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I DM'd a Korean presidential candidate and ended up building his core campaign

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Re: I DM'd a Korean presidential candidate and ended up building his core campaign

#81

Here is the politician’s Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Jun-seok

These parts jumped out: > He has been noted for his staunch antifeminism and support from South Korean idaenam (young men). … > He became popular in the 20s and 30s due to his opposing stance against political correctness such as "faux feminism," introducing reforms supporting meritocracy rather than outright equality of outcome. I know only a little about Korean politics, enough to know that it’s very dramatic with…

Whoa, that was an actual thing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_pinching_conspiracy_the...

Weird diseases of a chronically online generation.

Re: I DM'd a Korean presidential candidate and ended up building his core campaign

#82

People are knee-jerking at “anti-feminism” part of Lee which I admit would look pretty off-putting to anyone who is not familiar with what’s going in South Korea. “Feminism” in Korea has taken on a different meaning sadly. I’ve commented in HN before at how abhorrent women’s right has been in Korea, especially up to my mother’s generation. It really has drastically improved last 20 years. However, many young men feel…

It really reads as exactly the evil victim mentality of the people wildly overrepresented at the top that we get in the US. The military service thing is obviously a real issue, though, but I don't know why that wouldn't be solved by forcing women into mandatory public service in the same way a man with a disability would be. Is it just that Korea doesn't have the social services to absorb the manpower? Military serv…

> Shouldn't you wait until your country is half run by women before claiming oppression? Until your boss and CEO are as likely to be women as men?

Well boss and CEO's generation _were_ heavily discriminated and no one disputes that. For younger generation who are working, they go through 2 years of military service, then sees women in their generation go on a trip to find herself instead, then gets "preferential treatment" at work (e.g. woman police officer goes up 2 rank for giving a person in distress their jacket). Meanwhile, men are expected to financially contribute more for marriages. So now you get this explosive cocktail of resentment: it's hard to get well-paying jobs + have to go to the army + other societal expectation for manhood.

Disclaimer: I don't think it's _that_ bad but I don't live in Korea, and I have lost friends for claiming this.

> I feel like this stuff it bought into by marginal men who are oppressed by other men of a higher class

Yes, there is some truth to this. Korean media is actively fuelling this outrage but I don't think you can't generalize it to everyone who supports it. Funnily enough, latest social discourse is around "Young Forties" (so older men with more social status), so now they are trying to stir up some discourse between generations.

> In Korea, the anger about conscription just gives them a semi-legitimate gripe that seems like it should be taken away by conscripting women.

I do think they should conscript women even for social services and that would quench most of the frustration from young men. But man suggesting this would get mocked for being so petty i.e. "not manly". Politicians also stay well away from this as it would be a political suicide. So where do these marginalised men go? To Lee and anyone who'd listen to them.

Edit: Once you delve deeper into this topic, Korea's abysmal birthrate of 0.68 will really make sense :p

Re: I DM'd a Korean presidential candidate and ended up building his core campaign

#83
post #33

> ... and to find out whether things like this happen in other countries as well. I didn't DM anyone, and I didn't run the campaign, but there happened to be the John Edwards campaign HQ near me so I walked inside and said I could help do their IT, next day I was a full-on volunteer. They took me to Charleston for a rally (which was cool cuz I never been) and even got me a jacket with my name and the campaign logo on…

For anyone out of the loop, Edwards was caught in an infidelity scandal and his candidacy collapsed. OP didn’t do such a bad job with IT that the campaign failed lol

infidelity, paternity, staffer scandal

Re: I DM'd a Korean presidential candidate and ended up building his core campaign

#84
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seconded. Political campaigns are fun. And if you're not sure it's for you, start by volunteering for a local campaign.

I can't wait to volunteer after my 8AM-5PM job at a non-paid position, IN POLITICS!

Political campaign staff often keep hours way past what a volunteer with a 9-5 job has. It's a terrible life, terrible profession but it still draws in people that are willing to find meaning in being a workaholic and seen as "politically savvy".

Re: I DM'd a Korean presidential candidate and ended up building his core campaign

#85
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's just one of many good arguments for shortening the standard work week.

Yeah, I can get behind that. I'm a young guy but in the blink of an eye, I'll be in my 50s if I keep working this schedule...

If only there was a way to get legislation to change in a way that resonates with your beliefs.

Re: I DM'd a Korean presidential candidate and ended up building his core campaign

#86
OP, great work.

Commentors here are not from Korea, so maybe we should refrain from commenting about policy of a given candidate?

I really enjoyed your story, about how much tech can achieve. Technology really is a multiplier of effort. Amazing story.

Re: I DM'd a Korean presidential candidate and ended up building his core campaign

#87

People are knee-jerking at “anti-feminism” part of Lee which I admit would look pretty off-putting to anyone who is not familiar with what’s going in South Korea. “Feminism” in Korea has taken on a different meaning sadly. I’ve commented in HN before at how abhorrent women’s right has been in Korea, especially up to my mother’s generation. It really has drastically improved last 20 years. However, many young men feel…

It really reads as exactly the evil victim mentality of the people wildly overrepresented at the top that we get in the US. The military service thing is obviously a real issue, though, but I don't know why that wouldn't be solved by forcing women into mandatory public service in the same way a man with a disability would be. Is it just that Korea doesn't have the social services to absorb the manpower? Military serv…

> It really reads as exactly the evil victim mentality of the people wildly overrepresented at the top

The people at the top don't have a victim mentality because they're successful. However, there are a lot of people who aren't at the top, who aren't doing great, but on the basis of their gender are told that they deserve dispreferential treatment because there's more of their gender at the top of society. I don't see how that makes them evil. Perhaps I'm just totally misunderstanding your point though.

> Military service is also a benefit that women don't get, too. They don't get to make the connections in the military that would help them along in their careers.

They can volunteer if they wanted those supposed benefits. Seems weird to try to make conscription sound like it has positives when it's just purely negative.

> Shouldn't you wait until your country is half run by women before claiming oppression? Until your boss and CEO are as likely to be women as men?

This is an overly simplistic view of "oppression". Do you think that men as a whole somehow benefit from there being an over representation of their gender at the top of society? That despite struggling to survive, because we share the same gender that we aren't suffering or that we can't be oppressed?

It's like people blame all men for the actions of our ancestors and want to take revenge or something. It's really weird.

Re: I DM'd a Korean presidential candidate and ended up building his core campaign

#88
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For anyone out of the loop, Edwards was caught in an infidelity scandal and his candidacy collapsed. OP didn’t do such a bad job with IT that the campaign failed lol

infidelity, paternity, staffer scandal

Yeah, I undersold it. Cheating on your wife is one thing. Worse if she has cancer. Worse if you deny it. Worse if you try to fake the DNA test and pretend the baby isn’t yours. Worse if you used campaign funds to cover it up. His career is definitely over.

Re: I DM'd a Korean presidential candidate and ended up building his core campaign

#89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really reads as exactly the evil victim mentality of the people wildly overrepresented at the top that we get in the US. The military service thing is obviously a real issue, though, but I don't know why that wouldn't be solved by forcing women into mandatory public service in the same way a man with a disability would be. Is it just that Korea doesn't have the social services to absorb the manpower? Military serv…

> It really reads as exactly the evil victim mentality of the people wildly overrepresented at the top The people at the top don't have a victim mentality because they're successful. However, there are a lot of people who aren't at the top, who aren't doing great, but on the basis of their gender are told that they deserve dispreferential treatment because there's more of their gender at the top of society. I don't s…

[dead]

Re: I DM'd a Korean presidential candidate and ended up building his core campaign

#90

People are knee-jerking at “anti-feminism” part of Lee which I admit would look pretty off-putting to anyone who is not familiar with what’s going in South Korea. “Feminism” in Korea has taken on a different meaning sadly. I’ve commented in HN before at how abhorrent women’s right has been in Korea, especially up to my mother’s generation. It really has drastically improved last 20 years. However, many young men feel…

You caution against a knee jerk reaction to Lee’s anti-feminist views but the background you provide does not actually justify your implication that South Korea may be a special case.

A feeling that “the pendulum has swung too much in the other direction” characterizes pretty much any modern reactionary anti-feminist movement in any country. And like in other countries, these feelings aren’t really borne out by the stats [0].

As far as I can tell, the only unique element of the South Korean anti-femenist movement is how mainstream it is. But that doesn’t mean whatever (knee jerk) reaction one might have to an anti-feminist politician at home wouldn’t apply to one in South Korea.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_inequality_in_South_Kor...

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