The Society Which Egged People To Drink

My phone didn't forget to ring today. A friend of mine called because he let me know the today's appointment. Yes, as I used to, I would go to the bar. I couldn't avoid the meeting since each meeting has the reason. So I left home to celebrate or console my friends.

While preparing for going back to school, drinking alcohol became my daily life. I didn't like to do it but when I attended drinking parties, I was influenced by the atmosphere so I had a drink again. I think it is not only the case in the school. One of my friends who started her career said that she was busy attending drinking parties.

In Korean society, 'Alcohol' has the meaning like meeting. Through alcohol, people can break the ice in the first meeting, dissipate melancholy on a dull day, and also brighten up the mood on the special day. In other words, alcohol functions as supplement. For that reason, some people who are poor drinkers were branded as flat tires.

As shown in this situation, WHO released the results of research about alcohol consumption.  In the research, alcohol consumption of Koreans was more than two times than that of the world people in 2005. Koreans, especially, are the world's largest consumer of distilled liquor.

▲ Alcohol Consumption(Source : Korea Herald)

The largest consumption of alcohol brought bad drinking culture. Continuous drinking makes people pass out and commit mistakes. A foreign blogger posted some pictures that some Koreans blacked out in public on his or her blog "Black Out Korea". However, I am familiar with the situation so I couldn't laugh or get angry against the photos.

▲ Black Out Korea Blog(Left) and Facebook(Right) 

I think that we need to regret our wrongdoing. This is not because of the image about Korea as seen by foreigners. Of course, drinking culture I believe is good but it doesn't mean that we can get over the edge. I wish we change the drinking culture in a better way.

Written by Yoon Jeongwon

Inconvenient Truth of Animal Living with Human

Do you know the fact that many animals in the zoo are suffering? The animals, especially, which are performing in the zoo, which is so called Show Animal, were suffering from the pain that we didn't expect. Last Saturday, the sad situation, which was showed by the TV Program "TV Animal Farm", makes us frightened. Because hidden behind the amazing performance is the inconvenient truth.

▲ The picture was taken in the TV Program.

(A monkey tried not to be dragged with her baby.)

They practiced a lot for the best show. The reason was that they have to perform like human, more over, better than human. But the problem is not the end of the hard training. They got hurt in training and couldn't eat enough food. Even if they have their baby, they were dragged to the practice areas without caring them. These situations made me depressed.

However, it is not just the case of the show animals. Do you know culture "Cut tail"? It is banned because it is considered as abusing animals but, yesterday, it was practiced by beauty and medical purpose.

The object that Romans bred dogs was not gathering a flock of sheep but fighting with wolves which were appeared to eat sheep. While fighting with wolves, many dogs were killed because they were bleeding too much. As a result, Romans cut tail and ear that are projecting parts of dogs. First time, they cut them entirely but later they realized if they left a little bit of ear and tail, they could be neat and beautiful. Since then, although they don't have to fight with wolves, they have still cut dogs' ear and tail for the purpose of having neat and beautiful appearance. Now it became the standard.

- Korea Greyhound Club Federation, http://www.kgcf.co.kr/kwanri/basic.html

Laboratory animals are also serious problem. Human beings made experiments with them for convenient life. For science and medical care, they were conducted in various fields of pills, food and robots. About 3 million animals have been killed in a year. The sad situation is that animals are still tested though researchers couldn't get any satisfied results because animals have huge differences in organic structure.

▲ Minipigs are used in the experiments for making new drug.

I just think that we just did for the purpose our life. Of course, I think I am asking a great deal from you, by suggesting that we should consider animal’s rights. But, at least, animals also are the same as living things that they can feel pain and happy. We should prohibit the harsh performance against poor animals.

Written by Yoon Jeongwon

The Society Has Become A Playground For Liars

A few days ago, there was a strange Tweet on Twitter, which became the talk of the town. It was about Social-commerce which broke a person's business. Many people tweeted it on their Twitters and retweeted it for the story to spread. I also tried to tweet it but I was surprised at the next Tweet. It was written as following : the story had been concocted by the same field worker.

▲ According to the tweet, the story was fake.

The crdibility of information on the internet is failing.

The ways of communication has been developed through the invention of smart phones, Internet, and SNS (Social Network Service). So we don't need to consider confined time or confined space. However, behind the merits, there are demerits like anyone can spread false information and making the truth seem unreal. It is not limited to a specific area. Through the Internet, rumors have been circulated about the entertainment, business, and the market economy.

▲ The false news article about Facebook(Left, Source : Weekly World News),

The false Twitter account of Steve Jobs(Right, Source : Internet Search)

The Government used the law, the restricted Internet real-name system, or tracking IP address to eradicate the circulation of false information but the Constitutional Court ruled on the constitutionality of the law so they are now ineffective. People worried about the result because lack of trust among people will be rampant in our society.

However, I feel differently. We have already lived in the world of lie. False information can be produced or consumed even though you did nothing. The word like rumors or strange story represents the reality of our society, which include irresponsible information sharing.

Do you believe our society can be fixed if we use the law or other means? Of course, if they exist, we can control the people who spread false information or help the people who were damaged by the false information. However, if it happened, it will damage the value of Internet : to interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as consumers of user-generated content in a virtual community, in contrast to web-sites where users are limited to the active viewing of content that they created and controlled.

Yes, I think, it needs that we have to make an effort to protect the value of the Internet. We should make a smart world by producing and accepting information with critical view. We can create sound and righteous society, can't we?

Written by Yoon Jeongwon

How Can We Solve The Problem In History Class?

A few days ago, the article about history class was announced in KBS News. The reporter pointed out the situation of our history class by showing that some students couldn't answer questions about Korean history. I was sorry to watch the pitiful situation because some students didn't know the historical fact that we put a premium on. A student who was interviewed said that history is difficult to study because there are so many things they have to memorize.

▲ The reporter asked some questions about history,

but a few students gave the correct answer.(Source : KBS NEWS)

However, I think that the reporter made an error. As I wrote, the reporter chose some important historical facts that he thinks : When did the Korean War happen? When is the Independence Day of Korea? In which war did the General Lee die? This situation showed that we have to memorize the time of historical facts and we should answer the question following the rules like 5W1H(Who, When, Where, What, Why, How)

In fact, there is no important historical fact. Are some parts of history, which make us ignorant if we don't know them, important? Is it because they are tragedies? or proud achievements? Don't you agree that these standards was made by the older generation? I believe that we should choose the way to learn history for ourselves. I will show you the reason we should study history, which is in the history book.

First, we can understand the present by studying our history. If we don't know about our history well, we couldn't discover life in its truth. In this respect, history is useful to establish the identities of individuals and people in the nation.

Second, We can lean wisdom of life. The present is connected to the past, and there is no present that has no past. So we can realize and solve the problem at hand. Furthermore, we can expect our future.

It is the history that is the unique identity, culture, knowledge, itself. However, I think that we just learned the historical fact without understanding them. There is no consideration on how to learn precepts through history.

Many people have known the reason why we have to learn history is that we can understand the present through history and prepare for our future. That is the correct answer and the way to study history. However, it seems that we are still walking on the opposite way though we know the reason. They laid great emphasis on the history education but we just follow the education system of the past with the view that students won't study without test.

▲ Many students are increasingly avoiding history class.(Source : Segye Ilbo)

It seems that we study history for going to the prestigious university or for getting a well-paid job. Is it right that we consider a person as ignorant about history who are poor at memorizing historical fact? Many students hate the history class for the reason there are so many things to memorize. And it showed that our curriculum has problem. What is your opinion about history education?

Written by Yoon Jeongwon

We Should Set the Plan To Solve the Environmental Pollution

Watching the news, you can see the news report about the abnormal weather. Last summer, in Russia, many people died and, in China, a CNG bus engine went off, because of the scorching heat. This winter, a stadium in the US was and Gangwon Province in Korea was damaged by heavy snow. Because of the abnormal weather, damages have been occurring one after another all over the world recently.

▲ Russia was damaged by Scorching heat.



These phenomena are related with the development of technology. The more we use fossil fuel and the more we enjoy material abundance, the more serious the environmental pollution becomes. We have already known the paradox structure that the earth is damaged while we are seeking for a comfortable life.

Of course, we are concerned about our environment. We made the Climatic Change Convention and planned to reduce the emission of green-house gases.

The Kyoto Protocol is a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC or FCCC), aimed at fighting global warming. The UNFCCC is an international environmental treaty with the goal of achieving "stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system."
The Protocol was initially adopted on 11 December 1997 in Kyoto, Japan and entered into force on 16 February 2005. As of July 2010, 191 states have signed and ratified the protocol.

- Kyoto Protocol, Wikipedia

However, the problem is that the protocol has no coercion. So the US withdrew U.S. support for the Kyoto Protocol and refused to submit it to Congress for ratification. Japan and Australia have not passed the law about the emission of green-house gases. Canada also said that they have no plan to carry out the protocol if America and China didn't show their responsible behavior.

▲ Carbon emissions from various global regions during the period 1800–2000.

(Source : Wikipedia)

These lukewarm attitudes of advanced nations will affect other countries. The Korean Government showed their effort by setting "Presidential Committee On Green Growth" and "Climate Change Center".However, Korean Businesses required that the government relax restrictions according to international stream.

It will be effective for a short time if advanced nations protect their industries. However, in the long-term view, I believe that they will destroy themselves, and moreover, all of us. The situation like the movie " The Day After Tomorrow" is now only a matter of times. International Society should consider this issue more cautiously for our future.

Written by Yoon Jeongwon

Korean Society Still Has The Gender Discrimination

Recently, we can feel that the era of women power is now approaching because of the issues that some women presidents appeared for the first time. Last year, the first Korean woman general got into the news. So did the woman president in a drama, "Dae-mul.". Like this, women's position is different from before.

▲ Dilma Vana Rousseff(the first woman President of Brazil)

Ms. Song(the first Korean woman general)

Ms. Seo(the first woman President of Korea in the drama, "Dae-mul")

However, there are some places that they didn't accept the current of the times yet. That is the legal profession, Ms. Cheon is the only woman justice of the Supreme Court. Naturally, there is one more woman justice of the Supreme Court whose name was Ms. Kim. (Now, she became the National Rights and Interests Chairperson.) Also, Constitutional Court was more serious because there was no woman justice. When you compared the US Supreme Court with Korea Supreme Court, you can feel Korea still has male-oriented social structure because three of nine justices of Supreme Court are women in United States.

As I said in the last article, when you see the US women soldiers, you can feel that the gender discrimination will be meaningless. The field of war had been considered as men's roles. But when you see the U.S. military service, the proportion of women having experience fighting in wars is increasing. Today, the women soldiers account for sixteen percent of the total enrollment and are getting high ranking. Also, they did well enough in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan compared to men.

But when I searched the article below, there was little sexual equality in Korea.

The level of the Korean women's economic opportunity was the 35th place in 113 countries.

(An omission of a middle part)

In the result, the level of the Korean women's legal and social position was the 66th, a labor policy was the 53rd, a custom of labor relations was the 25th, financial accessibility was the 21st, education was the 33rd and business environment was the 39th place in 113 countries. The discrimination in the workplace, especially, was the worst, which was the 104th place.

- Korean women's discrimination in the workplace was the 104th place in the world, Hankyoreh News(2010. 7. 16)

This situation showed that we still have wrong thoughts, and women might be weak and inferior compared to men. I feel that the era of woman is far from us. When I saw that the media introduced the first OOO woman, I thought that there was still gender discrimination rather than now that the era of sexual equality has come. When is the time that we can live without the word, "Discrimination"?

Written by Yoon Jeongwon

Human Rights? Or Commercial Supremacy?

The National Human Rights Commission consented to a golf club that refused the man's membership because of his tattoos. It is for the reason that showing tattoos can make people scared and the man has multiple tattoos on his chest.

The NHRC members said as follows:

"It doesn't encroach on human rights. A golf club is private he can also play golf without a membership so it doesn't seem to be discrimination."

However, it is not a unanimous opinion because tattoos can be the expression of oneself and the fear comes from prejudice. The commissioners who agreed with the tattooed man said that the majority of the commissioners misunderstood their role.

Yes, if the man disgusts other people, the golf club can do that because the golf club has its right to manage their members.

▲ Wentworth Earl Miller act as a Michael Scofield in the Drama, 'Prison Break'

The tattoo covers the entire upper body of Michael Scofield

However, on the point of human rights, the golf club is unfair. Of course, as they said, there are so many tattooed men who are gangsters but it is prejudice. This is because some people now considered it as art. And it is not fair to judge a person's nature by appearance. If you watched the TV Program, "Martian Virus", you can have a different idea. A man who was a gangster with tattoos wanted to become a singer so he discarded his group.

▲ A man who was a gangster appeared on the TV Show, Martian Virus.

(He said that he wanted to be a singer even though he should discard his group.)

The human rights say that everyone is equal before the law. So, is it right that the NHRC judges a person by appearance? How can you solve this problem? on the point of the human rights? or the commercial supremacy?

Written by Yoon Jeongwon