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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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 Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:05 am Post subject: |
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| Bog Roll wrote: |
| eamo wrote: |
| The main difference is that the Irish are a relaxed people who don't like to hurry and see work as a means to enjoy life, unlike Koreans who have given work the top priority in their lives. |
I don't find the Irish as 'relaxed' per se - yeah there are some cool Irish people but there are a lot of Irish people who are anything but 'relaxed' especially if you live in Belfast. (as you know yourself - and I am not talking about just sectarianism issues)
Also - I find a lot of the Irish abroad incredibly smug - 'oh, the world loves us because we are not the English' when in fact - the English, Scots, Irish and the Welsh are all very similar in character. |
Yeah. It's gets hard to be relaxed sometimes when bombs and bullets are going off and people you know are being murdered!
Belfast does have a culture of violence in many areas. I know that only too well. It's one of the main reasons I stay in Korea!
The smug Irish abroad annoy me too. I don't wear the piece of turf I was born on as a badge. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 12:39 am Post subject: |
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| beercanman wrote: |
| And for a small population, some pretty damn good literature and music has come out of Ireland. Many much larger countries don't even come close. |
In all fairness Korean cinema has proved surprisingly popular internationally, as have their TV dramas. You can't say that about many countries. |
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beercanman
Joined: 16 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:26 am Post subject: |
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| ^^That's true. I just wonder how Ireland has produced so much great stuff. Is there another country under 5 million that comes anywhere close? Some cultures are just more artsy I suppose. |
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beercanman
Joined: 16 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 2:29 am Post subject: |
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| tfunk wrote: |
I've never had so many opinions about politics, society etc. until I came to Korea. Maybe it strikes some Koreans as being hypocritical, when we rant about the flaws in their system yet our own systems are far from perfect. The other reason it might be hypocritical is because it is 'safe' for us to point out the flaws in the Korean system as there is very little possibility for action on our part.
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I believe foreigners are probably even more critical than most locals, having a different worldview and all. This could apply to Asians in North America or Africans in China as well. |
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drydell
Joined: 01 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:17 am Post subject: |
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I had some of my students ask me to do a spoken recording of 'Casualty' by Seamus Heaney..
Despite pointing out the irony that the poem was about Bloody Sunday and I was English they were quite happy with that  |
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morrisonhotel
Joined: 18 Jul 2009
Location: Gyeonggi-do
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| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 3:31 am Post subject: |
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| beercanman wrote: |
| ^^That's true. I just wonder how Ireland has produced so much great stuff. Is there another country under 5 million that comes anywhere close? Some cultures are just more artsy I suppose. |
Scotland is only 60,000 over 5m (though we're probably better known for philosophy and science). |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:07 am Post subject: |
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Korea is the Wales, Ireland,Cornwall and Scotland of Asia. 
To be honest the analogy fits because all the above countries are hard-drinking hyper-nationalistic small countries with an historic resentment at being dominated by a stronger and more powerful neighbour country. To compensate they have become insular, manufactured protective and self-aggrandising myths of racial purity and culture, as well as prided themselves on keeping foreigners out and fighting to viciously preserve their unique culture and language.As well as publicising anything they've invented as being of major importance to the universe. The same sense of victimisation, stubbornness and bravery against overwhelming odds.
You probably find the same sort of mentality in places like Quebec, the Basque country, Kuwait, Taiwan, Poland, and any of the small newly independent former Soviet republics. Basically anywhere that have had to really struggle to retain their identities. |
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beercanman
Joined: 16 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 4:30 am Post subject: |
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^^
Good points made there Julius. Spent one year in Taiwan (2001-2). Nothing like that was apparent to me. One thing was passports saying "Republic of China" not "Taiwan"...internationally, even at airports, Taiwanese might thus easily be mistaken for Mainlanders. Never mind what the Mao lovers say, it is a different country. My sense was they don't really give much of a crap about the PRC, view it a different country (rightly so I'd say) and they seemed pretty much at ease with themselves, a relatively rich democracy. I like the Taiwanese more than the mainlanders. They're simply more advanced and easier to relate to. Did not get the vibe they felt dominated by anybody, a small island, but one that clicks along just fine in its own way.
One year and superficial knowledge, however, may not have dug very deep. |
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tfunk
Joined: 12 Aug 2006
Location: Dublin, Ireland
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| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Julius wrote: |
To be honest the analogy fits because all the above countries are hard-drinking hyper-nationalistic small countries with an historic resentment at being dominated by a stronger and more powerful neighbour country. To compensate they have become insular, manufactured protective and self-aggrandising myths of racial purity and culture, as well as prided themselves on keeping foreigners out and fighting to viciously preserve their unique culture and language.As well as publicising anything they've invented as being of major importance to the universe. The same sense of victimisation, stubbornness and bravery against overwhelming odds. |
Over 10% of the Irish population are foreign born. The Irish are well aware of their historical origins, based upon scientific research, and do not believe in a "self-aggrandizing myth of racial purity". Are you referring to Irish folklore? People don't believe in fairytales. We learn about our origins in history class. What do you mean by viciously preserving our language; how many Irish do you know can hold a decent conversation 'as Gaeilge'? |
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morrisonhotel
Joined: 18 Jul 2009
Location: Gyeonggi-do
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| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2009 11:13 pm Post subject: |
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| tfunk wrote: |
Over 10% of the Irish population are foreign born. The Irish are well aware of their historical origins, based upon scientific research, and do not believe in a "self-aggrandizing myth of racial purity". Are you referring to Irish folklore? People don't believe in fairytales. We learn about our origins in history class. What do you mean by viciously preserving our language; how many Irish do you know can hold a decent conversation 'as Gaeilge'? |
+1. Ditto the Scots. |
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Otus
Joined: 09 Feb 2006
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| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 12:33 am Post subject: |
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'Koreans being the Irish of Asia'
I first read that anology in a P.J. O'Rorke book in the early 90's 'Give War a Chance' it was called; or something like that. Ha! I wonder if that's where it originated from.
As far as I know, O'Rorke only spent a brief amount of time in Korea, although he may have been hooked up with some conservatve 'think-tanks' here.
I also remember in the same book, after briefly witnessing one of the typical political rallies that happened back then, he wrote something to the effect of:
"They don't like anything that isn't Korean and they don't seem to like each other that much." |
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