What I learned about Koreans Men...

I normally don't like to use my blog to complain about work or my life here in Andong City. I will say this to those of you who don't like to hear about the discussion of the anatomy then I think you need to stop reading here..... Ok read at your own peril. In recent weeks I have come across some of the locals and they seem to have a fascination with the male penis... particularly those of us from the Western world. On three separate occasions Korean men have decided to tell me about the size of my anatomy and those who are of the same race as I am... They wanted to compare sizes. Now I am not trying to be mean or anything but come on who wants to sit around and discuss the size of ones penis with a virtual stranger. I was assuming that this was just something that they thought all foreigners like to do. One example was a couple of weeks ago this Korean was out with some friends and myself, as we were walking down the street this guy decides to share with my Home boy Danny (who is a White guy from Texas) and I that he knew Danny's penis was big, but he knew mine was enormous according to his knowledge of penis. Then just the other day a student of mine decided to pull down his pants so we (myself and the other four students in the room, two were girls by the way) could check him out. According to the little pervert he was trying to shock me and boy did he because if you saw what I did not see (Yea you read it right) then I guess you would begin to understand why they are so fascinated with the male anatomy of other races. I laugh along with the others in class because if he was trying to brag, boy that was really nothing to write home about. But seriously apparently according to some of the Korean males that I have spoken to porn is very thriving industry in this country and these guys are not ashamed to let you know that they watch it either. I was talking to my roommate about this subject because he has been around for some of these discussions with the locals and I realized this why there is no relationship in alot of this marriages... the addiction to porn has controlled this guys lives, This is to the detriment of the family in this culture. Addiction to porn and alcohol has begun to consume this culture. The men won't touch their wives because they are comparing their real life wives to some porn star whose body is not real due to all of the implants and plastic surgery. These same men while having sex with there wives (if they are having sex) are more than likely thinking about these porn characters... which by the way I will restate are not real. I know some will say why are you posting a blog about this and I will have to say that this is a serious issue and I predict that divorce will climb in this country because the women will get tired and realized that then don't have to settle for less than what they have been getting from the male population here in Korea.

The Legacy of Dr. King

In the almost 40 years since the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and on this day in America in which we celebrate the birth of one of the greatest Americans in the history of our nation, I come disheartened and some what disenchanted with the American public. We have seen many great strides in America since the death of Dr. King but reading and listening to the commentaries on the two leading candidates for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. Our nation is facing the most historical election in the history of our young democratic republic. The factions are coming out in full force to drive a wedge between both the Obama campaign and the Clinton campaign. We should be excited that these two individuals are puttting themselves out there and taking the scrutiny of being our next president. I truly believe that Dr. King would be proud that a Brotha and a Women are making history at the same time. I do believe he would be a little disappointed in how we are reacting as a electorate in what could be some wonderful days for the many groups in America who have been historically disenfranchised. African Americans are not the only group that has been persecuted in this nation, the Indians have seen genocide come upon their people and they are still dealing with the reprecussion today, Hispanics are yet another group that has gone through trails and tribulation, while those who are Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Transexual have to constantly live in fear of having amendments added to our Constitution to exclude them from just having the basic fundemental rights that everyone else enjoys these are just a few and I could go on and on. The people must realize that we cannot buy into the media's version on the who we should support and who we can't. I am a democrat and I am supporting either Obama or Clinton ( because the Clinton's have been very good to the African American community and we must not forget that.) Just because you are supporting one does not mean we should resort to name calling against the other, because at the end of the day they are on the same side of the aisle in the United States Senate. Dr. King would not be pleased that we are spending our time fighting one another when we could be using our time in service for those who are less fortunate than we are (that is the reason why we celebrate the King Holiday)... All of the time that we spending attacking one candidate over another could be used to mentor some one at the Boys and Girls Club of America, or you can go to a local homeless shelter and give of your time or you can always go to the Red Cross and give blood. It is good to see people not being so apathetic about the direction of our nation but to go as low as name calling is a bit juvenile even for a teenager. We must remember that the Dream of Dr. King was for all Americans to respect one another no matter what your differences are... I understand that we might not agree with individuals political view points, religious view points, or even their lifestyles but we must repsect them and the only way that we can respect one another is through love... That was the message of Dr. King... He never focused on what we were, he always focused on what we could become... Because when you focus on what you are you never grow, but when the focus is on what you can be, then that is when you grow. Growth never happens by just saying you are going to do something. Growth happens by showing it in your actions. That is the message of the Dr. King and I think we have come along way but the journey is far from over.

Just because you deny something doesn't mean it doesn't exist...

I am learning many things about the Korean culture that I guess should not shock me. Over this past weekend and friend of mine and I went to a women's shelter in the city of Daegu to donate supplies. Now let me give you a little background on Daegu. Daegu is a city of about 3 million people, it also is the home of three United States military bases, Camp Walker being one of them. One thing that you find in cities this large is homelessness. The people in Korea (I guess I should not generalize), I will say the people of very conservative Andong like (most conservative places) like to think that their city, state, province or country is a utopia. No one is homeless, the divorce rate is minimal or nonexistant, the alcoholism is also at a minimum. The thing is just because you are in denial does not mean that it doesn't exist. The question that I got from a 100% of the Koreans about this shelter was it for foreigners. When I said no it was nothing but Koreans at this place. Every Korean was is shock and awe. These people could not believe that in their country there are homeless people. I thought to myself are these people serious? Are they in ignorant? Are they in denial? Now I don't usually use my blog to vent may anger or disappointment about any group of people. But come on, these people have to be kidding me! At first I attributed it to ignorance, because with at least ignorance people just don't know. Also with ignorance you can learn if you want too. But then I had my epiphany and I realized that these folks cannot attribute this to ignorance but to denial. I realized the people around here have a very codependent relationship to their social mores. They addicts suffering from denial. One of my coworkers told me that there where no gay people in Andong. No I almost peed my pants over that one. Now in this city of 165,000 people, there are no homosexuals? I don't know who these people are trying to fool but come on... They have this mentality of if I deny it maybe it will go away. My grandmother always said just because you say your ain't getting old doesn't mean you are ain't getting old. One thing the Koreans can learn from America is that we have this problem with denial. We said that AIDS and HIV was only a gay problem, we said that drugs was only a inner city problem that only effected the minority populations. But the sad reality of it all was that AIDS and HIV was an American problem because it effect every segment of our population as has the drug issue, because studies found that upwards of 65% of the drug epidemic was coming out of the suburbs which was mostly the populated with those who are more affluent. The reality of it all is that denial is more detrimental to a society than anything... Korea will go the way of most societies where they will be reactive instead of proactive. No matter where you live if anyone is in need we must do what we can to help and to imply that your society does not suffer from the ills of life is not ignorance but just down right stupidity!

And we wonder why America is lagging!

Okay I will admit that I was on the www.tvguide.com site and I saw their story on Britney Spears being in the mental ward. What really disturbs me is the comment section where all the people give their opinions. Most of these opinions are expressions of joy and glee at this 27 year old's misfortunes. What is wrong when we are happy because some one has had there children taken away. There is nothing joyous or fortunate when a child is taken from his or her mother and the audacity of some to think it is for the best these children are not being mistreated physically, emotionally or mentally. Believe me it is never for the best and the only people that get hurt are the children. We live in a society that thrives on the misfortunes of others. The sad thing is we always try to find some justification for our unwarranted joy that this sad situation might bring us. You know it is a sad state of affairs when we will waste precious moments on such a unfortunate situation. I commented to the few who had given their opinions about how disturbing that is on their part... some one else commented that Britney Spears brings all this on herself by doing buffoonish behavior in public... So my response is and was to that, is just because some one does ridiculous things does not mean we must be nimrods and follow right behind and egg them on. As I sit here in Asia and I see the news about how the U.S. dollar is weak and Asia is turning into a economic powerhouse... well if you want to know why... these people believe in educating themselves and their children why we are distracted by the Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan's, Paris Hilton's and Nicole Richie's of this world. When are we going to wake up?

Now on to other news. I am really happy that Barack Obama has won the Iowa caucus. I am supporting either him or Hillary, doesn't matter to me. The only problem that I have is the reasons why people in Iowa voted for Obama.

1. Change Because people are tired of the business as usual. Okay wake up Iowa nothing is going to really change. The United States office of the President is bigger than any one man... Plus the only way that one can have effective change is at the grass roots level (i.e. Civil Rights Movement, Women's Liberation Movement.) These where not government sanctioned movements.

2. They want an outsider... (He is a United States Senator, He is no outsider.)

3. Because Oprah supports him. Now if people vote for some one because of Oprah. I am through. Its one thing to buy a book but to vote because she says so is entirely different.

4. Because I don't like Hillary and the Clinton Dynasty... Hello Bill Clinton was from the lower class of Hope, Arkansas and She is from a middle class family from Chicago. A Dynasty is the Kennedy's or the Bush's. The Clinton's are no Dynasty and to lump them in with the Bush family is a total fallacy.

My thing is people need to think for themselves because seven years ago people didn't and again they made the same mistake again three years ago. So when we use the term like change, we use it too loosely. The Clinton's and Obama's come from the same cloth... They are new money and honestly there really is not much difference.