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happiness
Joined: 04 Sep 2010
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 Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 3:25 am Post subject: Is it just me, with all of this news of Korea progressing... |
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and evolving, is Korea REALLY changing, as I mean the people.. More foreign singers coming here, Korea law actually punishing criminals, more Koreans embracing other ideas, weakening nationalism, etc.
Why does it not seem that way, is it just me, or are the people still as nationalistic/inward-looking/etc.? Cronyism and URI GIRI (our group, our way) just seems to be as strong as ever....One of my "modern" Korean gf's say I think girls are from the Joseon era. I mean, is it like the 4 seasons or other myths we foriegners pass between each other. Is Korea opening up? Are the people really opening up? Ive been here for a while, and I still am not sure. I mean, you can buy more western stuff now, the people?
Just because they have long hair and drink starbucks, thats all just on the outside, no?
What do you think? |
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Nismo
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 3:37 am Post subject: |
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| Were you here in the 90's? |
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happiness
Joined: 04 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 3:39 am Post subject: |
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| Nismo wrote: |
| Were you here in the 90's? |
yes i was, 96, and came back during IMF, and moved back in 2001, been here since.
Im no talking about stores and clothes and such, Im talking the people...just want tp hear others opinions. |
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Nismo
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 3:44 am Post subject: |
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| happiness wrote: |
| Nismo wrote: |
| Were you here in the 90's? |
yes i was, 96, and came back during IMF, and moved back in 2001, been here since.
Im no talking about stores and clothes and such, Im talking the people...just want tp hear others opinions. |
Surely you must remember the tear gas weather reports where you could sit in a coffee shop and be entertained by a clash between rioting students and police forces. I've noticed a marked difference in South Korea even over the past half decade. The current young adult generation is apathetic. I can't imagine any university students protesting. For any reason. They are satisfied with shallow, materialistic lifestyles. |
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Julius
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 4:15 am Post subject: Re: Is it just me, with all of this news of Korea progressin |
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| happiness wrote: |
Are the people really opening up? Ive been here for a while, and I still am not sure. I mean, you can buy more western stuff now, the people?
Just because they have long hair and drink starbucks, thats all just on the outside, no?
What do you think? |
Its changing fast, although not fast enough for most foreigners.
Its not that long ago that korean women wore body coverings similar to bhurkas, were not allowed to talk to anyone other than their male relatives, and were only allowed out the house for an hour each day when the men were cleared off the streets.
This culture is emerging from forms of social control more severe than the taliban, but they are coming on in leaps and bounds. I see some new culture shift every couple of months. Today I saw some woman openly smoking with her b/f, and wearing a record short-length miniskirt.
Two fundamentals are barely changing at all though. The strong nationalistic ethnic identity and sense of separation from the rest of the world. |
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sml7285
Joined: 26 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 5:29 am Post subject: |
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| Nismo wrote: |
| happiness wrote: |
| Nismo wrote: |
| Were you here in the 90's? |
yes i was, 96, and came back during IMF, and moved back in 2001, been here since.
Im no talking about stores and clothes and such, Im talking the people...just want tp hear others opinions. |
Surely you must remember the tear gas weather reports where you could sit in a coffee shop and be entertained by a clash between rioting students and police forces. I've noticed a marked difference in South Korea even over the past half decade. The current young adult generation is apathetic. I can't imagine any university students protesting. For any reason. They are satisfied with shallow, materialistic lifestyles. |
And Americans in the 80's who didn't follow after the examples of protestors in the 70's must have all been apathetic as well... |
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sml7285
Joined: 26 Apr 2012
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 5:52 am Post subject: Re: Is it just me, with all of this news of Korea progressin |
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| Julius wrote: |
| Its not that long ago that korean women wore body coverings similar to bhurkas, were not allowed to talk to anyone other than their male relatives, and were only allowed out the house for an hour each day when the men were cleared off the streets. |
... Neither my mother nor grandmother ever went through this. If this ever happened, it probably was either forced during the Japanese occupation or it happened hundreds of years ago. |
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Nismo
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 6:36 am Post subject: |
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| sml7285 wrote: |
| And Americans in the 80's who didn't follow after the examples of protestors in the 70's must have all been apathetic as well... |
Yes. My point was that Korea is becoming very much like America - Fat, apathetic, nationalistic, and materialistic. |
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ghostrider
Joined: 27 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 6:39 am Post subject: |
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| I was here in the 90s. I don't feel like a lot of progress has been made. I read about the recent uproar about a few Chinese migrant workers committing crimes. There always seems to be a minority group that the Korean media likes to target. Some things never seem to change. And what about the suicide rate that has doubled within the last decade? Korea now has the highest suicide rate among rich nations. Something has happened that can't be good. |
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liveinkorea316
Joined: 20 Aug 2010
Location: South Korea
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 6:47 am Post subject: Re: Is it just me, with all of this news of Korea progressin |
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| sml7285 wrote: |
| Julius wrote: |
| Its not that long ago that korean women wore body coverings similar to bhurkas, were not allowed to talk to anyone other than their male relatives, and were only allowed out the house for an hour each day when the men were cleared off the streets. |
... Neither my mother nor grandmother ever went through this. If this ever happened, it probably was either forced during the Japanese occupation or it happened hundreds of years ago. |
Didn't pick up on the sarcasm huh? kk
But seriously. I think you are seeing a level of material consumption that is pacifying the population and making the students and everyone content with their consuming lives. This is not entirely a bad thing because living standards are rising and there is less to protest about.
However don't forget who still runs the show here. It is not run by the mini-skirt wearing ladies or the men in the tight pants holding handbags.
It is still run by the chainsmoking ajosshis who are as insular as ever. They are accepting more and more western and pan-asian imports and ideas these days as a result of two things forced on them: 1) The way to steal another countries technology is to first accept it into your country (see how quickly the apple i-phone was copied by samsung to make the galaxy). 2) Secondly, they have signed reciprocal trade agreements that FORCE South Korea to allow such western goods in or face penalties. If The South Koreans had their way alot of products you see on shelves here would not be there and they would be swiftly copied by Korean companies and you would pay double but because of FTA's that is not possible anymore.
Korea wins because of the FTA's and it also wins through Samsung Hyundai and the like by allowing foreign technology in then exporting that same technology back out 5 years later through it's own companies.
All this has had the effect of allowing western and pan asian goods and trends into Korea (including music which they would probably ban or tariff highly if they could haha) which is a byproduct of a relently chase of the almighty $$$$$$$$$$$
I think the younger generation will slowly change to be more open-minded and worldly when they get into power in this country in 30 years time. Not because of western ideas and such but simply because they have grown up more affluent and a more affluent upbringing brings a more open-minded and softer approach during the university and middle life years.
The hard growth that Korea has had over the past 100 years has necessitated a very hard insular approach from government-down and people of all walks of life had to be wary of not just foreigners but of eachother because it was dog-eat-dog.
It is not long now before Korea might have a Social welfare system that is more generous than parts of Europe. That would do more to open people minds than any western philisophical thoughts or pop songs. |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 7:15 am Post subject: Re: Is it just me, with all of this news of Korea progressin |
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| liveinkorea316 wrote: |
| It is not long now before Korea might have a Social welfare system that is more generous than parts of Europe. That would do more to open people minds than any western philisophical thoughts or pop songs. |
Let's hope not. The low taxes are part of the reason I don't move away, i.e. back to Canada. If the Korean welfare state gets bigger than Europe, they'll just end up in a terrible economic situation faster than it took the semi-socialist countries there to get to that point.
Sorry if I'm derailing the thread. |
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GEOM
Joined: 04 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 8:13 am Post subject: |
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As Julius said, some fundamentals of Korean culture is barely changing. But that's pretty much expected since their cultural heritage is very different from ours.
So I'm not going to expect them to open up much. But they change in a lot of good ways, too. I'm not getting run over by motorcycles on sidewalks; getting coughed on; wait for the guy to finish doing his hair while I have to wait to wash my hands after going to the bathroom, etc. |
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Joe Boxer
Joined: 25 Dec 2007
Location: Bundang, South Korea
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 10:19 am Post subject: |
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| GEOM wrote: |
| ...while I have to wait to wash my hands after going to the bathroom, etc. |
I never have to wait to wash my hands. In my time here I've found that most guys use the stall and then make a beeline for the exit. That includes restaurant staff, which is disgusting btw. Anyway, most of the sinks have no warm water nor soap, so it doesn't matter that much, I suppose. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Mon May 28, 2012 2:52 pm Post subject: |
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A good sign of Korea's progress is if foreigners start arguing about how it should continue to progress within the parameters of their arguments back home. "Korea needs a strong social safety net" "Korea needs a Tea Party" "Korea needs a Korean Ron Paul"
The old days it was everyone agreeing- "Korea doesn't need a dictator". |
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happiness
Joined: 04 Sep 2010
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 3:01 am Post subject: |
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[quote="Steelrails"\
The old days it was everyone agreeing- "Korea doesn't need a dictator".[/quote]
yes, but they still have the dictator mindset. The language for one thing keeps them locked into the Confucian/subservient thing. I always say each language has a soul, and the Korean one is quite stifling, IMO. I think itll take a big change and alot more Konglish to open it up to new concepts, and like we said, get the people fat and laid, and they wont care at all about whitey banging on their back steps. Sorry to sound a bit blunt but.....
I still hold theyre not that changed, still rather insular... |
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