The Korean Civilization II

[King of Rasslin]

Ok, then. It's ok to live like a Korean in Korea, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do." But we tend to get a little sensitive when it comes to our food. Some of Washington's men ate the soles of their boots and dogs, so you could eat anything when you have to.

I am upset about our genetically screwed up food here. It's like steroids: you get really messed up when you are 60+ years old, but you will be anyway so why not go for it?

I did notice that Koreans (even South Koreans) have a lot of respect for authority, with university students bowing to seniors, etc. I doubt if there is much division in political groups there, but I was just wondering about political parties in Korea. Here in the US, there are only 2 parties that can win an election, and one of them is so pitifully stupid no one in their right mind would vote for them. How does the Korean democratic system work?

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by LoneWolf


Actually, I thought Molly Bloom was yin. The self-importance, the arrogance, the narcissism, the rudeness. It all seemed so familiar.

Condescension. I forgot condescension.

Gosh , my whole existence neatly summed up by your perspicacious psycho-analytical insight and searching wit.

Life now seems empty so I must kill myself.

I think the self-importance and narcissism are the planks obscuring your own vision, for assuming that your opinion of me holds any weight with me.

K.o R., as Proserpine rightly pointed out, the snails people eat aren't the kind you put in the pockets of girls at school; they're specially cultivated and usually weaned on milk or herbs to give their flesh a particular flavour before cooking.

In any case, if you eat prawns or shrimp or crayfish, what's the big deal with snails? Just another 'bug' with a shell on, is all.

[Q Classic]

Here in the US, there are only 2 parties that can win an election, and one of them is so pitifully stupid no one in their right mind would vote for them. How does the Korean democratic system work?

it's been a long time since i've looked into politics there, but if i remember correctly, a few years back there were three or four major parties.

none of them really last long like they do in the us, where both parties are utterly retardified.

most times, they last a few elections, then change their names or merge or just collapse.

[King of Rasslin]

What if the Democrats and Republicans merged into the People's Patriotic Democtatic Republican party? It would be communist, yes, but it would get 97% of the vote.

Does your government have people in black cars that remove unwanted resistance through the "witness protection program?" Mine does.

The Koreans have the Triad Mafia thing, and how does it compare with the Italians? Is it still active? As for self defence, I have heard that Tae Kwan Do is not very useful in a real fight, compared to Muay Thai. Yin, Q, do you take any martial arts? I would think they are very popular in Korea, as a lot of people are too poor to afford a soccer ball or a basketball hoop.

[Q Classic]

The Koreans have the Triad Mafia thing, and how does it compare with the Italians? Is it still active?

...
it's the "Traids", not the "Traid Mafia", and no, that's actually something that the Chinese do around Hong Kong. Chinese Triads, Japanese Yakuza, Italian Mafia.
I'm not sure what the seedy side of Korea is, so i don't know the name of the gangs or the mobs, but it's NOT the mafia, it's NOT the triads, and it's NOT the yakuza.
jeez. how many more times must it be emphasized that the three asian nations are not the same?

As for self defence, I have heard that Tae Kwan Do is not very useful in a real fight, compared to Muay Thai.

i'm not too sure about that, actually, not being a martial artist myself... i do know that it's predominantly kicks.

Yin, Q, do you take any martial arts? I would think they are very popular in Korea, as a lot of people are too poor to afford a soccer ball or a basketball hoop.

and what's the basis of that judgement? again, you're wrong. soccer (actually, FOOTBALL) is an enormously popular sport in korea, and korea ranks often among the top of the asian nations in soccer. in addition, it managed to get to the semifinals in the world cup (let's not get into that debate here right now). basketball is also quite popular, as there are many courts, and it, along with soccer, is televised nationally. there is a pro soccer league, and college basketball along with pro basketball also has leagues.
KoR, if a country is wealthy enough to have the highest rate of high-speed broadband internet penetration (percentage-wise), one of the highest rates of cellphone usages with advanced technologies (CDMA, 3G, PCS, all rolled out nationwide in Korea before the US), with one of the largest percentage rates of consumption in regards to electronics, cars, and other disposable items, with one of the most vibrant pop culture scenes in asia...
how are they "too poor" to afford a us$4 soccerball or a us$20 basketball hoop?
oh, right... they're not!

[King of Rasslin]

I do see those ads for giving money to charity, and they show poor people digging up garbage to eat. They had a kid from Korea talk about how his 55 cents a day pays for his education, health care, etc. I doubt if they could spend so much money on soccer. It might have been North Korea, so I will have to consider that.

And I don't mean to say "Triad Mafia." Mafia is just a general term for organized crime, mostly by Italians. It's the most familiar term here in the US, so that's what we should all use when we are talking about organized crime.

[King of Rasslin]

http://www.kfccinema.com/columns/jopok/jopok.html

Here you go!

[N. Machiavelli]

Originally posted by King of Rasslin
Here in the US, there are only 2 parties that can win an election, and one of them is so pitifully stupid no one in their right mind would vote for them.

As a bit of OT curiosity, which party would you describe as 'pitifully stupid'?

[King of Rasslin]

Whichever one wins.

I'm still hoping for a Libertarian win, someday.

[Q Classic]

JoPok?

ok, see...

compared with the Yakuza, the Triads, and the Italian Mafia, it's not as powerful, well-known, or even as evil.

and for chrissakes, can you not realize that's talking about a movie genre?

======

I do see those ads for giving money to charity, and they show poor people digging up garbage to eat. They had a kid from Korea talk about how his 55 cents a day pays for his education, health care, etc. I doubt if they could spend so much money on soccer. It might have been North Korea, so I will have to consider that.

ok, see, if they were talking about 55 cents a day and korea, it was definitely talking about north korea.

south korea can spend so much money on soccer, especially since it ran a small tournament that some like to call the "FIFA World Cup", buliding maybe 10 new stadia at a cost upwards of several hundred millions of dollars?

there's a world of difference between the south and north, KoR. use a little sense and intelligence here. if a country can afford cell phones, computers, and enough cars to block every single road it has several times over, it can afford soccer.

[King of Rasslin]

I know it's a movie genre, but I think "The Godfather" seemed accurate enough. You said you weren't familiar with the seedy side of Korea, but now you say that JoPok isn't as evil or as powerful? That's just what they WANT you to think!

[yin26]

http://www.hankooki.com/times/200210/t2002100218002740110.htm

South Korea ranks #1 in the world for private spending on education.

As for matial arts: I finally settled on a mix of Brazilian Ju-jitsu and ground fighting. Tae-kwon-do relies too heavily on acrobatics ... which are great if they hit just right, but not so great when the guy simply tackles you and starts a choke-hold ...

[Zero]

As for self defence, I have heard that Tae Kwan Do is not very useful in a real fight, compared to Muay Thai.

Anything is not useful for self defense if you dont learn it right.
Living in US I see too often people complaining the ab machine doesnt work. You only use it 10 min a week! DUH!!!!!

Please stop 'which martial arts is superior' question it really sounds dumb. (hey which is superior? rock paper or scissor?)

Q, is the demilitarized zone as dangerous as it is considered? We keep a lot of our guys there.

When I went to visit my own country about 6 years ago, I took a shot of DMZ from elevated grounds and I almost got my camera taken away. Luckily, my shot wasn't confidential enough for me to get locked up, but you still can't take a pic.... Hee hee and I have it.

the japanese deserved it, flat out.

Whenever word Japan and korea is in one sentence (or korean talking about japan), just block your ear and scream "lalalalalalala"... well exclude 2002 worldcup. Wait, they whine about that too.

What they say will most of the time be [B]true[B/], but warped by blind hatred, exaggeration and lots of bias history

My grandpa said that there was 1 Japanese person that actually surrendered from an island, and a soldier had a knife to his back and told him to give up. He did for a while, but then he strugged to escape and impaled himself on the knife. I wouldn't even think a terrorist would do something like that!

Japanese were (are still actually in other ways) fanatical about group efforts. I'm no expert about Japanes culture (Why are you asking this to us?) but patriotism in upmost fanatical level was almost expected by every individual. Anyway, how does that strike you as being strange? Isn't a man who blindly charged a machine gun nest and clubbed the gunners to death and won a congressional medal of honor strange? Isn't character played by Bruce Willis in Hart's War strange too??

Crazy fool on your side is a hero, crazy fool on their side is a sick f--k. LOL

What does dog taste like?

Take a wild guess, What does it look like? Tastes like the best veal you've ever had in your life. I think I've heard Swedish people eat dogs too, but I don't really care about it... Since most koreans seems a lil shy about the issue, I thought I'd add what I've heard.

If you find eating dogs disgusting, try eating pork... I try to steer away from that stuff. theres a reason why jews were instructed by god to not eat them...

That's it for my commentary as a Twinkie korean boy livin in the NYC... I'll add more as I find any interesting topic to reply on.

[Zero]

One more before I'm off to bed

this is my position: the atomic bomb was an atrocity. a horrific one. but i feel no sorrow, no pity, not for the japanese people, not while the brutality and the atrocities they visited among the peoples of korea, china, and taiwan, as well as most of the rest of the pacific rim, remained ignored and whitewashed by the world at large.
the japanese killed perhaps up to ten times as many in their forty-year reign of terror in korea, and you expect me to shed a tear for japanese civilians? fat chance.
i hope that atomics are never used again, but for you to want an apology, for you to think that the japanese are victims, while simultaneously being utterly silent about their atrocities, is to let them hoodwink you into believing that their people were innocent and pure in the crimes visited upon everyone in the twentieth century.

I've always wondered for many years on this part, since the only resource for such information can be found majorly in korean textbooks and Japanese textbook on WWII is as vague as possible (if you were them, wouldnt you as well?) So being uncharacteristic of my usual self, I've actually got up and did some researching instead of sit my a$$ on the couch. What I digged up was quite interesting. I've expected Korean history to be a little biased (obviously if your the victim your gonna exaggerate). Anyway, alot of the information came indirectly fro my grandparents whenever I got them to talk about the painful past and from books and poetry in the library. What I found interesting was that while the japanese had racist views on both koreans and chinese, koreans were actually being in the process of being assimilated. Brain washing as the koreans would call it. I'm not sure whether it's because korea was annexed before invasion of china or they wanted a strong foothold in mainland (they referred to korea as the dagger military strategically) or if they actually viewed koreans as assimilateable. This can be confirmed from my grandmother's recollection of having to hide when speaking in korean. All koreans were given a japanese equivalent names and were punished for speaking japanese.

Alot of the harsh rule imposed by japanese authority I find a little overdone IMO. Koreans were equally ruthless in commiting violent asassinations and terrorism(isnt the infamous lunchbox bombing story in essence terrorism if you change korean to muslim?). Of course japanese side was not as innocent as we all know. Governments often confiscated family possessions to support military and they brutally ended rebellious causes and riots by often just bringing military and having a public shootings.
They also conducted cruel scientific studies on POWs and resisters and sometimes civilians (for mostly when younger specimen was required... yea)

If you ask me, the best comparison of German occupation that occured in WWII to Japanese occupation of Koreas would be france. Although frace wasn't enitrely annexed, alot of similarity exist between two occupants. They both were very nationalistic, they both violently protested (u guys kno bout french resistance) and Their conquerors ruthlessly punished they rebels.

My Grandpa fought a guerilla warfare agst the japanese in manchuria, where many korean resistance was located once korea was overrun. He was a natural with a rifle since he loved to hunt since he was young. And I still follow him whenever hegoes outdoors. He was captured shortly before the war ended and they interrogated him. His last interrogation cost him his knee joints where they used steel rod to break it. He has healed and has relearned how to walk since then, but ever since his age caught up, his knees haven't been acting up well again.

thats about all i can think of.. ill edit more in when im not tired

[King of Rasslin]

Tae Kwan Do is rarely used in the UFC fighting matches. It's a common martial art in Korea, I think. But in real fights, it just isn't very good. Many of the kicks are just flashy, with very little combat value. UFC champions use kickboxing, Jiu-Jitsu, Judo, and wrestling. Some martial arts really are better than others, I mean, that Israeli martial art (Krav Magra IIRC) is so worthless! Just try to kick the gun out of someone's hand in real life and watch what happens.

The GNP per capita of S Korea is about half of that of Japan, and S Korea has about 1/3 the population of Japan. Economically and power wise, do you think that Korea will ever compare to Japan?