Opinion - The Korea Times

'Depp sadness'

By Jason LimIt's always jarring to see the idols of your youth turn into an unfortunate spectacle right in front of your eyes. This happened to ― among many others ― Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and now, Johnny Depp. I was too young to experience Elvis and Michael as they were at the beginning of their careers, except for snippets of old videos on Ed Sullivan shows and Jackson Five performances. So, when they turned into unrecognizable, larger-than-life caricatures ― more akin to bad modern art than actual, relatable people ― it was more of a rubbernecking exercise than anything else. However, I consumed Johnny Depp as a pop culture product when he became the star of “21 Jump Street” in the 1980s. He was a part of my youth. I felt emotionally invested in Johnny Depp as an actor, as he took on different roles and was a famous person of my times, as my life and his marched on through the same decades. This isn't unlike the many pop culture heroes that we all experience when young that we track throughout the ups and downs of their careers. In short, I liked him. That was

May 29, 2022By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

'Luna eclipse'

By Jason LimThe crash that some had been warning about happened. TerraUSD (UST), a stablecoin, imploded over a period of a few days. TerraUSD was pegged 1:1 to the U.S. dollar through an algorithmic smarts that linked its value to a sister cryptocurrency called Luna, which crashed to $0.40 on May 12th; on May 5th, Luna was worth $87. TerraUSD wasn't able to maintain the $1 peg, which caused Luna to crash, creating a mutually reinforcing death spiral that wiped out both TerraUSD and Luna. It caused the underlying Terra blockchain to stop processing transactions twice in less than 24 hours. Further, Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, temporarily delisted UST and Luna, with the head of Binance publicly criticizing the management of TerraUSD for poor crisis leadership. In short, UST and Luna are done. Do Kwon, the founder of TerraUSD has gone from a hero to a dud at lightning speed. Coindesk excerpted an article from The Node on May 11 titled, “Do Kwon Is the Elizabeth Holmes of Crypto.” Ouch. Basically, it argues that Kwon is either an intentional scam artist or a

May 15, 2022By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Elon, the Twitter bodhisattva

By Jason LimThe legend of Elon Musk has only gotten bigger in recent days with his purchase of Twitter for $44 billion. What's really interesting about this purchase is that Musk doesn't do things for the sake of doing the thing. He does things for the sake of doing the vision. What I mean is that he established Tesla not to make electric cars but to use electric cars as a means to “accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy.” It says so on Tesla's webpage: “Today, Tesla builds not only all-electric vehicles but also infinitely scalable clean energy generation and storage products. Tesla believes the faster the world stops relying on fossil fuels and moves towards a zero-emission future, the better.” Basically, he's built an electric car company to change the ingrained habit of how we use energy. Similarly, SpaceX is not about making reusable rockets to bring down the cost of rocket launches. As Musk is quoted on the webpage, it's about, “You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great ― and that's what being a s

May 1, 2022By Kim Ji-soo

Jason Lim

BTS Army can wait

By Jason LimThe mandatory military service for all Korean men is the third rail of South Korean politics and society. Everyone hates it and tries to find ways to escape it. At the same time, you will be socially ostracized and professionally penalized if you actually do find some way to escape since it's a mutually binding social compact of misery that everyone has equity in. If I had to do it, then you better do it. The few acceptable exemptions include medaling in the Olympics or winning the gold medal in the Asian Games. The latter was the way that Son Heung-min, the Tottenham Hotspur star, got out of serving in the military. It's not hard to understand why young men are so reluctant to serve. Despite the recent reduction in the service duration from 21 to 18 months, it still takes a young man in his 20s out of mainstream society for about two years. For most young men starting out their adult lives in their 20s, the opportunity cost of disappearing from mainstream society for two years is materially and psychologically significant. For those who have achieved early success, howev

Apr 17, 2022By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Honor slapping

By Jason LimSince so many people have offered their opinions on the “slap,” I figured that adding my own little voice to that discussion wouldn't tip some type of a cosmic balance, so here goes. It's certainly been a furious several days since the incident whereby Will Smith slapped Chris Rock after the comedian made a rather harmless joke making fun of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, for being bald. Although Smith's action has divided opinions in the public and social media, I don't know how any rational, mature adult can justify what he did. Even Smith apparently regrets his actions, as evidenced by his public apology and resignation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, stating, “My actions at the 94th Academy Awards presentation were shocking, painful and inexcusable.”In terms of the gravity and potential consequences of what Smith did, I tend to agree with what Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the legendary basketball player and Game of Death fighter wrote, “With a single petulant blow, he advocated violence, diminished women, insulted the ent

Apr 3, 2022By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Too old to wage war

By Jason LimWhile tragic and unwarranted, wars provide a glimpse into the world that we are living in. Here are a few interesting observations from the ongoing war in Ukraine that have relevance for Korea. One, in a Twitter thread, Kamil Galeev, who is the Galina Starovoitova Fellow at the Wilson Center, posed that Russia no longer has the manpower to fight a protracted war, as it was able to do in early 20th century. His theory posits that Russia used to have an endless supply of available young men who were conscripted or otherwise forced to fight in a war. However, industrialization and urbanization have transformed Russia into a low-fertility, depopulating country that no longer has the endless supply of young men it once did, leaving it less able to carry out any war. Therefore, the Russian army is more and more composed of the poor, rural and non-Russians to fill its ranks. “It's an army of minorities and provincial poor,” he says. What does this observation mean to Korea with its high urbanization, lowest fertility rate in the world and a quickly rising median age?

Mar 20, 2022By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Stories that kill

By Jason LimWhen someone asks me what my race is in the U.S., I reply that I am an Asian American. When someone asks my Indian-American friend what his race is, he also says that he's an Asian American. We are both be correct in the U.S. However, when we are asked the same question in Singapore, for example, we might not answer it in the same way. I might reply that I am a Korean while he might reply that he's an Indian. Nothing has changed about us. The location and the cultural boundaries that define our physical looks have changed, so our internal stories about who we are adapt to the local cultural taxonomy.I bring this up because I have been involved in examining the potential racial bias in facial recognition algorithms, and the following question always strikes me: what does it mean for an algorithm to be biased against Asian Americans when both my Indian friend and I self-identity as such? This same question applies to any other racial groups. Follow that question deep enough, and you will realize that all sociocultural, or even supposedly biological, belongings are essential

Mar 6, 2022By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Politics of Olympic representation

By Jason LimBorn a citizen on one country but representing another country in international sports venues is nothing new. A simple internet search will turn up hundreds of cases in recent history. I guess it makes sense for individual athletes who are looking for that podium glory and the potential fame and riches that might follow. If you are good at badminton but are stuck in the second tier in Indonesia, then switching allegiance and playing for Australia, where the sport isn't as widespread at the highest levels, might prove to be a smart choice. The same goes for figure skating, canoeing, bobsleighing, etc. Such is the economics of sports, and everyone was OK with it. It has never been a problem since sports is supposed to be beyond politics. Until it wasn't, with Eileen Gu. Gu is a U.S. born freestyle skier who grew up in the U.S. with a Chinese-born mother and grandmother. Her father is an American but seems to not have been a part of her life. Having been raised by a Chinese mom and grandma, it's no wonder that Gu feels an affinity for the Chinese language and culture. Maybe

Feb 20, 2022By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

What are you wearing to the Olympics?

By Jason LimAs someone who's plugged into the U.S. and South Korean media, I think it's reasonable to say that this year's Winter Games in Beijing isn't really getting lots of traction in the press in the two countries. I almost wish that I was just as savvy about the Chinese media scene so that I could compare. I am sure it would be a fascinating contrast in terms of world views. There are lots of reasons for the lack of coverage, including the ever-present pandemic that's still roiling the world. In the U.S., it's also about the Ukraine-Russian conflict, the Jan. 6th insurrection, masks in schools, etc. In Korea, it's all about the upcoming presidential elections. There are only so many eyeballs in the world, and the winter games don't carry narratives powerful or urgent enough to pull them away from other issues taking up the world's attention bandwidths. The public excitement about this Olympics is certainly a notch down from the one in PyeongChang just a few short years ago. When you compare it to the hubbub surrounding the Beijing Summer Games in 2008, then the comparison becom

Feb 6, 2022By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Searching for meaning in Korea

By Jason LimLast November, Se-woong Koo wrote an interesting piece for Korea Expose titled, “What Makes Life Meaningful in Korea? Not Much, It Seems.” It was his take on the Pew Survey that had just come out, that showed that, out of 17 advanced countries, Korea was the only country that put material wellbeing as the #1 contributing factor to making life "meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying.” This result was all the more striking when viewed against 14 other developed countries that chose “family” as the top source for life's meaning. Predictably, this situation led to a slew of handwringing headlines by the Korean press decrying the breakdown of the traditional social fabric in favor of Korea's “look out for #1 only” culture, characterized by the selfish pursuit of material satisfaction. Depending on your political slant, this reality is the fault of the baby boomers, Millennials, men, women, the current administration, past military dictatorships, etc. Anyways, Koo ends with a rather depressing, poignant, conclusion: “In comparison t

Jan 23, 2022By Jason Lim

Jason Lim

Read more

'Depp sadness'

'Luna eclipse'

Elon, the Twitter bodhisattva

BTS Army can wait

Honor slapping

Too old to wage war

Stories that kill

Politics of Olympic representation

What are you wearing to the Olympics?

Searching for meaning in Korea

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