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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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 Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 4:31 pm Post subject: |
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| kingplaya4 wrote: |
| If you're 6'4, no one going to be getting out of their car to fight you or if they do they'll sprint back as soon as they see the size of you. Same thing with weights guy. He might if stop showing up if you express your displeasure. Maybe the leg lengthening surgery in China is appropriate here? |
The Canadian east coast used to be famous for short stocky guys. Plenty of 5.6" - 5' 8" ers with some 5'9 and 5'11s mixed in. Occasionally, you'd see some just a bit over 6 feet. It wasn't uncommon to see lots of 5'3 to 5'7 tall women.
So, when I was 20, I felt a little tall. Ha ha. I'm over 5'10. So, iapproaching my mid 30's, I'm not going to feel insecure about my height. Plus I had some size to me. Never any problems there.
But even with guys who were bigger than me, including dopes at the gym on roids, there is this sharing ettiquite culture. Gyms have rules about wiping off machines when done and sharing weights when taking a break in between sets. Though the smart phone craze didn't take off until I got over here, I would imagine idiots aren't glued into their smart phones. The other night I was driving and saw some young dude standing in the middle of the road on the yelow line staring into his phone. He wasn't at a crosswalk either. I could have hit him. I told him to get out of the road and that it was dangerous. He just had an 'huh"? look on his face.
Yes, there are guys that are a holes back home. But even the bigger ones were ok because there were rules and folks followed them unless they wanted to be kicked out of the gym, fired from their job, arrested, etc. The only way most big guys would jump you is if you got up in their face telling them to eff off. Otherwise, you respected the rules official and unofficial. But amongst some young guys here, no one teaches them courtesy for other people and general respect. If the world is indeed become global we should all respect each other, but that's a two way street.
That said, many Koreans are actually quite nice. But in some situations, it's their own personal bubble outside of their groups and it becomes about me, me, me. It's not unique to Korea of course. Many countries have folks only caring about themselves. Many western countries for example have the most per capita givers to charity. Even some Koreans have told me that the top companies here give very little. In some ways, it is a very primitive form of social darwinism. Buses go first because they're the biggest.
Maybe it was like this back home and I never noticed as I had respectable height in a region of short people. Though I never threw my weight around and acted like a bully. But, I'd like to think most people have manners. I've run into GI's in Itaewan, black, white, whatever who were quite polite. A couple of taller black guys turned around quite quickly and almost ran into me and immediately apologized to me. There were two of them and they were larger than me. Yet, still they were polite even if the rules of Darwinism indicated they didn't have to be.
Though, in America, perhaps the gun is the great equalizer as a small guy can protect himself from a much larger guy. But, I'll save that debate for another forum if others want to argue that point elsewhere.
Getting back to the height thing, Korean guys in high school now are getting tall and a lot of younger 20 something westerners are showing up here tall. Even the chicks. Kind of surprising. But, just within the past couple of years. That said, plenty of guys still my height so it's respectible enough. If I'm short when I'm 55, it won't matter then I guess. Ha ha. Most younger Korean guys in their 20's and 30's still slightly shorter than me with the occasional one taller. The over 40 or 45 are mostly shorter than me.
These two Korean dudes that were first selfish driv ers and got pissed off that someone didn't like their selfishness were prob my height. I also don't have tinted windows so basically they were acting tough because there were two of them. I've had friends get screwed by getting into fights with Koreans because the foreigner always gets the short end of the stick when the cops come. I'm not saying they wouldn't have knocked me around as there were two of them and one of me. But, if the guys had kept staying there for more than a minute or reached into my car or started kicking it, cops or no cops, two on one or not two on one, it would have come to fists. Yes, I would have ended up bruised and black and blue, but so would they. I kept repeating the phrase to myself at the time: "Korean cops are racist pigs." But you can only bottle up these slights and ignorant behaviours for so long.
The problem now is in order to protect myself in that kind of situation, I'd have to punch them in the throat, throw dirt in their eyes, gouge out their eyes or anything else to stay alive in an unfair fight. In the west you might be able to plead self defence though there'd be an extensive investigation. Here, I'd prob be sent to Korean jail to a life of rice and kimchi. So, either way, I lose. In Korea you aren't allowed to protect yourself. More so if you're a foriegner.
So, I've mostly had to take these shiite situations and bottle it up until one day when I can afford to be deported if I let it out on some idiot who had it coming to him. (No, I don't mean killing anyone or anything like that. Just some good old fashioned kicks and punches.) If you actually fight back and put these idiots in their place, you get a comviction (unless you pay ridiculous blood money) and then your next contract isn't renewed because you have a record.
Like I said before, a lot of these d bags wouldn't last too long like this in the west acting this way. Other guys would be knocking them around pretty quickly and teaching them manners. I don't know how to fully explain it, but there are just some Korean guys whose body language and behaviours have some kind of macho gorilla like posturing to it and send out macho vibes. I tell you, I've come across some dudes like this who weren't even that big doing it. I had to fight the urge to just go over and boot them in the teeth as the vibe they were sending out just irritated me. Most guys in the west don't flaunt some primitive macho gorilla vibe as someone's going to go knock it out them. I've known some tough guys back home. You'd get the odd one with the open shirt or something like that, but didn't gesture in some macho gorilla like way.
But, here, no one challenges it. They let it stand due to Korean laws. It really is social darwinism. Look at the kids who get bullied in schools and the teachers don't do anything about it. Survival of the fittest. A student at my school last year transferred to another school and was bullied constantly. He killed himself. A teacher sitting next to me was sad and in tears about it. Why didn't she help him when he was alive? Social Darwinism here.
Anyhow, there is going to be a point of no return. Some of these idiots do need to be knocked around and learn to eat some humble pie. Unfortuneatly, the laws protect them, the cops protect them, and whoever yells the loudest gets their own way. I wish more of these guys would go live in the west for a time instead of just the bookworms. But, these ignorant a holes will be the ones who live in Korea their whole lives, only eat Kimchi, refuse to learn another language, and mature into racist ajossis.
I do speak of a sizeable minority, though still a minoroty. Plenty of Korean folks are ok, most are really nice people. Yes, you get a holes everywhere, but maybe the body language is more obvious here or something that makes it stand out. It just seems when most guys meet in the west, they restrain themselves in their body language as we're all trying to size each other up big or small. But that small sector here percentage wise just spout out this macho vibe that makes you want to go over and just knock them out. I mean there have been guys smaller than me doing this too because they're never challened. When they do challenge others, they seem to be only in groups.
I'm not explaining it well, even though I've written a lot here. But vets, you know this macho vibe I'm talking about that some K dudes spout out. Maybe other less developed countries do this too because their behaviours haven't become civilized. I don't know as I haven't travelled to them. |
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Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
| Mix1 wrote: |
The driving here is enough to piss anyone off on a constant basis. The dumb stuff you see on a regular basis is mind-blowing. Very inconsiderate driving style with little regard for others, and lots of breaking the rules. The driving here is an extension of Korean "etiquette" in that it's them in their bubble, everyone else be damned. It's also an extension of how they walk, except getting plowed with a car hurts a lot more than a shoulder slam on the sidewalk.
My gf just took her driving test and I was amazed at the things they DON'T teach here, especially in regard to general etiquette and safety, not that the rules would be followed much anyway, as there is little to no enforcement.
I don't drive much here, but friends that do are always getting in near scuffles over dumb stuff. On the bright side, at least nobody is packing heat here when the road rage ignites. It's mostly just a bunch of stand offs and stare downs and often they won't even get out of the car.
Heck, I don't even have to be driving to get into trouble with the bad drivers here. I've been bumped hard a few times just walking. I saw it coming but there was nowhere to go and they didn't even slow down.
Twice they just drove off, and the one time they did stop, they were very rude and things got ugly fast. Luckily they never got out of the car as I doubt I'd have been able to hold back if they got in my face... AFTER already hitting me with their mirror. |
To stray away from the what in retrospect may not have been the most responsible advice with the whole drinking and driving thing (though I can't bring myself to wholly reject its therapeutic value), I do have to throw out an olive branch to the bashers and say that if there is anything in Korea that really grinds my gears and gets me saying some of the stuff- it's the driving. Like I said, I try to stay mellow, but when I look back, virtually every time I've gone on a borderline bigoted rant, its been behind the wheel in Seoul or Busan.
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Yeah, I'm trying to picture you screaming at the locals.
I was thinking you'd even try to defend the driving here.
The most offending actions here seem to be:
Pulling out into a road without looking at all, and causing everyone else to slam their brakes to avoid you.
No hint of a turn signal.
Honking if there is even a half second pause ahead.
Never letting anyone into the lane. Ever. Never even looking around.
No concept of a "blind spot".
Zooming 50 kph an inch away from pedestrians. (Yes the streets are small here, but at least SLOW DOWN and at least TRY to avoid hitting people. Most of the time, they don't even LOOK.
No idea of planning ahead for lane changes.
Lane changes: Slamming the nose of the car into the other lane and forcing the other lane to stop for you. If the other person doesn't stop, there's an accident. Sadly, sometimes they almost HAVE to do this. Why? Because nobody lets anyone into the lane ahead of them anyway. That's if they even notice you are trying to merge at all.
The entitled "Luxury Car" mentality: If the driver is in an expensive foreign luxury car, the rest of the road MUST make way for him... or so he thinks.
The better the car, the worse the etiquette.
Crosswalks: Not only going through them when the light has already turned, but going through them BEFORE their own light turns green, just to get the jump on everyone, even if there are pedestrians still walking through.
...more?
(And yes, there are bad drivers everywhere, but here these things are almost the rule.) |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
To stray away from the what in retrospect may not have been the most responsible advice with the whole drinking and driving thing (though I can't bring myself to wholly reject its therapeutic value), I do have to throw out an olive branch to the bashers and say that if there is anything in Korea that really grinds my gears and gets me saying some of the stuff- it's the driving. Like I said, I try to stay mellow, but when I look back, virtually every time I've gone on a borderline bigoted rant, its been behind the wheel in Seoul or Busan.
I have visions of me pulling a 'Walte-Larry's Neighbor' and taking a crowbar and "Kill your car man". |
And yet you would pop into threads about people going on rants about driving here and tell posters they were ridiculous for having, as you put it, thoughts about taking a crowbar to a car.
Too little, too late. You've gone way too far beyond the point of no return to salvage your name with olive branches like this. |
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Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
Like I said before, a lot of these d bags wouldn't last too long like this in the west acting this way. Other guys would be knocking them around pretty quickly and teaching them manners. I don't know how to fully explain it, but there are just some Korean guys whose body language and behaviours have some kind of macho gorilla like posturing to it and send out macho vibes. I tell you, I've come across some dudes like this who weren't even that big doing it. |
Yeah you can definitely run into that macho attitude here for no apparent reason. If I stared back at every local guy that randomly gave me the stink eye here for no reason, I'd be very busy. Depends on my mood of course.
My girlfriend notices them looking more than I do, and she chalks it up to jealousy. My size saves me a bit I'm sure. It's probably much worse if you are not that big or tall. The funny thing is when you get some tiny, skinny guy doing this to you and he's so small you could almost break him in half. The guy who hit me with his car mirror was very short and I could have thrown him 20 feet, yet he still did the unbuckling of the seatbelt and posturing thing... within his car of course. Pretty unbelievable though.
The good news is, most are not truly looking for a real fight. So unless you go out of your way to start something, it's usually just posturing. Of course, in a traffic incident, things can happen fast as tempers are flaring. Gotta be careful because legally you almost certainly will lose in any confrontation, and that's even IF the other side doesn't lie their arses off about what happened. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 7:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Mix1 wrote: |
| Weigookin74 wrote: |
Like I said before, a lot of these d bags wouldn't last too long like this in the west acting this way. Other guys would be knocking them around pretty quickly and teaching them manners. I don't know how to fully explain it, but there are just some Korean guys whose body language and behaviours have some kind of macho gorilla like posturing to it and send out macho vibes. I tell you, I've come across some dudes like this who weren't even that big doing it. |
Yeah you can definitely run into that macho attitude here for no apparent reason. If I stared back at every local guy that randomly gave me the stink eye here for no reason, I'd be very busy. Depends on my mood of course.
My girlfriend notices them looking more than I do, and she chalks it up to jealousy. My size saves me a bit I'm sure. It's probably much worse if you are not that big or tall. The funny thing is when you get some tiny, skinny guy doing this to you and he's so small you could almost break him in half. The guy who hit me with his car mirror was very short and I could have thrown him 20 feet, yet he still did the unbuckling of the seatbelt and posturing thing... within his car of course. Pretty unbelievable though.
The good news is, most are not truly looking for a real fight. So unless you go out of your way to start something, it's usually just posturing. Of course, in a traffic incident, things can happen fast as tempers are flaring. Gotta be careful because legally you almost certainly will lose in any confrontation, and that's even IF the other side doesn't lie their arses off about what happened. |
Yep, we lose and they will lie their arses off. Like I said, once I can afford to go home, it'll be different. Ha ha. But dudes are getting bigger everywhere too. I'll be considered short when I'm 50 (maybe even by the time I'm 40), so time to start training. Gotta be able to grapple the larger guys. Lol. |
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wanderkind
Joined: 01 Jan 2012
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Who's Your Daddy? wrote: |
| My wife asked me why I looked over my shoulder when I change lanes. I said "to check the blind-spot." She didn't know what I was talking about. After I explained, she replied "Koreans just use their mirrors." She's got her drivers license:) Actually, I don't think she believes me that there is a blind-spot, she thinks I'm just talking hot air. |
Jesus! Knowing that, my defensiveness on the road just went up 500%.
I hope you demonstrated where the blind-spot was to your wife though! |
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kingplaya4
Joined: 14 May 2006
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| Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 3:12 am Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| kingplaya4 wrote: |
| If you're 6'4, no one going to be getting out of their car to fight you or if they do they'll sprint back as soon as they see the size of you. Same thing with weights guy. He might if stop showing up if you express your displeasure. Maybe the leg lengthening surgery in China is appropriate here? |
The Canadian east coast used to be famous for short stocky guys. Plenty of 5.6" - 5' 8" ers with some 5'9 and 5'11s mixed in. Occasionally, you'd see some just a bit over 6 feet. It wasn't uncommon to see lots of 5'3 to 5'7 tall women.
So, when I was 20, I felt a little tall. Ha ha. I'm over 5'10. So, iapproaching my mid 30's, I'm not going to feel insecure about my height. Plus I had some size to me. Never any problems there.
But even with guys who were bigger than me, including dopes at the gym on roids, there is this sharing ettiquite culture. Gyms have rules about wiping off machines when done and sharing weights when taking a break in between sets. Though the smart phone craze didn't take off until I got over here, I would imagine idiots aren't glued into their smart phones. The other night I was driving and saw some young dude standing in the middle of the road on the yelow line staring into his phone. He wasn't at a crosswalk either. I could have hit him. I told him to get out of the road and that it was dangerous. He just had an 'huh"? look on his face.
Yes, there are guys that are a holes back home. But even the bigger ones were ok because there were rules and folks followed them unless they wanted to be kicked out of the gym, fired from their job, arrested, etc. The only way most big guys would jump you is if you got up in their face telling them to eff off. Otherwise, you respected the rules official and unofficial. But amongst some young guys here, no one teaches them courtesy for other people and general respect. If the world is indeed become global we should all respect each other, but that's a two way street.
That said, many Koreans are actually quite nice. But in some situations, it's their own personal bubble outside of their groups and it becomes about me, me, me. It's not unique to Korea of course. Many countries have folks only caring about themselves. Many western countries for example have the most per capita givers to charity. Even some Koreans have told me that the top companies here give very little. In some ways, it is a very primitive form of social darwinism. Buses go first because they're the biggest.
Maybe it was like this back home and I never noticed as I had respectable height in a region of short people. Though I never threw my weight around and acted like a bully. But, I'd like to think most people have manners. I've run into GI's in Itaewan, black, white, whatever who were quite polite. A couple of taller black guys turned around quite quickly and almost ran into me and immediately apologized to me. There were two of them and they were larger than me. Yet, still they were polite even if the rules of Darwinism indicated they didn't have to be.
Though, in America, perhaps the gun is the great equalizer as a small guy can protect himself from a much larger guy. But, I'll save that debate for another forum if others want to argue that point elsewhere.
Getting back to the height thing, Korean guys in high school now are getting tall and a lot of younger 20 something westerners are showing up here tall. Even the chicks. Kind of surprising. But, just within the past couple of years. That said, plenty of guys still my height so it's respectible enough. If I'm short when I'm 55, it won't matter then I guess. Ha ha. Most younger Korean guys in their 20's and 30's still slightly shorter than me with the occasional one taller. The over 40 or 45 are mostly shorter than me.
These two Korean dudes that were first selfish driv ers and got pissed off that someone didn't like their selfishness were prob my height. I also don't have tinted windows so basically they were acting tough because there were two of them. I've had friends get screwed by getting into fights with Koreans because the foreigner always gets the short end of the stick when the cops come. I'm not saying they wouldn't have knocked me around as there were two of them and one of me. But, if the guys had kept staying there for more than a minute or reached into my car or started kicking it, cops or no cops, two on one or not two on one, it would have come to fists. Yes, I would have ended up bruised and black and blue, but so would they. I kept repeating the phrase to myself at the time: "Korean cops are racist pigs." But you can only bottle up these slights and ignorant behaviours for so long.
The problem now is in order to protect myself in that kind of situation, I'd have to punch them in the throat, throw dirt in their eyes, gouge out their eyes or anything else to stay alive in an unfair fight. In the west you might be able to plead self defence though there'd be an extensive investigation. Here, I'd prob be sent to Korean jail to a life of rice and kimchi. So, either way, I lose. In Korea you aren't allowed to protect yourself. More so if you're a foriegner.
So, I've mostly had to take these shiite situations and bottle it up until one day when I can afford to be deported if I let it out on some idiot who had it coming to him. (No, I don't mean killing anyone or anything like that. Just some good old fashioned kicks and punches.) If you actually fight back and put these idiots in their place, you get a comviction (unless you pay ridiculous blood money) and then your next contract isn't renewed because you have a record.
Like I said before, a lot of these d bags wouldn't last too long like this in the west acting this way. Other guys would be knocking them around pretty quickly and teaching them manners. I don't know how to fully explain it, but there are just some Korean guys whose body language and behaviours have some kind of macho gorilla like posturing to it and send out macho vibes. I tell you, I've come across some dudes like this who weren't even that big doing it. I had to fight the urge to just go over and boot them in the teeth as the vibe they were sending out just irritated me. Most guys in the west don't flaunt some primitive macho gorilla vibe as someone's going to go knock it out them. I've known some tough guys back home. You'd get the odd one with the open shirt or something like that, but didn't gesture in some macho gorilla like way.
But, here, no one challenges it. They let it stand due to Korean laws. It really is social darwinism. Look at the kids who get bullied in schools and the teachers don't do anything about it. Survival of the fittest. A student |
Short guys can be tough no doubt, David Tua is like 5'10 I believe, I was just trolling you a bit. But seriously I could tell from the post you weren't supertall because I've seen Koreans behave differently when a big (korean) guy was around and then act crappy to a smaller guy. I mean it happens everywhere but it seems to be more blatant here. And there's less of the scrappy little guys as you call them.
If all this bothers you why not try ju-jitsu? Hopefully it will channel the aggression and if you really must throw down you'll have the skills. I have training in a number of different arts but I'm not very heavy so the reality is a 250 pound untrained guy would still have an excellent chance against me. But ju-jitsu neutralizes that and is a heck of a workout. |
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Sesame
Joined: 16 Mar 2014
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| Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 3:48 am Post subject: |
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| cabeza wrote: |
I find that when I don't drive, my stress levels decrease by about 90%.
Last summer I cussed out a woman after she cut us off. She came back at me in English! But I felt so idiotic and ashamed afterwards. Since then I really try not to drive as much especially at certain times of the day.
Though my wife is pregnant so I'm having to drive a whole lot more now.
It's just not worth the hassle. I honestly have the real urge to crack skulls with some of the ridiculous shit that happens on the roads. |
lol. What did she say back to you in English? |
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Mix1
Joined: 08 May 2007
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| Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 4:40 am Post subject: |
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| wanderkind wrote: |
I hope you demonstrated where the blind-spot was to your wife though! |
Hey! That kind of stuff is their own business!
Oh wait.... "blind-spot".
Sorry, I was thinking something else... |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 5:22 am Post subject: |
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| kingplaya4 wrote: |
| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| kingplaya4 wrote: |
| If you're 6'4, no one going to be getting out of their car to fight you or if they do they'll sprint back as soon as they see the size of you. Same thing with weights guy. He might if stop showing up if you express your displeasure. Maybe the leg lengthening surgery in China is appropriate here? |
The Canadian east coast used to be famous for short stocky guys. Plenty of 5.6" - 5' 8" ers with some 5'9 and 5'11s mixed in. Occasionally, you'd see some just a bit over 6 feet. It wasn't uncommon to see lots of 5'3 to 5'7 tall women.
So, when I was 20, I felt a little tall. Ha ha. I'm over 5'10. So, iapproaching my mid 30's, I'm not going to feel insecure about my height. Plus I had some size to me. Never any problems there.
But even with guys who were bigger than me, including dopes at the gym on roids, there is this sharing ettiquite culture. Gyms have rules about wiping off machines when done and sharing weights when taking a break in between sets. Though the smart phone craze didn't take off until I got over here, I would imagine idiots aren't glued into their smart phones. The other night I was driving and saw some young dude standing in the middle of the road on the yelow line staring into his phone. He wasn't at a crosswalk either. I could have hit him. I told him to get out of the road and that it was dangerous. He just had an 'huh"? look on his face.
Yes, there are guys that are a holes back home. But even the bigger ones were ok because there were rules and folks followed them unless they wanted to be kicked out of the gym, fired from their job, arrested, etc. The only way most big guys would jump you is if you got up in their face telling them to eff off. Otherwise, you respected the rules official and unofficial. But amongst some young guys here, no one teaches them courtesy for other people and general respect. If the world is indeed become global we should all respect each other, but that's a two way street.
That said, many Koreans are actually quite nice. But in some situations, it's their own personal bubble outside of their groups and it becomes about me, me, me. It's not unique to Korea of course. Many countries have folks only caring about themselves. Many western countries for example have the most per capita givers to charity. Even some Koreans have told me that the top companies here give very little. In some ways, it is a very primitive form of social darwinism. Buses go first because they're the biggest.
Maybe it was like this back home and I never noticed as I had respectable height in a region of short people. Though I never threw my weight around and acted like a bully. But, I'd like to think most people have manners. I've run into GI's in Itaewan, black, white, whatever who were quite polite. A couple of taller black guys turned around quite quickly and almost ran into me and immediately apologized to me. There were two of them and they were larger than me. Yet, still they were polite even if the rules of Darwinism indicated they didn't have to be.
Though, in America, perhaps the gun is the great equalizer as a small guy can protect himself from a much larger guy. But, I'll save that debate for another forum if others want to argue that point elsewhere.
Getting back to the height thing, Korean guys in high school now are getting tall and a lot of younger 20 something westerners are showing up here tall. Even the chicks. Kind of surprising. But, just within the past couple of years. That said, plenty of guys still my height so it's respectible enough. If I'm short when I'm 55, it won't matter then I guess. Ha ha. Most younger Korean guys in their 20's and 30's still slightly shorter than me with the occasional one taller. The over 40 or 45 are mostly shorter than me.
These two Korean dudes that were first selfish driv ers and got pissed off that someone didn't like their selfishness were prob my height. I also don't have tinted windows so basically they were acting tough because there were two of them. I've had friends get screwed by getting into fights with Koreans because the foreigner always gets the short end of the stick when the cops come. I'm not saying they wouldn't have knocked me around as there were two of them and one of me. But, if the guys had kept staying there for more than a minute or reached into my car or started kicking it, cops or no cops, two on one or not two on one, it would have come to fists. Yes, I would have ended up bruised and black and blue, but so would they. I kept repeating the phrase to myself at the time: "Korean cops are racist pigs." But you can only bottle up these slights and ignorant behaviours for so long.
The problem now is in order to protect myself in that kind of situation, I'd have to punch them in the throat, throw dirt in their eyes, gouge out their eyes or anything else to stay alive in an unfair fight. In the west you might be able to plead self defence though there'd be an extensive investigation. Here, I'd prob be sent to Korean jail to a life of rice and kimchi. So, either way, I lose. In Korea you aren't allowed to protect yourself. More so if you're a foriegner.
So, I've mostly had to take these shiite situations and bottle it up until one day when I can afford to be deported if I let it out on some idiot who had it coming to him. (No, I don't mean killing anyone or anything like that. Just some good old fashioned kicks and punches.) If you actually fight back and put these idiots in their place, you get a comviction (unless you pay ridiculous blood money) and then your next contract isn't renewed because you have a record.
Like I said before, a lot of these d bags wouldn't last too long like this in the west acting this way. Other guys would be knocking them around pretty quickly and teaching them manners. I don't know how to fully explain it, but there are just some Korean guys whose body language and behaviours have some kind of macho gorilla like posturing to it and send out macho vibes. I tell you, I've come across some dudes like this who weren't even that big doing it. I had to fight the urge to just go over and boot them in the teeth as the vibe they were sending out just irritated me. Most guys in the west don't flaunt some primitive macho gorilla vibe as someone's going to go knock it out them. I've known some tough guys back home. You'd get the odd one with the open shirt or something like that, but didn't gesture in some macho gorilla like way.
But, here, no one challenges it. They let it stand due to Korean laws. It really is social darwinism. Look at the kids who get bullied in schools and the teachers don't do anything about it. Survival of the fittest. A student |
Short guys can be tough no doubt, David Tua is like 5'10 I believe, I was just trolling you a bit. But seriously I could tell from the post you weren't supertall because I've seen Koreans behave differently when a big (korean) guy was around and then act crappy to a smaller guy. I mean it happens everywhere but it seems to be more blatant here. And there's less of the scrappy little guys as you call them.
If all this bothers you why not try ju-jitsu? Hopefully it will channel the aggression and if you really must throw down you'll have the skills. I have training in a number of different arts but I'm not very heavy so the reality is a 250 pound untrained guy would still have an excellent chance against me. But ju-jitsu neutralizes that and is a heck of a workout. |
Yeah, considering I was in my car, he really had no way of telling how tall I was but had a buddy with him. I think they were both around my height approximately. The more I think of it, the whole height thing must be an intimidating factor. I just never thought of it before or noticed it coming from a region of short people.
Truthfully, I've only heard of height when I came to Korea. Apparently, I'm suppose to be a loser being under 180 cm or something like that. Thing is women never seem to care and seem to have no problem being attracted to me, even if they're close to my height. Ha ha. I don't feel short or tall, I guess. But, being any shorter here probably would suck. (No offence to anyone on the board, but short guys with confidence seemed to have held their own based on my life observations.)
But, just the last couple of years or so, I have noticed some young western dudes in their 20's over here being pretty gigantic - 6'5" and up. Some, not all, of course. (Also, as I said, some Korean kids in high school and even into middle school are going to be big like this in a few years once they become adults too.) A 6'1"ish guy isn't so much larger than me and could be handled, but when guys end up being 6'8", well, that's a whole other issue.
Thanks for the advice. Ju jitsu is what I was thinking of doing. I found an MMA place nearby that does that and kickboxing. I had been looking into it before this incident, but this just fuels it even more. (That and if I decide to either teach in a less safe place or move to a big city back home, it's good to have the extra skills.)
Since you've trained in a variety of arts, do you find that one to be most effective? I had heard a lot of guys say that here before. I had an uncle who was 5'6" - 5'7" who was strong from working on cars and he could grip much larger guys, get them on the ground, and beat the tar out of them - including 6 footers. So, size isn't everything, but strength, knowledge, and techniques are.
If seven or eight years from now, there's lots of Korean guys in the 6'5" range with the size rules mentality prevelant here, it's probably good to be prepared for that day. (I hope not to still be here then unless I decide to marry or get a really good job offer.)  |
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nicwr2002
Joined: 17 Aug 2011
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| Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 5:45 am Post subject: |
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| Mix1 wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
| Mix1 wrote: |
The driving here is enough to piss anyone off on a constant basis. The dumb stuff you see on a regular basis is mind-blowing. Very inconsiderate driving style with little regard for others, and lots of breaking the rules. The driving here is an extension of Korean "etiquette" in that it's them in their bubble, everyone else be damned. It's also an extension of how they walk, except getting plowed with a car hurts a lot more than a shoulder slam on the sidewalk.
My gf just took her driving test and I was amazed at the things they DON'T teach here, especially in regard to general etiquette and safety, not that the rules would be followed much anyway, as there is little to no enforcement.
I don't drive much here, but friends that do are always getting in near scuffles over dumb stuff. On the bright side, at least nobody is packing heat here when the road rage ignites. It's mostly just a bunch of stand offs and stare downs and often they won't even get out of the car.
Heck, I don't even have to be driving to get into trouble with the bad drivers here. I've been bumped hard a few times just walking. I saw it coming but there was nowhere to go and they didn't even slow down.
Twice they just drove off, and the one time they did stop, they were very rude and things got ugly fast. Luckily they never got out of the car as I doubt I'd have been able to hold back if they got in my face... AFTER already hitting me with their mirror. |
To stray away from the what in retrospect may not have been the most responsible advice with the whole drinking and driving thing (though I can't bring myself to wholly reject its therapeutic value), I do have to throw out an olive branch to the bashers and say that if there is anything in Korea that really grinds my gears and gets me saying some of the stuff- it's the driving. Like I said, I try to stay mellow, but when I look back, virtually every time I've gone on a borderline bigoted rant, its been behind the wheel in Seoul or Busan.
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Yeah, I'm trying to picture you screaming at the locals.
I was thinking you'd even try to defend the driving here.
The most offending actions here seem to be:
Pulling out into a road without looking at all, and causing everyone else to slam their brakes to avoid you.
No hint of a turn signal.
Honking if there is even a half second pause ahead.
Never letting anyone into the lane. Ever. Never even looking around.
No concept of a "blind spot".
Zooming 50 kph an inch away from pedestrians. (Yes the streets are small here, but at least SLOW DOWN and at least TRY to avoid hitting people. Most of the time, they don't even LOOK.
No idea of planning ahead for lane changes.
Lane changes: Slamming the nose of the car into the other lane and forcing the other lane to stop for you. If the other person doesn't stop, there's an accident. Sadly, sometimes they almost HAVE to do this. Why? Because nobody lets anyone into the lane ahead of them anyway. That's if they even notice you are trying to merge at all.
The entitled "Luxury Car" mentality: If the driver is in an expensive foreign luxury car, the rest of the road MUST make way for him... or so he thinks.
The better the car, the worse the etiquette.
Crosswalks: Not only going through them when the light has already turned, but going through them BEFORE their own light turns green, just to get the jump on everyone, even if there are pedestrians still walking through.
...more?
(And yes, there are bad drivers everywhere, but here these things are almost the rule.) |
+1 to the luxury car or foreign car thing. Any Korean that drives an Audi, BMW, Benz and what not are pricks. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 6:04 am Post subject: |
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| Yeah, my old country town I use to live in, folks would buy a really expensive car and live in a cheaper or smaller apartment. Strange as most western thought is to get a bigger place and a cheaper car. Cars wear out; land, apartments, and houses last much longer. I guess insecurity is a bigger issue than I realized here. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 7:59 am Post subject: |
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| Strange as most western thought is to get a bigger place and a cheaper car. |
The price of an Audi vs. a Hyundai is not really going to get you a massive upgrade in terms of your housing quality, either here or back home. $30,000 isn't taking you from an ordinary apartment into a 5 bedroom ranch with a pond out back. |
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asylum seeker
Joined: 22 Jul 2007
Location: On your computer screen.
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| Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 9:19 am Post subject: |
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Queue jumping is one thing that really gets me. I was waiting at a taxi rank last Sunday in the front of a queue of about about eight people and a young douche bag pushes straight through the middle of the line and stands at the front. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt hoping he was just happening to get picked up by a friend there, but no, sure enough, when the next taxi came he went straight for the door. After trying to be the humble foreigner for many years and putting up with this sort of shit I've decided not to tolerate this kind of antisocial behavior so I told him '다른 사람 먼저 기다리고 있었는데'. Instead of apologizing he tried to give the blank, innocent look, so I called him '개새끼' and went in front of him to get the taxi. Not the most mature response and the taxi driver couldn't understand why I had a problem with queue jumping, saying that there are many taxis anyway, but I still think I was right to do something on principle.
It may be a small thing, but the more this kind of selfish behavior goes unchallenged the more likely other cases like the Sewol captain abandoning passengers will occur in my opinion. |
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3DR
Joined: 24 May 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 9:28 am Post subject: |
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| asylum seeker wrote: |
Queue jumping is one thing that really gets me. I was waiting at a taxi rank last Sunday in the front of a queue of about about eight people and a young douche bag pushes straight through the middle of the line and stands at the front. I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt hoping he was just happening to get picked up by a friend there, but no, sure enough, when the next taxi came he went straight for the door. After trying to be the humble foreigner for many years and putting up with this sort of shit I've decided not to tolerate this kind of antisocial behavior so I told him '다른 사람 먼저 기다리고 있었는데'. Instead of apologizing he tried to give the blank, innocent look, so I called him '개새끼' and went in front of him to get the taxi. Not the most mature response and the taxi driver couldn't understand why I had a problem with queue jumping, saying that there are many taxis anyway, but I still think I was right to do something on principle.
It may be a small thing, but the more this kind of selfish behavior goes unchallenged the more likely other cases like the Sewol captain abandoning passengers will occur in my opinion. |
I agree. They want to blame the government for safety issues, but the general public has a responsibility to call out bad behavior as well. Scooters on the sidewalk, cars running red lights, etc can all be curbed if they knew they would be looked down upon by the general public. |
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