From: jfe@alchemy.tn.cornell.edu (Brian Chung)
Subject: Re: Don't Preach! (I : "Orange-Jok" Economy)
Organization: Alchemy International
Distribution: soc.culture.korean
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 19:42:11 GMT

In article <BzBA6A.4o5@news.cso.uiuc.edu> seo@capone.ccsm.uiuc.edu (Jong-Wook Seo) writes:
>
>They even tried to brought examples such as Beverly Hills - South Central 
>LA and Fifth Ave. - East Harlem.
>The same person even continues to say "Urban problems are everywhere".
>So, what?
>Do you know anything about what the real nature of the Korean urban 
>problem is?
>Even if you don't care much about it, any problem America has can be in 
>other society?

	Urban problems are everywhere, so what?  The original poster
implied that urban problems were limited to Korea.  We just kindly
pointed out that this is not so.

	Yes.

	Any problem America has can be in other society because urban
problems are not just a local matter.  The same applies to drug, 
prostitution, crime, homelessness, etc.  It's not that we want to
have these problems in our cities, but it's just that these problems
are inevitable in the development of a urban civilization.  What's
important is how we are going to solve them.

>Now, under this circumstance, the money made under unfair tax policy 
>should be 'persuaded' to reinvest in reproduction, NOT to 'buy whatever 
>they want'.
>How?
>The only way is just by publicizing their wrong lifestyle whenever they 
>forget this.
>This is how your 'motherland' is doing to rebuild her economy.
>This is how the country with full of 'stupid' people who don't even know 
>how the f*** important the cultural diversity is has increased its 
>national economic size by 98 times last three decades.
>They, our people, are not stupid like you dare to insult to be so.
>They have been living really hard time to develop national economy, not to 
>learn what the individualism is about.

	No, Korea increased it's national economy by conducting
rigorous dirigist export-led growth, coupled with forced savings.  Not
by making rich kids spend their money on "reproduction (sic)".  Besides,
do you actually think publicizing one's lifestyle will force them to
change their spending habit?  That'll be the day.

>SO, your simple story doesn't apply in Korea.
>No way!
>The money they have is not only theirs, but also people's.
>That is what the social contract is all about.
>That is the blood and tears of our people, forty million Korean people.
>They don't deserve spending they money in Chicago to trickle down to a 
>person who later claimed that he 'hasn't walked on Korean street since 
>long time ago'.
>There will never been trans-Pacific tour to Chicago in near future until 
>our society finishes the establishment and the redistribution of our 
>wealth among our people in reasonable extent.
>No way!

	Now, now, let's not get too emotional here.  Blood and tears...
I'm all for social contract and a welfare state, but let's not go
overboard here.  My money is my money if I earned it legally.  If the
government wants to tax me to spend on social issues, that's fine.
But I won't give up my money willingly because someone tells me that
the money I earned with my blood and tears (if you'll excuse me for
borrowing that expression) doesn't belong to me. 

	As for Chicago is concerned, that was a J-O-K-E.  No need
to say anything else.
 
>I don't care how much 'individualistic' you are.
>Who cares?

	There, you just took your first step towards individualism. :)

>buT, I care about the same thing in Korea for the guys who shouldn't 
>forget they are NOT individuals.

	Well, that's a pity, then.  I don't like living with a 
hive mentality.  I'm a human being, not an ant or a bee or a Borg.

>By telling you an episode I was involved in, I am going to ask about this.
>Once, one of my American friends asked about a Korean man who he knows 
>somehow.
>He asked how rich he is.
>(The Korean man gave him an impression to be rich, I guess.)
>I said he is very rich.
>He asked how can a student be that rich.
>I answered that his farther is rich.
>My wonderful friend, however, did not understand the concept.
>Within my understanding, that is the typical American ethics.
>(As long as in public.
>The reason why I put this 'redundant' stuff is what has been said by you 
>is about ethics, not the personal reality.)

	I'd go and check your American friend.  Surely he's heard of
the Carnegies, Rockefellers, Fords, etc.  Without going to such extremes,
it is more common than you think for the Americans to be rich thanks
to a large inheritance.  

Brian "Decaf?" Chung

-- 
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