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babtangee
Joined: 18 Dec 2004
Location: OMG! Charlie has me surrounded!
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 Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:17 pm Post subject: Rain: Time Magazine's "Most Influential Person of the Y |
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K-Netizen Come-uppance
In the previous post I discussed the ongoing Time Magazine Internet Poll allowing people to vote their choice for the 'most influential person of the year.'
Predictably, the Korean Netizens responded to such polls they way they always do and Rain zoomed to the top. With the poll still open, the Korean media jumped on the story to see to it that all good citizens rallied for this noble cause. 'Is Rain more famous than Bill Gates?' the good reporters ask. 'The World Recognizes Rain's Global Stardom' was the headline of this morning's 'Focus' paper (one of those free papers they give out on the subways).
Barf bag, please.
However, the story took a turn when Thailand citizens realized their own good king Bhumibal was in the running and they responded with their own Internet ballot box-stuffing campaign and soon Bhumibal was atop the poll (that's about where my updates stopped in the previous post).
The Korean netizens, refusing to be beaten at their own game, realized that the only way to kill the king's popularity and put Rain back on top was to bombard Bhumibal with low ratings. Soon his average rating plummeted from 91 to the low 80's, a feat which must have taken 10's of thousands of voters to accomplish.
However, when the Thai's realized what the Korean netizens were doing they returned the favor and sent Rain down to 23rd place (below Bill Gates, by the by, and George Bush for that matter). Enraged, even more Koreans plagued Bhumibal with low ratings and now His Majesty sits at about 50th place.
And so both seem fucked at this point. There is justice sometimes in cyberspace.
We all owe the Thai people a enormous debt of gratitude for saving us from what surely would have been another onslaught of 'Gee, ain't we grand?' reporting from the Korean media which thrives on these farces.
But mayhaps I am being premature in thinking the K-netizens so easily defeated? If they organize even greater numbers and get EVERYONE'S ratings in the low 70's, then their man (for lack of a better of word) is back in the running! Sounds difficult, but an entire nation's sense of self-worth is on the line here, is it not?
'Backlash' seems to be a popular word lately. I think the antics of the Korean netizens and media are starting to get well known throughout Asia and perhaps even beyond and not in the way they'd like. The Thais will probably not take kindly to their King being trashed online and realize that with Korea it's all 'Please love us but we don't give a shit about you' (which, as we all know, is something only America has the right to demand). Don't be surprised if events like this leads to an even bigger decline in the 'Korean wave' than there was last year.
Update
Never underestimate the power of the K-netizens. They've managed to get Rain back up to #11 by systematically bombarding the person in the next higher ranking with low ratings while continuing to try to push Rain's rating higher (getting a few hundred votes every minute, according to my half-assed calculations). American Idol clown Sanjaya is the latest victim, suddenly getting about a hundred votes per minute while all other candidates ranked ahead and behind are just getting a few. Scary to think of how many Netizens have given up their evenings for this matter of national honor. |
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| I did my duty as [a] citizen of the world and shot Rain a [1]% whilst further hitting Stephen Colbert with 100% to try and ensure his position a[t] number 1. |
Here's Rain's profile and vote page.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100walkup/article/0,28804,1611030_1610841_1609889,00.html |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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| The secret war between Thailand and Korea. |
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flakfizer
Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Location: scaling the Cliffs of Insanity with a frayed rope.
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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I love this stuff. Thanks for the post.  |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:13 pm Post subject: |
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| I gave him a 1% too. This is pathetic. |
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JMO
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2591357.stm
Same thing happened when the BBC were doing a poll for the world's favorite song. People thought of it as a joke though, to put one over on the BBC. 'A nation once again' is not even the Wolfe Tones best song and they're not very good. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:20 pm Post subject: |
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| I have no idea who Rain is. Must be world famous in Korea. Actually I only know a few Korean celebrities well enough to put a name with the face. |
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Paji eh Wong
Joined: 03 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Never underestimate the power of the K-netizens. |
Spending all day at a computer, gaming a meaningless poll, and worrying what the rest of the world thinks of you has to be THE definition of powerlesness. |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Us Canadians would vote against a Canadian just because s/he is Canadian. |
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Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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I don't think TIme ever bothered reporting their internet poll for Person of the (20th) Century after Turkish netizens went wild for Ataturk on it and propelled him to the top. You'd think they would have learned about this kind of thing. OR may be they just care about the hits for advertisers.
| Paji eh Wong wrote: |
| Spending all day at a computer, gaming a meaningless poll, and worrying what the rest of the world thinks of you has to be THE definition of powerlesness. |
Worth repeating. |
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RACETRAITOR
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Location: Seoul, South Korea
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject: |
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Back in my hometown, there's an annual poll in one of the weekly entertainment rags to choose the best of Edmonton for everything. One year a bunch of us decided to rig the contest and see if we could install our own winners.
This guy won as Edmonton's sexiest man.
I believe I was in the running for best place to get a massage, but didn't make the top three. |
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uberscheisse
Joined: 02 Dec 2003
Location: japan is better than korea.
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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i think i discovered a glitch in the webpage, and who knows if it logs IP addresses - but if you vote for rain, then click another page, you can click "back" on your browser and vote again.
for those of you with very little to do today. |
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manlyboy
Joined: 01 Aug 2004
Location: Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:15 pm Post subject: |
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| I felt an urge to vote 1% for Rain but my apathy got the better of my pettiness. |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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| JMO wrote: |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2591357.stm
Same thing happened when the BBC were doing a poll for the world's favorite song. People thought of it as a joke though, to put one over on the BBC. 'A nation once again' is not even the Wolfe Tones best song and they're not very good. |
That's merely pranking. What Korean, Thai & Turkish netizens do is unadorned nationalism. A separate internet should be created for just for Asians. |
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seoulsucker
Joined: 05 Mar 2006
Location: The Land of the Hesitant Cutoff
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:46 pm Post subject: |
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| jinju wrote: |
| I gave him a 1% too. This is pathetic. |
Ditto. The guy is a star, but influential? Exactly the opposite. He's the perfect example of a Korean product based on completely Western pop influences. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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| seoulsucker wrote: |
| jinju wrote: |
| I gave him a 1% too. This is pathetic. |
Ditto. The guy is a star, but influential? Exactly the opposite. He's the perfect example of a Korean product based on completely Western pop influences. |
Actully I gave him 1% about 20 times. I hope they count it 20 times. Ill do it again tomorrow and every day. Rain sucks. He's a star but his music is crap, he himself is nothing but a Michael jackson wannabe. Even his dancing is pretty much stolen from Wacko Jacko. Influential? What a joke. What influence? What musical trends has he set? Does he do anything aside from sing crappy pop tunes and dance like a child molestor?
Whats stupid is that the wrong Korean was chosen. if they wanted to have a real choice from Korea why not Ban Ki-moon? Atleast here is a guy who does have REAL influence being the had of the UN. Ban Ki-moon? I could buy that. Rain? What a joke. |
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