• 8Mar 07

  Support Juche!

  This may be self-crucification,  but I must admit that I am deeply impressed by the ideas of Juche as put forward by Comrade Kim Il-Sung. The notoriety he gained later in life and that the brutality of his successors have overshadowed the noble philosophy that gained Korea its independence.
  
  Like the Communists of China, the Koreans adopted the popular synthesis of Nationalism and Communsim, calling it "Juche". Only the Koreans, however, have retained it. There is little more sacred in the world than the right of a nation to determine its destiny and work towards Communism in such a way that suits its particular circumstances, and while Korea has strayed far from this, it still retains this ideal to some extent. Juche survives today in a somewhat perverted form, having been adopted by the pragmatic Kim Jong-Il as a name for justified oppression. But it nevertheless exists, and it imbues Korea's place in the world with a certain degree of moral righteousness. It is the North of the Korea that has retained a legitmate government, and it must someday be united with the South. Kim Jong-Il is merely a path to reunification that allows the North to retain its dominance, and after his eventual death, the more republican values of the south may breath life into the more nationalist views of the north. From this union, Juche may be reborn.
  
  
  
  • Posted Mar 8, 2007 6:46 pm PT
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• 26Jan 07

  I Can Hear!

  I have spent the last five months near deaf in my right ear, and a month ago I lost much of my hearing in my left ear.

  Today, I regained my hearing, and it is an enriching experience: Whereas before every sound was heavily cushioned and softened before I perceived it, I　now hear every noise with above-average clarity. I have found how much life is filled with little, what most would call mundane or ugly sounds. As I sit typing now, however, every sound that I can now hear that I couldn't before -- the ticking grandfather clock, the machine gun of rapidly typing, the sounds of passing trucks, the clacking of shoes on the floor -- all seem to add to the cliche of the richness of appreciation. Even the sound of my own voice is strange to me now, somehow clearer； my head no longer reverberates as I speak, and, according to my parents, I am speaking more loudly again -- which is because I now can hear what I am saying, and so can pitch my voice more effectively than before. The sounds I can hear and the abilities I have regained make me consider the idea that there is (forgive me for what may seem like an excessively sentimental description) beauty is existence. I am grateful and I am happier simply because I can perceive reality more thoroughly before.

  Conversely, I have also become more aware of just how discordant sounds are. My ears were filled with an omnipresent ringing which, although a little boring, was harmonious. Every sound I hear now seems misplaced and coarse. Diversity and reality are both difficult to comprehend and tolerate, and it has led me to think of my opposition to diversity in new terms. Diversity is natural occurrence, but this does not make it any more beautiful. While it is a part of reality, it is, like disease, a part of reality that we must move to eradicate. So we can see, there is beauty in harmony, and there is beauty in the diversity; there is monotony in harmony, and there are danger and discomfort in diversity. These two must be balanced. Thus what is needed is harmony amongst all people, and diversity amongst some. And since harmony secures diversity, we must also ensure that diversity cannot encroach on harmony. The solution to this varies at every level of every society, but the largest scale must not be the globe, since that would entail monotony. The nation is the solution. Add this to the list of arguments in favor of retaining the nation and nationalism: The nation is the largest, most convenient unit of humanity that allows for both harmony and diversity.

  • Posted Jan 26, 2007 1:46 pm PT
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• 25Jan 07

  Internal Obstacles

  I find that the greatest obstacle I have to posting more of my thoughts is that I am obsessed with perfecting their articulation to an unrealistic degree. I recently was trying to write a rough draft for a review of the movie "Ju-Rei" while I had spare time at school, so I was working on it on and off. I started it yesterday. Today I looked at it and, amongst my scribbles, I found I had written and re-written the very first sentence some fourteen times before I even moved on to the second sentence. This afternoon, as I sat idly at a meeting, it occurred to me that no one would mind if I started to jot down some of my fairly random thoughts so that I could organize them into a rough essay to post online later. I simply wanted to voice some of my thoughts about patterns of socialability of formerly introverted people. Within five minutes my paper was covered with rewordings of the first sentence.
       For those who have not experienced this, it's terrible! Even the simplest thought is undermined by an intense desire for all thoughts to be perfectly organized before they are articulated. For example, say I wanted to express "Why do I love cats" as the theme of an essay. On my rough draft, I might begin with, "While the affections of many are inclined on the superficial, my attitude towards cats is based on...", then, "I find that my attitude towards cats contrasts with those of my contemporaries because of...", then, "In the formulation of a conceptualization, it is essential to circumlocate one's perspective with an eclectic spectrum of dissention. In my conceptualization of cats..." and so forth.
       It is apparent how this continual editing and revision in my mind actually obscures my meaning, and is self-defeating. I realize this, but I just can't stop. I find it even enters my thoughts, as when I consider an idea, I concentrate so much on how I am going to think it that I forget what I was thinking. It is incredibly frustrating. Has anybody else encountered anything like this?

  • Posted Jan 25, 2007 5:45 pm PT
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