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Opinion

Columnists

Sun, April 5, 2020 | 01:22

Jason Lim

260,000 members

That's supposedly the number of men who paid “Baksa” meaning a Ph.D., up to $1,200 in cryptocurrency to receive a link that would take them to chat rooms hosted on Telegram or Wickr.

2020-03-29 17:05

Stories on toilet paper

The world is running out of toilet paper because everyone's buying it up to somehow ward off the coronavirus. Seriously, the disconnect between toilet paper and anything that might be helpful to protect one's family during a coronavirus crisis is difficult to bridge. I understand people stocking up on water - what if they have to leave on a road trip into the countryside to escape the marauding zombies?

2020-03-13 17:49

'Othering' as human imperative

James Lane Allen once said famously, “Adversity doesn't build character; it reveals it.” If this is true, then the coronavirus scare will be downright pornographic about the character of South Korea as a nation and people. As we hit over 3,000 confirmed infections in Korea, what's been unclothed so far hasn't been pretty. This is unsurprising and fully expected, yet it's still cringeworthy to note how consistently mean and base our instincts tend to be when faced with threats and fear, especially in our need to create the “other” to point fingers at and lay blame.

2020-03-01 17:13

Sneezing while Asian

Sneezing in public is risky business these days when you're an Asian. With the coronavirus so closely linked with Wuhan, China, all Asians have become automatic suspects overnight as carriers of the virus. The suspicion grows worse with the finding that you don't have to show symptoms to infect others. It was a bit jarring to realize that a bunch of people getting infected by a new virus in the middle of China (where I've never been) could instantaneously reach out and influence my immediate environment in such a personal way by making me hyper-sensitive to what I look like when I am sneezin...

2020-02-16 17:27

Arbeit macht frei

“Work sets you free.” These words probably formed the most ironic phrase ever witnessed in the 20th century as they greeted millions of Jews who were marched under the iron wrought gates of Auschwitz. Jan. 27 marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet troops, a place in which the Nazis systemically killed 1.1 million Jews within its walls.

2020-02-02 18:00

'I can no longer hear God'

In one of the pivotal scenes in the Netflix movie, “The Two Popes,” Pope Benedict XVI cries out, “I can no longer hear God!” to his would-be-successor. “I believe in God! I pray...but only silence. How can I reveal his Word to our millions of pilgrims if I do not hear his presence?”

2020-01-22 17:19

'Luke, I am your father'

Until recently, I could have sworn that the above line from “Return of the Jedi” was uttered by Darth Vader as Luke, a newly minted Jedi, boarded the Death Star to take down the evil Emperor Palpatine. It's a belief shared by many Star Wars fans, including my eight-year-old son. Apparently, we were all wrong. The actual line was, “No, I am your father.” And it didn't happen at the final encounter. It happened way before when Luke initially had his hand chopped off by Darth Vader.

2020-01-03 17:20

Technology and gender gap

It's no secret that trends happen faster and more visibly in Korea than in most other countries around the world. A popular actress' dress or hairstyle will be all the rage - and I mean practically everybody - for a season or two, only to be replaced by the next big thing. Perhaps the sheer population density of the country, in which the rich and poor, old and young, and every other demographic live practically on top of each other and can't help but see and be seen, drives this speedy uptake.

2019-12-22 17:10

'OK, Boomer' moment in Korea

The Boomers were the authors of the last great story of Korea, the one that tells of the down-trodden but plucky, pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps people who achieved wealth and democratization through individual courage and collective struggle. They were the “Just Do It” generation, sacrificing everything so they could “live well for once,” as Park Chung-hee exhorted. They made something out of nothing through sheer will and effort.

2019-12-08 16:40

'3 didn't make it home tonight'

This was the title (my translation) of a powerful storytelling piece by the Kyunghyang Daily, splashed across its front pages, about the fact that an average of three people are killed daily by industrial accidents in Korea. Rather than just reporting the statistics, the Kyunghyang feature tells stories about the individual victims, making them come alive in a three-dimensional way that invites emotional relevance and empathy.

2019-11-24 17:01

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