I have nothing interesting to post here because I'm not in Korea yet, so I am going to write book reports shazaamed with orientalism

So I wrote this pitiful essay about human rights in Korea...that was over 1 month ago, so obviously I am just now doing some hardxxxcore reading.

I found a book to school my ignorant ass on human rights in Korea. The title is very inventive: Human Rights in Korea . It's cover features some sketchy Korean men who I'm sure shoved some spicy kimchee up the photographer's ass. Asia Watch published this dooky in 1986 and I almost didn't pick it up because it's printed in COURIER NEW. This font kills moine oiyes.

I read the intro and a bit of Chapter 1, but had to stop because of the horrible COURIER NEW. Surprisingly, they only had few pages on Japanese colonialism and glossed over the violent oppression Koreans experienced under Japan. I think that is a major oversight that resulted because it's doubtful a Korean had much input for this book. Even though this book addressed current (1985) human rights issues, historical context is very necessary for understanding the mindset of Koreans just coming out of Japanese rule and transitioning to war. I don't like that Korea and Japan are basically assholes to each other these days, but the forced annexation certainly influenced the groundwork for a lack of human rights in modern 1980s Korea. Yes, right now I can only coherently discuss big bad Japan, but honestly, that's where all the juicy stuff is...

My little paper eventually did me a great service, but the prompt was ridiculous because it told me to explain how [Korea] could benefit from learning about [anything] from the US. How presumptuous is that? So I chose human rights because everyone can improve on those. Now that I'm reading this book and reviewing my essay, I am comfortable admitting that I know very little about human rights in Korea and what I do know is confounded my westernized perspective.

YAHOOO OCCIDENTALISM ME LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! MARRY ME PLEASE OCCIDENTYRIZM

If Keith Olbermann was more of a softy on his show, I might watch it more often.



I totally agree with him and this post is not really related to Korea. Well actually, Korean society and policy are not very forgiving or even open about homosexuality. Amber told me she read an official report by the Korean government that basically said "there are no homosexuals in Korea". I laughed at the idea that Koreans could be so silly, but look at the ridiculousness going on over here.