In class essay #4: Minjok: importance of extent.

Being a minjok? Hmm..

           The word minjok, translated as ethnic group or race, is often used by Koreans to show off their nationality and strong bond between them. For instance, when the World Cup is being held, thousands of Koreans gather together in front of huge screens and cheer their team up, based on the thought that they are one minjok.

           The thing is, however, is that people considering minjok as a natural phenomenon, just because they have the same blood flowing inside them. Moreover, history of Dangun, Korean dynasty, Joseon dynasty, and hardships Koreans went through such as 1592 Japanese Invasion are the evidences of minjok Koreans are proposing. However, what meaning do these convey? People at the time in these hardships may have felt ethnicity, but I thought these meant nothing to people in present. Because these are the only things Koreans are utilizing to prove minjok, I believe the minjok concept is actually ambiguous.

       On the other hand, I cannot neglect and deny the concept of minjok because as a Korean, I’m feeling a kind of bond between Koreans, too. To give my personal experiences, the first one is when I went to Canada when I was a 4th grader in elementary school. As I’d seen lots of movies and dramas with the plot of Americans bullying Asian transfer students, I had fear before going to the school. However, it was the exact opposite. Canadian friends treated me as a special being, not a weird one, just because I’m Korean. They approached me earlier than I did to them, so I was able to easily adapt to the school. From such experiences, I started to feel proud about my nation and being part of Korean minjok. Although I mentioned there is no specific evidence of minjok, I surely did sense what being a part of Korea meant.

      In addition, I was one of the people I mentioned above, the one who cheered my team enthusiastically in front of the screen. When the Korean team was struggling against a statistically-better team, all of us shouted ‘fighting!’ and wished our team the best. When the team won, we cheered throughout the whole night, and when it lost, we posted quotes like, ‘cheer up, you did your best’ on the Internet to soothe their disappointment. I was never compelled to cheer only the ‘Korean’ team, but I guess some kind of invisible bond led me to.

     After such experiences, I still doubted whether the minjok exists or not. The fact that I cannot explain logically why I sensed these feelings in the experiences above really complicated my thoughts about minjok. As I was thinking continuously, one conclusion came up to my mind: Being a minjok doesn’t have to be explained with logic. As a Korean, I have always felt proud and linked to my nation Korea, which is one of the reasons I applied at KMLA. On the other hand, I couldn’t illustrate why such feeling exists, so I decided to consider it as an implicit human nature, like love or friendship. Every citizen of every country has it, but individuals just have difference in extent. For example, Koreans are unique because they are known to have greater extent of ethnicity than any other nations.

Minjok- always good??

     There’s one more thing to be considered: is the concept of minjok always good? The answer is absolutely ‘no’. Minjok, ethnicity in other word, is always related to nations. If the extent of minjok increases to a level in which people regard the nation equal to each individual, a problem of serious nationalism occurs. The notion ‘nationalism’ is not a bad thing itself, but there were lots of historical examples how severe nationalism led to bad endings of nations such as Nazis. Adolf Hitler’s nationalism was so serious that he differentiated every other country from his own, and even suppressed races such as Jews. This tells how dangerous the concept of minjok can be, as it can make an illusion that one’s nation the best in everything.

     Then which level is Korean minjok in? To be frank, Koreans have one of the strongest ethnicity in world. There are lots of real-life examples of how Koreans ostracize other races and nations, especially inside Korea. There’s even a slight sign of nationalism, and the best example is a Korean anchor’s tears. When it was announced that PyeongChang, a city in Korea, will hold 2018 winter Olympics, an anchor dropped her tears because she was really touched by the fact. Though lots of people shared her feelings, some raised questions about it really seriously. They thought that the anchor crying publically because of nation’s happy occasion implies, ‘country’s good equals individual’s good’, the basic concept of nationalism. Although it is a great thing our country holds the Olympics, I also agree that the extent of that anchor’s ethnicity was a bit much. The thing is that this is not only her problem. It includes every Korean, and Koreans should learn from an ancient idiom, ‘too much is as bad as too little’, and should lower the level of ethnicity.

Kim Ju Ha crying for PyeongChang

no severe nationalism!

     So as a conclusion, though the existence of minjok cannot be explained logically, it does exist as all people are experiencing it every second. The existence of it is advisable, because it enhances relationships and cooperation between people, so the concept itself is not a problem. The only problem is ‘extent’. No one gets any disadvantage just because people have strong bond between the same races. However, if the extent becomes too much, lots of people are harmed. As Koreans are developing more intense ethnicity as the time passes, we should always keep in mind; too much is as bad as too little. Through such thought, Koreans should maintain reasonable extent of minjok, which will lead to a harmony of both nation and the world.

In class essay #3: Sustaining species.. that important?

     According to the clip, 'The Maker', one rabbit-like doll hurries to make another doll, and when the time runs out, he disappears, leaving the other doll the same task.

Handsome Dawkins :)

     The first time I watched the clip, I thought of the book, "The Selfish Gene" by Richard Dawkins. The book mentions that there's an organism that can copy itself, and all other living things, from microorganisms to people, are just means to transport them, enhancing the chance to survive and reproduce. Consequently, Dawkins concluded that all actions, including the altruistic ones, are all egoistic, as all living things just want to leave descendants and spread their species.
     'The Maker' clip, for me, represented this fundamental desire of all living things. The first doll tried hard to leave the descendant, in this case the second doll, and disappears after it succeeds. I saw such 'hard work' as an altruistic action as the time remaining for the doll was not much. However, such action ended as continuing the species, the most essential action of organisms, which Dawkins ultimately saw as an egoistic behavior.

The actual book- The selfish gene

     As I interpreted the clip this way, I considered that the clip, at least my interpretation, was a bit negative. Such consideration drew me a question, "Are all actions other than reproduction not important? Relationships, feelings, memories... are they secondary?" My personal answer was, "no". After interpreting the clip and answering questions to myself, I watched the clip again. In the clip, I found that the dolls never smiled except the finish of reproduction. What I mean is that if the 'reproduction' is an only, critical objective of life, the dolls wouldn't have time to smile in other parts of their life, would they?
     So, with the additional information, I tried to interpret the clip again. As a result, I believed that the clip was trying to mention the things that's completely opposite of the last interpretation. Instead of emphasizing the importance of reproduction, it was implying, 'enjoy your life more during the short life longevity.' As the clip showed, achieving only the fundamental goal of a living thing doesn't bring you anything, including happiness, when you're doing other things than reproduction. We're not vehicles of organisms that want to leave and copy their species. It's not our duty to leave descendants, so enjoy the life while it's remaining.
     Imagine if the doll played and had joy doing other actions. Though the species wouldn't continue, at least he had a happy life. Our happiness, I believe, should not be obstructed with compulsive duties, including the reproduction, because it's our own life.

It's my life - by Bon Jovi

     Lastly, 'relationships, feelings, memories.. and happy life; that's what's important'- the clip gave me such lessons. Thus, from today, I will try to enjoy and thank every moment in my life as much as I can.

History of computer games I've played

     I have lived for 17 years, and until today, I've played numerous games, sometimes for fun, and sometimes for time-killing. I thought it would be nice for me to date back in the past in retrospect of which games I've played and when I played them.

     The first computer game I remember playing is a CD game called 'Neo Bomberman'. I guess my father bought it for me for a birthday present when I was a first grader, and I remember it was quite fun. It had various maps, skills, and scenarios I could play, so at the time, it was a kind of innovation. It supported 2 players mode, so my brother and I played it a lot together.
     Then I head to the second grader in elementary school, and the game I remember playing is the 'Rollercoaster Tycoon'. The main purpose of the game is to achieve certain goal of income through constructing various rollercoasters and playgrounds. I didn't know that the game was so difficult when I played it again a few weeks ago. I do remember achieving the main goal several times when I was a second grader, but when I played as a high school student, the game ended up in a huge loss of money. Maybe my brain is deteriorating every second...haha...
     Another game I started playing when I was a second grader was 'Maplestory'. The game has no clear objectives, and I just had to level up to learn more skills and be stronger. At the time, the game hasn't developed that much, so it was extremely hard to level up. One of the anecdotes I recall is when I bought 10 million meso (the game's currency) for 10 thousand won with my brother's help. Nowadays, it's more than 200 million meso per 10 thousand won.... :( such an inflation..




     I often played outside when I was a third grader, so let's see what I played when I was a 4th grader. I went abroad when I was a fourth grader in Canada, and the Internet was really bad there. Thus, my brother and I had to play games that did not require Internet connection, and there were two solutions. The first one is a 'Pokemon game', in gold version. The game was to become a champion of Pokemon trainer through beating numerous gym leaders and champions. It was a simple game that didn't need the Internet, so my brother and I played it hundreds of times, repeating again and again. Until today, I remember which path I should take in order to succeed, and every secret ways to get better equipment. Another game is 'Mame'. Actually, it is not a game itself. It's a program that allows people to play thousands of games in past, usually the ones that can be played at the stationery,  without Internet connection. Through such program we could play lots of games such as 1945, Snowbrothers, etc.

     Then I come back to Korea when I was a 5th grader, and I don't really remember what I played at the time. So let's look at the games I played when I was a sixth grader in elementary school. Mainly, there are two games: 'Starcraft' and 'Counterstrike'. First for Starcraft, I met this one friend who was good at it, and he taught me how to play it well. Because it was so fun, I was a bit crazy at it, and I think I went to PC room every day except the weekends to play it. One sad thing is that until now I've played about 400 games with him, but I've only beaten him 6 times.. As my brother was really good and mad about it at the time, he also taught me too. I think it's one of the greatest games, considering that it was developed about ten years ago. Another game I played was Counterstrike. Among thousands of FPSs, I think it is the best, as it has reasonable difficulty and great maps. I played it with my friends through a program called, 'Steam', which allowed us to connect to the Counterstrike servers.
     Starcraft is the game that I lived with for many years, so I played it only when I was a first grader. Because I had to study more intensely in middle school, the numbers of games had decreased, but I still played it a lot.
     When I was a second grader in middle school, another games began: 'Fifaonline 2'. As the name says, it's and online soccer game. The only problem was that it took away so much money, as if I don't put my money in it, my team gets left behind. Though I was not that good at it, I still played it so many times that I sometimes got scolded from my mother for going to PC rooms too much. I even got caught by my teacher once. It exists until today, and sadly, the game will shut down due to license problem on March, 2013.

     The next game I played when I was a third grader is 'Left4Dead'. Since I often played online games such as Starcraft and Fifaonline, I nearly never played games that needed extra program such as this. However, I learned that in PC rooms, my friends and I can join together to beat scenarios, and I was really attracted to this game. It's about surviving through the zombies, and there were lots of modes such as being a zombie, and beating the scenario as I mentioned. The last 'new' game I played at the same age is 'Starcraft 2'. At normal houses, people need to buy the ID to play it, but at the PC room, it was free. As it was a fresh, new version of Starcraft, I never missed the chance to play it, and it was a predominant game in my 3rd grade life in middle school.

     Today, as a high school student, I sometimes play these games in retrospect of the procedure I've passed through. Sometimes, I think playing these games were just a waste of time, and that I could have exercised or studied harder. However, I believe that without these games, my wonderful, enthusiastic memories wouldn't have existed, and actually, I really want to thank these games for great memories.