The Great Behindert
But where's Dokdo?
(Image from Non-national Flags for Olympic Athletes)
Can you imagine Tony Williams of The Platters crooning this one? If you attempt it on your own, be sure to rhyme "Behinder(t)" with "Pretender."
The Great BehindertInspired by Sperwer, dedicated to Kang Man-kil, but with profound apologies to Buck Ram for his Great Pretender...
Oh yes, I'm the Great Behindert
Behindered from doing well
My need is such, but they hinder too much
I'm broken, 38th Parallel
Oh yes, I'm the Great Behindert
Adrift in a world not my own
I'd balance the game, but to my Great Han shame
They just will not leave me alone
Too real is this feeling of make believe
Too real when I feel what my heart can't conceal
Oh yes, I'm the Great Behindert
Just laughing and gay like a clown
I seem to be what I'm not, you see
I'm wearing my heart like a crown
Pretending that you're not around
Too real is this feeling of make believe
Too real when I feel what my heart can't conceal
Oh yes, I'm the Great Behindert
Just laughing and gay like a clown
I seem to be what I'm not, you see
I'm wearing my heart like a crown
Pretending that you're not around
And no, I'm not making light of Korea's unfortunate division, but merely of Dr. Kang's odd expression on how this division came about.
Labels: North Korea, South Korea
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 4:34 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
I nearly posted the Wikipedia image of President Roh but figured that I was pushing the envelope enough since I post under my own name and have a very tenuous career here in Korea anyway.
If only tenuous were a little bit closer to tenure...
You know, back when Roh was campaigning for President, we were actually for him, but I've been so disappointed. I expected some 'resistance' to America, which is inevitable as the country democratizes, but I figured that the Sunshine Policy would be pursued as a "tough love" policy, given Roh's human rights background.'
Alas, that wasn't to be...
One of my colleagues -- a full professor whose father was a Korean diplomat in England, among other posts -- cannot stand Roh. She hates his policies and thinks that he looks like a Smurf.
I pointed out that he's not exactly blue, but she said, "He will be when he loses the next election."
We'll see...
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
P.S. I kept this:
"I'm wearing my heart like a crown"
But I considered:
"I'm wearing my han like a crown"
It's a bit obscure, but it captures a certain mindset perfectly.
What do you think?
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Maybe we should have a contest for best parody of "The Great Pretender" aimed at Roh.
As regards the Taft-Katsura Memorandum, I've heard a number of educated Koreans dredge that up as support for their view that the U.S. is untrustworthy. I would have thought that the more than 50-year alliance since the Korean War would have settled the issue, but even if it hasn't, then those Koreans who hold such negative opinions about the U.S. ought to ask themselves just which neighboring countries they consider to be their friends.
They're likely to suggest the elder brother, China, which gets a Confucian bow, but if so, they must be having occasional second thoughts when they see it claiming Goguryeo (and implicitly, the northern half of the peninsula).
The 'progressives' in Korea want the U.S. out, but whom do they want in?
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
As an aside -- just in case this blog entry ever becomes an issue -- my parody wasn't centrally against Roh, or even against Dr. Kang Man-gil, whom I respect as a historian (while disagreeing in significant ways with his interpretations), but was directed against the attitude, which I sensed in Kang's manner of expression, that the U.S. "hindered" Korean unification.
In a strictly analytical sense, the U.S. did 'hinder' this, but by virtue of preserving a better future for South Korea.
Okay, that's now stated. On to other things...
In principle, I agree that Taft-Katsura is a legitimate talking point, but I've found among many Koreans an unwillingness to discuss such things flexibly. I haven't yet found the key to unlocking the Korean mindset. Even with my wife (the beautiful and brilliant Sun-Ae who also reads my blog), I sometimes find impenetrable walls to discussion.
I recall that once as my wife and I were visiting a Buddhist temple, we read that most Buddhist temples are in isolated areas in the mountains. My wife stated that this was because Buddhists consider mountains to be sacred and more conducive to meditation.
I thought about this and said, "But prior to the Chosun era, Buddhism was the principal religion of Korea, and Buddhist monks were advisors to the government. There must have been a lot of temples in the cities. Since the Chosun period was characterized by Confucianism, perhaps the Confucians had the temples destroyed, and only the mountain temples survived."
My wife grew annoyed at me for such a suggestion and didn't want to discuss the matter futher.
Later, some time later, we read that my speculation was exactly what had happened.
With Americans, there would have been an open discussion, but with Koreans, there rarely is.
I've said many times, but I'll say it again, this country lacks a culture of discussion.
And it sorely needs one...
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Sperwer, I had to read this several times before I understood it:
"as an ancestor of Jeong Mong Ju, the last Goryoo king's last chief minister"
Did you mean "descendant"? Am I to understand that your wife is the descendant of Jeong Mong Ju?
It's fascinating to me just how much significance Koreans put in their line of descent. One of my colleagues has been translating poems by an illustrious ancestor of her husband, who was some sort of minister to the last Koryo king.
Apparently, the man is famous -- and with an even more famous father -- so the family funds an archive and pays scholars to do research on these old ministers of state in Koryo.
The illustrious names have slipped my memory, for now, but I'll be seeing more of them since I've been asked to correct the English translation, so I don't doubt that I'll learn them well.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Sperwer, I bow to your sanctity.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
So long as you're not too sanctimonious, I'll survive.
Somehow ... this reminds me of that janitor who claimed that the cleaner that he used "not only cleans, it sanctifies!"
I ought to tell that story in this blog sometime -- and the story of the janitor whose father "died of pneumonia twice."
Ah, the Mr. Malaprops of the world, they make life more interesting...
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
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