
Assuming Koreans feel that being global goes beyond exporting goods, hosting major international events, winning Olympic gold medals in archery, and having a Starbucks outlet every three blocks! Seriously, things have been changing very quickly and seem to be moving in the right direction. Koreans deserve credit for that.
“as for condemning the k actress, no, i don’t think so. it ain’t a big deal. you know, it’s like prince henry going to party with nazi uniform, no big deal.”
Pawi, I don’t think people are criticizing the actress as much as the Coreana company. In fact, were you to take the time and read the sixty-plus comments on the topic not written by you, nobody has slammed Park Jin-hee. Not one person.
As for the Prince Henry comment, you clearly do not know what you are talking about. (I’m sure this comes as no surprise to regular commenters here.) Henry’s party costume was big news, it offended a lot of people, his image was tarnished for a short while, and he had to apologize. Henry’s wearing the Nazi uniform was also intended as a joke among friends, not as a means of boosting cosmetics sales. It was indeed tasteless, but at least it wasn’t motivated by greed.
I feel like seoulmilk 71, 72 hit the nail on the head when considering both points of view.
No question that Coreana pulled a bad move with the whole Nazi commercial but that ignorance from which it is rooted is prevalent in all cultures – just towards different things. The trouble comes in when people start believing their own ignorance is somehow “not as bad” than other’s.
What everyone needs is a healthy dose of common sense and compassion – and if the comments here are any kind of example of the world at large, we’re all doomed to WWIII. That said, consequences are awfully easy to assign until you’re the one stuck with them.
“nobody has slammed Park Jin-hee.”
I did. I called her an airhead bimbo. And, wearing that outfit she sure looks like one.
“koreans/gyopos can find something equivalent from a western country/culture.”
You can find something equivalent? Really? Please, show me something equivalent from Western advertising. Stuff from the 1950’s doesn’t count.
http://img262.imageshack.us/my.php?image=hitlerkleincf4.jpg
Wait, so referring to all the gyopo population as if they have a single, unified opinions/thoughts is not a generalization? Not to mention the fact that you literally said “.. but how hard is it for a non-Korean to not generalize if 4 out of 5 kyopos act in a similar manner and go about implying that the use of Nazi symbols by a major Korean comestic company in a commercial broadcast on national TV is not a big deal?” You’re as bad as pawi when it comes to that matter.
“generalization high chair”? Yes, because according to you, since I’m a gyopo, I must think it’s okay for anyone to use Nazi images like that ad above. Your mode of thought frankly disgusts me to no end.
In addition, it seems that your reading comprehension is seriously being affected. In a thread discussing Nazi images being shown in commercials, with past occurrences of Nazi images in Korea (like that Nazi bar), when someone says “enough with this Nazi shit” after commenting “Jesus McChrist… Holocaust IS being taught during World History class back home, right?” (ever heard of intentional emphasis? Like that ‘IS’? Or are you not familiar with spoken English in general?) , you think I’m talking about expats bitching about Nazi images in Korea? Perhaps your idiotic predisposition to think that gyopos are ultra-nationalistic nuts is hindering your ability to, well, think.
Then again, this is coming from a man who wondered whether I was being an expat’s pet after agreeing with one in his opinion. I guess it’s not that surprising, considering you can’t fathom that people can’t be categorized neatly into your little retarded labels of people.
“http://img262.imageshack.us/my…..eincf4.jpg”
Not even close. That’s a spoof/satire. The Coreana ad is on TV still and you’re showing me photo-shopped stuff from crazy$hit.com. Weak.
As for generalizing, none of you “Brothers from Another Mother” has yet stated that their is anything wrong with these ads. Therefore, Koreans must be on a different planet.
Not even close. That’s a spoof/satire. The Coreana ad is on TV still and you’re showing me photo-shopped stuff from crazy$hit.com. Weak.
What’d you take me for, an idiot? Of course, that’s a spoof!
This whole issue’s a joke. You’re all taking this LADIES COSMETICS AD way too seriously. The guys at the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, etc are probably jerking off to this shiksa dressed in a kraut uniform.
Lighten up.
Not even close. That’s a spoof/satire. The Coreana ad is on TV still and you’re showing me photo-shopped stuff from crazy$hit.com. Weak.
What’d you take me for, an idiot? Of course, that’s a spoof!
This whole issue’s a joke. You’re all taking this LADIES COSMETICS AD way too seriously. The guys at the Anti-Defamation League, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, etc are probably jerking off to this shiksa posing in a kraut uniform.
Lighten up.
#13 and #15. What, do you want all gyopos on this thread to kneel before you all and beg for forgiveness for this ad or something? Obviously EVERYONE in this thread sans Pawi recognize that the ads are wrong – if you notice, discussions and arguments are being made after the assumption that the ad is wrong (once again, except pawi).
77. you know what, you are right. koreans don’t deserve the ignorance defense. how foolish of me to expect koreans to not know everything about every culture/customs/history out there. damn the korean educational system for not teaching sensitivities of other cultures. i can’t exactly recall, but i’m pretty sure the schools in the states taught everyone that not all asians know kungfu or karate, that not all asians are good at math, that not all asians run a laundramat, that there are countries beyond china and japan, that not all asians eat dogs and monkey brains…because dem white people know everthing about other culture and race. yeah, my brother working in a corporate america, didn’t see any emails floating around after virginia tech incident about how he’s korean so co-workers should avoid him. yeah, that never happened.
i am sorry for implying that korea deserves a get out of the jail free card because, even if the west had a chance to go through its history and learn from it, that’s no excuse for korea.
surely, you would think something like this will open the eyes of koreans and they can slowly, but surely, learn and grow but fuck that, if they don’t know shit about others’ history, koreans are fucked up people.
btw, mr. mao, why are you still in korea? it’s just filled with dumbass people.
“how foolish of me to expect koreans to not know everything about every culture/customs/history out there.”
Knowing about Hitler doesn’t mean you know “everything about everything.” You’re trivializing the Nazi era again.
Why am I still in Korea? I can be anywhere I want. Who the hell are you?
“What’d you take me for, an idiot? Of course, that’s a spoof! ”
Well then I guess that makes Korea a spoof of a country.
“What, do you want all gyopos on this thread to kneel before you all and beg for forgiveness for this ad or something?”
Kinda like Koreans and kyopos still want others to see their side about the 1905 Taft-Katsura agreement?
aw come on seoulmilk – forget it -_- someone just needs to stop making this mole hole into a mountain.
Especially in this case where it’s so easy to fall into the intellectual defense (on both sides). On one hand you can read into this commercial too much and take it as a symptom of all of Korea’s societal ills. Or on the other hand you can take it as just a dumb ass commercial that should be disapproved boldly but nothing more; a simple mistake in the process of learning. It’s easy to go either way depending on their own predispositions.
Most people are all too eager to jump onto the high mighty pedestal of moral righteousness and honestly, you can’t say much to anybody who doesn’t want to listen. There will always be stereotypes, underlying racial tensions, and hypocrisy – all in the name of “constructive” criticism and the freedom of speech.
Anyway, Nazi waving aside, I found the weird rolling around of the beans at the end of the commercial oddly nauseating for some reason >_<
#70: “i’m startin to think this guy got his woman taken back by the k guy.”
Ouch! I’ve been deconstructed by the Great Pawi!
If Baudrillard were alive today, he would call this entire kerfuffle the 5th or 6th stage of simulation.
“if you notice, discussions and arguments are being made after the assumption that the ad is wrong”.
I’m not really sure if that what the case. I think people just wanted to hear someone of Korean heritage say that. Up till now this thread has been filled with alot of anger and rationalizations. Now that you’ve said it without the sarcasm Seoulmilk unloaded perhaps you’d share with us your views on Baeksu’s comment #52. Is ignorance a red-herring? I think he was being a little tongue in cheek but is there any truth to that? Hey, in real life is Pawi as rabid a nationalist as when he posts? How many Pawi’s act the part until our backs are turned or until they go home? How many are waiting in the wings to start hacking off body parts at an opportune instant?
#79 – I should have specified that nobody here has slammed Park for being a racist or hater for being in the ad.
#91: Wasn’t Herr Pawi endorsing pogroms in Korean Chinatowns just the other day?
TV On The Radio,
http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZqI0FYN-r5c
and Indiana Jones know:
You’re only allowed to have nazis if you kill them at the end. If you kill them at the end, even hot nazis are allowed.
i really don’t feel like engaging in the rest of this discussion, but “province” is a cool song.
“As if the Holocaust and the Japanese colonial period are even remotely comparable…” They actually tilt in favor of the Japanese barbarians during their imperialistic period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_war_crimes
It may be pointless to try to establish which World War Two Axis aggressor, Germany or Japan, was the more brutal to the peoples it victimized. The Germans killed six million Jews and 20 million Russians [i.e. Soviet citizens]; the Japanese slaughtered as many as 30 million Filipinos, Malays, Vietnamese, Cambodians, Indonesians and Burmese, at least 23 million of them ethnic Chinese. Both nations looted the countries they conquered on a monumental scale, though Japan plundered more, over a longer period, than the Nazis. Both conquerors enslaved millions and exploited them as forced labourers — and, in the case of the Japanese, as [forced] prostitutes for front-line troops. If you were a Nazi prisoner of war from Britain, America, Australia, New Zealand or Canada (but not Russia) you faced a 4% chance of not surviving the war; [by comparison] the death rate for Allied POWs held by the Japanese was nearly 30%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731
Hard to believe, but following the war, the U.S. brought many of these murdering Japanese criminals to work on its own WMD programs at the expense of uninformed taxpayers. Sadly, the textbooks I used throughout public school taught us about the all the German atrocities in regards to the Holocaust and gruesome medical experiments, but nothing was said about the truly horrific and terrible crimes against humanity that were perpetrated by the Japanese military. It wasn’t until years later that I stumbled upon the horrors committed by the Japanese on my own. History is constantly being re-written and omitted in textbooks across the globe. How are we to know what truths those in other nations, or of different generations, were taught or even exposed to?
I applaud the work that the Simon Wiesenthal Center does, but they need to focus on doing a lot more on including the Holocausts (aka genocides) that are still occurring around the world to this day. It didn’t take long for them to respond to these commercials ( http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/apps/nlnet/content.aspx?c=fwLYKnN8LzH&b=312458&content_id={A88DDA3A-D18D-4265-A33B-AF0BFC6B21A3}¬oc=1 ), but where is the outrage over what is occurring in Darfur and other parts of Africa, in Iraq, and other world hot spots that are constantly flaming up?
As a history and social studies teacher back in the states, I had no answers for my students when they asked, “With all the atrocities going on it the world today, why aren’t those lived through the Holocaust doing more to speak out against them and raise awareness of the plight of those affected?” I had no idea then, and I have none now. Can anyone tell me why those in Darfur, and previously in Rwanda, aren’t deserving of the same type of support? My students aren’t dumb. They are able to deduce that skin color and religion are greater in the grand scheme of things than our just being of the same scientific classification through these types of actions and inactions.
And while, these commercials are below even the standards of poor taste, for them to be subjected to this type of outrage while people are still being killed, tortured, and enslaved every single day around the world baffles my sensibilities concerning what is justice in our politically correct run amok world.
“Kinda like Koreans and kyopos still want others to see their side about the 1905 Taft-Katsura agreement?”
Where the hell did that one come from? I had to wikipedia it to figure out what you were trying to say. Man, it’s like a streak of assuming my opinions on issues because I’m a gyopo. Good work. Another idiotic statement made with the blanket terms “Koreans” and “Gyopos”. Reminds you of any of pawi’s posts with the blanket terms “expats”? No? Ugh…
@#91
I think ‘ignorance’ is an explanation, but NOT a sufficient justification. In this case, one cannot just say, “oh, well I didn’t know about that.” – it must be “Oh, I didn’t know about that. I’ll change it from now on.” (add seoulmilk’s point on actually allowing time for the change as opposed to ‘fuck that shit’)
I’m saying that just because no one explicitly condemned the ad with harsh words does not mean they think the ad was okay. For example, Netizen Kim stated in #13 “Korea is responsible for its own Nazi fetish, WK. Dont try to pass the buck.”
He didn’t explicitly state that ad w/ Nazi = bad, but it is more than obvious to anyone who speaks English that that is his opinion… Well, anyone who’s not fixated on the idea that gyopos think alike as a mindless ultra-nationalistic collective.
in addition.
“Enough with this Nazi shit.” Unless you’re a card-carrying member of the Uber-cynical ‘Everyone’s a bastard’ Association or the mindset mentioned above, I’d say that’s pretty explicitly stated.
@globalvillageidiot
Well, it is indeed truly refreshing that everyone thus far has been willing to give PJH the benefit of the doubt. But wouldn’t it still stand that the overarching statements being made (by both sides) are rooted in preconceived beliefs of superiority? Surely just because nobody has blatantly used PJH as an example of Korea’s societal insensitivity in this matter you don’t think that everyone is being unbiased! Yes, nobody as used PJH as an “example” Korea’s insensitivity but many of these commenters have to some degree “blamed” the whole of Korean society, of which PJH is a part of, for this mishap. Saying that ALL Koreans think Nazism is “a-okay” based on the fact this make-up commercial actually made it on air IS presumptuous. Racism is when you treat or think of everyone in a race as “one thing” instead of as many individuals with vastly different beliefs even if they share the same culture (no matter what “evidence” there may be that “they are all the same”). And unfortunately, the people who are particularly virulent DO seem quite racist because their comment is often said with the implication that no other country would make such a grave mistake – that is racism isn’t it?
I very much do not want to pick a fight and while I do realize the focus of this blog is Korea (so it is expected for people to err on side of singling Korea out for many things), I truly believe maintaining a global view is critical for us as citizens of our respective countries to perpetuate tolerance and goodwill (even on this little corner of the net) as much as we can in the face of ignorance and race hate.
#96: “And while, these commercials are below even the standards of poor taste, for them to be subjected to this type of outrage while people are still being killed, tortured, and enslaved every single day around the world baffles my sensibilities concerning what is justice in our politically correct run amok world.” – 100% agree.
@97
In any case, if I haven’t been clear – I DO NOT think Korea is off the hook, ignorance or no. Toying with anything from WWII is playing with fire and for a makeup company to think they were up to it is beyond stupid. And being stupid isn’t much of an excuse either. I was just hoping a more moderate stance would be taken on this…. speaking of, netizinkim’s comment was fine by me, I referring to some of the more provocative comments (you’d have to be blind to say there weren’t any of them). And I don’t recall saying “Enough with this Nazi shit.” If I came across that way – my gosh, but I think all my comments have fairly devoid about the prevalence of Nazi ideology.
Not to degrade WWII in any way but really, this is just a make up commercial and if anything Korea as a lot more serious issues to deal with (and pick apart on this website) than the occasional flirtation with Nazi stylings. Perhaps I’m just being too naive but everyone just seems so VERY angry….
@ #94,
Less than a minute’s worth of Google produces:
“The Education Ministry’s approval does a great disservice to the younger generations of Japan who can only gain by learning the full truth of Imperial Japan’s actions during the 1930s and 40s,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center.
I encourage you to search for SWC and Japanese comfort women and the name of the rabbi who is quoted in the press release about the cosmetics ad. I hope you’ll be able to see that the center does more than just talk about German history.
Next time students ask you questions about Jews and human rights, you can encourage them to look into the roles the Jews played in the American Civil Rights Movement. You like wikipedia. Me, too. It has a nice section on the topic.
I’m actually a little disgusted with some comments here which would equate what some kyopos say in the ‘hole as being a say all consensus of thought among all kyopos. Not only is that type of thinking a fallacy at the most basic levels, it’s also dead wrong.
I think I mentioned this story before somewhere in the bowels of this blog awhile ago, although I don’t specifically remember when. Anyways, to speak personally, I’m a member of an organization called the Korean American Coalition (“KAC”). Back when Rhie Won Bok’s comments on Jews was made public and it was widely reported in media channels, Rhie sent an apology letter to the KAC. Naturally, the KAC leadership was absolutely confused. They never had a relationship with Rhie or his publisher, so why in the world should an apology go to them and not to a Jewish organization? Well, anyways, Korean American groups, headed by the KAC, TOOK THE INITIATIVE and met with Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center AND PROACTIVELY offered to go with Cooper to meet with Rhie and his publisher. Other Korean American leaders made absolutely sure that Rhie’s beliefs were not those shared by the community and went on record to the LA Times and other media channels. Per Mr. Choe Yohngsohk, co-chairman of the Korean American Patriotic Action Movement, “I do not have words to describe the outrage I feel.”
Anyways, representatives of the KAC and Rabbi Cooper went to Gimm-Young, Rhie’s publishers, and we pretty much went to bat for Cooper 100%. We essentially put a Korean face to the objection that the content of the comics were completely unacceptable. Cooper himself said that he probably couldn’t of gotten the concessions that he did from the publisher without KAC’s help. How do I know this? I heard it from Cooper himself when he told the story at a KAC sponsored event.
Well, first of all, those who lived through the Holocaust are either dead or very old. Why should elderly Holocaust survivors be expected to take the lead in fighting global genocides? If you and your students think that Darfur isn’t getting international attention, then you must not pay much attention to the news. Darfur is a pet cause in the West, especially since China is an active player in the country. And why expect the West to take the lead? If the world’s Muslims can demonstrate against cartoons and Dutch short films, why can’t they cooperate to bring peace to Sudan?
If and when you return to the US, please consider another line of work besides social studies teaching.
“You’re trivializing the Nazi era again.”
again? i am? i’m no more trivializing the nazi era than you trivializing the korean people. the ad is distasteful, but really, we are not discussing whether or not the ad is justified. the discussion is about expat and gyopo reactions. just because none of the gyopos have condenmed the ad directly doesn’t mean everyone here, except for few, are not in the same page.
anyway, since all of you guys are on record as being on moral high grounds, i expect you guys to have my back whenever someone makes an ignorant comment to me or about korea. i expect the same passion shown here. next time a japanese pm goes to yasukin shrine, i expect nothing less.
“Why am I still in Korea? I can be anywhere I want.”
really? you don’t say. what’s the reason? unless you are stationed there and had no choice, why be amongnst koreans? i mean, since you make assumptions about koreans, i can assume that you are a loser back in your home country but i should give you the chance to answer. i mean, at least other expats make well-balanced and thoughtful comments and i can tell they appreciate at least some parts about korea. but it seems like you hate korea and i’m just curious why you are still there.
“Cooper himself said that he probably couldn’t of gotten the concessions that he did from the publisher without KAC’s help.”
Concessions? You call them concessions? How about firing Rhie Won-Bok and stopping the production of all his books? Oops, Free Speech!
By the way, I have heard that the books are still being published as they were just as Coreana is still showing the ad on tv.
“you hate Korea”
How quickly you descend.
The fact that none of you B-Boys have condemned the ads is not proof that you like it, it does however prove that you have no morals.
yes, i have no morals because i said the ad is distasteful. i like your logic there.
“The fact that none of you B-Boys have condemned the ads is not proof that you like it, it does however prove that you have no morals.”
Okay. Officially have problem with reading comprehension or selective memory span. Also, I see that you added a new terminology “B-Boys”. I find it quite ironic that right before this sentence, you state “How quickly you descend.” Indeed, MrMao. Indeed.
I think a lot of the posters on this thread, including me, and including both the nationalists and anti-nationalists, are being rather insensitive in the sense that we are doing a lot of projecting from our own limited male perspectives, rather than trying to actually understand what the ad is really trying to say. It is clearly aimed primarily at women, so with that in mind, what point is it trying to put across to an average Korean female viewer?
Sonagi? Any thoughts here?
It seems to be that the main point of this ad is to project an image of female strength amidst the general warfare of male-dominated society.
In other words, is this really a race issue, or is it a gender issue, or a weird combination of both? Personally, I would argue for the latter.
“How about firing Rhie Won-Bok and stopping the production of all his books?”
Because not all of Rhie’s books go into depth on Jewish matters. Banning all of Rhie’s books just for the content of one of them would lean uncomfortably into a slippery slope descending towards censorship.
@104
Whoa~ totally didn’t think of that perspective.
Well as a woman (not from Korea though) – sans the Nazi uniform (and the weird rolling beans…I think it’s a condition >_<) – the commercial comes across as a very “be an independent woman” sort of affair. Seems to target the business/career women. In that way I kind of see what the company must have been trying “get at” if in a haphazard way.
I feel like I’m going to be bitterly attacked for saying this but if I had just watched the commercial on TV I wouldn’t have known that was a Nazi uniform. At least for me, the most prominent symbol of a Nazi is the armband and swastika – neither of which I saw when I first viewed both commercials. The thing that threw me off the most was the bombing in the background in the first clip – it seemed kind of violent for a makeup commerical. This isn’t to say that what Coreana did was okay but to someone who is not familiar with the nuances of military uniform – the clothes she was wearing looks like just that – a random military style uniform.
105, While Rhie’s other books may not be as offensive as the one in which he wrote his tome about the Jews, I have found many of them to be willfully ignorant nevertheless. I mean imagine any person possessing a tertiary degree stating that “peninsula people are fiery*”. While it might hold for the Koreans, Greeks and Italians in some instances, somebody obviously forgot to tell the Malaysians, Floridians, Scandinavians and those living on the Kamchatka. There are a myriad of other simplistic assertions the man makes in that very book, such as North Korea is the ‘most’ communist country in the world and the south is the most capitalist. No they are not, one is the bastard spawn of a totalitarian system raped by Confucianism and nationalism, the other a corporate state buggered by same. The very fact that the man is given space to publish his warped worldview, let alone that his ‘comics’ are on the shelves of pretty much every Korean home I have been into is a national disgrace. Moreover it displays how utterly lacking a deep understanding of the world the educated classes of that country are.
*Somewhere in Korea Unmasked.
#106: Rhie is an ethno-essentialist. The only people who take ethno-essentialists seriously these days are… other ethno-essentialists. Now, who would that be?
bumfromkorea
you don’t get it, do you?
you think you can win with logic and good manners.
but you cannot win when you are dealing with issues flamed by the fires of the heart.
to the expat, you, me, and wangkon are all the same. indeed, we have the same father:
‘As for generalizing, none of you “Brothers from Another Mother”..’ mr mao in reference to all us.
the expat says some of the filthiest things i’ve ever heard said about koreans.
i have no intention of arguing with him.
and WOW! someone on this thread even implied i’m a serial killer. man!
Everyone notice how Pawi is trying to construct artificial alliances along ethnic lines here?
Since when did this blog become your own personal game of “Survivor”?
It’s pretty selfish, don’t you think? Some people actually prefer just to have a reasonable discussion here, regardless of who has what color of skin.
It seems to me that you are not very happy in the US, with its dirty multiculturalism and racial crossbreeding.
I think you’d be much happier in North Korea, don’t you? The last pure redoubt of the minjok and all that.
What’s stopping you? We all know you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?
Pawi, you’re reading my posts again. I’m excommunicated, remember? I was referring to self-mutilation which isn’t as uncommon as it should be here.
“Since when did this blog become your own personal game of ‘Survivor’?”
Hahaha… okay, that was funny.
Let’s face it. What’s taboo in the West is not necessarily taboo in Korea or the East. In the West we’ve had it beaten into our heads that Nazi’s were pure evil and that using Nazi ideas, symbols, and imagery is strictly verboten.
Post #14 points out the power and influence of Jews in the media. While nothing should be said or done to minimize the tragedy of “the” holocaust, it is ironic that other acts of genocide are largely forgotten or ignored. Even the Simon Weisenthal Center’s complaint regarding the Coreana ad speaks only of the 6 million Jews who were killed while ignoring the other 5 million Gypsies, Slavs, and Homosexuals murdered in Hitler’s concentration camps. Why this omission?
Why too was former President Carter assailed for comparing the the illegally occupied West Bank in the Holy Land to Apartheid in South Africa? Why was he quickly labeled an anti-semite? It seems all too obvious that there exists a double standard.
Ironically, Koreans and Jews have a lot in common. Both share the view that their ethnicity is somehow apart from the rest of humanity and deserves special treatment. Both also have a tendency to overreact to the smallest of slights.
Maybe Israel can retaliate by making a comerical showing Japanese flags flying over Dokdo.
@KimSuBok,
The SWC does speak out on issues not related to German history. It has even spoken about Japan and the Comfort Women issue.
But so what if it hadn’t? Did the SWC make some sort of claim to being the one and only source of outrage for all the world’s bad sh!t? Because if it did, I can see you calling it out on the “omission.” Otherwise, you’ve got nothing to say.
I can’t follow most of what you write. Jews are not an ethnicity. Not all of them look like Woody Allen. And the last thing Jews want is “special treatment.” They’ve had enough “special treatment” over the years.
I don’t have the Billy Goats Gruff on my side to allay or destroy the troll, but jeez Pawi when you use the singular I always skip ahead. Who is the ‘expat’ that troubles you so? You might even have allies over here, if you weren’t so quick to say what it is I am supposed to do next. Which, of course, is to do untold damage to the country you probably haven’t visited in years.
Your ‘expat’ is more than likely a mostly-confused white male who has nothing bad to say about Korea. Even if something under zero escapes his mouth, can it really do any damage? Do you think his uncles are standing around back in New York awaiting his cry to ban everything Asian? Jesus, just when a man thinks expats think too much of themselves, here comes captain planet with an inflated view of the humble expat’s opinion who is itching to tell him that he is obsolete. I’d fade into oblivion if you weren’t goading me so.
Your friend,
엿먹거
114 McGenghis
his speaking of the expat in the singular, as if we were indistinguishable from one another reminds me of a national geographic program. Just imagine Sir David Attenborough’s voice narrating:
“because the expat is not in his natural habitat, you will observe some atypical behaviours not often practiced by his compatriots back home, as well as sometimes unpredictable reactions to this behaviour from the indigenous population.”
“it is spring, and the expat’s outer garments change to suit the weather.”
“the expat often struggles with the spicy food locals enjoy, especially during the first month of acclimatization.”
“to the expat, you, me, and wangkon are all the same. indeed, we have the same father. . .
the expat says some of the filthiest things i’ve ever heard said about koreans.
i have no intention of arguing with him.”
Hey Pawi, why don’t you start up a blog called “Stuff Expats Like”?
Who knows, you might even get a book deal out of it.
Of course, you might have to actually meet and know some real expats for research purposes, which would probably blow all your pet theories right out of the water, but these are minor details that can easily be papered over by someone as clever as yourself.
Meanwhile, I’m thinking of joining on as a marketing advisor to Coreana, and already have a title for their next ad campaign: “Springtime for Kim Jong-il and Korea!”
What do you think? You can even be The Producer!
#98,
“And why expect the West to take the lead?”
Why? Because we’ve done it for everyone else, except those suffering in war-torn Africa. The message this sends is that somehow those people don’t seem to matter because of their skin color and either their religions or their lack of religions. Also, it puts the interests of economics above all else, including human life; therefore, China easily trumps those struggling to survive in impoverished Darfur.
“If you and your students think that Darfur isn’t getting international attention, then you must not pay much attention to the news.” Surely, you jest.
It doesn’t help that in our new electronic world, we get our news and information in 10-30 second sound bytes without getting all the relevant and pertinent facts, or that it comes from newsmedia with their own political agendas. But damn, I know more about the lives of Paris, Brad, Angelina, George, Britney, Milley, and now Beckham and Posh, than I do about those people occupying important seats in Washington who control the future of my country. Who is to blame now that the average person can’t name even a few of our Congressmen, Senators, or cabinet members, much less any of the Supreme Court Justices? Those are some pretty poor priorities that the media has helped instill in us, and they have the gall to complain about the poor choices that are made come election time. Are they actually poor choices or only poor in the plans of their agendas?
Here’s a look at some of their latest work at keeping the public uninformed.
http://frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=FD173CFF-8A57-4949-8007-DC00F3753311
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1717934,00.html
If you read the articles, you’ll see why we don’t get this other side of the President in the media. Dirty pool is an understatement. And in this one area, “the West is taking the lead in certain areas of Africa.”
By the way, my kids only learned of Darfur after I assigned it as a research project to see how much the world has actually advanced since the end of the one, and seemingly only, Holocaust that most everyone remembers because of the on-going PR. Most of my students don’t even watch TV anymore since the cyberspace is where “it’s” at nowadays (and they sure don’t read the expensive local paper), but they were just as appalled as I am by the lack of outrage and action going on over there once they learned of the situation and others like it.
The fact that none of you B-Boys have condemned the ads is not proof that you like it, it does however prove that you have no morals.
Well, I don’t know about the other “B-Boys” but for me, White Guilt is not an essential part of my character.
Expecting the West to jump into Africa, too, is perpetuating Western global domination and imperialism. At least you seem to have taken the burden of bringing peace to Africa off the osteoporic, arthritic shoulders of elderly Holocaust survivors. A genuine multilateral approach with Africans as equal partners, or better yet, leaders, is more likely to be successful.
Prior to the internet, it was fair to complain about the limited news choices, but now there are so many independent and varied sources of information that if all you’re getting is sound bytes and not thoughtful analysis, that’s your fault. If you want to find the truth, you need to get off your butt and seek it out.
Quit reading People magazine. Have you signed up for email newsletters from your state and US Congressional senators and representatives? They’re surprisingly informative with details on sponsorship of bills and votes on key issues. Saves me the trouble of looking up all that information myself. State senators and reps, with smaller constituencies, sometimes answer emails personally. My senator replied to my email about pending legislation within three hours of receiving it, at about 10:30 PM.
The average person himself. As a former social studies teacher, you taught civics, didn’t you? Democracy is an active, not passive, process in which the citizens enjoy rights and bear responsibilities. We are five years into a messy war, the economy is now in a recession, and there is a very interesting presidential race. If those three facts don’t motivate the average American to pay more careful attention to politics, then we deserve the government we get.
And how did you find out about Darfur if all you ever hear about is Brangelina?
GOOD. I own a television but do not have cable or a satellite dish. I only ever watch DVDS. I don’t subscribe to any newspapers either. A waste of money since even small town rags have free online versions.
john from daejon, you’re not towing the party line. that’s why you got handbagged by sonagi. she’s a nationalist.
mcghenis, this is what i read when reading your post:
pawi, can’t you just leave us alone so we can go back to getting drunk and taking your woman while we talk shit all day about your people? please, pawi, please.
forget it!
and madlew, i never excommunicated you. you excommunicated yourself without approval from the pawi. sorry but it doesn’t work that way.
Sonagi’s right, John. The signal-to-noise ratio for news is unfortunately very low, and we only have so many minutes per day to find out what’s going on. An excellent first step is to cut CNN off from any access to your senses.
Sorry Pawi! When you explained the repurcussions of excommunication to the scary clown faced avatar dude you said as an example, “The post above yours has not been read. It’s been passed over.” That was me so I just assumed.
I’ve been feeling so dismal. Suddenly, there’s a renewed spring in my stride.
I don’t think westerners have forgotten what the Japanese did to Asia. We fought the Japanese
Westerners saved Korea and the rest Asia from the Japanese. Korean amnesia at it’s best again.
Many Koreans claim to believe in the false idea of “pure blood” just like the Nazi’s did. What the hell do expect non-Koreans to think?
Combine this with your “wall of Jews” and Nazi bars and Zyclon bar (in Daegu, or was) and well, you get what comes to you.
I might be (doubt it though) a little more understanding if she was wearing a Wehrmacht uniform. Not that most would know the difference.
And yes, white supremists of all types are scumbags just like those Korean nationalists who print “wall of Jews” cartoons.
Oh, the US alone lost close to 100,000 service members during the war in the Pacific, so no, what the Japanese did is not forgotten.
“Westerners saved Korea and the rest Asia from the Japanese.”
With the help of millions of Indians, Chinese and Filipino freedom fighters.
I thought Park Jin Hee was wearing a Wehrmacht officer uniform…
http://www.replicaters.com/ww2germanarmy.html
SS Officer uniforms are generally in black…
http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/uniforms/uniform-ss_officers.gif
Park Jin Hee’s uniform is grey and would appear to be Wehrmacht. But that’s splitting hairs, although the Wehrmacht was technically not a Nazi organization.
I doubt that’s a distinction the producers of the commercial took into account…
“Well, I don’t know about the other “B-Boys” but for me, White Guilt is not an essential part of my character.”
Wow. People should only feel bad about the Holocaust if they are white. Other people don’t have to think about it because it’s a waste of time. Wow. How shallow.
Whatever, bumfromkorea.
Actually, “B-Boys” is used by the Korean media(TV, movies, not newspapers) to designate kyopos. Watch some dramas(“Air City” starring Choi Ji-woo being a recent example) here and you will see kyopos being portrayed as skateboarding, rapping, boom-box carrying “B-boys” with criminal backgrounds, speaking accented Korean. Well bum, you rail against generalization by expats, but even your own generalize you.
“Whatever, bumfromkorea.”
Listen, if you need to learn how people actually speak English (you know, Conversational English where people emphasize parts of the sentences to imply both sarcasm and rhetorical question), I believe Metropolitician is running an awesome educational English website called bombenglish. Look it up.
“Well bum, you rail against generalization by expats, but even your own generalize you.”
Lol… so that justifies each other? You’re once again thinking under the assumption that I think everything Korea does is A-OK! because I’m a gyopo. You are a living proof that prejudice against a group of people is a limitless fountain of ignorance and idiocy.
And now the similarities have become eerie between you and pawi. “Expats”? Really?
oh no, people in the west also trivialize the holocaust.
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/davidpostman/index.html#026357
138. i always love that logic. my own calls me a b-boy therefore others can call me a b-boy.
seriously, do none of you guys get it? we all think the holocaust is wrong. the ad was distasteful. but stuff like this gives ammo for those few who are obviously anti-korea (but for whatever reason, refuse to leave) to trash the koreans as if this ad represents all koreans as supporting nazism. all i’m pointing out is that some of you guys are way overreacting as if korea secretly supports the holocaust.
you have your views and standards. just because korea doesn’t satisfy your standards doesn’t mean korea is a less of a country.
it’s one thing to be outraged by the ad, but another to put down another group of people for being ignorant. ironic.
Well there’s a difference between Pawi and me that you haven’t noticed. Pawi thinks the Holocaust wasn’t a “big deal”, I think it’s wrong. And you don’t see me belittling the Japanese occupation of Korea.
Of course when it comes to kyopo stupidity, well that’s a different matter.
Andy, you’re fundamentally missing the point. You are as bad as pawi because just like pawi, there are groups of people to think alike with preset opinions just because they belong in a group. Pawi believes that the “expats” act, think, and have identical opinions. You believe that the “gyopos” act, think, and have identical opinions.
That’s the similarities, and that’s the fault in both of you. Your last post (#138), for example, already assumed that I thought everything Korea does can’t be wrong. That’s just stupid. Why would you assume that I think like that? Because I’m part of “the gyopo”?
That’s the stupidity behind over-generalization.
Who said that? I think it’s more like that YOU are thinking under the assumption that I am generalizing you. Didn’t I give you advice about this already?
Anyway I was merely stating how the Korean media generalizes kyopos and noting the irony about it. Is there anything wrong with that?
Read my comments, I didn’t say that I believe that kyopos are all alike.
The problem with you is that you are so into generalization that you are quick to jump to conclusions even at the mention of the word. And me thinks that’s stupid.
Lol the fact that you saw irony in that is a good demonstration of your assumption. Nicely done. I’m going to take pawi’s advice now, because logic does seem to be an ineffective approach to prejudice-based sheer stupidity.
I for one would like to thank WangKon for telling us what KAC did with regard to the Rhie Won-bok matter, and give KAC kudos for being so proactive after receiving a clearly nonsensical apology from the author. It is my understanding that that book is still on sale. (I did read his volume 1 on the Netherlands and enjoyed it, though there were some mistakes and generalizations of course.)
As for the rest of this conversation, I am aghast. I have just spent the last hour reading the entire thing from top to bottom and I don’t know what to say. I will start by saying that it is clear to me (white man living in Korea) that the gyopo/overseas Koreans here have all – with the exception of Pawikirogi/Nulji Maripkan/Shim Jong-il – expressed their disapproval of the ad in question. And rightly so. But some people seem to have missed that. It’s sad the level of miscommunication going on here. The noise-to-sound ratio is really bad.
Baeksu has been the most entertaining and at times thought provoking (#52 was golden).
I’d sure love to know who this “expat” is that Pawikirogi keeps arguing with. I have scoured the entire post and comments but can’t find anything by him, but he sure sounds like a nasty piece of work. I stand with Pawikirogi in rejecting what “expat” says because it sounds silly.
Finally, as someone who works in PR for Korea, I would like to give my perspective on this whole stream of Nazi-themed ads/bars/etc and beyond, going back to when Mein Kampf was selling like hotcakes outside the gates of Yonsei University in the 1980s (just ask Prof. Brian R Myers). I think the best way to combat this is to realize “hey, this actually can hurt Korea’s image. Those of us – Korean and non-Korean – who like this country would be doing Korea a service by doing what we can to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” I find that arguments based on rational self interest work much better than “hey, that offends me. stop it.”
So I think it would help Korea and Koreans a lot to be more vigilant about this kind of thing.
You used logic? LOL. Yeah go ahead and take pawi’s advice. Not that it’ll help your position.
Ignore Pawi. He’s as fake as a North Korean history book.
‘Pawi thinks the Holocaust wasn’t a “big deal”…’ lil expat andy
‘as for condemning the k actress, no, i don’t think so. it ain’t a big deal….’ what i actually wrote
the holocaust is a sad reminder of our expertise at brutalizing other human beings. however, the holocaust is not unique and i resent the idea that somehow it was more than what happened to korea. are you trying to reach me or are you simply trying to offend me? if you’re trying to reach me, then, you should understand that i see japan’s attempt to erase korean culture from the face of this earth as being the same intent as the germans had for the jew. that you go out of your way to take a shit on the way i feel about the matter means i’m going to do the same. to me, this thread isn’t about the jews.
jews are not the target of your average expat.
as for knowing one’s history, i’ll just bet your average expat hasn’t read more than one book the on holocaust. i’ve read three, one of which was michael(?) goldhagen’s
‘hitler’s willing excecutioners’. i’m very aware of the holocaust.
but the expat not gonna teach me bout that. i’m not going to have some cowboy teach me a lesson when he tells me to shut the fuck up about something I find important.
you may think that your hypocrisy goes unnoticed but you better think again. i find it offensive and crass.
that’s why i cannot respect the expat.
‘scary clown faced avatar dude…’ maddlew
funny!
bumfromkorea
do you find me offensive and rude?
i find you foolish.
actually arguing with a child.
i’d be surprised if you’re middle-aged or older.
“however, the holocaust is not unique and i resent the idea that somehow it was more than what happened to korea. are you trying to reach me or are you simply trying to offend me? if you’re trying to reach me, then, you should understand that i see japan’s attempt to erase korean culture from the face of this earth as being the same intent as the germans had for the jew.”
Well, to use the example of Polish Jews, of 3.5 million Jews in Poland in 1939, no more than a 100 000 were alive in 1945. The Japanese did not exterminate as 97% to 99% of Koreans. The Japanese Empire was wicked, and they wanted to assimilate Koreans, but they did not – and did not plan to – wipe out each and every member of the race.
Both the intent and outcome were different, despite what you may feel.
‘Both the intent and outcome were different, despite what you may feel.’
what does assimilate mean?
Pawi, write this down, because it will be on the test later. Koreans are lucky. Yes, Pawi, you read that right. Lucky. You only had to deal with the Japanese for 35 years. Ireland got the shaft for 700 fucking years, during which time we had our land stolen and population reduced to virtual serfdom, language close to destroyed, religion discriminated against, and were forced to endure a famine so severe it either killed or drove into diaspora a quarter of the population… while the colony was still exporting food. And the closest thing the Irish ever got to an apology was Tony Blair babbling on in 1997 about how London failed its people by not doing enough during the Potato Famine, which conveniently skips over the fact that the English should have never been there in the first fucking place. And don’t even get me started about Ulster. Yet never, even in my deepest, darkest bout of Guinness-induced St. Patrick’s Day ethnic rage, would I even THINK about comparing the Holocaust and English/British colonization of Ireland.
“what does assimilate mean?”
To absorb. The Japanese were intent on assimilating Koreans into their empire, and for all intents and purposes, making them Japanese. It may have ultimately resulted in a loss (partial or complete, who knows?) of Korean language and culture, but the people would not have been wiped off the face of the planet.
What does “exterminate” mean? Let me save you the trouble of looking it up: To completely destroy. The Nazis seemed intent on killing every single Jewish (Roma, non-Jewish Pole, Jehovah’s Witness, and a few other groups too) man, woman, and child. As in making them extinct. Killing all of them.
#153 Your folks had it easy. My English ancestors had to put up with Irish bitching and moaning for hundreds of years.
““however, the holocaust is not unique and i resent the idea that somehow it was more than what happened to korea. ”
Ok, so where are the ovens?
The Japanese Empire was wicked, and they wanted to assimilate Koreans, but they did not – and did not plan to – wipe out each and every member of the race.
There was even a Japanese Schindler, Chiune Sugihara, who saved an estimated 6000 ~ 10,000 Jews. A rare moment of self-sacrificial courage and honor during a dark period.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10442799
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E0DF1239F931A25756C0A960958260
@153 – I thought you were American. What is this “we” stuff?
‘To absorb. The Japanese were intent on assimilating Koreans into their empire, and for all intents and purposes, making them Japanese. It may have ultimately resulted in a loss (partial or complete, who knows?) of Korean language and culture, but the people would not have been wiped off the face of the planet.’
so there wouldn’t be any koreans just like there wouldn’t be any jews, right?
man, expat logic laid bare! don’t tell me to shut up the next time the jap pm visits yaskuni, ok?
“so there wouldn’t be any koreans just like there wouldn’t be any jews, right?”
Wrong, moron. The Koreans wouldn’t have been dead. The Irish, as the Marmot pointed out, survived centuries of English domination. The Acadiens survived a forced expulsion which may have killed over a third of those deported. Doesn’t seem to me as if 35 years of Japanese colonialism was successful in wiping out Korean culture. The Korean language and culture may have survived a longer occupation. Koreans are a resilient bunch. Maybe you aren’t giving them the credit they deserve?
“don’t tell me to shut up the next time the jap pm visits yaskuni, ok?”
If you were to follow your own Olympic torch protest criteria, why don’t you hop on a plane to Tokyo and put your money where your mouth is? I get the distinct impression you don’t make it back over the Pacific all that often anyway, so you could make a quick protest stop in Japan before coming to Korea to give yourself a long overdue update on all things peninsular.
#153. It did not stop there. When our people came to the US they faced even bigger discrimination amongst the other ethnic groups. The value of the Irishman was looked upon to be lower than the blacks.
As someone whose ancestry is well over 50% Irish, I’m going to say that the Irish need to shut the fuck up. Or, more correctly, the Irish diaspora needs to shut the fuck up.
I’m American, and I love America. I also like Irish music and Irish food. But the English-oppression thing is just a way for Americans, who live in the strongest country in the world and one that’s never suffered under foreign occupation or colonialism, to play their own victim card and pretend like they’ve suffered. It’s probably the lamest whine out there today, and when I hear an American of all people indulging in it, man, I just wanna smack somebody.
Colontos,
You are clearly not from the South.
@#162:
Before you assault some freckled redhead, reread the last sentence of the Marm’s post and have a laugh at his clever weaving of historical facts with parody.
I doubt you’re really Irish-American because if you were, you’d know that boil-it-till-it’s-dead-dead-dead-Irish food sucks.
Ok, hands up which one of you “expats” [lock up your daughters!] ever told poor Pawi Maripkan to shut up when a Japanese PM visited Yasukuni Shrine? He really seems traumatized by this. I think we’d go a long way to healing his pain by resolving this one. So who did it, huh?
@163 and 164 – LOL. Shows how good you folks are at reading people. I am bonafide Irish-American (somewhere between 50% and 75% Irish), born and bred in Louisiana and raised in both Louisiana and North Florida. But don’t feel bad; guess something else about me and see if you’re right.
Jackson, I suppose you’re referring to the Lost Cause? Why don’t you ask me how I feel about that particular bit of historic idiocy?
Sonagi, if you can’t enjoy corned beef or a big and wonderful Irish breakfast, then all I can do is feel sorry for you.
#165 – Pawi isn’t traumatized. He’s just making it up. Business as usual.
#162 The whole point is the Irish are not whining.
#162,
“one that’s never suffered under foreign occupation or colonialism, to play their own victim card and pretend like they’ve suffered.”
The American Revolution hasn’t been omitted from our history books yet, or conveniently re-written as to not offend the dear leader like those here. Right now, HBO is airing a truly great miniseries about the second United States President, John Adams. http://www.hbo.com/films/johnadams/ Yeah, this charter member of the United States, and ex-colonial member, had a privileged life of public service. Take a look and see how this President suffered to create, and keep together, this new democracy. I have doubts that Hillary and Obama would give as much for the country as Adams and McCain have.
I wasn’t aware that Koehler was an Irish name. Learn something every day.
#162: “one that’s never suffered under foreign occupation or colonialism”
Tell that to the Native American Indians, asshole.
(That last word was just tossed in with the hope that this thread will pass the 200-comments mark.)
By the way, will there be any calls for individuals connected with the Coreana Nazi ad to resign as there have been in this recent case?:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/07/world/europe/07formula.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
What’s the record for number of comments in a single thread here, anyway?
As for the re-arranging of facts to mesh with certain groups own agendas.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/weather/2008/04/expert-were-bra.html?loc=interstitialskip
Even science ins’t immune.
No need to guess when you’ve already discussed your ethnicity in another forum.
Did you forget about your Korean mother when you calcuated that 50-75% Irish ancestry? Shame on you, Colontos. You’re no 효자. You’re almost as bad as Frank Sinatra’s mother climbing one rung up the ethnic ladder by calling herself “Mrs. O’Brien” in public. At least you were telling the truth about living in North Florida.
#171: Quoting or linking to USA Today only makes you look silly.
Can we push this thing to 300?
478, during the year I’ve been here.
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2007/04/17/virginia-tech-shooter-a-korean-student-report/
#173: Damn Cho Seung-hui — such a party-pooper!
By the way, King Baeksu, you’re pretty good, but if you want to post numbers like you’re aiming for, then you have to aspire to the level of an old icon, iheartblueballs. His immortal comment #269 on that thread, which got deleted by the political winds then prevailing, I have copied below for your edification (with my apologies to the deleters-in-chief. I’ll understand if you re-delete it).
The words of blueballs:
Tried to stay away from this one…but ultimately failed.
As is the standard for Koreans, two themes eventually emerge: Overreacting douchebaggery and rank hypocrisy.
Despite absolutely zero evidence of a backlash against Koreans, they can’t yell loudly enough about how afraid they are of the coming race war about to be waged against them by whitebread. Quit your goddamn hyperventilating and face reality. This is not 9/11 and you’re not Arab. Koreans don’t have a long history of terrorist attacks against America, and Korean political and religious leaders aren’t publicly calling for the destruction of America. There won’t be a backlash and you idiots don’t have to cower inside your dorm rooms and text each other every 5 minutes to see if you’ve been attacked yet. The worst you might face is some redneck giving you a funny look, which would give you an idea of what whitebread in Korea experiences 10,000 times daily. Call your parents and tell them to go the fuck home. You don’t have to drop out of school and run back to Korea with your tails tucked between your legs, and your community leaders don’t need to tell you keep a low profile and avoid going to the mall. Grow up.
While you’re at it, quit crying about the FTA, the visa waiver program, US-Korea relations, and every other goddamn thing you’re worried is going to collapse. They won’t. American citizens know this was one random nutball, and American politicians aren’t going to let that nutball influence relations with Korea. Get the fuck over yourselves and quit letting your imaginations run wild.
While you’re at it, take a look in the mirror and try to understand why you’re so overwhelmed with irrational fear of retaliation. I’ll give you a clue to the answer: You’re projecting. If this had happened in Korea, the backlash and retaliation would be swift and harsh against the citizens of whatever country a similar killer was from. All you’re doing is imagining what the Korean response would be and ascribing that to Americans, which is complete bullshit. And considering we all saw the backlash from Koreans over a fucking ice skating race and a tank accident, one can imagine what a mass murder would bring, and we all know it wouldn’t be pretty.
And then we move on to the rank hypocrisy. I can’t decide what’s more fucking ridiculous…the chorus of Koreans proclaiming how “Americanized” the shooter is, or the chorus of Koreans declaring that ethnicity shouldn’t be an issue at all.
Because when Hines Ward catches a touchdown pass, ethnicity is a fucking issue. When Sarah Chang releases an album, ethnicity is a fucking issue. When Toby Dawson wins a medal, ethnicity is a fucking issue. When any Korean, half-Korean, or sister-in-law of a cousin of a guy who once met a Korean anywhere in the world gets some positive recognition, ethnicity is a fucking issue. And yet, when a Korean brings a hurricane of negative attention, all of a sudden ethnicity isn’t a fucking issue. Have your fucking cake, or eat it.
Does this mean that the Korean media won’t be asking Cho Seung Hui’s parents what his favorite Korean foods were? Will they let us all know how much he loved dwenjang chiggye, what a great fucking go-stop player he was, and how cute he looked in a hanbok? Because they sure as hell made a big goddamn stink about every obscure detail of Michelle Wie’s life that had to do with her “Koreanness.” Oooooh, holy shit, Michelle Wie’s farts smell like kimchi…isn’t that interesting and doesn’t that make her an authentic Korean? The Chosun Ilbo got to the bottom of it, no doubt. Yet now we hear an anonymous Cheong Wa Dae douchebag tell us that the killer’s ethnicity has nothing to do with the tragedy. Remember that next time you’re vilifying a GI or scapegoating foreigners.
The most I’ve ever seen was 511, in the following:
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/12/31/foreign-teacher-sacrificed-to-the-dokdo-gods/#comments
Unfortunately, the thread was closed by administrative decision. Otherwise, it could well have gone above 700 comments, IMHO.
Taxation without representation != colonialism or occupation. The colonies and the revolution were run by the colonists/occupiers, hence the name.
Gosh… isn’t this horse dead yet? Memphis let Kansas get into overtime… damn…
#175: Linkd, thanks for the copy and paste. That was a great comment — he called it straight up. Shame on the Hole for deleting it.
I basically made the same points myself in my own Chosun Ilbo column on VT and my editors there loved it. Funny how the folks running the Hole would seem to be more nationalistic than the infamous Chosun Ilbo.
Here’s what I wrote three years ago:
“I know of several expat political bloggers in Korea who are almost more nationalistic than Koreans themselves, sort of the way certain Kiwis or Aussies can be more English than the English, just to assuage their own colonial insecurities and somehow ‘prove’ themselves to the mother country.”
The weather here is getting warm again, and there are so many babes walking down Chongno these days it’s insane.
Time to return to reality, I think.
@170 – “Tell that to the Native American Indians, asshole.”
I’m pretty sure you’re just trolling, as is your wont, but obviously I was referring to the USA and not to the Native Americans.
Native Indians, Irish, Jews, you’ve got nothing! Look at what we have to deal with in Oz:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/21/2010551.htm?section=justin
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