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Korea: The Impossible Country
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Dave Chance



Joined: 30 May 2011

PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 7:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

TheUrbanMyth wrote:
Quote:
Which is exactly why he isn't representative of most ex-pats...



Savant wrote:
I don't see where anyone said that his view is warped; just written from his own perspective which may not be absolutely correct.

.

'
Arguable of course but if he isn't representative of most expats it could be claimed that his view is warped as he is clearly different from the norm.

That aside when I see somebody making remarks like "he isn't representative of most ex-pats" I tend to question the basis for this claim because quite obviously no single person is friends with/knows most ex=pats in Korea anyway. That would be quite a feat considering there is well over a million or so.


Simple question- do most ex-pats express themselves fluently in colloquial Korean and write articles on Korea for a major weekly publication?

Might be a slight chance that if you've got a nice gig like that you're not going to want to rock the boat too much.

And to be clear, I never used the word 'warped'. Someone else (Mr. Laughing ) tried to twist my words up in his reply.
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newb



Joined: 27 Aug 2012
Location: Korea

PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 6:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dave Chance wrote:

Simple question- do most ex-pats express themselves fluently in colloquial Korean and write articles on Korea for a major weekly publication?

Might be a slight chance that if you've got a nice gig like that you're not going to want to rock the boat too much.

And to be clear, I never used the word 'warped'. Someone else (Mr. Laughing ) tried to twist my words up in his reply.


I do. Well...I try to outside of work. I don't do it at work because I want to avoid the stupidity that goes around at my work place. If I wrote articles in Korean, most Koreans would agree with me. However, if they knew it was a waygook that wrote it, they'd disagree and try to hang me. Razz
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everything-is-everything



Joined: 06 Jun 2011

PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 9:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Code:
Daniel: One thing I really like to talk to people about is old style Korean music from the 60�s and 70s. Before Park Chung-hee clamped down on it it was really good. Do you know Shin Joong-hyun (known as the �Godfather� of Korean rock)? He�s about 75 now, I interviewed him for the book. He�s a really cool guy, a real gentleman. He got sent to jail in 1975 for smoking weed. I�ve spoken to a lot of older people about this and apparently it was a lot more common than people realise. Peter Underwood, who was born in Korea, was telling me that there used to be a time when KT&G, during a national tobacco shortage, started using hemp in cigarettes. But then the American government leaned on Korea to ban it and to stamp it out. The Peace Corps were sent to go around the country pulling up weed plants.




Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked

God damn Americans! Laughing
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KimchiNinja



Joined: 01 May 2012
Location: Gangnam

PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 10:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The guy seems of above average intelligence, he observes to positive which in fact exists, and so of course all the haters are going to hate. Their life sucks and so they want someone to write about how sucky KR is so they can transfer the blame away from themselves.
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KimchiNinja



Joined: 01 May 2012
Location: Gangnam

PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 10:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hiamnotcool wrote:
"Chincha: How about three words to describe Korea?

Daniel: Human, extreme and fun."

Human?
It sounds like a passive aggressive racist answer, Korea is human...X country is not human? I realize I'm probably reading too much into this but it was just a really poorly thought out answer.


"Human", good way to describe it. The people here are human, more so than industrialized societies who have started to depart from their humanity. Emotional, fun, intuitive...these are human characteristics.

Who cares about "thinking out an answer", his answer is very human!
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Seoulman69



Joined: 14 Dec 2009

PostPosted: Sun Nov 18, 2012 10:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looks like an interesting book. Early in the interview he admitted to keeping the book positive so that shouldn't be a surprise to any one.

The quote:
Quote:
Daniel: People always know about han � sadness � but there�s also a lot of joy in Korea. Old people back home seem really depressed. Old people here, you see them dancing in the streets and getting pissed in the daytime. I hope I�m like that when I�m 70.

intrigued me.
With the suicide rate among older Koreans soaring this seems like an out of touch thing to say. Does he also hope to be collecting cardboard when he's 70?

Quote:
The debate on staring will never end because it is so dependent on each person's perspective. Some see staring everywhere, consider it to be aggressive or mean spirited while others do not see much of it or see it as curiosity by locals

While some see it all the way from Canada yet still spout their opinions as if they are more valid than people that live in Korea. Laughing

Quote:
Their life sucks and so they want someone to write about how sucky KR is so they can transfer the blame away from themselves.

And some people are trolls who lie on message boards. Such is life.
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PatrickGHBusan



Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -

PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 5:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ah Seoulman...seriously I go to Korea each year (more than once in recent years) for work and for a longer family visit (usually around 5 weeks). As you know I lived there long enough to form an opinion, just like you.

We were there just last summer for 6 weeks or so. We traveled all around Korea (lots of family and friends to visit). I move around with 2 mixed kids and my Korean wife and staring does happen but honestly not that much. Then again, I do not spend my time out in public seeking out potential stares...in fact, from my very first few months in Korea, I put "staring" into the who cares category. If some idiot older guy wants to give me the evil eye, let him, what does that change in my life?
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nautilus



Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!

PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

tallullahelle wrote:
Highly recommend the book! I really enjoyed it, so much of the information he got from the interviewees is fascinating.


So its just a collection of interview transcripts?


Thats not exactly appealing....
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PatrickGHBusan



Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -

PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

nautilus wrote:
tallullahelle wrote:
Highly recommend the book! I really enjoyed it, so much of the information he got from the interviewees is fascinating.


So its just a collection of interview transcripts?


Thats not exactly appealing....


Seems to me more than that but it is based on some interviews (he is a journalist afterall...).

I will read it this week and see...
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Seoulman69



Joined: 14 Dec 2009

PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 6:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
ah Seoulman...seriously I go to Korea each year (more than once in recent years) for work and for a longer family visit (usually around 5 weeks). As you know I lived there long enough to form an opinion, just like you.

We were there just last summer for 6 weeks or so. We traveled all around Korea (lots of family and friends to visit). I move around with 2 mixed kids and my Korean wife and staring does happen but honestly not that much. Then again, I do not spend my time out in public seeking out potential stares...in fact, from my very first few months in Korea, I put "staring" into the who cares category. If some idiot older guy wants to give me the evil eye, let him, what does that change in my life?


Ah....Homer. 6 whole weeks. Try the whole year mate. For 6 years. Your comments are laughable considering you haven't lived in the country for 4 years. You hark on about these flying visits you do as if they are comparable to living in Korea but really you're an out of touch blowhard. You're a CD in an MP3 world. You're biased opinions always lacked credibility and it's become even more pronounced in the last couple of years.

I wouldn't even mind it so much if you treated other peoples opinions with some respect but your attitude is so condescending it defies belief. The mere fact that you wave around the "I visit Korea for 6 weeks a year" as if that justifies your posts is pathetic.

There are some posters here that I don't agree with but at least they are in the country dealing with the stress of living here everyday. I can respect that. You're attitude and inability to admit when you are wrong makes it very difficult for anyone here to respect anything you post.
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hiamnotcool



Joined: 06 Feb 2012

PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 7:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

KimchiNinja wrote:
hiamnotcool wrote:
"Chincha: How about three words to describe Korea?

Daniel: Human, extreme and fun."

Human?
It sounds like a passive aggressive racist answer, Korea is human...X country is not human? I realize I'm probably reading too much into this but it was just a really poorly thought out answer.


"Human", good way to describe it. The people here are human, more so than industrialized societies who have started to depart from their humanity. Emotional, fun, intuitive...these are human characteristics.

Who cares about "thinking out an answer", his answer is very human!


Your credibility went out the window when you implied that Korea is not an industrialized society.
The author seems like a good guy that wants to show the positive side of Korea. I just think he slipped up when answering that question. It's possible he meant it as a counterpoint to the people that claim Koreans are "robotic" or don't think outside the box. On the other hand, you just took a racist interpretation of his comment and ran with it. Please, go ahead and name the societies you don't consider human. Let's hear it. why don't we get into this since you seem to believe Korean society is somehow more "human" than another society.
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TheUrbanMyth



Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired

PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Seoulman69 wrote:
Quote:
ah Seoulman...seriously I go to Korea each year (more than once in recent years) for work and for a longer family visit (usually around 5 weeks). As you know I lived there long enough to form an opinion, just like you.

We were there just last summer for 6 weeks or so. We traveled all around Korea (lots of family and friends to visit). I move around with 2 mixed kids and my Korean wife and staring does happen but honestly not that much. Then again, I do not spend my time out in public seeking out potential stares...in fact, from my very first few months in Korea, I put "staring" into the who cares category. If some idiot older guy wants to give me the evil eye, let him, what does that change in my life?


Ah....Homer. 6 whole weeks. Try the whole year mate. For 6 years. Your comments are laughable considering you haven't lived in the country for 4 years. You hark on about these flying visits you do as if they are comparable to living in Korea but really you're an out of touch blowhard. You're a CD in an MP3 world. You're biased opinions always lacked credibility and it's become even more pronounced in the last couple of years.

I wouldn't even mind it so much if you treated other peoples opinions with some respect but your attitude is so condescending it defies belief. The mere fact that you wave around the "I visit Korea for 6 weeks a year" as if that justifies your posts is pathetic.

There are some posters here that I don't agree with but at least they are in the country dealing with the stress of living here everyday. I can respect that. You're attitude and inability to admit when you are wrong makes it very difficult for anyone here to respect anything you post.



He lived in Korea for 11 years prior to leaving. I think he's been here long enough to judge the frequency of staring.

OR are you saying the staring problem has gotten worse?...Since that's the only case in which your "out-of-touch" accusation holds water.

And as for your last sentence why not just come out and say "me" instead of "anyone here" ?

Unless of course you believe that you speak for "anyone here"?
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Seoulman69



Joined: 14 Dec 2009

PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 9:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
He lived in Korea for 11 years prior to leaving. I think he's been here long enough to judge the frequency of staring.

OR are you saying the staring problem has gotten worse?...Since that's the only case in which your "out-of-touch" accusation holds water.


More nonsense from another apologist. What i'm saying is that having been out of the country for 4 years his understanding of what it currently feels like to live in Korea is out of date. That goes for everything related to living in Korea, including staring.
It seems to me you're being deliberately obtuse and trying to troll. Therefore your posts will be ignored and treated with the respect they deserve. None.
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Koharski
Mod Team
Mod Team


Joined: 20 Jul 2009

PostPosted: Mon Nov 19, 2012 10:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, cool it. If someone's opinion is different then yours, that is not license to toss out the names and insults. Deal with the fact that different people see things differently.

Koharski
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nautilus



Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!

PostPosted: Tue Nov 20, 2012 8:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hate it that this book is only available in hardback.

If it was in paperback I'd buy it.
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