Comments on: Subway Idiots

By: seoulmilk

seoulmilk — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:10:16 +0000

i know you were being sarcastic, but you were using your sarcasm to make a point. before i go further, my views on korea are pretty much along the lines with most commentators here. korea has lot to learn and she is indeed very hypersensitive. but people making comparsions to try to make a point bothers me in that i don't think it's fair. news here or in the states is all about sensationalism. i don't like it but it is what it is. i wish more news back in the states focused more on the positive things the us military is doing in iraq instead of focusing just on the deaths. i wish the korean press would be more balanced and focus more on the positive presence of the us military here. but whether journalsim has gone down the toilet, they "sell" whatever they want to sell. of course i think what ytn did is irresponsible, but koreans are hypersensitive about things for a reason. maybe it's the education system. but like i said, considering everything that has been going on since 2002, of course something like this would be considered "news" here. not to you or me, but to koreans. at least we shouldn't be surprised. i mean, you can argue that people of kazakhstan are sensitive for their reaction to borat. but i can understand why they felt like that. they are trying to improve their image worldwide and be part of the gloabl economy, and yet, they see this guy ruining their image. but at the end of the day, people have bigger things to worry about and move on. if what the ytn reported leads to a "boxer rebellion" against the foreingers, then we should be worried. but ordinary hard working people seem to live a normal life and not care too much. anyway, i'm rambling and i apologize. i will let you have the last word.

By: Max Watson

Max Watson — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 21:50:26 +0000

If this is news, then I guess I should be on YTN too since countless Korean guys have said out loud in public things to the effect of, "why is she with a foreign man?" when I've been minding my own business, walking along with my admittedly attractive Korean girlfriend.

Korean culture is hypersenstive; it can't deal with the YouTube video.

By: Dan85

Dan85 — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:52:48 +0000

I don't think I'm missing any point, and I was being sarcastic. Much of Korea idolizes and tries to copy many aspects of American culture, but a superiority (or an inferiority) complex when faced with a real live foreigner. How many people in Korea today were alive when they were being occupied? There is enough rampant ignorance in this country, and I could care less about the reasons behind it when a national news agency helps perpetuate it. The amount of racial tension in Korea is incredible. This should not be news, period.

By: seoulmilk

seoulmilk — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:43:32 +0000

dan85, you are missing the point. you can't compare america and korea. if you made a hypothethical situation comparing korea to another country, like japan, who shares similar background, then you might have some point. but even japan is a stretch. america is a diverse country that hasn't been occupied by a foregin country for 50 years. korea is not a diverse country that is just going through the growing pains of joining the ranks of economic power. of course the mental set of the respective people are different. koreans have lot to learn, but foreigners making idiotic comments without fulling understanding the circumstances to lead koreans to act and behave in certain way makes me just shake my head in disgust of their shallowness.

By: ChickenHead

ChickenHead — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:08:01 +0000

Dan85,

My theory:

"Japanese" rhymes with bees, breeze, cheese, ease, fleas, fees, frees, keys, knees, please, sees, squeeze, sneeze, tease, these and trees.

"Korean" rhymes with Aegean, Tennessean, and I'm-a-peein'.

Drunken rap takes what it can get.

"Yo', I gonna do a Korean and pretend she's Tennessean."

I don't think so. Grossly overweight, three teeth, breath like OxyContin and her mother and sister are the same person?

By: Dan85

Dan85 — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:54:49 +0000

Hypothetical Situation 1: Drunken Koreans are videotaped on the New York subway singing "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" with one guy ad-libbing some lyrics about sleeping with American girls.

Conclusion to Situation 1: Everyone on the subway ignores them. Noone cares. Noone's insulted. Nothing makes the news.

Situation 2: Drunken Americans are videotaped on the Seoul subway singing "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" with one guy ad-libbing some lyrics about sleeping with Korean girls, while pretending they're Japanese.

Conclusion to Situation 2: National news.

My theory on how this got so big: The guy likes Japanese girls more than Korean girls. How dare he?

By: seoulmilk

seoulmilk — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 00:08:36 +0000

btw, just like you are not defending the idiots, by no means am i defending the korean media. just want to get that across.

By: GI Korea

GI Korea — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 20:08:14 +0000

I admit "normal country" is badly worded possibly a normal media culture would be a better term.

I have lived in many countries and not in any of them have I ever seen a national news channel devote media attention to drunken idiots on a subway. Also it is important to remember that the race baiting in the Korean media happens over and over again. This is not a one time thing.

Also there are jihadi videos that occassionally slip on to YouTube before they are identified and removed and I have never seen an uproar on CNN about them. Usually the big bloggers ID them and get them removed.

That is where this subway story belongs on the internet. This is Oh My News material not YTN.

By: seoulmilk

seoulmilk — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 18:52:38 +0000

"which in a normal country this would not be newsworthy?" wow, so you are implying that korea is not a normal country? look, you make good observations about korea, and i respect your views on many things, but you can't judge a country based on your western upbringing/culture/etc. i'm not arguing whether or not this is newsworthy, but you can't be surprised if someone who reads your blog comes out thinking you have something against the korean people. yes, ytn may be the cnn equivalent in that it's on cable channel, but this sort of things are sometimes "news" locally in the states. my point is, everything here is "local" due to its size and population. and let's look at the big picture. since 2002, whether or not it's the fault of the korean media, foreigners have been in the news alot. thus, for a newsroom producer, of course this is "newsworthy." lets look at the circumstances of the u.s. you don't think middle eastern looking men making a mockery of the u.s. in n.y. that's uploaded on youtube isn't newsworthy? it may not be, but considering the world we live in since 2001, it may be. it may not be in korea though. it's all about the circumstances. second, whether or not this is good, koreans are very proud people, as you already know. very image conscience. so of course when foreigners mock them in their OWN country, people are gonna be upset. korea is korea. it's a unique country with unique people. just like japan. just like the u.s. what's newsworthy here might not be in the u.s. what's newsworthy in the u.s. might not be here. what's newsworthy in atlanta might not be in seattle and vice versa. i know you don't hate korea, but sometimes what you write can be perceived somewhat naive.

By: mcnut

mcnut — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 16:23:58 +0000

the easiest way is take your cameras with you all the time and record drunk koreans being well…just that

drunk koreans!

put it on youtube and send the links to the media outlets in korea

see if thye bite?