| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Real Reality
Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul
|
 Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:24 am Post subject: Most Koreans Would Be Reborn Elsewhere |
 |
|
Most Koreans Would Choose Rebirth Elsewhere: Poll
Most respondents in a recent poll by the image and video portal site Digital Inside said they would hate to be reborn as Koreans. Asked, "If you were born again, would you want to be born as a Korean?" 67.8 percent or 5,681 of 8,406 visitors to the site said they would rather be reborn as a citizen of another modernized nation. Only 24.4 percent or 2,042 said that they would want to be reborn as a Korean, while the rest were unsure.
Respondents gave a variety of explanations for their choice. The education system and mandatory military service were top among them, as was the need for political, economic and social reforms. Countries that were most popular for reincarnation were Switzerland, Denmark, Japan, Canada, Germany and the U.K.
Chosun Ilbo (September 1, 2006)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200609/200609010024.html |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:26 am Post subject: |
|
|
| How the HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL did JAPAN get to be No. 3??????? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Qinella
Joined: 25 Feb 2005
Location: the crib
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:29 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Hah, eloquently put, Mr. Guru. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:33 am Post subject: |
|
|
heh... those results sent me into wild convulsions of disbelief!
either that or my "L" key is sticky. And my "?" key. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Guri Guy
Joined: 07 Sep 2003
Location: Bamboo Island
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Maybe Koreans are secretly jealous of the Japanese??? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 7:45 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Guri Guy wrote: |
| Maybe Koreans are secretly jealous of the Japanese??? |
That's not news, GG. What is news -- and encouraging, in a way -- is that so many of them are willing to admit (or at least indicate) it in a survey. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Guri Guy
Joined: 07 Sep 2003
Location: Bamboo Island
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 9:27 am Post subject: |
|
|
Heh heh. I was thinking the very same thing. I think Koreans in general have an inferiority complex (they shouldn't though)and this survey kind of shows that.
I wonder how many Canadians would wish to be reborn as another nationality? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 10:08 am Post subject: |
|
|
How strange.
Something we have no control over is where we are born, and who our parents and siblings are.
I guess everybody would like beauty, wealth and brains. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 10:10 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Guri Guy wrote: |
I wonder how many Canadians would wish to be reborn as another nationality? |
I was gonna choose somewhere in Europe, maybe Ireland or Italy, or maybe Australia first, but then figured Newfoundland would be OK. I was a bit too young to realize I would be Canadian though. UGH. We all make mistakes when we're young. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Caledonian Craig
Joined: 13 Jan 2006
Location: Edinburgh
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 10:41 am Post subject: |
|
|
A bit random, no?
LoL! They really love that place. I suppose because it's a polar opposite to their own country. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 11:31 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Caledonian Craig wrote: |
A bit random, no?
LoL! They really love that place. I suppose because it's a polar opposite to their own country. |
I've seen results of a poll that used to be (and maybe still is) conducted every year in Korea: "Which country do you admire most?" These were actually tables of results going back to I think the early 1980s, so you could see how attitudes changed over several decades. It's obviously not the same as this hypothetical "reincarnation" question -- I think the Koreans of an earlier time would have found that question bizarre, if not a little offensive -- but there does seem to be some overlap in the answers.
Among the countries most admired by Koreans in the 1980s and into the 1990s, you'd frequently see Switzerland, the US, the UK, France, Germany and... prepare yourself now... Israel. Seemed an odd choice, so I asked some people about that. They said they (Koreans) admired Israel because they saw in it a reflection of themselves. Both were plucky young countries in bad regional neighbourhoods, both were established in 1948, both had what you might call "legitimacy problems" (Israel with the Arab World, the ROK with the Communist bloc) and of course both were not just close allies of the US, but also had a very pro-American general populace. Then, not now in Korea's case.
I wish I had the tables now instead of having to go by memory. I think but cannot say for sure that Japan may have made the Top 10, as well.
From the early and certainly by the mid-1990s, perceptions had changed fairly dramatically. The US and Israel slid further down (or even right off) the list of most admired nations, while the loosening of travel restrictions and increased study abroad meant that Koreans were becoming aware of places like Scandinavia and Canada.
Besides seeing "Japanese" as the third most desirable nationality to be reborn as (there's gotta be a smoother way to say that), I was also surprised to see such a high number (over two-thirds) of all respondents hoping they won't... um... come back as Koreans. If that question were put to Koreans in the 1980s -- despite being a great deal poorer, despite the Chun regime and the absence of genuine democratic institutions or freedoms, despite the closed economy, despite the travel restrictions -- I would really like to think that figure would be significantly lower. Those Koreans were the "children" of Park Chung-hee, and for all his mistakes and his repressiveness, Park did not raise a nation of crybaby, self-loathing, Swiss or Danish wannabes. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tzechuk
Joined: 20 Dec 2004
|
| Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 2:47 pm Post subject: |
|
|
What I would like to know is.......
Are these results published in KOREAN, in the KOREAN newspaper as well?
I often wonder if they just do these little polls just for foreigners. |
|
| Back to top |
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
