Comments on: Tragic. And Disgusting.

By: SeoulPodcast » Blog Archive » Episode 7: Amanda Takes Off…

SeoulPodcast » Blog Archive » Episode 7: Amanda Takes Off… — Sat, 10 May 2008 14:07:54 +0000

[...] Cattle Farmer Commits Suicide After Attempting to Beat His Family to Death [...]

By: Railwaycharm

Railwaycharm — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:00:41 +0000

#24…..You have identified “the bait”

By: stacked

stacked — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:38:19 +0000

*aren’t*

By: stacked

stacked — Thu, 08 May 2008 02:18:47 +0000

Thats because most of the problems originated from President Roh, except they dont realize it because his fuck ups are usually in the news. Their problems seem to come from nowhere ergo the tendency to put the blame on the outside.

By: dogbert

dogbert — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:42:11 +0000

It’s hardly a Korean phenomenon.

What is a Korean phenomenon is the instinct to blame it on outside, preferably foreign, forces.

By: WangKon936

WangKon936 — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:52:41 +0000

Found it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06.....mp;emc=rss

By: WangKon936

WangKon936 — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:45:16 +0000

Although I agree that a frustrated man taking out his family along w/himself is not a uniquely Korean thing I have to say that two of the most shocking incidents two years ago here in Los Angeles did take place in Korean American families. What people were amazed at was that these men didn’t have a history of violence, there wasn’t a home wrecker involved, they seemed upstanding citizens on the surface, etc. I am not Koreanized enough to even begin to understand what’s going on in such an ajossi’s mind.

Speaking of your point about Korean women taking their children w/them. There was this case in upstate NY where a Korean American lady put her two kids in the SUV and drove off a cliff. Something about thinking that her husband was cheating on her. She died, but luckily her kids survived. Can’t find the link to that incident yet…

By: dokdoforever

dokdoforever — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:11:35 +0000

Well, just talked with a real Korean who explained that this tendency for Korean men committing suicide to try to take the family with them was due to the man’s feeling that he “owned” the other members of the family, that they were a part of him. Women in Korea share similar feelings about ‘owning’ their children and thus may try to kill their kids before committing suicide, but they do not try to kill their husbands before the act. So, looks like it has to do with an authoritarian family structure… which is not confined to Korea, as that sick Austrian guy with the basement dungeon demonstrates.

By: Granfalloon

Granfalloon — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:35:14 +0000

Wow. They mentioned the US beef imports twice before they mention the attacks on the family at all. Twice afterwards, too. I’m no Edward R. Murrow, but this seems like some shoddy journalism.

Or perhaps not. Maybe the Hankyoreh got their intended message through loud and clear. And unencumbered by pesky “facts.”

By: dokdoforever

dokdoforever — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:21:32 +0000

Most industrialized countries were once farming based economies — and farming affected society’s family structure, traditions and culture. Farmers can draw on that tradition to win support for trade protection and subsidies. And maybe even more important, in the industrialized world they have advantages of smallness in overcoming the collective action problem, via Mancur Olsen’s logic. Notice that farmers successfully receive protection (in the US, Japan, EU, etc) only when they are a very small minority of the population. Recently, Vietnam and Thailand, where agriculture takes a larger share of GDP, adopted trade policies penalizing their own farmers by halting rice exports, which force farmers to sell at a lower domestic prices. And Robert Bates writes about primarily rural African countries in the 60s and 70s which taxed their own agricultural exports. So, the preferences Korean farmers enjoy are really just a sign that the country has joined the ranks of the world’s advanced economies.