tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22799938.post3375328271116904082..comments2023-10-19T10:57:13.586-05:00Comments on lI — Il: A series of collected notes on Korea, in which the author attempts to express himself and routinely failsE T Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15133183988597024227noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22799938.post-58740396054067496252010-06-24T20:07:19.792-05:002010-06-24T20:07:19.792-05:00Collectivism in Korea is no more than being the sa...Collectivism in Korea is no more than being the same individual. Fashion is uniform, but it goes deeper than that. It is considered strange not to drink soju with sam gip sal, bizarre to put a sauce on your rice and plain wrong to put said rice anywhere else but the large left-hand bowl. What might happen if you do, I cannot say. Not collectivism so much as copying, and it seems to allow Koreans to negate all collectivism’s positive aspects. Principals shit on head-teachers who then take that shit in their left hands and distribute it politely to those below them.<br /><br />Where collectivism really lets them down is in education, and presumably all large industries. Criticisms of a textbook’s English is met with an ‘oh really?’ and nothing more. You cannot be the lone voice of change in the manicured wilderness of school. The obsession with vocabulary is privately criticized, leading as it does to this kind of thing: ‘I incredible joyous when Korea equal Nigeria’, and the classic: ‘Korea capricious in soccer’<br /><br />Every energy is reserved for their work and their family. This is fine, and because of it the nation is a money-making machine with seemingly harmonious families that would be the envy of every dysfunctional western unit. Beneath the surface bubbles trouble. Not the heady binge-drinking, crack-smoking trouble of the west, but pent-up feelings, arranged marriages of convenience, a terrible fear of leaving the family home and, later, a robust interest in prostitutes. Typically older men drink hard and often while women progress through three stages, each of which engulfs entirely: wanting a man, getting a man, hating that man. They kind of know this is not healthy, and that there could be other options, but familial disagreements are silenced by iron ajummas. <br /><br />Perhaps they walk so fucking slowly out of respect for these women, whose hunched backs must collect scraps of cardboard all day, for the hi-tech economy has passed them by. Respectful bows replace affinity.<br /><br />Perhaps they really believe that taking some rice, adding some vegetables and a flavorsome sauce is a uniquely Korean dish, and not something every single person ever has invented for themselves. <br /><br />Perhaps they really believe that having four seasons, even ignoring the fact that they hate two of them, is not simply luck of the draw, but something wonderful about them and of course, their forefathers.<br /><br />It is this obsessive pride in all things Korean, taken as fact always, that really grates. It is separated from normal life, where burgers, western movies and music and most typically the English language are preferred to their Korean alternatives by all the cool kids. The idea that bibimbap may not be that special, and that kimchi gets boring after a while, does not compute. Poor Korea, where depression roams so much freer than thought. But don’t worry, you can always go and fucking kill yourself.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com