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21. Deauwand Myers

It’s often asked: how are black people treated in Korea? Is Korea “racist? The answer, like most things, varies from person to person. I should start by saying, born and raised in South Carolina, you’d think I’d have a sad and vast array of racist experiences to draw upon. Peculiarly, quite the opposite. So rare have I experienced overt forms of racism in my childhood and college years, I have to rummage through the decades to find an example. The notion that Southern whites are somehow exceedingly racist, whilst those elsewhere are much more enlightened, is patently false. Chicago has one o...

2017-02-03 16:15

Women and Double Standards (II)

Man is evil… Man is a flower that should be burnt, … Man…is not a temple but an outhouse, I say aloud …Let man never again raise his eyes, …Never… I say those things aloud. I beg the Lord not to hear. - From “After Auschwitz,” by Anne Sexton. There’s a compelling list of female rulers throughout human history. For example: Queen Amina of Nigeria, Cleopatra of Egypt, Empress Wu of China and Queen Elizabeth I. More recently, we’ve seen the shortlist of female heads of state endure trials their male counterparts have rarely contended with.

2017-01-02 16:00

Hatred is a most useful and effective emotion. Constituents of it: violence, murder, cruelty and malice inform history. It is a renewable resource; for in the human heart, hate burns incandescent. It doesn’t require nurturing.

2016-12-05 16:03

THAAD's not bad (II)

Previously, I have argued Korea should be more proactive in its own defense against North Korea and its largest trading partner, China. Surely, I have my own critiques of President Park. The poor emergency response to the Sewol ferry disaster tops the list. Further, Park has been ineffective in increasing real wages for the poor, working, and middle classes; unemployment and underemployment of young, Korean adults with tertiary education is still woefully high; the Korean social safety net is one of the lowest in terms of government funding of OECD countries; and wage disparity between men a...

2016-09-06 16:38

By Deauwand Myers Recently, President Barak Obama declared the 20th and 21st centuries as being the best time to be alive in all of human history. In 1995, violent crime in America was at or above 700 incidents per 100,000 people. Today, the number is half that, and decreasing. Some diseases, like polio, the measles, and rubella, for example, which crippled or killed many millions of people, have been eradicated, or nearly so. Technologies have made work, life, and travel more convenient, faster, safer, and less polluting. Women, like many racial, religious, and sexual minorities, are nearin...

2016-08-01 16:31

Political parties are integral to all modern democracies. President Park’s Saenuri Party and its recent routing in local elections proves that when the electorate has choices at the ballot box, it will reward or punish accordingly. Internationally, the last few years have been some of the most interesting in terms of observing the ebb and flow of political parties and their waning and waxing fortunes.

2016-07-04 16:40

Joseon Hell (II)

The Joseon Dynasty, Korea’s last monarchical reign, ruled for five centuries. Much of modern and contemporary Korean culture, such as Confucianism, familial patriarchy, a high emphasis on exams for social mobility, the writing system (Hangul), and traditional Korean food is derived from this period.

2016-05-02 16:17

Trump the chump

Some of my friends, Westerners and Koreans alike, are shocked about Donald Trump’s political rise, asking me what I think about it.

2016-04-04 16:58

The new, old China

Since her administration began, President Park's been playing a smart game of placating China by not officially endorsing America's deployment of THAAD missile batteries on the peninsula. Rightly, she did this in the hopes of convincing China's President Xi to take a harder line against its client state, North Korea. This was an admirable, but unattainable diplomatic goal. China will try its best to keep the Kim regime alive, even tolerating the crime and dysfunction on its border with North Korea, so long as the DPRK’s government doesn’t disintegrate.

2016-03-07 16:03

Apart from kimchi, K-pop, and sadly, North Korea, Korea's vigorous and often unhealthy focus on education is well known worldwide. Koreans believe a solid educational background, including acceptance into a top-ranked university, will ensure access to gainful employment and successful lives.

2016-02-22 17:03

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