Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!

The Metropolitician has lashed out at The Marmot for calling him a "crazy Nigga."

The Marmot (Robert/Bob) wrote:

I just hope Mike took his pills before reading that. I would hate for this blog to give a fellow blogger an aneurysm. Or a severe case of carpal tunnel, knowing Mike.

To which Metropolitician (Mike) responded:

Sooooo -- over at The Marmot, it's now not just belligerent commenters, but the founder himself, who suggests that I must be crazy (hence, the pill-taking, I assume) because 1) I report that I am regularly harrassed in places such as the subway in Korea, along with dozens of other instances I can cite, as well as countless other people whom I know and 2) he implies that I either bring it upon myself or, alternatively, must be crazy to report it back to others as a pattern. ...

Remember, Robert, YOU brought this shit up, brought my name into this, and implied in front of thousands of readers that I would have an extremely violent reaction and a specific opinion to this topic (which I don't) -- all completely UNSOLICITED by me, out-of-the-blue. Just like your commenters, I'm not only not even talking about any of this within earshot of you people, I'm not even THERE for the conversation -- YET YA'LL KEEP BRINGING ME UP.

My reaction to something like that isn't unreasonable, nor unexpected. I'm not in your grill, nor on your blog, talking about race, violence, or anything else -- I've been wise enough not to even broach any serious topic on your blog, what with the puerile nature of your commenters. Even with that, I've always either linked to or written on your blog respectfully, and spoken of you in the same way. We don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of things, but I thought there was at least respect as colleagues.

So I don't see the need, or how it's at all appropriate to be talking about me going into histrionics, needing to "take my pills," or some such shit, basically making me the unsolicited whipping boy for all that is liberal, related to race, or blackness in your part of the blogosphere. Like the post about the black dude who filmed himself fucking some Korean chick on secret camera, where some commenter started talking about my MOTHER and something to do with the slime or other bodily fluids that your commenters guffawed about me being the result of. And I know you DO sometimes intervene and police your commenters -- just not for unsolicited, disgustingly racist comments. You tacitly approve them, and probably find them as funny as your peanuts gallery apparently does.

Because now, you're apparently participating in the baiting. Because that's what it is when I'm sitting over here eating my fucking oatmeal only to read about how you apparently think, like your readers, that I'm some fucking comic book character who's lost his marbles, is going to go vitriolic batshit over anything touching the subject of race, or is constantly engaging in self-serving name-dropping when YOU people are the only ones bringing either me, or that shit, UP.

I expect as much from your commenters, but not from you. I was pretty goddamn surprised, actually.

So, a very hearty "fuck you" to you, Bob.

Please bear in mind that Metropolitician guest-blogs from time to time on The Marmot's well-known site.

Mike does bring up some valid points, which I deliberately left out here so you'd have to read his words on his blog. But while I think it's valid to point out that the hanbok-wearing White dude that is The Marmot is not regarded the same or treated the same as the 'fronytail-sporting Metropolitician, I'd also like to point out that Metropolitician's experiences in Korea are full of much more drama than most other Black people I've known in Seoul (a group that includes my tenants, my students, my classmates, and a few co-workers).

CORRECTION:
The Marmot didn't actually call Metropolitician the N-word. That was Metropolitician's interpretation, apparently. Metropolitician often hears people saying "Nigger" when they've actually said something else, a point I addressed here a year ago:

There is something inherently problematic about using a simplistic one-to-one correspondence when explaining in one language what someone said in another. I covered this in my "Do you know Ch'usŏk" piece, but I think a more relevant example comes in, say, the outrage about Koreans saying "Nigger."

I have long felt, and The Marmot seems to agree with me, that 검둥이 (kŏm•dung•i) is better represented as "darkie." The word is still insensitive and inappropriate, but it by no means carries the historical baggage — and violence — of nigger. Koreans have not been lynchers of Blacks, they have not legally or physically barred Blacks from marrying Koreans (or anyone else), nor have they enslaved, segregated, red-lined, or systematically and institutionally tried to keep down Blacks. Nigger comes from that violently supremacist mentality, which is far different from the xenophobic race-infused mentality that produces words like 검둥이 (or 흰둥이 for "whiteys"), and that makes it terribly misleading to use them as equivalents when describing racism or attitudes about race.

[Of course, if you're on the receiving end of it, it may be seen as tah-MAY-toh/toh-MAH-toh, but I submit that the latter is far less damaging and much more amenable to change than the former. I also recognize that a WASP WASP-like entity German-Irish Catholic from Long Island (The Marmot) may be the last one to expound on the comparative hurtful usage of 검둥이 or Nigger being hurled at someone, but I'm straight out of Compton, so maybe I've got a little more cred. Just a little.]

And speaking of my childhood back in Compton, I don't recall anyone at our "playground where black folks go" saying, "Don't start no shit, won't be none." Not that it isn't good advice. (Seriously, I do find it amusing when Metropolitician uses TV versions of Black people in an attempt to wrap himself in street cred; I don't think Metropolitician would have lasted long in my old neighborhood.)

Wild hogs

Korea Beat highlights a Korean-language article on the damage wild hogs in South Korea do — to the tune of 5.5 billion won — when they make their way into populated areas (even Seoul) and run amok damaging property and causing traffic accidents. There is a similar problem on Oahu, except these beasts are mostly a threat to hikers.

This now makes me wonder if the island on "Lost" isn't supposed to be somewhere in the ROK. It certainly would explain all the Korean-speaking people.

Ford comes out swinging against the FTA with nationally run ad

[source]

I myself haven't see it yet (and I'm trying to track it down), but Ford Motor Company put an ad in twenty papers across the US aimed at turning the public against the ROK-US free trade agreement (aka KORUS FTA) which now stands a much better chance of passing now that the Democrats in Congress took a "shellacking."

Here is NPR's description of the ad:

We were struck by an advertisement we saw today in The Washington Post. The full-page ad shows a sea of red cars and one lone blue car, along with this text: For every 52 cars Korea ships here, the U.S. can only export one there.

Ford paid for the ad, and it appears today in more than 20 newspapers. So we wondered what it's all about. It turns out it relates to the Korean Free Trade Agreement.

And being NPR, they tried to determine the ad's veracity by talking with Marcus Noland:

NORRIS: Now, speaking of the concerns of the auto industry, is this ad or is the contention made in this ad actually correct? Is Ford or are other American auto companies at a disadvantage because of this free trade agreement?

Mr. NOLAND: No, actually not. Historically, the Korean market has been inhospitable to foreign producers. There's no question about that. Though considerable liberalization has occurred in recent years and, indeed, I was just in Korea last week, and I was surprised by how many non-Korean cars I saw on the road.

The other thing is is that GM, the largest American car manufacturer, actually owns a Korean car company, Daewoo. So it doesn't ship cars from the United States to Korea. It simply manufactures them and sells them in Korea. So when Ford points to its inability to literally export cars from here to Korea, this is really more of a Ford issue than an American automobile sector issue.

I'll try to hit the library and track down the dead-tree edition of the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Los Angeles Times. More on this when I'm not in class.

UPDATE:
At The Marmot's Hole, Wangkon has put up a pretty good piece on this (with a lot more links) with an interesting comments section. He didn't give me a hat tip, though, even though mine was up hours before his, sitting right there in the TMH Blog Feed.

UPDATE 2:
Would South Koreans buy a Ford F150?

iheartblueballs on the "myth" of cutting taxes to increase revenues

iheartblueballs apparently hates my guts, but God bless the guy for really doing his homework and laying out some thoughtful (if expletive-ridden) essays on issues near and dear to this left-of-center Democratic voter.

Case in point, about the claims made mentioned in the above title:

So confident, so condescending, and so embarrassingly fucking wrong. I always have a good chuckle whenever I hear conservatives repeat this myth — and they repeat it a lot — because they inevitably fail to provide any statistical data to prove it. They’ll offer JFK quotes or isolated data from a few year period.

The reason for this is actually very simple. There is no comprehensive statistical data to prove that tax cuts increase revenues. In fact, all available data points in the opposite direction.

He then links to a worthwhile National Review article on the subject, while adding his own relevant points. He ends with this snarky attack on the true-believer conservatives who now have the reins of power in the House of Representatives:

I’ll go ahead and make a prediction: Plenty of conservatives who believe this myth will read the article I linked to, and because it’s in the NR they’ll have a hard time claiming bias or writing it off as liberal. And then they’ll go about ignoring it because it doesn’t fit the myth they’ve held so dear for so long. They’ll probably hit the google and search for some definitive data supporting their mythical claim, but they won’t find any, because there isn’t any.

None of this will matter. The myth will continue to perpetuate, because Rush repeats it, and Hannity repeats it, and all kinds of ignorant conservative politicians keep repeating it over and over and over until all the dupes are sold.

And hey, let’s not pretend the dupes actually care about statistical data or proof. They want to believe and they want to be sold, and that makes the selling all that much easier.

Sugo haessŏyo, IHBB. I just wish you'd change your ballsy avatar so I can read your comments while out in public.

How did they get it so wrong on Reid?

I'm not going to make the case that Senator Harry Reid of Nevada is well-liked, but the pre-Tuesday polling obits of the Senate Majority Leader have taken on an almost "Dewey Defeats Truman" air, even though the guy who was down by three just yesterday went on to win by five percentage points.

This Esquire article — which was written before Tuesday but whose predictions were borne out — may explain what the problem was:

Second, counter to all of the public polls, the internal Reid numbers for the past three weeks show that Reid has actually had a lead ranging from 4 to 8 points (and last week, the National Republican Senate Campaign Committee had a similar internal poll showing Reid six points up). The campaign's rolling-track numbers from last Friday also showed Senator Reid with a six-point lead.

Why are these numbers so different from Rasmussen, Mason-Dixon, et al? Well, first and foremost, Nevada is unlike any other state, in that it has a comparatively transient population, with lots of newcomers, and a sizeable percentage of that population works in the gaming industry — the casinos. Traditional polling firms don't call during the day, and so you miss most of those people, who work in significant numbers at night. And if there was ever a population that communicated with the world exclusively via cell phones as opposed to landlines, this is it. (The Reid campaign has polled cell-phone users aggressively.) The research shows that when you go strictly by the people who you reach on the first try, Reid is 2 points down. But in the subset of people who you reach on the second or third try, Reid leads by 11 points.

None of the public polls reflect this population at all.

There's a bit more to it than that, but this could be one of those cases that could change the face of polling in the future.

Feel-good election day story

Today is a state holiday in Hawaii. Its day-off status isn't that important to me because I voted absentee ballot — in California — and I only have one class on Tuesday anyway. But it does means you can park almost anywhere.

Instead of sifting through the news of Jerry Brown's future Jeopardy™ question status as simultaneously modern-day California's youngest and oldest ever elected governor, Prop 19 marijuana legalization's likely defeat, the worst thumping the Democrats have gotten in the House sine 1948 while simultaneously holding onto the Senate (with Harry Reid still eligible to be the Majority Leader), the nail-biter between Colleen Hanabusa and Charles Djou here in Hawaii-1, or any of that, I thought I'd present a touching story of a first-time voter.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Reginalda Rodriguez filled out her ballot with painstaking care, using her practice booklet as a guide -- no on Prop. 19, Jerry Brown for governor, and on through every measure and candidate.

It was the first time the 87-year-old great-grandmother of 11 had voted in the United States. She lived the first 65 years of her life in El Salvador. In 1989, she came to live with her son in Los Angeles to escape the civil war in her country. She worked as a nanny until the age of 83.

In May 2008, she finally became a U.S. citizen. When Rodriguez arrived at the Baldwin Hills Recreation Center polling place Tuesday afternoon, the workers were unable to find her name on the rolls.

Undiscouraged, she cast her provisional ballot. On the way out, she hugged the workers or shook their hands. "I feel very satisfied, because I have so much esteem for this country," Rodriguez said in Spanish. "I love this country very much."

There was no single proposition or race that drew her. Rodriguez said she simply wanted to vote in the country where she is now a citizen.

[sniff] No matter where you stand on so-called "multi-culturalism" or how you choose to define it, America needs more immigrants to be like Ms Rodriguez, at least in this regard. Here's hoping for many more elections in your future, ma'am.

As for those other topics, I'll have a post-election postmortem later this week. For now, I'll say that House Democrats (and a few Senate Democrats) sacrificed their careers for a very good cause, something that will be increasingly clear long after you would have retired even if you had stayed in office. In the meantime, the Dems should see this as an opportunity to seek a new leader in the House that is less of a lightning rod and more of a hands-across-the-aisle kinda person.

Perhaps consider doing the same thing in the Senate, even if Harry Reid has retained his seat (and by a bigger margin than polls had predicted since, um, they had predicted he'd lose by about three instead of winning by five points).

This is a chance for Obama to reach out and try to do some things that show he can be bipartisan, like on passing the KORUS FTA with those six or so extra Republican Senators.

Terror attack on South Korea-owned oil pipeline in Yemen?

Just days after an apparent Al-Qaeda plot against US-bound cargo planes was foiled, it appears their operatives in Yemen may have struck a ROK-owned oil pipeline.

From Yonhap:

An explosion hit a South Korean oil pipeline in southern Yemen on Tuesday in an apparent bomb attack by Al-Qaeda militants, local authorities and company officials said.

The explosion caused a leak in the 204-kilometer pipeline operated by the state-owned Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) in an oil field in Shabwa province, which produces 10,000 barrels of oil a day, the officials noted. The extent of damage has not yet been confirmed.

Local authorities suspect the explosion was caused by unknown attackers as remains of explosives were found near the site.

Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news reported that Al-Qaeda may have been behind the explosion by possibly planting an explosive device under the pipeline and detonating it from a distance, citing an unidentified Yemeni security official.

According to an AFP report, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the local branch of Bin Laden's network, claimed responsibility for the bomb plot.

CNN also has the story, which is where I snagged the above image.

Now can someone explain why Dubya's popularity goes through the roof when there's a failure to thwart a major terrorist attack on his watch, but when an attack is successfully blocked by Bill (e.g., the Millennium bombing plot) or Barry (this past week's attempt) it warrants nary a blip in the approval ratings?

Gift of the megi

She sleeps with the fishes.

Also from today's KCNA, North Korean catfish are delicious. They are called megi (메기) in Korean, and the Chosŏnŏ-language article is here.

Along with rampant corruption, chronic underdevelopment, an intractable meth problem, the occasional South Korean factory, and being on the losing side in a bloody civil war, just more evidence that the Korean North is a lot like the American South.

In this week's episode of Heroes, Hiro catches a 20-kilogram catfish.

Y'know, doing an image search for megi was kinda fun. And mostly family-friendly. Even the ones that are of Maggie Q.

There are loads of pics of people posing with monstrously large catfish, interspersed with the most godawful ugly fish you ever saw. This is extreme fish, to be sure.

One of Lost Nomad's buddies?

I said the images were mostly family-friendly.

Pyongyang really, really, really, really insists they didn't sink the Ch'ŏnan

And to prove it, they're offering a sample of one of their torpedoes to show it isn't like the one that sunk the South Korean vessel, killing four dozen people.

From Reuters:

North Korea has denied it was responsible for the attack, and state news agency KCNA published on Tuesday what it said was "the first installment of a statement disclosing the truth behind the Cheonan case."

It said the North was willing to provide a steel alloy sample of one of its torpedoes to Washington and Seoul, adding that "aluminum alloy fragments prove themselves that the torpedo was not from the north."

It would be an intriguing development if it turned out that a type of material revealed in the South Korean government investigation wasn't even used in North Korean-made torpedoes. That would mean nothing, though, as a major attack like that could easily (and preferably) have been done with a foreign-made torpedo. This "announcement," though, is intended to sow more seeds of doubt and resentment by conspiracy theorists in the South who doubt just about anything that comes from the Lee government.

I was unable to find this news item in the KCNA reports, though it may appear in the November 2 or November 3 editions; November 1 is their latest.

I did find out, however, that the Pyongyang Mechanical Pencil Factory has developed a new type of mechanical pencil, a product of North Korea's push toward the much-touted CNC technology.

Multicultural Korea?

Though The Marmot's not a big fan of the multi-culti view ("This is Korea! Speak Korean!" he might say, though I don't recall him saying it quite like that), he has an interesting post on South Koreans' strong acceptance of multiculturalism (in surveys, at least).

By the way, that's The Marmotess in that picture up above, highlighting the government's plea that everyone participate in the twice-a-decade nationwide Population and Housing Census. I don't remember what happened in 2000, but in 2005 the authorities went all out to be as inclusive as possible, even sending out bilingual census takers who could conduct their survey in English, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, etc.

I'm partial to the ROK's census for two reasons. First, I do use their data quite a bit in my own research. Second, having worked for the US Census Bureau this year (see here, here, and here), I feel for those folks who are just trying to do their job, and probably for a lot less than $17 per hour.

Kogi Truck knock-off comes to HNL

But they spell it with a G.

Shudder.

Spotted at Nightmares, a new player in Honolulu's haunted house scene.

Waikiki Halloween Parade

Taking advantage if the fact that I have no classes tomorrow, I brought dome friends to Waikiki for the annual Halloween parade, which is Honolulu's answer to Mardi Gras.

I came as the Springfield Shopper reporter, a 1950s throwback which provided an excuse to take pictures of the scantily clad women that come dressed as naughty this or naughty that, but they weren't out in large numbers today.

An added problem was that the camera and the gamely generic PRESS tag were taken very seriously.

The Kim Who Wasn't There

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today
I wish, I wish he’d go away...

In our latest edition of The Kim Who Wasn't There™, we'll take a look at what the KCNA has been saying about presumed future leader or North Korea, Brilliant Comrade Young General Kim Jong-un. This is necessary, considering the misleading way in which Western media (including some South Korean and Japanese news outlets) have been reporting on Kim Jong-un as if he is front and center in North Korean news reports since his debut.

Typical is this one from the Saturday edition of Japan's Asahi Shimbun:

A torrent of reports in North Korea's state-run media on the rise of Kim Jong Il's third son is driving home the message that Kim Jong Un is the reclusive country's next leader.

Since the younger Kim's debut at a key meeting of representatives of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea on Sept. 28, seemingly not a day has gone by without some mention of him.

Usually, the reports note the younger Kim's presence at functions alongside his father, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

According to Tokyo-based Radio Press, which monitors North Korean broadcasts, the state-run media has carried 13 reports on Kim Jong Un in the last month, far outstripping coverage of any other key official in the regime.

In reality, as I've noted in previous posts, there is no "torrent." While Kim Jong-un is indeed mentioned, it is nowhere near the frequency of his father, Kim Jong-il, around whom all news activity is centered like the planets around the Sun. Moreover, the freshly minted general's name is usually buried deep within the few articles in which he appears, along with the name of other elites (Open Radio North Korea reports that disapproving North Koreans have no clue even that Kim Jong-un is Kim Jong-il's son).

In other words, there really is (so far) no there there, even if the Western media (including some outlets in South Korea and Japan) insist on depicting this as if it's a done deal, in an effort to pretend that what they report is not self-replicating speculation. The reality is that we don't really know anything.

Again, using October 29* reports from the KCNA (I was planning to use Rodong Shinmun [roughly translated as Workers Daily] reports, but online at least they are generally from the KCNA anyway), let me demonstrate how small a blip Kim Jong-un is on the North Korean media radar:

• South Korean military authorities' rejection of contact denounced — no mention of Kim Jong-il or Kim Jong-un

• Kim Yongnam sends message of sympathy to Indonesian president (regarding the recent earthquake and tsunami) — this one mentions Kim Yongnam, who I would argue (against the Asahi Shimbun) receives more coverage and certainly more meaningful coverage than Kim Jong-un

• New postage stamps published (commemorating Kim Jong-il's recent trip to China) — big time Kim Jong-il piece (he's mentioned in each of the four paragraphs) with zero mention of Kim Jong-un

• Another UHP electric arc furnace starts operation — no mention of Kim Jong-il or Kim Jong-un, although other party dignitaries, including DPRK cabinet premier Choe Yongnim, were listed because they were there

• Delicacy restaurant under Okryu Restaurant completed — no mention of Kim Jong-il or Kim Jong-un, but a list of national leaders who showed up is provided 

• Scientific research activities brisk among students — Kim Jong-il mentioned as one of three inspirations for the students of Kim Ilsung University, along with President Kim Ilsung and "anti-Japanese heroine Kim Jongsuk"

• New documentary film produced — big time Kim Jong-il piece because the movie is about the Dear Leader's "undying exploits." Seems this new documentary would be a great opportunity to tie the Brilliant Comrade to his father, but there is no mention whatsoever of Kim Jong-un

• National sports festival closes — no mention of either Kim Jong-il or Kim Jong-un, but let's face it, would we associate either of those two with sports activities? 

• Roast chestnut, sweet potato stalls salient — Kim Jong-il is mentioned because "General-Secretary Kim Jong-il took all necessary measures to fully supply Pyongyang with sweet potatoes and chestnuts every year," but there is no mention of Kim Jong-un or his patented Sweet Potato Diet™

• South Korean warmongers' moves to participate in missile defense (with US) slammed — no mention of either Kim Jong-x

• Resignation of chief of Police Agency demanded (for suppressing rights of pro-Pyongyang civic organizations, part of the chinboista front) — no mention of either father or son

• Workers Party Korea's exploits praised in Nigeria — loads of praise for Kim Jong-il and his Sŏn'gun revolutionary leadership, but no mention of Kim Jong-un, even though this would also be a great opportunity to tie the son to the legend

In fact, I had to go back to October 26 to see the the first mention of Kim Jong-un, who was among dozens listed as joining Kim Jong-il to a visit to the Chinese People's Volunteers command (a Korean War lips-and-teeth 60th anniversary kinda ceremony), the wreath-laying ceremony at the grave of Mao Anying (son of Mao Zedong), and the meet-and-greet with the Chinese military, which were all part of the CPV anniversary.

An "also in attendance were" mention once or twice every few days is hardly a "torrent."

In fact, if our KCNA tea leaf-reading tells us anything, it's that North Korea is gradually gearing up for Chinese-style reforms. We've got visiting delegations from Dandong, China, giving gifts to Kim Jong-il, as well as the Chinese ambassador to the DPRK helping Korean farmers in rice threshing. There's also a school in Kangwon-do Province being named after a CPV "martyr" from the Korean War, Huang Jieguang, since "China has donated numbers of teaching aids and books to the school."

As I've mentioned before, the real story is not the rise of Kim Jong-un, which is looking more and more more like a soap opera sideshow, but rather the move by North Korea — either at Pyongyang's own instigation or Beijing's insistence — toward Chinese-style reforms that help integrate North Korea with China's Manchurian provinces.

Food for thought. And perhaps, eventually, real food for North Koreans.

UPDATE:
At long last, some in the Western media seem to be waking up to this message.

*At the time of writing this post, I chose October 29 because it was the most recent date available. However, this is hardly an aberration: For the entire month of October, Uriminzokkiri lists sixty-eight articles with Kim Jong-il in the headline, eleven with Kim Ilsung, one with Kim Yongnam, one with Choe Yongnim, one with Kim Chongsuk, but zero with Kim Jong-un's name.