How different is your modern culture from the sawi tenants?When I first read this question, I thought to myself, 'Well, isn't the answer so obvious? We're not monsters like them. We don't kill and eat each other.' True: we don't eat each other. False: we aren't monsters. In our world today, people may not hunt each other's heads and eat one another's flesh physcially, but they are still the same monsters that destroy one another mentally and emotionally. As I said before in a previous blog post, we're not any different from the Sawi, and in fact, we may even be more "unicivilized" than they are. Our advanced knowledge in technology is the only asset that serves as a distinct separation from them. Modern Korean culture is shattered politically, socially, and in so many other ways, that it is ambiguous in where to start picking up the pieces, and putting it back together.
The Korean media industry tells women that they need to have the perfect eyes, the perfect skin, the perfect body, and the perfect everything in order to be accepted into society. And the result of this? The plastic surgery rates have soared unimaginably. Teenage girls suffer from depression because of their lack of self-esteem towards their appearance. In any street in Korea, you can spot at least one plastic surgery clinic other than the billions on the next street. Korean girls undergo plastic surgery to make their eyes bigger, their nose higher, or their face smaller because the media is telling them that this is true beauty. The media is seeping in through the cracks of insecurity and inferiority of the public, making them feel worthless and vulnerable.
"Doesn't she look pretty? everyone said. Consummation at last. To every woman a happy ending." (Barbie Doll- Marge Piercy).
People may think that all problems stem from the media, but this is not so. There are unimaginable catastrophes rising from the churches of Korea that are causing them to fall apart. I remember the most shocking story I heard on the news about a Korean pastor sexually abusing a little girl in the church. After hearing this, I wouldn't blame non-Christians and people of other religious groups patronizing Christians for hypocrisy. The church is the body of Christ, yet it is becoming smudged with the dirty hands of mankind, greased with sin. Even Christians, who are supposed to be righteous and holy, reflecting qualities of God, have become labeled as hypocrites and liars. So, who in this world is there to look up to?
And what's more, Korea's government is coming to a downfall. Everytime I watch the Korean news, I see politicians shouting at each other in court rooms, female government officials tearing away at each other's hair, and all sorts of violence emerging among the government administration. The government has so many issues internally that it's no wonder that the Korean nation is deteriorating.
The problems within the Korean culture are endless and there are still more to come; however, our world itself has infinitely many problems being generated. I see our spherical Earth like a soccer ball tainted with mud and dirt all over it. There is nothing natural anymore. Everything is either artificial, broken, or contaminated.
Once in a while, I flip through the Time magazines in our house to see what I'm missing out on in the world and everytime, I close the magazines with a heavy heart. There seems to be no dead end to the problems occuring in this world, from city to city, country to country, and continent to continent. I cannot even count how many times I have heard this past year, that the world is coming to an end soon. Thanks to the movie 2012 Doomsday, everyone has become a notch more paranoid than before. To be honest, I don't believe in this phenomenon and if it were true, why should we fear it? Fear won't stop the world from coming to an end, so the least I can do is make the most out my life right now instead of worrying. But the reason why people are starting to bring up discussions about the end of the age is clear- they are realizing the filth and dirt slowly starting to creep in through the cracks. They are admitting that world we're living in is corrupt.
I guess it's safe to say for now that there really is no difference between us and the Sawi tenants. We are fooling no one but ourselves by thinking we are better.
Wow Janis, this is a real eye opening post.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting to read, because when I talked about the difference I focused on how we are so lazy and self centered, while the Sawi work so hard and have absolutely nothing while we have everything we could ever want....and more.
But I found your view on our similarities with the Sawi tribe so true. It is really sad how much of monsters we are in our society. In a way the Sawi are almost less of monsters than we are. They were monsters to survive in their community, while we're monsters with everything we could dream of. Just wanted to say that you really nailed that answer to that question. :)
~Becca
Wow, Janis...
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you of all people would know the in's and out's of how to color people's opinions. I'm pretty sure the world isn't as extreme as your blog post made it out to be. Media is a business and fear sells in that context than pedestrian speak or even entertainment. The media, especially the news, is not a gauge of the world so much as it is an indication that some people somewhere have some sort of insignificant dispute but they decided to make it public. Normally the main vices for most people is laziness and selfishness. Most people are probably too bothered to proactively have conflicts with others. But I digress. It simply surprises me that most people have such a low value for humans.