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South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

reuters.com

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Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#141

Post by pbhjpbhj »

briandear wrote: post #102
bane wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like most news, there's quite a bit of truth, with a bit of "hook" to draw the reader in. South Korean study culture, especially to get into University, bass a bar exam or get a public service job is really quite unreal. There are blocks of "prison" like apartments with surrounding quiet zones in many areas. They exist simply so people can escape home life and study 24/7 (mostly rote memorization exercises) in order…

> Many companies simply just waste employee time making them sit around or do busy work in order to appear that they're actively engaged in business activities. Incredibly true. When I worked there, I had to literally sit at my desk until 8pm despite being done with work by 6 simply because 8pm for my office was the “end of working hours.” Then off to a Soju-fueled dinner with coworkers whether you wanted to or not w…

I'm surprised that sort of work environment can survive. But then freed slaves also have kept others as slaves, so ...

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#143

Post by AnaniasAnanas »

duchenne wrote: post #109
wnevets wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people actually think they'll die if they sleep with the fan on? Thats pretty weird to me.

Yes, that used to be a common misconception in Korea until recently. It is completely false but such rumors can get viral very quickly. There are also many such misonceptions in the West. For instance, in the West, many people still believe that different areas of the tongues are used for different tastes (sweet, bitter,...). You can find more such things in this famous wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w…

> many people still believe that different areas of the tongues are used for different tastes (sweet, bitter,...)

We actually had that being stated as a fact in one of our elementary school books. Kind of concerning when even the writers of such books do not perform some basic research on the topics that they are trying to cover.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#144

Post by Freak_NL »

duchenne wrote: post #109
wnevets wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people actually think they'll die if they sleep with the fan on? Thats pretty weird to me.

Yes, that used to be a common misconception in Korea until recently. It is completely false but such rumors can get viral very quickly. There are also many such misonceptions in the West. For instance, in the West, many people still believe that different areas of the tongues are used for different tastes (sweet, bitter,...). You can find more such things in this famous wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w…

The prevalence of male infant circumcision in South Korea (over 80%) for dubious health benefits is another one of those lingering misconceptions. Even the US, a former bulwark of this custom, is more progressive in the gradual decline of it.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#146

Post by w1nt3rmu4e »

mikekchar wrote: post #85
calvinbhai wrote: post #29

Question for South Koreans here: Is this real or is this report just the usual exaggeration by western media? Asking because Reuter’s has a biased reporting for anything related to India, and I’m wondering if they have a similar lens / filter for South Korea. (I’m from India in US)

Reuters also has a history of bad reporting wrt Japan, at least as far as I'm concerned. They often translate things incorrectly and lead with conclusions based on that mistranslation. They are not the only ones on my "usually biased news" list, though. The Japan Times often picks up stories from the Yomiuri Shinbun, which are questionable in nature and translates them. These are then often picked up by the BBC. What…

I've seen some truly awful journalism from Reuters. Articles that were so agenda driven as to almost laughably gloss over facts in order to present the desired narrative. (Laughable if reputations and money weren't on the line.)

I've called some of the offending journalists out on social media, which I encourage everyone to do.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#147

Post by gadders »

labster wrote: post #139
wnevets wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people actually think they'll die if they sleep with the fan on? Thats pretty weird to me.

Just remember: in low gravity, always sleep with a fan on or you can die of suffocation. Just in case that ever comes up, you know.

Really? Citation please.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#148

Post by lmm »

gadders wrote: post #147
labster wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just remember: in low gravity, always sleep with a fan on or you can die of suffocation. Just in case that ever comes up, you know.

Really? Citation please.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Astronau...

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#149

Post by User9991 »

_jgdh wrote: post #120
calvinbhai wrote: post #29

Question for South Koreans here: Is this real or is this report just the usual exaggeration by western media? Asking because Reuter’s has a biased reporting for anything related to India, and I’m wondering if they have a similar lens / filter for South Korea. (I’m from India in US)

I’m from India in India. Could you give some examples of incorrect reporting by Reuters?

>Could you give some examples of incorrect reporting by Reuters?

Of course not. Instead, they'll throw around baseless accusations - because it's hip to scream "fake news- without a shred of evidence or hint of irony.

Re: South Koreans lock themselves up to escape prison of daily life

#150

Post by eeZah7Ux »

kijin wrote: post #61
Mikeb85 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just go to a monastery? It's just as structured, but with better food, scenery and the meditation/prayer/spirituality element helps when you return to civilisation.

Monasteries are a Western tradition. Some Buddhist temples and Christian organizations offer a similar program in South Korea, but most people who aren't religious don't feel comfortable attending an overtly religious program. Edit: Most Koreans would think of monasteries as a Western/Christian thing. Culturally, modern South Korea is much closer to the West than to India or even China.

> Monasteries are a Western tradition

China and Japan had monastic traditions for more than 2000 years. Also Buddhist monasticism predates christian monasticism by centuries.

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