Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

I detect a certain anti-Berkeley prejudice among the posters on this thread. Shameful! That's probably because they couldn't get accepted there and are just holding a grudge. It's a human failing. We all have them. Jealousy/envy is not a pretty emotion but it is 'honest' in a sad kind of way. You can't really blame them...

Anyway.

[Nowhere Man]

[Nowhere Man]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Nowhere Man]

With initial silliness covered, I thought we might get down to the truly awesome idea at the root of this thread.

I didn't put as much thought time as I'd like to into making the ultimate list of protesters, but I'll throw out a bit of criteria for my choices:

-Publicity- you can't be the ultimate protester without coverage

-Endurance- you had to make a lasting change

-Innovation- your idea had to be about something decidedly different

-Cajones- Perseverence in the face of unbeatable odds. You had to take on something big

That said, my list is probably slanted toward my being American, but I make mine in the interest of seeing what others come up with.

Here goes:


10. Th�ch Quảng Đức- Forget all the protests in America; this Buddhist monk's statement and sacrifice are, I think, far more resonating from an era full of protests

9. Martin Luther- Any time you can split one monolithic system into two is definitely a feat.

8. Joan of Arc- And then the new system starts to look like the old system

7. Jesus- I think it's nigh impossible to think of another person whose death at the hands of a state has had such an impact on history.

6. Galileo- Ushered in the voice of reason

5. Rosa Parks- It's hard to put one face to the Civil Rights movement, but rather than go with leaders with masses of followers behind them, I'll take the one lady who chose to go it alone

4. Thomas Paine- Again, hard to put one face to the American Revolution, but I see Common Sense as the thesis statement and the Declaration of Independence more as an afterthought.

NOTE: Of all the "founding fathers", he definitely got the raunchy end (in his lifetime).

3. Che Guevara- He might be the Kurt Cobain of what is essentially a century-long Communist movement, but his young death also keeps him at the spearhead of the idea. After all, Communism in and of itself is not a bad idea, it just fails miserably in practice.

Who's to say if he'd have gone a Castro route if he'd survived?

Either way, an idealistic martyr.

2. Tank Guy, Tiannenman Square- Probably too high on my list with respect for history as a whole, but, in my lifetime, I do not know of a more courageous display of protest. Even if you're a strident pro-PRC-er, you have to admit that staring down a column of tanks on your lonesome takes guts that I can only hope i have if i find myself in a similar situation.

1. Ghandi- You have people like Thoreau who formulated what is now the modern concept of civil disobediance, but Henry David wasn't facing an empire. Bear in mind, we're talking no broadcast TV to show what's happening. That's cajones. No empire had been sinceforth thwarted without military might. That's innovation. His statement essentially turned the British away from notions of empire and his impact spread around the world.

[Nowhere Man]

[yawarakaijin]

[bacasper]

[Nowhere Man]

Hehe. Could be.

Huevos Rancheros. Yarbels.

Big cajones might still be helpful in the event of incontinence.

Point taken.