First, an apology of sorts for the lack of posting/interaction: been hella busy with several major projects. I’m also working on the blog aggregator — the plugin for that is dead, and I’m looking for alternatives. I thank you for your understanding.
- The KT’s Sunny Lee takes another look at bibimbap nationalism. From the piece, “As Korea is seriously engaged in the business of sculpting its international image and as it now stands as one of the world’s major economies that hosts the G20 meeting this year, it may as well study more objectively how it is viewed in the eyes of others, including whether what it perceives as patriotic expression is seen as raw nationalism.“
- So what makes Korea a skating powerhouse?
- This, children, is how you Canada-bash: “Canada wanted to Own The Podium at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. This morning they can put their maple leaf stamp on something more instantly tangible: the nondescript little box carrying the lifeless body of Nodar Kumaritashvili back to his home in Bakuriani, Georgia. Made in Canada, it should say. Made by the perversion of the Olympic movement for national gain; made by a culture of worthless aggrandisement and pride.“
- You know, I actually agree with the Hankyoreh on letting civil servants — including teachers — join political parties, but stuff like this really makes it hard sometimes.
- The Dong-A Ilbo examines the difficult lives of Itaewon’s middle-aged transgender population. You know, with all the bleeding-heart stories they run about irregular laborers, part-time workers, public sector unionists, illegal immigrants and the like, I wonder how the Hani forgot about them. Oh, and some gallery in Daehangno is doing a transgender photo exhibit.
{ 36 comments… read them below or add one }
The tragedy aside -they shouldn’t have made the Whistler track that fast- here’s a response to the Canadian bashing:
http://www.nationalpost.com/most-popular/story.html?id=2573551
I’d extend this to the Slate as well.
‘Without bridging this gap, Koreans will continue to scratch their heads, wondering why foreign expats in Korea complain that they are compelled to master “the art of criticizing Korea without offending Koreans.”’
sunny lee, journalist
BULLSHIT! there are legions of foreigners who seem to carry around degrees on how best to offend koreans. what he really means is they become experts at using a forked tongue.
And, how will the British media respond, wait for it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympic_games/vancouver_2010/8521728.stm
Looks like Colbert was ripping into the Canadians too
BTW I loved to see Shani Davis win the 1000m. He looked like a real champion material.
Much before the Georgian luger’s death, there were a few pieces in the Korean media because the training athletes were warning each other about the quality of the Canadian ice on the rink, and the design of the ski jump (I’m not sure of this bit – which jump it was) etc. Would have been dismissed it as “meh, it’s just the Koreans again” here except the death brought it to light.
And this maybe be why.
@#2,
‘BULLSHIT! there are legions of foreigners who seem to carry around degrees on how best to offend koreans. what he really means is they become experts at using a forked tongue.’
I don’t want to be labeled a hater just because I criticize something. If I didn’t enjoy and appreciate living in Korea I would just move somewhere else, but… ‘Forked tongues’? I can only speak for myself but I think it is more a case of trying consciously not to offend my culturally-sensitive hosts, yet still occasionally, somehow, failing.
As always it is cultural.
‘It’s universal that people bristle when their representative national dish is belittled by others.’
Who the hell conducted that poll? The bibimbap controversy? Seriously? This is the sort of thing that we as foreigners have to learn about in order to function productively and successfully in Korea. Maybe, just maybe, some of us grew up differently.
Australian: G’day, nice to meet ya.
Englishman: Aussie, eh? Another lowlife convict – banished from the motherland to the colonies.
Australian: Yeah… Nice weather, beaches, lots of land… it’s bloody terrible – and we really miss the cold pies, warm beer and all that other crap you call food.
Englishman: Yeah? Well we kicked your ass in the World Cup.
Australian: Fair enough. How ’bout a beer then?
Believe me, it’s not a forked tongue – it’s a held tongue. My culture (or lack thereof as was explained to me in a recent post) raised me somewhat differently, and as long as mutual respect is observed, that’s no less valid than any other culture. I feel it is not Korea-bashing to speak my mind about things I would say in my own or any other country. Nobody jumps up and down when I speak about all my positive experiences in Korea.
“foreign expats” ???
What kind of ‘journalism’ is this?
Sorry, is this the old Pawi, or the new, sensitive Pawi?
(Can someone please link to that thread wherein people where throwing Pawi bouquets instead of brickbats for all his newfound maturity, prompting him to say that he had learned a lot and had a newfound perspective on expats, given to him by a helpful foreigner? Did that thread really exist, or was it some cheese and alcohol fueled dream I had one night?)
i read some disturbing blogs these past few days. you go look at blogs like ‘lousy korea’ and link to the other sites linked there. do you really think these people go around korea saying the things they say on their blogs? do you think gerry does? my use of ‘forked tongue’ was appropriate.
being respectful doesn’t mean i have to agree, hamel. btw, how do you feel about blanket statements re koreans. that’s a rarity here, right?
If that’s the case, I don’t think Pawi is talking about you.
Really? Entire LEGIONS? That’s a lot.
There will always be a small minority of shit stirrers. Does a handful of angry, socially inept morons necessarily equate to “legions of foreigners”? You know there are thousands of us here in Korea, just living, working and raising our families the best we can.
Personally, I don’t read ‘lousy korea’. It sounds lousy. And if it makes you so angry, you shouldn’t either unless it provides you with the fodder you need to maintain the distain. Really, if you do feel the need to read crap like that to stay so angry then no amount of positive interactions you have in the real world will ever lift your spirits.
Well, the Legion of Doom only has 13 members. Even accounting for the plural, I think I can easily get 26 Legionnaires (as it were) just from my inbox.
Pawi, why would you read such blogs apart from entertainment values ?
If it doesn’t entertain, don’t read, unless you’re an emotional masochist, if you are so affected.
Aren’t you quite old? Just dismiss them as children half your age.
Problem is, when I think of Gerry I cannot yet dismiss him as a geriatric, as he’s probably twice my age only.
‘Really, if you do feel the need to read crap like that to stay so angry’ intervals
‘i read some disturbing blogs these past few days.’ pawi
i don’t read their blogs everyday. i read their blogs on ONE day. moreover, i wasn’t looking for said blogs; i was actually visiting roboseyo’s blog and ‘lousy korea’ left such a venom spewed comment, i clicked on her blog. from there, i clicked on other lousy blogs.
and fyi, here are the blogs i visit frequently:
marmot’s hole
roboseyo
diffism
rok sojourn
kushibo’s place
eat your kimchi
korea pop wars
not a very angry lot wouldn’t you say?
ps please visit my own blog by clicking my name. there, i just make minced meat out of ‘the expat’.
you’re trying to silence my opinion. i won’t let you do that.
But they are entitled to their opinions too? They want to write about what they feel in Korea, what they experienced, by their limited perceptions, and freely vent. They should be able to do so, right? Everyone needs to vent. You don’t need to feel personally attacked or angry on behalf of the Koreans at every single remark because that’s just waste of time. Especially the ones who just have one-angle, because that angle is not going to be changed by you.
“One of the great misunderstandings of the last few decades has been this creeping notion that free speech means we must all sit in polite silence while hideous opinion is spewed everywhere around us.”
You cannot drown spew out with spew though, and hideous to you but not to them. I think even the fact that they have a bad opinion of Korea means that actually they were subconsciously expecting something much better, and think it’s a grand old compliment.
I flinch when I hear “Wow, Korea! It’s so much nicer than I thought it was! ” thinking she/he must have thought it was a right 똥통,
yuna-sshi, you know what ‘건전가요’ is? here’s a line from one of my favorites:
‘너와 내가 아니면 누가 지키려….’
Pawi -
I go to your site on occasion but your comment section seems to be turned off. I can fully understand some of your anger…..I went looking around the blogsphere and I am with you – there are a lot of angry racist people out there…..best thing – just avoid them
i do, mr neff. i wasn’t looking for those blogs as i said above. i just happened upon them. and yes, they really made me angry.
as for my comment section being turned off, as i’ve said, i’m going through some rough shit right now and i just can’t deal with the comments left by otakus and japanese nationalists right now. that’s why there isn’t much going on there these days.
ps i forgot to add ‘zenkimchi’ to the list of blogs i frequent on a regular basis.
Wow. Blame my morbid curiosity. I read Lousy Korea’s blog, and it really is hideous. Honestly, Pawi exercised a lot of restraint.
Here is the most positive post from that blog, in its entirety:
Even Yie Eun-Woong — a despicable piece of shit in my estimation — acknowledged that only a small fraction of NSETs are problematic and there has not been nearly any problem with NSETs in the Seoul area recently. This girl makes Yie look like Nelson Mandela.
aak, it’s funny but that’s the one i remember the most. i was also shocked to realize she was a woman.
I read her blog too and must admit I was far from impressed and the word “woman” doesn’t seem to apply in describing her. Someone might want to pass on her blog to Yie
번쩍 깬다…와…저러다 한번 디지게 맞는거 아닌지 걱정되네요. 아줌마들은 벨도 없나. ..
That quote reminds me of a orientation booklet given to me by my first employer in Korea. It included a short paragraph listing things Western employees didn’t like about the country, for example, spitting, not queuing, and rolling up pant legs on a hot day. I read the list and thought, “If these are the things that bug foreigners, Korea must be a great place to live.” Unfortunately, the paragraph got deleted when the booklet was edited.
lousy korea is a fraud. he/she used to have on her profile that she worked for a financial company and if not for her company placing/forcing her in korea, she would get the hell out of the country. now, her posts imply that she’s an english teacher. to me, she had that profile to defend against any people telling her to leave the country if she hated it so much. but it looks like maybe, just maybe, she is choosing to stay in the so-called lousy country.
and there is korean rum diary. seriously, there are people like this? he wrote how he’s sick of koreans’ amazement with his ability to use a chopstick. he argues, since he’s been in korea for two years, of course he knows how to use a chopstick. this is so funny. first, he’s been in the country for two years!!! unless hogwons do 2-year contracts, he CHOSE to stay in the country after his first contract ended. second, if he’s been in korea for two years and thus, using chopsticks should not be a big deal, then why hasn’t he learned the language yet?
anyway, i understand expats’ frustration with their time in korea. but these two people have serious mental issues.
Hahaha… Brit tries to use (inferior) European sausages to control the iPhone!
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article7032115.ece
Korean Rum Diary is gbever’s favorite k-blog. Nuff said.
I’m with pawi*. I have met a fuck-ton of expats here who seem like reasonable enough people until they talk about Korea, at which point they suddenly sound like Edward Norton in “American History X” (before prison). That there are “legions” of expats here who don’t know their ass from a hole in ground is obvious: a rational person could not argue against it. They’re not criminals, child-molesterers, or even, necessarily, bad teachers. But they are idiots when it comes to understanding the world around them, and they were probably just as idiotic in their home countries (hey, somebody keeps buying all those lottery tickets).
What a rational person could do is argue that (s)he is not one of them. That’s it, end of story.
* I know, weird, right? It’s like we’re meeting in the middle. Creepy.
The Korean (#12) wrote:
“Well, the Legion of Doom only has 13 members.”
Yeah, but each member is possessed by somewhere in the range of 230.7692 to 461.5385 demons, so it really is a legion. Of doom, no less.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
That’s okay Rob. Remember, this blog writes itself…
This is nice…and free. http://www.nero.com/eng/downloads-nero9-free.php
For those of you still using out-dated technology.
granfalloon, lol.
Hey Robert
Let me know if you find anything to replace the Australian RSS reader. I too have been looking for ages for something to replace it. Simplepie ain’t that simple.
Philip
“So what makes Korea a skating powerhouse?”
The strongest skaters in Canada, Russia, and the United States play hockey?
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