The King's palace (Wang JongHyun)

Minjok

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Republic of Korea has been in a process of globalization over decades. After the 1988 Seoul Olympics, alongside with ‘Segeywha’ drive by Kim Young-Sam administration, numerous different cultures poured into Republic Of Korea; thus it seems to be that Koreans minds and activities have changed and become completely different from what Koreans used to be.[1] However, “No” according to a Professor Shin Ki-Wook. He argues there is a fundamental belief of ‘Minjok’, Romantic nationalism deep down in every Koreans that has never changed.[2] Therefore, nothing has actually changed, just Koreans adapted to a new environment of globalization.[3] So what is ‘Minjok’? Actually Koreans, who are very familiar with the word, cannot write any sound words if someone asks him or her to write about ‘Minjok’. Therefore, let’s first look into Minjok and then understand it.

Koreans use the same word Minjok in both Korean ethnic group and Korean ethnic nationalism. Hence there is a great need to separate the concept of ethnic group and ethnic nationalism in order to avoid any confusion. Therefore, I will just scheme through what happened to create the concept of an ethnic group and romantic nationalism.

First, I will identify the Minjok as an ethnic group because it is preceding condition to achieve romantic nationalism. There have been many attempts to explain the concept of an ethnic group but it is still controversial as there is no concrete reason that one can find. Nevertheless, most plausible argument is in Anderson’s “Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin & Spread of Nationalism” Anderson argued that people began to imagine the concept of ethnic group after concept of mother tongue was created thanks to the invention of printing press in 16th century.[4] In other words, the symbolic idea of ethnic group based on cultural similarity from generation to generation became objective by invention of printing press. Additionally, people must have subjective desire in making a subjective choice which ethnic group he or she wants to be a part of as Joseph Ernest Renan said.[5] To sum up, a combination of objective and subjective indicator of ethnic group completed the concept.

However, in late 18th century, alongside with Independent war and French Revolution, the concept of nation became an ideology called nationalism. There are three main reasons for this change. Monarchy was losing its power. Accordingly the right of people became stronger than ever before. People no longer worshiped a monarch and they began to worship themselves thereby creating romantic nationalism. However, romantic nationalism was so abstract that it didn't have any real thing to worship. So, there was a necessity for visualization of a new ideology. Therefore, a folk culture was reproduced and reconstituted so as to allow people to imagine and visualize it.[6] Also at the same time it developed as political symbol to enhance loyalty toward fatherland.

Brothers Grimm

 The representative example of reproduction and reconstitution of folklore is Brothers Grimm. They collected two hundred tales and at the same time they were creating, they were also modifying. For example they altered each ‘Fee’ to an enchantress or wise woman, every ‘prince’ to a ‘king’s son’, every ‘princess’ to a ‘king’s daughter.’[7] Brothers Grimm published their modified and idealized collection calling them authentically German. These folktales allowed people to feel strong attachment and loyalty toward the land and ethnic group.


 Capitalism emerged and become a main stream at that time. George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel predicted that a modern society will be so individualized that people will only work for their own good not for the public interest. Therefore, a government will mediate conflicts between different interests. This came true and romantic nationalism served a function to unite individualized society. Additionally, the church was also losing its power. “Why I’m blind?”, “Why my daughter is a mentally retarded?” Religion used to answer the mystery of life like those questions. Oh the other hand, modern science or speculation system just kept silence to these questions.[8] Romantic nationalism was a perfect alternative to fill the gap because of  its characteristics of historicity, continuity, and fatality as an ethnic group. To sum up, romantic nationalism was an ideology that was created for necessity of the time.

Joseon Sanggosa
Most Koreans consider Minjok a unique concept exclusive to our country. However, as we can see actually the general idea of it was borrowed from romantic nationalism created in late 18th century. The concept of Minjok as an ethnic group also existed in Korea for centuries but Minjok as an ethnic nationalism was also artificial. In Japanese colonial era, in addition to fall of monarchy and religion, and rise of capitalism, Koreans were being exploited by Japanese both fiscally and mentally and Japanese tried to manipulate Koreans mind by saying actually all Asian is the same so we have to be united. Korean intellectuals were interested in the concept of romantic nationalism as it could unite people in an ethnic group thereby resisting the Japanese so they implemented the western nationalism in Korea. For example, Shin chae-ho published Joseon Sanggosa (The Early History of Joseon) full of reproduced and reconstructed history, claiming that Koreans are descendants of Dangun, the god and ancestor of Korean people. He gave pride, hope and unity to Koreans to fight back Japanese Empire. Therefore, Minjok as an ethnic nationalism appeared in Korea.

Minjok served as a mean to control people in later years. Presidents were very interested in power of uniting that resides inside Minjok. Thus, they used the concept as a necessary illusions to manipulate Koreans.[9] Kim duck-soo’s samulnori or Anheung hawae village were created to visualize folk culture. Koreans consider Samulnori and Anheng Hawae village authentically Korean but actually Kim duck-soo created Samulnori and most of Korean traditional houses in Anheung was built in 1950s. The Minjok serving as a necessary illusion was very successive and the unity made Korea to be post-industrial country form agrarian country just about 50 years which is amazing compared to Western Europe. Korea did what Western Europe did for 200 years.

We shouldn't be like this
On the other side of what we call ‘Miracle of Seoul’, Minjok is creating problems. Minjok as an ethnic nationalism, which has been an engine of Korea’s development is actually a concept based on exclusiveness.[10] Minjok concentrates on cultural similarity and unity as one ethnic group. Hence, there is no place for foreigners to be a part of ethnic group. Koreans have negative perspective in having bi-cultural children as member of Korean ethnic group even though there are more of them in Korea than ever before. Also, Xenophobia, detesting and looking down on foreigners is prevalent in Korea. (When it goes to extreme Nazism happens) Minjok once had been a booster of Korean economy now is a ceiling that Korea can never get through because without global cooperation there is no growth.




Globalization
In conclusion, a phenomena called paradox of globalization is occurring. Globalization is in process but the unpredictability that globalization provides makes people to think nationalism as safe house.[11] Therefore, there is possibility that romantic nationalism can be a main stream ideology once again. As we can see from its historical background we can find that Minjok has a positive aspects such as uniting people and in Korea’s example, power to resist. However, there is a negative aspects that prevents an ethnic group from growth. Therefore, we must adopt only unity that an ethnic group gives and get rid of exclusiveness that an ethnic nationalism has by having unbiased perspective to other ethnic groups in order to succeed in the 21st century. “Minjok without Minjok” or “Korean ethnic group without Korean ethnic nationalism” is what Korea needs in this century.

 Refernces
[1]         http://www.ucalgary.ca/ev/designresearch/projects/Evds723/seoul.pdf
[2],[3] http://iis-db.stanford.edu/pubs/20125/Shin.pdf
[4],[8] http://www.juergensmeyer.com/files/Anderson.pdf
[5]      http://ig.cs.tu-berlin.de/oldstatic/w2001/eu1/dokumente/Basistexte/Renan1882EN-Nation.pdf

 [6]     http://faculty.washington.edu/ellingsn/Hobsbawm_Inventing_Traditiions.pdf
[7]     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_nationalism
[9]     http://books.zcommunications.org/chomsky/ni/ni-contents.html
[10]   http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?cid=200000000&docId=1096979&mobile&categoryId=200000223

[11]   장준하-민족주의 (Jang Joon-ha-Korean ethnic nationalism)

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LONDON

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I AM MOVING TO LONDON
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Where there is a will, there is a way.

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Who is he??????


He is my middle school teacher Mr. Kim. He is just a normal teacher in a normal school, but he is famous enough to be in a newspaper. Actually he is blind...

In our first class, he was clicking some buttons on that strange device under his hand in the picture. I thought it was just a new device that is connected to computer and helps teaching, He clicked a button and a powerpoint pop out. Then he started to talking about famous blind people. At first, I thought he was doing the usual encouraging us that we can do anything as disabled did. However, just after he finished talking, he confessed that he is blind. He told us that he can barley see an outline of object. He cannot tell whether we are men or desk until we say something to him. The first thought that passed my mind was 'How in the hell that blind men can teach us?'

Nevertheless, he continued talking. He told us how hard he studied in order to be a teacher. He told us that he had memorized whole textbook so as to teach students successfully. He seemed to be little depressed when he talked about difficulty he faced because of his disability but mostly every word he says alluded his passion and excitement. Gradually, I began to respect him. When the finish bell rang, he bowed to us and said " Where there is a will, there is a way. I wanted to teach others and I tried. This small dream came true and now I am standing in front of you. I ask your co-operation as I will face many problems while teaching. Thank you" I applauded and it continued for over several minutes. 

I am sometimes so fear the fail that I lose will to move one step forward. However, whenever it occurs, I think about Mr. Kim, living epitome of the quotation 'Where there is a will, there is a way'
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Speech fist draft

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                  4 years ago, at march second, I, smaller that even now, was standing in a line with a school uniform and exited due to the rumor I have heard. My parent told me that middle school is a place of anarchy. I guess my parent told me this story to advise me to think about my own safety. But I interpreted as every crazy thing I imagine can be true there. So, with a huge dream to do something crazy, I entered middle school.
At that time I was going through puberty so I was a typical, angry and rebellious frosh ready to say no for the sake of saying no. Whenever my mom said ‘종현아 이제 충분히 놀았으니까 그만 놀고, 공부해’ I replied ‘싫어’, if she goes one step further and says ‘엄마한테 말버릇이 그게 뭐니?’ then I would reply ‘알았어 그만해’ and then would play more.

A frosh going through puberty in middle school were like a man finally meeting his mate. Studying was not at the top of my to do list unlike my mother wish. Hanging out with my new friends was all I wanted to do. When we hung out, we did crazy stuff that I now really cannot understand the reason why we did that. We played baseball in a classroom with actual bats and actual balls and actual gloves. That time we broke a window and got about 10 penalty points. We played poker in school of coarse betting real money. I once got 100,000 won in one day. We played a game one time called “Hi” The rule was the one who loses rock scissor paper must sneak out and say hi to a teacher in a nearby classroom. We once found a dead fish in the pond and somehow decided to burn the fish. I will not explain further in this matter but just one thing. At one period, we were running away from a cop.

Those, however, are not the craziest thing that we had done. One day we were watching a music video for heartbeat by 2PM. In the music video, there is one scene which the dancers create a pyramid. After watching the video, we just decided to try that out. As I was one of the lightest students in that group I was positioned over there. Of course as we are not professional dancers, our pyramid fell down real quickly, and unfortunately one which by the way was my best friend fell down knee first above my chest. Just after the crash, I literally could not breathe, I thought I was going to die and I panicked. But at the same time, I thought the accident really hilarious and laughed with my friends. I found out my rib was cracked and I really get freaked out whenever something comes close to my chest. If you want to check this out throw a ball at my chest, there will be retribution. The first year at middle school was a blast for me with countless crazy incidents. I was really having fun and that made me overcome all the 학원 hell I faced. Also, even now whenever I feel down I just think about that time. The joy I felt at the middle school gives me energy to go one step forward.


                  During middle school, we were all careless idiots. At least I was and all my friends were too. I’m not that crazy now but still time to time I just throw caution to the wind and do something crazy. My friends, especially so called ‘Naemi’s, are doing nothing except studying. They seem to be deprived of joy. Some say they find joy in studying but I think that is bull shit. What would life mean without any fun? Just relax not always but time to time and lose yourself in your potential insanity. Your stress will be relieved and life in KMLA would be much bearable.
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How does the use of genre and writing style support the main ideas in George Orwell’s ‘Why I Write’?

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How does the use of genre and writing style support the main ideas in George Orwell’s ‘Why I Write’?

The main idea of ‘Why I Write’ is inner conflict of George Orwell. Throughout the essay, George Orwell continuously and carefully considers what to choose between his literary instinct and a call of the age wanting him to write serious political writings goes on. He wanted to write books with huge artful descriptions, but the chaotic age he was living in forced him to produce serious political ones. George Orwell admitted that he was not able to abandon the world view that he acquired in childhood and tried to compromise between two motives by making political writing into an art. But still he couldn’t be satisfied so he had no choice but to choose between his literary instinct and the needs of the times. His inner conflict is well depicted with the use of various methods in the essay and I am going to show how various methods supported the main idea in George Orwell’s ‘Why I Write’
Mostly, ‘Why I Write’ is written in plain style because as a political writer, George Orwell wanted his prose to be like a windowpane; meaning he used precise words and verses. Therefore, the essay was effective in conveying his inner complications because there was no double entendre, which makes readers to confuse with the main idea of an essay. Especially, the use of passionate words such as ‘Outraging my true nature’, ‘Ghastly failure’, ‘Astonishing speed’, and ‘Tumultuous, revolutionary way’ between the sea of precise words made the words stand out and showing his natural aesthetic instinct.
George Orwell claimed that an understanding a life of the author is crucial before understanding the writing as writings are mirrors of writers. Thus, he used genre autobiography in order to make readers to understand his life so that they can comprehend the inner conflict. He gave descriptions of his life before he became a professional writer. The descriptions were mainly about how he suddenly discovered the joy of mere words and made the same meticulous descriptive efforts. For example, he recalled that after reading ‘Paradise Lost’, he felt shivers down his backbone because some words were used partly for the sake of their own sound which is related to his literary instinct. Therefore, it was clear that the kind of book George Orwell wants to write have been and will be an aesthetic writing with full of detailed descriptions and purple passages.
George Orwell used expository writing style to show why he betrayed his lifelong dream to follow his aesthetic taste of writing. He explained the four most motives of writing are sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, historical impulse, and political purpose. Then, he explained that the age, he was living in, was littered with international problems such as the Spanish civil war, the totalitarianism, the poverty in Burma, the imperialism, and the democratic socialism so he had no choice but to produce serious works meaning he chose a political purpose as the motive deserved to be followed and left aside all alternative motives, even aesthetic enthusiasm. Therefore, he explained why he follows the political motives even though it was a dream of his life to write aesthetic novels.
Then, the poem he wrote in 1939, when he still failed to reach a firm decision between aesthetic enthusiasm and political purpose, expressed the dilemma George Orwell faced. There are lines in the poem such as ‘But girl’s bellies and apricots, Roach in a shaded stream, Horses, ducks in flight at dawn’ clearly indicating what he wants to produce is books with full descriptions of bucolic villages in countryside of England. However, there were lines such as ‘A happy vicar I might have been Two hundred years ago’, ‘All these are a dream’, and ‘It is forbidden to dream again’ meaning that he felt an obligation to produce serious works in the age of turbulence he lived in. Therefore, the poem indicates that he had been constantly contemplating about what motive to follow.
             George Orwell used various writing styles and genres to support the main idea above. George Orwell’s desire to write aesthetic novels was well descripted by the use of genre of autobiography and plain writing style. Additionally, the use of expository writing style explained why he produced serious writings against his desire to write aesthetic novels. Then, the poetry reflected inner conflict of George Orwell. George Orwell, therefore, successfully delivered his inner complication by using various methods.
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Flaming Heart - Stardust

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Isn't it beautiful?
Ineffable beauty.
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DJ-Okawari - flower dance

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W : This has the purpose of changing hydrogen into breathable oxygen
And they are necessary here.... as the air on earth

M : But I still say they're flowers.

W : If you like

M : Do you sell them

W : I'm afraid not

M: But maybe we could make a deal

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Epistrophe

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Epistrophe means the repetition of a word or words at the end of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences, as in “I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong. … It is antithesis of anaphora.
It is from Greek word epi-, strophe. 

 By using this rhetorical device,
              1. Epistrophe can be very dramatic because the emphasis is on the last words of a series of sentences or phrases.
              2. It is particularly effective when one wishes to emphasize a concept, idea or situation. 
              3. Repetition makes the lines memorable
              4. The speaker’s words have rhythm and cadence.
  • Barack Obama: "Yes, We Can"
    "For when we have faced down impossible odds, when we've been told we're not ready or that we shouldn't try or that we can't, generations of Americans have responded with a simple creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we can.

    "It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation:Yes, we can.

    "It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail towards freedom through the darkest of nights: Yes, we can.

    "It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness: Yes, we can.

    "It was the call of workers who organized, women who reached for the ballot, a president who chose the moon as our new frontier, and a king who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the promised land: Yes, we can, to justice and equality.

    "Yes, we can, to opportunity and prosperity. Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can repair this world. Yes, we can."
    (Senator Barack Obama, speech following a primary loss in New Hampshire, Jan. 8, 2008)
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Intertextuality

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Intertextuality means the interrelationship between texts, especially works of literature; the way that similar or related textsinfluence, reflect, or differ from each other: the intertextuality between two novels with the same setting. [dictionary.reference.com]
Youtube video to help you understand the concept.


  Even the great speech 'I have a dream' uses a lot of rhetorical devices in order to allude other concepts especially from Bible, Black people's song, etc. It is to say that the idea from speech is not original to Martin Luther King jr. In near future, I am going to research about intertextuality in 'I have a dream' 

 According to this concept, we can say that every idea we have is not original but related to some other concept whether we intended or not. This leads to that we are very influenced by others than we know.
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Anaphora

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Anaphora has a few different meanings, but as a rhetoric term, it means repetition of a word or words at the beginning of two or more successive verses, clauses, or sentences. It’s from the Greek, meaning “to bring back” or “to carry back” 

By using this rhetorical device,

1. The speaker’s words will have rhythm and cadence.
2. Key words or ideas will be emphasized, often with great emotional pull   
3. Repetition will make the line memorable.

This rhetorical device is used a lot in various speeches and I will give three examples of it.

 Examples



 “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”
— Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington, D.C., 28 August 1963



“As you know, we’ve got the iPod, best music player in the world. We’ve got the iPod Nanos, brand new models, colors are back. We’ve got the amazing new iPod Shuffle.”
— Steve Jobs, Macworld 2007 Keynote Address 


           



“We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills …”

— Winston Churchill, House of Commons, London, England, 4 June 1940
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Hisahishi Joe : Summer

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It is already summer~! Meaning, our final exam is near.............
It has been really hard to concentrate for all KMLA 18th waver because of the disease, Visiontripitus.
However, the time for study has come and here is a good song to hear while studying.
The composer and also the player is Hisahishi Joe. He is a real famous composer, and one of my favorite.
Especially, I already like this "summer" and by the way it was the first piano cover I tried!!
It took only one and a half week to master it so it is quite easy cover. Still, It is so good.
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Buy Nothing Day

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In economics, people are considered selfish so they always do things according to their profits. Demand also can be explained by this concept. They buy goods because they earn utility when they earn goods, not because they are benefactors. Not only behavior of modern people but also that of our antecedents cannot be a deviation from this concept. However, there is a huge difference between the motive of consumption of modern and ancient people. Ancient people’s motive was survival, they have to demand dead carcass in order to survive, but modern people’s motive is an aggregation of survival motives, ‘show-off’ motives, and ‘advertisement’ motives.
           ‘Show-off’ motives mean people consuming because they want people to know they have an economical capacity to buy such expensive goods. It is apparent in the demand of ‘Gucci’ bags. It is much more sensible to think that if a price of the bag rises, the demand would decreases. In this example, however, the demand of the bag increases as the price rises. We can conjecture the fact that people do have ‘show-off’ motives when they consume. Even in ‘black Friday’, which first ‘buy nothing day’ started, many are buying presents not to make the receivers happy, but to impress them, saying that I am rich enough to buy this kind of presents for you. Therefore, ‘buy nothing day’ is all about criticizing ‘show-off’ motives as it begets unnecessary demand.
           It is possible to see different kinds of advertisement every step you take, meaning there is a deluge of advertisement these days. These advertisements make confusions between need and desire. Let’s confirm this using an example. You wanted to drink milk, so you went to the market. There were two kinds of milk on the shelf. One was A milk and the other was B milk. Suddenly, you remembered watching B milk’s advertisement, saying that it was milk from the Alphes. So you bought B milk though A milk was cheaper. It is apparent that people decide because of ‘advertisement’ motives as what you needed was milk and what you desired was B milk, so you bought more expensive B milk, an exception of the law of demand. Once, major broadcasting stations denied advertisements of ‘Buy nothing day’. This denial is a sign of self-admitting that advertisements input desires to people. ‘Buy nothing day’ can be a protest of excess consumption that came from advertisements.
           ‘Buy nothing day’ is a movement against modern problems of consumption. We can specify the problems into two motives of demand, ‘show-off’ motives, and ‘advertisement’ motives. A long time ago, people did not have to face this kind of problems as their motives were more about surviving in unfavorable environment. Therefore, they consumed according to the amount they needed, not they wanted. No current problem appeared itself at that time. ‘Buy nothing day’ is a movement that allows people to understand current problems, which is vital for overcoming the problems.
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Second TOEFL Work Shop : the paradox of an equality of information

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The 21st century has begun. What changes do you think this new century will bring? Use examples and details in your answer.

            The difference between the 21st century and before is a presence of an equality of information. In the 20th century, books were the primary material that conveyed information through one another. Therefore, only elites, who have an ability to read and access to those books, could be enlightened and lead others. Knowing nothing, however, the commoners were ousted from power; thereby lost a right to speak. Then, Invention of World Wide Web (www) which was invented in the last year of the 20th century became a signal that information is no longer a privilege of elites and every people can get information he wants to know.

The commoners wanted to speak their opinion with the information they acquired thanks to the Internet, not only to people around them but also to the public. Blogs and Social Networking Services were created in order to fulfill the needs and they have become a square of diverse ideas and debates. Therefore, in the first decade of the 21st century, the Internet became a place where people can express various ideas freely and discuss them. Armed with sufficient information and an arena to speak out, the commoners will play a far more significant role than just expressing their ideas by being a part of politics. This, however, would change the world in a harmful way against a common belief that it must be beneficial when people take parts in making polices. At first, a campaign to obtain signatures of approving or disapproving issues will be a main way to be participated in politics. However, as time goes by, the commoners won't be satisfied with indirect ways; hence they will crave for more direct actions. They will form various factions with people who have the same interest or opinions online; thus causing factions. Blackmailing will appear so as to win the factions. The Internet would be a miniature that involves all problems in the status quo. In near future, the Internet would be an arena more brutal and nasty than the Coliseum.

                  Some people who participate in online politics have a fundamental arrogant belief that they know enough and the world would change in a better way if it moves according to their knowledge. However, that judgment is what makes the internet into a far more detrimental place. Looking the history, you would find that the most successful leaders were humble and modest people, not arrogant large-headed people stuttering around yelling “I’m the best”. Ahn Chul-Soo, a former presidential candidate, gained popularity because of his humbleness and is now changing Korea based on that quality. Looking at the 'some' people, on the other hand, they suggest mostly ridiculous ideas based on their wrong belief and superficial knowledge. Opinions of those people pouring out into the Internet without filtering can manipulate people’s mind and even a government policy. Some might argue that most of the opinions are not accepted by the public so it cannot be that detrimental. However, it is no different than a nuclear bomb. Even if we defend our country from ninety nine nuclear bombs but when one nuclear bomb slips out, still the country will be destroyed completely. Some wrong ideas in a government policy can directly affect our daily lives badly in an instant.


                  The 21st century, people can access to a astronomical amount of knowledge, exclusive to elites before, whenever they want very easily. This difference will beget a tremendous change in a near future but not in a good way. The world would be much more dirty and chaotic as people would thoughtlessly try to be a part of politics. Now it may seem optimistic that the commoners can express their opinions freely which was prohibited before. However, the Internet would be just a miniature of a society with even more dangers lurking around. There is a reason why elites led the world for thousands of years and the world has been harmonious.
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We all actually are Nacirema

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        If you didn't read "Body ritual among the Nacirema" by Horace Miner click this and then read my post.

        What idea first hit your head when you finished reading? For me it was "yuck!" I guess almost everyone would have felt in the same way. I felt nauseous just by thinking about it again. How can we, the "supreme" species, who conquered nature still conduct such barbarous customs?

        Just after the shock wore off, I tried to understand myself as such a "civilized" person. "They are following the custom without any objections because they love the freedom from choices we, "modern" people, face or mankind might has a natural sadistic instinct so the Nicerma could not help but to conduct those nasty behaviors as they are "uncivilized"."

        However, Mr. Menard told me the true meaning that resides behind the word, Nacirema. (Although my roommate found out the real meaning without any assistance. AMAZING) What is Nacirema spelled in backward? It's americaN! We judged them as they were dirty but actually they were the same "superior and civilized" people. What I was most surprised that I made a judgment under a bias that I am "superior" because they were described as an ancient tribe.

        I realized that I have two glasses, one in front of my eyes and the other in front of my mind. The glasses in front of my heart allow me only to see the world under the basis that I am superior. As if we cannot sense that we are wearing glasses because we became so used to it, I could not sense the prejudice that the glasses in front of my heart made.

        The prejudice was pretty firm, so to break it, I had to find what made the prejudice. When we learn reasons of problems, then we can change by erasing the reasons from us. What made me to behave as if I am superior? We learn to donate from the early age. Why? because we have to help inhabitants of low-developed country because we live "better" life than them. Also, advertisements begging for more donations mostly make viewers to feel sorry for them. These were the problem. I have grown up continuously hearing that I should help because I live in Korea, "developed" country.

        I found the reason; naturally a next step is to erase it from my head. I think there is no easy way for erasing because the prejudice is like a well-constructed castle so it is not easy to take it down. Nevertheless, if I take time and constantly remind myself that I have a bias, it would have the same effect of besieging a castle, cutting their supply and finally capturing the castle.

        The writing makes people to realize they are biased and this also means that other people have the same prejudice. This might be related with 1956, the year when "Body ritual among the Nacirema" was written. At that time, the cold war raging so the author might have wanted to show that Soviet Union has the prejudice and might view American as the writing describes Nacirema. Ultimately, the author's intention must have been making a person to understand that everybody is biased. Then, what we should do if everyone is biased? I believe that we should first change. If we treat them equally, they would also change.

We are same people
        Now, we understand the real side of "Body ritual among the Nicerma" is realizing our prejudices. The writer successfully convinced me and I changed. I no longer judge people by first impression as first impression is mostly generated by the prejudice. Especially, I changed a lot in facing people who are different such as people who have different cultural backgrounds. Putting off the glasses in front of my heart, I could see differences in a different perspective. There were no longer people for me to teach, but people to help as we are the same human.
Superiority gone I could face real people.

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Yeah, the end of Midterm, New Start

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I just downloaded FM 2012 and started a new career as a manager of HSV.
The main reason I chose this team is there is SON HEUNG-MIN, a would-be star. My ambition is to make the team win Champions League in 3 years. Let's see how it would turn out.

Please be an excellent poacher!!!!
I guess vision trip will be littered with FM. kkk
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Blog materials

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Religion, manmade but there might be something.

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He is their so called 'Jesus'

Do you believe that divine being created and control humankind? This has brought and will bring a lot of controversies. However, my answer is no. I believe gods are just thing we made in order to understand misunderstand. (I guess my roommate will kill me just for saying this blasphemy)

Still, I believe comforting effect of religion do exist. When unfortunate things happen to one, they can get comfort just by praying. And this made my assumption that divine thing is manmade much clearer as by praying they understand misunderstands.

Where believes is there can be comfort
Recently, I have seen documentary film that made my belief even harder. ‘Jesus of Siberia’ is the film. We travel to a village with elfish features hidden in the middle of a forest of Siberia. There live few hundreds of people who believe that ‘Jesus’ is here right beside them. Most of us would snort laughter at them actually believing that ‘Jesus’ resurrected but it was true to them. The villager seems to be very offended when the reporter asked whether she really ‘believes’ in that so called ‘Jesus’ and she even showed a little tear. According to them, they should follow the way that the so called ‘Jesus’ advised. Some of the ways were really sexually biased. However, no one objected to that idea. On the other hand, they were really happy and living in harmony. It seems to be that there are no problems of modern society such as human alienation and robbery. 


I thought whether ‘Jesus’ is true or just a fraud they choose to believe so they now could understand misunderstand. When we expand this case, it has similarities with current religions. People chose to believe then it became true. Then, I thought if I can that kind of comfort and understanding from religion, it would be not bad choice to have a religion.
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