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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Greekfreak
Joined: 25 May 2003
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 Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 1:45 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, "Dynamic Korea" is a bit of a laugh; at least, I do whenever I see the sign or commercial.
My fiancee has been here since 1997, and even she will admit that the only real changes here have been cosmetic. More PC rooms, more trappings, more credit being thrown around, but the people haven't changed all that much.
If anything bugs me about this country, it's the ubiquity. |
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Hagwon Muppet
Joined: 18 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 1:41 am Post subject: Re: Co-Worker: "Are you impressed by Korean dynamism?&q |
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| soviet_man wrote: |
My co-worker recently asked me "are you impressed by Korean dynamism" and this got me thinking about how I (and how she) have different views this country.
WHAT KOREANS SEE:
* Rankings and statistics "proving" South Korea's superiority over Japan and the USA.
* TV Ad: "Dynamic Korea" (where the foreigner looks all amazed and dazzled at Korea).
* TV Ad Promoting: "Korea, where old and new collide!".
* Newspaper articles "proving" that Korea is the world's high tech powerhouse.
* Korean-made Maps of the world showing Korea bigger than it is in real life.
* "The Korean Wave".
* Making sure every sentence has the world "Korea" and "Hub" in it at least once.
* South Korea as a victim of imperialsm.
WHAT I SEE:
* Fights and vomit.
* Bags of rubbish and rotting food everywhere.
* Blatant Korean racism. I've been asked several times "...are you mixed?..."
* Children defacating on the sidewalk.
* Widespread anti foreigner sentiment.
* A visa system that deliberately creates red tape.
* Korean Tour buses where Koreans close all the curtains.
AS THEY SAY: There's only one way to describe this place ... Dynamic Korea! |
I suppose it depends what you are comparing to? Dynamic relative to what?
In the last few months in the US I have seen:
*Fights and vomit. Crackheads, guns and drugs.
*Bags of rubbish and rotting food on the streets. People raking through them for dinner.
*Blatant American Racism.
*Grown-ups pissing and defaecating on the street
*Widespread anti-foreigner sentiment
*A visa system that deliberately creates about 100 times more red tape than Korea's does
*People who don't even have a passport let alone go on tours. Don't ask them to find another country on a map either.
So compared to that.. yes I would say Korea is fairly dynamic. |
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blackbird
Joined: 28 Apr 2003
Location: Songtan
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 5:16 am Post subject: |
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Hagwon Muppet,
Where the h*ll have you been staying? If you have seen all of that then you need to move! I have lived in the US on and off for 29 years and not seen half of the stuff that you describe. Run away! |
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prosodic
Joined: 21 Jun 2004
Location: ����
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 5:50 am Post subject: |
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| blackbird wrote: |
Hagwon Muppet,
Where the h*ll have you been staying? If you have seen all of that then you need to move! I have lived in the US on and off for 29 years and not seen half of the stuff that you describe. Run away! |
My guess is that Hagwon Muppet has been living in New York or another large city.
Most of what s/he wrote rings true to me for New York. The only thing that I haven't seen there is guns. But I still prefer NY over small towns in the midwest. |
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Rock
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 7:10 am Post subject: |
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I think being dynamic refers to having the inbuilt flux of change and the flow of new ideas as a constant. Some here may not be understanding the term "dynamic." Its meaning-in my book-has nothing to do with the evolution of a culture's technology or societal improvements. It has to do with the ability to have constant renewal, re-shaping resources at hand; dissimilarity and flux of change.
The ideologies of Confucianism(one of the social diseases here in Korea,) deters these. I couldn't, therefore, disagree with Ya ta boy's comment more. He's talking about sheer social/environmental changes. The fact that Korea is a homogenous race leaves little room for them to have the same inflow of creative ideas/knowledge, that have elevated countries like America and others. Some countries realize, like America, this is their source of strength.
But for Koreans, to become individually inspired is far more difficult, and next to impossible, without shaking the status quo. This and then some.
I would never say this place is dynamic. It's hastily transformed for pop culture, and addicted to whatever new technology comes its way, which are often confused as being dynamic. |
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Hagwon Muppet
Joined: 18 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 6:24 pm Post subject: |
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| blackbird wrote: |
Hagwon Muppet,
Where the h*ll have you been staying? If you have seen all of that then you need to move! I have lived in the US on and off for 29 years and not seen half of the stuff that you describe. Run away! |
Los Angeles. The 'nice' part.
My house is about 10 minutes drive from Beverley Hills, Bel Air, Santa Monica beach etc etc.
Its not particularly specific to the US but since the majority of people who bitch about Korean tend to be American in my experience I make that comparison.
Could equally have mave made a similar comparison with London on a number of the points.
I think a lot of people who compare Korea to 'home' either come from small towns, or the burbs and/or lead fairly mundane middle-class sheltered lives and moving to a big city like Seoul is going to expose them to something they have never seen.
Pretty much any of the negative things so can say about Korea can be found in anywhere you call 'home' and if not then there is an equally bad thing that 'home' has to offer. |
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captain kirk
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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It depends how it was said. If your co-worker thrust her shapely bossom your way looking like a vixenish Siberian tigress in heat and asked, 'what do you think of Korean dynamism?' you'd have to say, 'dyn-no-mite, co-workin' mama!'.  |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
In my time in Korea, I saw it manage the peaceful transfer of power in elections. In a country that had a king, an occupying power, and a series of dictators all in one century, I was impressed.
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Then the many examples from 20th-century Europe must absolutely floor you!  |
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Daechidong Waygookin
Joined: 22 Nov 2004
Location: No Longer on Dave's. Ive quit.
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 7:48 pm Post subject: |
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Dynamic:
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Of or relating to energy or to objects in motion.
Of or relating to the study of dynamics.
Characterized by continuous change, activity, or progress: a dynamic market.
Marked by intensity and vigor; forceful. See Synonyms at active.
Of or relating to variation of intensity, as in musical sound. |
Anyone who steps outside in Seoul has to acknowledge the fact that it is one hell of a dynamic city. Traffic all over the place, people rushing all over the place, an overdose of all kinds of sensory stimuli: smells, sounds, sights, tastes. Busan, Gangju, Daegu, etc. All those large cities and smaller ones too are very dynamic. Korea is very very dynamic. |
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soviet_man
Joined: 23 Apr 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2005 8:12 pm Post subject: Dynamism |
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I'm just not sold that Korea is dynamic.
For example: Koreans will deny that there is any prostitution in Korea. Yet you can't swing a dead cat in Seoul without hitting a barber pole or brothel.
Everyone knows that prostitution is rampant - yet Koreans (despite being confronted with the blatantly obvious) will happily deny that there is "any prostitution in Korea" purely to save face or show their superiority.
The same with denying: homosexuality, drug use, abortion, admitting mistakes and a whole list of other issues.
This is a the most superficial society in the world. Where else would young girls take plastic surgery to make their eyes larger for cosmetic purposes? |
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Hagwon Muppet
Joined: 18 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:46 am Post subject: Re: Dynamism |
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| soviet_man wrote: |
I'm just not sold that Korea is dynamic.
For example: Koreans will deny that there is any prostitution in Korea. Yet you can't swing a dead cat in Seoul without hitting a barber pole or brothel.
Everyone knows that prostitution is rampant - yet Koreans (despite being confronted with the blatantly obvious) will happily deny that there is "any prostitution in Korea" purely to save face or show their superiority.
The same with denying: homosexuality, drug use, abortion, admitting mistakes and a whole list of other issues.
This is a the most superficial society in the world. Where else would young girls take plastic surgery to make their eyes larger for cosmetic purposes? |
Are you for real??? Have you ever been to California.
Where else would women have vaginal rejuvenation surgery?????
And I don't see any link between dynamism and acknowledging prostitution. |
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Freezer Burn
Joined: 11 Apr 2005
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:03 am Post subject: |
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Has anyone lived in China?
Korea has dynamic up the wazooo in comparision |
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uberscheisse
Joined: 02 Dec 2003
Location: japan is better than korea.
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| Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2005 3:14 am Post subject: |
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i was talking to some esl teachers here in saigon last night.
they seemed to be going crazier here than people tend to in korea. they reeeeeaaally didn't like it here.
i fly out tonight and am, frankly, ready to come back to maybe not DYNAMIC and maybe sometimes FRUSTRATING as pubic hair in your throat KOREA.
strange, that, huh?
(they still need to clean the place up before i'll take their national pride trip seriously). |
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Rock
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2005 6:33 am Post subject: |
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| Daechidong Waygookin wrote: |
Dynamic:
| Quote: |
Of or relating to energy or to objects in motion.
Of or relating to the study of dynamics.
Characterized by continuous change, activity, or progress: a dynamic market.
Marked by intensity and vigor; forceful. See Synonyms at active.
Of or relating to variation of intensity, as in musical sound. |
Anyone who steps outside in Seoul has to acknowledge the fact that it is one hell of a dynamic city. Traffic all over the place, people rushing all over the place, an overdose of all kinds of sensory stimuli: smells, sounds, sights, tastes. Busan, Gangju, Daegu, etc. All those large cities and smaller ones too are very dynamic. Korea is very very dynamic. |
Waygookin,
I like the way you defined this and then you didn't extrapolate upon which definition of the word 'dynamic' appeals to Korea except the last two.
I'd rather take the third definition-since they all can't apply-as the real meaning of the word. "Constant change, activity, progress" are just not aspects I see happening here, particularly "constant change" in regard to activity and progress.
Sure, there's a lot of activity in the world's most crowded country per square mile on Earth. Could be said of Taipei or Mexico City too. Doesn't mean they're dynamic.
What about progress? Are you serious? The big conglommerates, or chaebol, control all the businesses here, for the most part. No new innovations take place outside of their grasp. Most progress here is technological borrowing. What country isn't going through the same transformation?
But if you want to say so, I'll agree there's some change. I see tons of new apartments being built, all the same squat and square apartment buildings without any variation. I live in an offistel, basically which the looks of haven't changed here in the past five years.
Kimchi's still around, and rice everyday.
Spicy food is still a mainstay.
Woman don't integrate with men, there's no intermingling at social venues except among co-workers.
Suits and ties are still billboard men walking.
Things are just the same, and that without enough variation to apply the definition of the word "dynamic." |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Thu Apr 28, 2005 9:34 am Post subject: |
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No, I'm not particularly impressed with Korean "dynamism". Then again, I'm also not particularly impressed with American "liberty", British "fair play", or that famed "modesty" which Canadians never stop bragging about.
It's a bit like shooting fish in a barrel to point out that a nation falls somewhat short of its romantic sloganeering. |
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