Korean Job Discussion Forums

[DougieG]

Was reading the EFL-Law forums and came across this article about a foreigner-run cult up in Nowon-Gu. Has anyone heard about this group and know how to get in touch with them?

Here's the link: http://efl-law.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1243

If it doesn't work, just go to www.efl-law.org/forums and look for the "Article" posting.

[Demonicat]

No, but I'm really interested. Efl-law requires registration, so could you just cut and paste the article for us all to enjoy.

[denverdeath]

The author is a "jean.briesbois" and most of his stuff seems to be more on the fictional side of things, but who knows? Another one of his pieces of work can be found here:

http://koreabridge.com/writings/nonfiction/law&order_briesbois.shtml

Here's the article that's on EFL-Law:

To The Forum Reader:
The author of this post requested we examine the content of the following article for legal problems before they published it in Hard Copy - (we did and we see none) - the author is going to publish elsewhere but has agreed to have this placed on the Forum here for all to see. The topic may or may not be controversial - other Forums and web sites banned it for fear of legal repercussions - though we see none.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Bizarre Ambition

A Fat Boy Slim worshipping cult; English teachers addicted to soju laced with herbal ectasy; and raves ��like ancient Rome�� – JEAN BRIESBOIS explores Bhagwan Doneeshi��s Faustian fantasy to seize control of Nowon-Gu��s rave and private English teaching scenes.

They say that the monotony of life in ��burbs will drive you insane, but for a group of foreigners living in Nowon-Gu – a dormitory community located on Seoul��s north-eastern frontier – insanity would come as a welcome alternative to being caught up in one man��s off-the-rails dream to control the local rave and private English teaching scenes.

At the centre of this maelstrom is a Canadian from rural Ontario who goes by the name of ��Bhagwan Doneeshi.�� The Bagwhan, a private English teacher cum amateur rave promoter who has lived in Korea for just over 10 years, is described by those in the know as one of the most ��extreme�� and ��delusional�� characters to set foot on the peninsula.

A self-confessed believer in Kabbalah, an aspect of Jewish mysticism that counts Madonna and her beau Guy Ritchie amongst its faithful, the Bhagwan has incorporated elements of his religion into Mephistophelean plans to control and financially exploit Nowon-Gu��s foreign community.

According to Mick Puxty, a former member of the Bhagwan��s cult who turned ��whistleblower�� in the hope of ending what he describes as a ��Kafkaesque existence�� for foreigners in Nowon-Gu, life in the suburb is ��barmy.��

Fearing retribution from the Bhagwan and other "hardcore" members of the cult, Puxty, a 35-year-old English teacher from East London in the UK, agreed to speak out on the condition that this story was published only after he had safely left the country.

Meeting at a rundown goshiwon near Sanaggye Subway Station, Puxty looks like a man on the run, his haunted eyes and unshaven face betraying the immense stress that he is under. Furtively sticking his head out of the doorway, Puxty quickly looks left and right before asking in a cockney accent: ��Did you come alone?��

��Of course,�� I reply.

And with a wink he beckons me to follow him inside and down the hall to a tiny room that reeks of cigarette smoke, barren of any furniture except a striped canvas bag overflowing with crumpled clothing, a roughly folded blanket, a small television set and a Sony camcorder.

Locking the door behind him, Puxty, offers me a seat on his dusty floor peppered with pubic hair and cigarette ash. He refuses to answer any questions, instead asking that I first watch a camcording of what he claims is indefatigable proof that a dangerous foreigner-only cult with Fat Boy Slim as its titular head is being used to control the local rave and private English teaching scene.

The television screen flickers to life, as Puxty pushes play on the camcorder, sits down on the floor, pulls the ring tab on his jumbo can of Asahi Dry and lights up a Dunhill Red cigarette. Ghostly static and electronic hiss is replaced by the image of heavily intoxicated foreigners staggering around a darkened half-empty bar clutching baby bottles with teats, dressed in what appears to be ill-fitting Namdaemun knock offs of pricey casual wear.

The camera slowly pans around the room pausing on a bored looking DJ sporting the latest military haircut as he ramps up a set of depressing late 90s electronica hits. The Chemical Brothers ��Hey Boy, Hey Girl�� hangs heavy in the air, playing on and on in an endless loop.

To the untrained eye, the evening looks no different from any other amateur rave put on by foreigners in Korea. The ravers seem desperate to let their hair down after another week of language whoring, but without any psychoactive substances there is no ��friendliness,�� and what unfolds is just another sad scene where alcoholic oblivion quickly overtakes the participants; dreams of an evening of orgiastic dance mania long turned sour.

But all is not as it seems – suddenly the music increases in volume and a spotlight begins searching the room, bathing an obese male on the dance floor in its light.

The man looks to be in his late 30s or early 40s and is wearing nothing but a pair of tight rainbow coloured jockey shorts, a white surgical mask and oversized porn star sunglasses that would make Ron Jeremy proud. Waving his hands around in the air like he just don��t care, the trance-like expressions on the faces of the foreigners watching him border on sheer ecstasy, there��s no doubt: He owns the room.

But when four similarly dressed acolytes, sans surgical masks, move onto the dance floor behind this man mountain of jiggling blubber carrying a massive headshot photograph of Norman Cooke aka Fatboy Slim – a superstar DJ and once of the UK��s hottest dance music acts, the scene degenerates from bizarre to alarming.

Look at that fat villain,�� snorts Puxty slamming his can of beer down next to the camcorder. ��He��s ridiculous �� thinks he��s a god or something.��

On screen, the foreigners are beginning to strip down to their underwear as Fat Boy Slim��s biggest hit, ��Praise You,�� erupts from the sound system. Soon, everyone is prostrating themselves on the dance floor in front of the Bhagwan, pausing only to suck from their baby bottles like oversized chimpanzees.

Just as the footage looks to be getting truly interesting, the picture cuts out, leaving an emotionally drained Puxty staring vacantly at the screen, absolutely motionless.
��And that��s it,�� he says suddenly snapping out of his trance and turning the television off. ��I was filming from the corner of the bar but my battery went dead.��

��So, what happens next?�� I ask.

��It got really debauched,�� he says slowly shaking his head. ��Blokes kissing blokes, gals kissing gals, everybody doin�� everything �� like ancient Rome.��

According to Puxty, the foreigners are all members of a cult called P.L.U.R (Peace, Love, Unity, Respect), which was formed by the Bhagwan after he was banished from the now defunct partner-swapping group, Club Aphrodite.

Kevin Mottershead, former organiser of Club Aphrodite which operated out of his apartment in Hagye-dong, says the Bhagwan is a new breed of animal; a disturbing aberration from the usual ESL flotsam and jetsam that washes up on these shores, with a lust for money, power and raw adulation that knows no bounds.

��Dude, when I knew the Bhagwan he was all about living in an alcoholic stupor, returning only to semi-sobriety to teach privates or score a sex fix,�� he laughs. ��He��d show up at my club with a hooker and try to swing but no one was in to them because they were just too freaky. In the end I had to lay a ban on him ��cause he kept trying to play lamo rave tunes that brought everyone down.��

But bringing people down is the least serious of allegations laid against the Bhagwan. Puxty claims that this sham Cesar maintains a vice-like control over PLUR cult members by encouraging them to guzzle booze to the point where they become borderline alcoholics, collects a percentage of cult member��s earnings from private English teaching and much more disturbingly: drink soju laced with herbal ecstasy at his raves.

��They��re E-babies �� that��s what they��re sucking out of the baby bottles,�� he laughs. Buying ��E�� in Korea is too risky so the Bhagwan��s pushing his own creation: ��E-soju.����

Renato Germinario, a qualified counsellor who taught English in Korea for three and a half years says that he counselled several PLUR members who had become addicted to ��E-soju.��

��Shattered is the best way to describe them,�� he says. ��I��m not sure if ��E-soju�� is actually illegal but I do know that it��s highly addictive and that cult members who sought my help were all displaying classic withdrawal symptoms.��

��David,�� a former Sogang Language Program English teacher who lived and worked in the area, claims the Bhagwan not only tried to get him addicted to ��E-soju�� at the handful of raves he attended, but also extorted 10 percent of his monthly earnings from private teaching as ��tribute.��

��I didn��t have any choice,�� he says. ��I was leaving for another job in two months and didn��t want any trouble. The Bhagwan threatened to report me to immigration if I didn��t pay up and I knew he meant business.��

Yeah, that��s his gig,�� says Puxty sadly shaking his head. ��The Bhagwan��s more misguided than a clown at a funeral. He��s mad for fear, intimidation and preying on people��s weaknesses. I dunno how he can be stopped, or if anyone��s even up for trying, all I know is that I��m just not into this anymore.��

[email protected]
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http://www.efl-law.org
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[Demonicat]

So a human whale who worships fatboy slim is giving people herbal E, the shit we took when we were 16, and creating a cult?
Either 1) thats not herbal E, but rather H or something similar that could mess people up like that
2) Its an excuse for people to enjoy swinging and the "tribute" is actually a monthly fee for the swinger's parties
3) Its all bullshit made up for a good story...

Well, if it is real- I wanna go. Invite me people, I have to see this.

[JongnoGuru]

A question of faith by Jean Briesbois
Contributed by Jean Briesbois on Wednesday, October 06 @ 17:16:28 KST
Topic: Non-Fiction
I'm not proud of what I'm doing. But if people are prepared to pay to see my special talent, then I'll happily take their money...


Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

"Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink! Don't stop now; you can do it! Drink for your faith!"

Looking a little worse for wear, a beet-faced, visibly inebriated foreign male wearing an Irish football jersey, a red "Korea Team Fighting Scarf" and a green toque is draining the last drops from a green bottle of soju into his mouth. His wife, motivator and trainer, an attractive Korean woman dressed in a flowing hanbok, is beating on a traditional drum, urging him to continue drinking.

No, this isn't the opening scene from seedy, low budget DVD porn flick, but a training session for what Conor Talty, 35, an Irishman from Belfast, hopes will be the first soju drinking record to be entered into the pages of the Guiness Book of Records.

"Look at him, he's so brave," said Lee Kyung-sun, 25, Talty's wife of three years and number one fan. "I love drinking soju but Conor's got a great talent. Whiskey, rum, tequila ... you name it, he's so good at drinking it.

Taking a moment to steady himself before preparing to down his sixth bottle of soju, Talty believes that if his attempt is endorsed by Guinness World Records, he'll not only be carving out a place in history but will be helping to further the lofty ideals of his church.

"I'm going for 20 bottles," he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "I'm doing this for me future and the future of the church. People may think I'm a loon for trying to set a record, but this is a real way of proving my faith."

As a former English teacher who now heads up the Reunification Church -- a private organisation established by Talty after experiencing a vision while climbing Namsan in 2003 -- setting the world soju drinking record is not only about providing inspirational leadership for his flock, but raising money to continue the churches activities in Korea and abroad.

"I remember sitting on the mountain watching the sun rise, and felt so inspired by the earth, the seas, the planets and the greater universe," Talty explained in a thick Irish brogue. "The experience was so special that it changed my life forever."

Armed with his new found inspiration, and having read nearly a hundred titles on spirituality and self-help, Talty unleashed his new brand of religion on the unsuspecting Korean masses, a move that although well received by the people who worship with him, is not yet a paying proposition.

"At the moment, we're operating out of a van with an awning," he laughed. "We move around from place to place but it's time that we settled down. A church needs a solid foundation and that requires cash. Hopefully, by setting the soju drinking record we'll raise a lot of money, not to mention our profile."

Based on the simple principle of reunifying divided peoples such as Koreans and the Irish, Talty believes that his church is the way of the future and argues that the opportunity reunification should be undertaken at every level.

"For instance, I'm wearing a shirt from the republic but I'm from Northern Ireland," he said, tugging at his emerald green jersey. "If can take such a small step, then why can't we all try harder?"

A point that parishioner, Robert "Notorious BOB" Blaney supports. "I'm a proud third-generation Irish American and I love what Conor is trying to do. Reconciliation between countries, people and even the sexes is the way of the future, this truly is a unique religion."

With plans to stage his record attempt at Itaewon's Helios in the pipeline, Talty believes that even if Guinness refuses to readmit records for drinking or alcohol consumption into their record books, this is still the perfect way to reconcile the Irish and Korean communities in Itaewon.

"You know, I really shed a tear when I heard about the Irish lads being beaten like dogs by the folk at Helios. We [the Irish] have such a bad reputation in Korea and this did nothing to help," he said. "That's why I plan to have a chat with the owners [Helios] and see if they'll back me attempt. I can't think of a better way to reunify our communities."

But for Talty, setting a soju drinking record is more than just a way to raise money for his Reunification Church, it's about testing his faith in the face of the ultimate demon: alcoholism.

As a reformed alcoholic, Talty swore that he would never touch another drop, but strengthened by his faith and the love of his wife, he now believes that any hurdle can be overcome if you have faith.

"Things were pretty bad for me," he said. "I was unemployable because of me boozing and wound up sleeping under an overpass near Olympic Park. They were tough times and it was only through counseling that I managed to get back on me feet."

Renato Germinario, a qualified counselor who taught English in Korea for three and a half years believes that if it weren't for the hours of grueling sessions that he guided Talty through, the Irishman probably wouldn't be alive today.

"He was basically at the bottom of a downward spiral," Germinario said in an email interview from his home in Toronto. "Feelings of inadequacy had driven him, like so many English teachers in Korea, to heavy drinking. I genuinely fear for his mental and physical health if he goes through with this attempt," he added.

Yet for David Jonkers, a former English teacher who owns Loose Baby! (specialising in the production of reality-based TV programmes), the chance that Talty could fail and return to a life of alcoholism is an outcome that in terms of ratings, is "absolutely tantalising."

"We're looking for him [Talty] to fail," smirked Jonkers. "It's nothing personal but if we go ahead with our plans to film a reality-based show about ESL in Korea, then this is the stuff that will keep viewers glued to the screen."

And Talty, a Stakhanovite at heart, believes that while allowing his life to become little more than cheap entertainment for the masses is demeaning, it is a means to an end, and that is something he and his wife have never lost sight of.

"I'm not proud of what I'm doing. But if people are prepared to pay to see my special talent, then I'll happily take their money. This really is nothing more than a question of faith."

[JongnoGuru]

Or have a look at this. Old Davers have mentioned it. Figure a few of you knew.

http://lifeinkorea.org/writing/read.php3?readnum=126&page=0&pagecount=0&search=&searchsel=&sec=2

[JongnoGuru]

And if you're really bored, read this cute little exchange all the way through.

http://webbbs.gabia.com/bbs_view.php?tbl_name=theseoultimes_com&bbs_name=Bulletin%20&idx=4866&pageno=1



It's from almost exactly a year ago.
Almost freaky.
Almost.

[uberscheisse]

goll darn it.

leave it to a foreigner in korea to start the lamest possible spiritual movement ever.

and i thought christianity was wack.

[Panic Button]

So anyway, where do we get some of this herbal E?

[DougieG]

Who knows? Mail order from Amsterdam perhaps? Wild story though ... good to see foreigners having some good clean fun. Briesbois is "da man!"

[indytrucks]

Are any of these people for real?

[plato's republic]

This Conor Purcell character sounds like a real w.anker. There, somebody had to say it.

[bellum99]

Please can we all quietly ignore these people until they sober up and go home. I really don't want to see them on KBS. The Koreans already spit on us..the last thing we need is more stupid behavior.

[lastat06513]

I for one have to second the last statement- it is people like this that give English teachers a f'd-up reputation in this country.

This country is purely 100% conservative protestant Christian; any deviation away from that will cause some alarms for sure. By calling them "a cult", it is something that if found out by the press, it could be exploited to the fullest by the media to the point that Koreans might call all foreign teachers accultists and druggies.

If this guy wants to do this and drag some friends into it- no problem. But the rest of us who are rooting for him must be aware that if he continues, he might drag us down with him- and then where will we be?

[Binch Lover]

What planet are you all living on?? It's obviously all a joke... and pretty funny too.