What the ... something of the something?!?!?

It is kind of funny that people are talking about the opening sequence of the latest Simpson's episode and South Korea. I associated it more with China or North Korea than South Korea. It wasn't even the 1st time the show has spoofed labour in South Korea. I forget which episode it was but they showed the Korean animators being forced to work at gun point. There was something that struck me as a perfect comment on Koreans though.

Marge: Sweetie, you can still go to McGill. The Harvard of Canada.

Lisa: Anything that is the something of the something isn't really the anything of anything.

How often have you heard Koreans, whether it is individuals, the government, or the media, say something is the something of Korea? I have heard it way too many times.

I think the most worn out ones I have heard are;

Jeju is the Hawaii of Korea

Pajeon is pizza of Korea

It is hard to remember just how many times I have heard those. Whenever you talk about Jeju that one tends to get throw out.

Brian in Jeollonamdo provided an interesting list. Here are some of the highlights.

Kim Gyeong-ah the Korean Paris Hilton (Why the hell anyone would be proud to claim to have a Paris Hilton is beyond me.)

Cheongnyangni is Korea's Amsterdam

Rain is Korea's Usher

Yeouido is Korea's Manhattan

The Jindo Sea-Parting Festival is Korea's Moses Red Sea Miracle. (Who is the Charelton heston of Korea?)

The Namdaemun arson is Korea's 9/11. (I find that one disgustingly stupid. As if you can compare a drunken asshole burning down Namdaemun with what happened on 9-11.)

The list goes on and on. The next time a Korean tell's me something is the something of Korea I will have to use Lisa's reply. :)

What the ... turnabout?!?!?

As with the Korea Times, I don't bother with the KKK site Korean Sentry much. In fact, I can't remember the last time I checked their site out. Since I had a few minutes to kill and had checked out any site worth checking I popped in there tonight.

As I read one of their recent threads the hypocrisy and stupidity of these morons made me laugh. The thread was not a laughing a matter, it was pretty disgusting. It was about a 5 year old girl being raped in a Chinese hospital by a 13 year old Korean boy. It was started, as are most threads there, by the mook called Consoleman who runs the site.

The FIRST thing he does is call the story questionable. Then he immediately starts to question the ethnicity of the 13 year rapist. Why does he question the story? Well that is where some of the hypocrisy and stupidity comes from.

First he doubts the veracity of the story because it comes from China. The story actually comes from Hong Kong which when it was pointed out caused Herr Consoleman to stammer and back track a little. Hong Kong news is more trustworthy than Chinese news.

BUT ... and this was particularly laugh worthy ... he then says in his bad English

" ... if there was any kind of news then won't have missed many Korean newspapers."

If it was REAL news it would have been in Korean newspapers? I don't know what Herr Consoleman smokes but if the Korean government finds out he can be arrested when he returns there! Because it didn't appear in the Korean papers it probably didn't happen? What a fucking moron!

The Korean media, especially the English language jokes that try to pawn themselves off as media, rarely if ever report Koreans acting badly in Korea let alone in other countries.

Does this lack of logic extend to any bad act done by a Korean that hasn't appeared in Korean papers? Was the the 19 year old Korean exchange student that molested a 6 and 4 year old in the US in 2008 mentioned in Korean papers? If it wasn't then based on Herr Consoleman's lack of logic that probably didn't happen.

It is kind of funny when he queries;

"Can anyone check the source for this story to confirm why the hell Korean boy was at that hospital at first place? "

Did you read the article that you posted a link to? It is a pediatric hospital. Why would he be at that hospital? It is a kid's hospital and 13 is still a kid. But hey since Herr Consoleman was too lazy to see if there was anything else on the story he wouldn't know that would he?

According to another story BOTH kids were there being examined for sexual abuse, for different cases. The story was also reported on several other web sites, some news related some not, as well as being reported by the Associated Press. But hey it wasn't in a Korean paper so it probably didn't happen. Just listen to Herr Consoleman and discount it.

Then Herr Consoleman compounds his hypocrisy by whinging about Chinese bloggers who are calling for the death penalty for the rapist. Dude, you ever read some of the shit that people have posted on your site? Some of the things you have written? Pot you are complaining about the kettle again!

What never fails to make me shake my head is the reaction of Koreans like Herr Consoleman to shit like this. Normal people would be disgusted that it happened and hope the guilty party was punished. They wouldn't be worrying about race and ethnicity. Look at the reaction of most foreigners to the video of that asshole beating up the old man in Itaewon. Most foreigners were disgusted by it.

When the Virginia Tech shooting happened no one except for Koreans dwelled on the fact the shooter was Korean. It was barely mentioned by the non-Korean media and was never a major part of the story. The focus of the media was on the fact someone with obvious mental problems, who had been reported as dangerous, still managed to get a gun and murder people. No one was howling for the heads of all Koreans (and you know that if an American had shot up a Korean University it would not be safe to be white in South Korea) or threatening them. The only ones even making stupid statements about things like that happening were ... Koreans.

(As an aside, it is kind of funny how quickly Koreans latch onto ethnic-Koreans who are famous but quickly divorce themselves of the infamous. Oh Hines Ward is Korean!!!! Oh VT shooter moved there when he was young and is not a real Korean. But I digress.)

Herr Consoleman is pretty much typical of the Kamikaze Kimchi Kommandoes. Reactionary and nonsensical with an unhealthy dollop of racism thrown in.

What the ... clothing?

A reader emailed me this picture. It is from a sign on the side of the New Core Outlet at Boemgye Station in Anyang. It is for a new line of clothes called ... Mook.

Damn. they even have their own brand of clothing. What is next? Cologne and perfume? Mook ... by Faberge.

What the ... bigoted BS?!?!?

A tip of the hat to Marmot for first posting about the stupidity of Korean mothers making Perez Hilton's blog. Yes, Korean mothers hit it big when they announced they are forming a union to protest a gay storyline on a Korean drama.

A popular Korean drama called "Life is Beautiful" has a storyline concerning a gay couple. What is the reaction of these Korean mothers? A protest. Why? The show may turn their children gay. What the kimichi??!?! There are still people that stupid? Yes, and they are proud to let you know they are in the Land of the Moronic Bigot. One of these stupid bitches with too much time on her hand said;

“If my son becomes gay and dies from AIDs after watching ‘Life Is Beautiful’, SBS must take responsibility! ‘Life Is Beautiful’ has glamorized the culture of gays against what is realistically, healthy and proper for the citizens of Korea.”

Ah .... and there you have it ... the secret reason is ... blood money. If the show turns their kids gay they WILL die from aids, because as all bigots know that all gays have aids, then SBS MUST pay them blood money.

And of course we all know that having gay people on TV will send gay waves through the TV that can convert watching it into a flaming homosexual. So SBS must be deliberately trying to turn Koreans into homosexuals! Must not be any blood money in that theory or these fuckwits would be pursuing it.

Next they will be using the logic of Robertson and Fallwell to blame homosexuals for the typhoon season.

I liked the response of Hong Seok Cheon. Especially when he said

"The people that put out this ad not only demolished the human rights of gays but of AIDS patients as well. This is such an amazing country, allowing such ads to be put out. This ad being released is a more severe problem than the fact that gays are shown on a public broadcast drama. Anything can be released as long as money is involved, I suppose."

I am not surprised that the ad came out. After all, look at the BS that CYJ English put out about foreign teachers. I still have to shake my head in amazement at the Korean Human Rights Commission telling one person who complained about CYJ that while the ad was discriminatory it wasn't discriminatory enough. Using that lack of logic neither is this one.

Considering how much Koreans hate bad press about Korea, and how well read Perez's blog is, it could be interesting to see if Koreans come out against this group or blindly defend it

Mook of the Week

Here is another tribute to Delivery Mooks.

They really do exemplify a good part of what makes a mook a mook. A complete disregard for others. They park where they want, when they want, regardless of how it may inconvenience others. Even when there are better spots to park that won't block things, or at least won't block them as much, they still take the path or most resistance.

This mook was making a delivery to a bar by the benches where Stig and I often had after dinner cigars and drinks. It is a very busy 2 lane street. Thanks to people parking wherever they want it often seems like a one lane street.

Along comes this delivery mook. He sort of double parks, blocks both lanes of traffic getting out and mooking about his truck. He actually spent more time mooking about his truck than in making his delivery. At first he blocked traffic getting shit out. He LEFT the door to the refrigerated trailer OPEN while he went in!

Then after making the delivery he fucked around the side of his truck again for a while before leaving.

Needless to say there was more than a bit of horn blowing and posturing going on from the other mooks this mook inconvenienced.

Aish! Delivery mooks!!! Ah shepal!!!

Stig Goes To Korea

Well, since Flint started his reminisces about how he came to Korea, I've been brooding on my early years. Since I'm not there anymore, with no plans to return, maybe I'm in a position to go back and sort some things out. Maybe make some sense of it all.
Since I've been back home, I've been going through my papers and other assorted memorabilia I had stored at my folks' place. The process sure has brought back a lot of memories, not all of them bad.
My journey to Korea started back in the 90's.
After I graduated university (with a degree in History), I drifted for a long time. My plan had been to go on and get a Bachelor of Education degree, but my marks weren't quite good enough for the faculty to seriously consider accepting me as a student. There were other, more deserving applicants.
I made a half-hearted attempt to bring my marks up to snuff, but lost interest and didn't even finish out the semester. I had been working part-time as a security guard, and I drifted into a full-time position at a bank data centre.
I liked security work, especially the night shift, because it gave me plenty of time to read. Mostly it was quiet, and I didn't have to deal with too many people bothering me. It was a lazy decision, and appealed to the idle side of my nature.
My folks were pushing me to do something more with my life, but I had difficulty getting motivated. But I gradually became aware of overseas jobs, teaching English, that might provide something of a challenge.
I applied to teach with a U.S. Christian school in Hungary, and considered going to Africa, when I met another guard who told me about Korea. He explained to me the part about only needing a four-year degree, receiving training on the job, and especially teaching private lessons for some extra income.
He left me with a xeroxed brochure with some FAQs and a contact number for a recruiter who might find me a school. This was 10 years ago, and I was only just becoming computer literate, but I managed to correspond with this fellow, send in my resume, and start fielding offers.
Most of the schools needed someone RIGHT NOW, which I hadn't anticipated. I needed time to fold up my life here in Canada and put my things in storage. I calculated how long this would take and gave the recruiter a tentative start date for November of 2000.
He came back to me with a school in the Korean town of Uijongbu, which is siuated a little north of Seoul. Anyone who doesn't recognize the name might be interested to know that this town was the setting for the fictional characters in the book, movie, and TV series "M*A*S*H." I was excited to hear this, being a big fan. This was where almost all I knew about Korea had been learned.
I learned more courtesy of the Canadian government, which has an extensive article about teaching English in Korea on their website. When I received my passport, it was accompanied by a booklet entitled "Before You Go," which has a lot of useful information like that.
I read a generally positive view of going to Korea, with some warnings about things like the fact that Koreans view contracts as subject to negotiation, even after you have signed them. Anyone who has worked in Korea has no doubt become aware of an employer's... "freedom" with the terms of a contract.
There were a great many things I had to learn about Korea and working there that would come as rude shocks, starting with checking in at the airport.
My parents saw me off on my flight early one morning, and I'm not ashamed to say that I was nearly overcome with emotion on the short hop from Calgary to Vancouver. I was stepping off into a great unknown, leaving everything I had known and loved behind.
Transferring planes in Vancouver, I met up with my sister and niece, who came down to the airport to see me off. They accompanied me to the check-in, where the first bump in the road very nearly derailed everything.
The ticket agent asked me the purpose of my visit to Korea, and I forthrightly answered that I was going to teach English. She noted that I had not yet obtained a work visa ( for most foreigners an E-2), and that without one, I wasn't going any further.
Ooops.
My recruiter had told me that I would obtain my visa after I had arrived in Korea, but had neglected to tell me that not only was this technically illegal, but that I should keep quiet about it until I was actually in country, and even then not to go noising around about it.
Luckily, I could stay with my sister in Vancouver until things got sorted out, but it almost looked like my Korean adventure was over before it had even started.

Year 2 - Doctor Doctor

Another old email I found. I remember how frustrating it was to deal with the doctors. My first year I didn't deal with them, mainly because my insurance was fly by night with no card.

Ivy School was over a clinic and my new fly by night insurance company didn't have a card but I had a boss that would send them my receipts.

********

Howdy

Well, I ended up coming off the Oriental medicine and going back on Western. After taking the new stuff for 2 weeks I hadn't improved, and then I had another bad bout. It was a sinus infection. Again. I knew it 3 months ago, and I knew it then.

So this time I went to the "regular" doctor and told him what was going to happen. a) I have a sinus infection. b) My doctor in Canada gives me 3 weeks of meds (antibiotics) and if it is bothering me in 2 weeks I see him again. If not I keep taking the meds until they are gone. None of this here is 3 days worth and come back or not telling you anything else shit. c) He was going to do something similar.

So then he tells me, surprise surprise, I have a sinus infection and should be on constant meds for 2-3 weeks. He gave me a weeks worth, and I went back every week for 3 weeks. The meds have been working, slowly since the infection had 3 months to entrench itself, but I am finally feeling normal.

Because of the infection I haven't done a hell of a lot except stay home, read, watch movies, and veg out. I haven't even been on the computer much either.

I have read about the snow storm hitting the east coast. As strange as it sounds to say I miss that weather.

Take care

Flint

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It still boggles the mind that I had to fight and argue just to get more than 3 days meds. Of course you know why the doctors want you back every 3 days. They get more money from the insurance companies.