Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cwflaneur]

A: To pick up some chicks!


Q: What did he say to the girls when he rescued them?
A: "I know how awful it's been for you... I too know what it's like to be held captive by a dictator who wears women's sunglasses."


Q: After returning to the States, what did he say when people asked about his trip?
A: He shrugged and said "just another Asian happy ending."


If you got any more, post em

[Manner of Speaking]

A few years ago Barbara Ehrenreich wrote an interesting essay about her experiences with breast cancer, how women receiving cancer therapy are given things like teddy bears and crayons to help them cope, in a strange form of infantile regression in the face of adversity. "Possibly the idea is that regression to a state of childlike dependency puts one in the best frame of mind with which to endure the prolonged and toxic treatments. Or it maybe that, in some versions of the prevailing gender ideology, femininity is by its nature incompatible with full adulthood-a state of arrested development. Certainly men diagnosed with prostate cancer do not receive gifts of Matchbox cars."

The same process seems to be going on here. Everybody is happy "the girls" are free...even though "the girls" are married women in their 30s, one of whom is a mother. During their imprisonment we saw the same picture of the two splashed across the media over and over again...a strange picture of Euna Ling wearing a little too much lipstick, left shoulder raised against her chin, hooded eyes gazing down at the camera in a strangely come-hither look. Is this an appropriate picture of a professional journalist in a foreign jail? Imagine Brit Hume languishing in the same circumstances...and the media release a pic of Brit with pouting lips Mick-Jagger style. Who would take it seriously?

And strangely enough, now that the two journalists are released we see much less photogenic pictures of the two of them in the media now, almost as if now that they are free, we are now "allowed" to see what they normally look like.

Meanwhile, a boatload of South Korean fishermen languish in a North Korean jail for accidentally crossing the Northern Limit Line last week. You have to wonder how much did looks and gender played into how the public and the US and North Korean administrations responded to the whole situation. And everybody - well, a lot of people - seems to be holding Lee and Ling a little less responsible for getting themselves into their predicament. Or at least, subconsciously, judging their actions a little less severely than perhaps a male journalist would be held.

Isn't there a little bit of "infantilizing the woman in trouble" going on here as well? Uncle Bill, or Prince-to-the-Rescue Bill - whatever male archetype floats your boat - gets to play the hero, with supporting cast Prince Al and Prince Obama working modestly behind the scenes.

I'm glad to hear that a lot of people think that Lee and Ling should be held more accountable for their actions. They cost their government a lot of money and complicated the international politics of a volatile region. And they got treated a hell of a lot better than MANY others would be treated if they were to find themselves in similar circumstances. I personally think their journalism "careers" should end today.

[djsmnc]

A: To get to the other side!

[Hater Depot]

On other comment boards on the internet, I see people calling them bitches etc and wishing them to rot in North Korean prisons. I've had to delete a few such offensive posts from Korea Beat. I don't think such scorn would be heaped on male journalists who got caught.

Also, they are simply the first journalists to get caught doing this. As I recall, the Chosun Ilbo and National Geographic have both had journalists cross the border and return footage of doing so. Entire documentaries have involved very dangerous footage being shot, such as Children of the Secret State where hidden camera work was done deep in North Korean territory.

Ling and Lee are being vilified by some only for being caught. Had they succeeded we would all be discussing their awesome footage and happily pontificating on it. In light of that I think the reaction is very hypocritical.

[Manner of Speaking]

[yawarakaijin]

It no different than when a pretty girl gets murdered/kidnapped versus a not so pretty girl getting murdered/kidnapped. Guess which one stays in the headline a hell of a lot longer.

It's no different than the reaction people have when watching a chicken being killed versu seeing a cute, little baby seal getting clobbered.


For some reason we are hardwired to feel more empathy for cute or pretty things. I wonder what the biological benefit to this is, or if it can wholeheartedly be attributed to media exposure throughout a single lifetime.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Q: Why did cwflaneur join Dave's ESL cafe on Aug. 4th?

A: To make a joke about Bill Clinton on Aug. 6th!

I like my joke better...

[cwflaneur]

[Ya-ta Boy]

[On the other hand]

It seems that speculation that the two reporters did in fact cross into North Korea illegally was not unwarranted...