Korean Job Discussion Forums

[rockbilly]

I live in the Gangnam of Korea!

[3DR]

[nukeday]

Even if you'd said abroad, you'd still be wrong. It's more like most Americans don't have a passport. Up until a few years ago, one could visit Canada or Mexico without one. They, as far as I know, still count as foreign countries - and now that you need a passport rather than ID, passport and passport card ownership is increasing. It's just like how a lot of Koreans stay within their region when they travel.

[edwardcatflap]

The way this post has developed is amusing. Steelrails leapt to the defence of Korea (as per) with his analogy versus qualitative judgment argument and the usual suspects, probably not really bothering to read the rest of the posts, followed him like sheep. 3DR even started to claim that people posting negative things about Korea were stupid because they didn't realise that 'Jeju is the Korean Hawaii' is analogous. So you think these people are actually of the opinion that Koreans are claiming Hawaii and Jeju are the same thing?

Of course we know saying one place is like another is an analogy, thanks for pointing that out and we know it happens elsewhere. thanks for pointing that out too TJ. The point is all about context. Yes, Steelrails if a Korean says Tongyong has a bay, like Naples, it is probably not a qualitative judgement but if a Korean person tells us in a gushing manner that 'Jeju is the Korean Hawaii' or we see a tourist pamphlet that says 'Gyeongju is a museum without walls' we understand that the place is being bigged up. Nothing wrong
with that if it's merited - I've seen Stockholm called 'The Venice of the North - and I think that's fair eough as they're both stunningly beautiful cities. However if the analogies are wildly exaggerated, as I suspect they are with Tongyong and I know they are with Geongju, then these claims quite rightly become the object of derision. I notice none of the sheep-like Steelrails supporters have tackled the actual issue of whether these analogies are fair or not (Waygeek seemed up for it briefly but then disappeared) perhaps sensing that there lies an argument they cannot win.

[Steelrails]

Again, the point of this thread is that Koreans should know their place. Beneath us.

[cabeza]

Why? If the same ridiculous analogies were made in another country I would feel the same way.
In NZ the Wellington city council tried to start a campaign to give Wellington the nickname of "Wellywood" due to the tiny movie industry and went as far as putting a "Wellywood" sign on the hills above the city ala "Hollywood".
People cringed and literally protested becuase it was fricken embarrassing and luckily they pulled it.

For an an analogy to work there has to be some sort of comparative similarity beyond "Hey, it's an island and relatively hot! Like Hawaii!".
The Naples one is beyond dumb. It's nothing to do with Koreans being below me/us. It's got a lot to do with making analogies which have no basis in relaity. People make terrible local analogies the world over, however some of the ones I hear here are so bad that they are funny. Just last Friday "Seoul is the New York of Asia." Come on. I'd put Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai and probably other cities I can't think of right now, before Seoul in that little comparison.

But I guess I do get told that I look like Brad Pitt a couple of times of month. I'm getting some business cards printed up "The Brad Pitt of Jeollanamdo".

[ghohn]

I lived in Hawaii for a while. It's quite nice. As another poster mentioned, there is more to Hawaii than Oahu. Big Island is amazing and so is Maui. I lived on the latter. Would visit both again when I get older but bang-for-the-buck goes to Thailand. Hawaii isn't a cheap vacation, however, it's not terribly expensive to live there.

[lemak]

[3DR]

Are some nationalistic Koreans who are proud of their travel destinations bothering you guys that much? lol...such a shame.

[Seoulman69]

I think one of the best things about Korea is that they support their local companies more than people back home. If they have the choice many buy Korean products in the hope it will contribute to the nations continued success. Good for them.

[cabeza]

[hiamnotcool]

[transmogrifier]

[newb]

There's a grand canyon of Korea called "mureung valley" in gangwon province near the east coast city. It was nothing but another one of those hiking trails along the mountain valley. it was pathetic.

[Mr. BlackCat]

I don't like when any country/city/attraction defines itself in relation to another. Why not just be proud of what you have and think of it as unique? Why is the comparison, even if it is just an analogy, needed?

People in Hawaii don't say it's the Canary Islands of the Pacific. New Yorkers don't say Manhattan is the CBD of London. Italians don't say they're the Koreans of Europe. Obviously, cultural imperialism may have something to do with it, but there's a reason why these areas stand on their own and are world famous; because they're unique and special. And even if cultural bias is around, it's not like Bali defines itself as the Hawaii of South East Asia, or China calls the Forbidden City the...whatever of where ever.

Like most of these issues, apologists are the ones who end up insulting Korea more than the 'complainers'. SteelRails says that people don't accept Jeju being like Hawaii because we think Hawaii is better. But doesn't the need to make that comparison come from a feeling of inferiority to begin with? Like I said, why not just be proud of your own uniqueness? Canada does the same with many things, comparing Montreal to New York for example. It's just stupid. Montreal is so different from NY, and I love it for that reason (I also love NY). When a Korean says Seoraksan is the same as the Rockies, I immediately start thinking about how that's not true instead of focusing on how lovely and special Seoraksan is.

SteelRails said it's the same how we compare Chuseok to Thanksgiving. Only that is a very valid comparison; they're both harvest festivals around the same time of year which both cultures celebrate in similar ways. Comparing Jeju to Hawaii is like comparing Chuseok to the Fourth of July. Yeah, they're both holidays (islands) and people do some of the same things (eat...food) but there are just so many more differences than similarities that the comparison becomes ridiculous. That doesn't mean Chuseok is awful, it's just different and special.

And the whole idea that it's just a simple analogy is hard to swallow simply because most of the people saying it haven't been to what they're comparing it to. They just take something famous and say their thing is like that, which tells me the comparison has less to do with actual similarities and more to do with trying to make it sound good.