RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

Ranting? Okay...here's mine

I hate people who are self-anointed world saviours and identify as liberal but call anyone and everyone who disagrees with them a racist or some other jive description.

I'd like to talk to them in 30 years or so. It's remarkable how time seems to serve as a trend towards conservatism. I used to be like them, but years, experience and wisdom have made me a realistic pragmatist. You'll learn......

You're not averse to a few worn out tropes yourself. 

In my experience here in Asia, Western guys who are vociferously anti-feminist tend to fall into one of three categories:

1. The Player

These guys are treating their 20s as an extension of the frat house or student halls, and their social lives revolve around trying to get laid. Some may have been successful with women back home and are now equally successful here. Others less so, but they've bought into the idea that Asian women are an easy catch. Some of them are bullshitters and braggarts in the classic PUA mold, while others just quietly try to accumulate notches on the bedpost. Both groups need to see women as little more than sex toys to justify their continued pursuits, but some may eventually mature, take a relationship seriously and leave this phase of their life beyond. Their activities are generally apolitical, more hedonistic than anything else, but they react to women's empowerment like a toddler having its toys taken away. Hence, you'll occasionally get an eruption from them, since they are obviously threatened by feminism.

2. The Embittered Loser

Many embittered losers didn't begin that way. In fact, some came to Asia as aspiring Players, sold on the idea that the women of Japan, China and Korea were waiting, legs apart, for their triumphant arrival. These guys thought it was all going to be so easy. Yet after numerous knock-backs, false starts and embarrassments, the harsh reality started to bite. However, instead of acknowledging the obvious (many Players are liars, women aren't impressed by your foreignness alone, your "game" might need some work), they've turned on women in general, finding solace and community in the meanest and most hostile corners of the internet. Some of these guys might eventually go down the MGTOW road, or at least beat their chests in a similar style, declaring that they've tried dating, they've given everything for a relationship, but modern women are just too corrupted by Western feminism to possibly be a good partner. This is the most politically active category. They have the most time and least joy in their lives, so they've become adept at finding scapegoats to blame for everything they consider wrong with the world. The Embittered Loser is more likely than the other groups to be attracted to extreme ideologies, believe in conspiracy theories and display paranoid tendencies. Like the standard-issue incel, they are equally furious that "sluts" are having casual sex, and that these women are not freely giving their bodies to them. Some Embittered Losers will eventually drift toward Southeast Asia in pursuit of the prize they were never able to obtain in Korea or Japan, places they will speak of with total disdain.

3. The Betrothed

Some of The Betrothed may have begun their careers in online misogyny as Players, but others were relatively well-adjusted men, seeking mutually fulfilling relationships with women. For both groups, life has started to sour since marriage or engagement. Adult responsibilities and, in some cases, the stresses of fatherhood have sapped the fun from what started as exotic sexual dalliances in the Far East. Their relationship began joyously but the longer he has stayed in Korea, the more the power balance has evened out, and the domestic servant + arm candy ideal has mutated into something very different. Rather than reflecting on this as a normal stage of life and a chance for personal development, The Betrothed prefer to focus on the freedoms they've lost, a loss rubbed in their faces everyday by the sight of women socializing together, women socializing with men, women succeeding in public life, women dancing in tiny shorts on TV... Stuck in Korea, stuck with a family, stuck in an English-teaching job with little scope for advancement or change, these men will resort to some of the same scapegoating as the Embittered Losers, though will likely spend less time flirting with other strains of extremism.

Thanks for bringing that post to greater prominence. It got held up by moderators when I joined the site and ended up buried at the bottom of semi-retired thread, but now you've inserted it into a much more active one, which belatedly validates the work I put into it. A bit unsightly as a full quote, mind you, but the effect is the same.

A bit unsightly as a full quote, mind you

I was going to just quote the headings and the intro but that wouldn't have shown how well worn the tropes actually were.

Thanks for bringing that post to greater prominence. It got held up by moderators when I joined the site and ended up buried at the bottom of semi-retired thread, but now you've inserted it into a much more active one, which belatedly validates the work I put into it. A bit unsightly as a full quote, mind you, but the effect is the same.

You've got some issues, huh?  I think things are going to be picking up around here. 

I was going to just quote the headings and the intro but that wouldn't have shown how well worn the tropes actually were.

I think you made the right choice in the end. Young people these days are lazy, so inserting just one extra click between them and some information could prove a fatal mistake. Quoting in full is probably a more effective method of sharing my wisdom and experience.

I think "Unnie News" on Arirang is not meant to be in the same vein as the nightly news. It's a casual news program that's as much edutainment as news. It's not like she's talking about some trade deal or the Korea-Japan dispute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74ZEbo_AMaw

Can't wait til I'm mature enough to spend my time repeating worn out talk radio tropes, attacking a Swedish teenager, publicly fetishizing Asian women's bodies and bragging about my superior lifestyle with all the subtle humility of a rich teenager who just got a convertible Mercedes for his 16th birthday.

If I can escape my safe space, here's hoping the next decade sees me evolving into a great person like you. Gotta get me some of that wisdom and experience first, though.

Yeah, I was waiting for you to show up and whine. What kind of cheese goes with that whine anyway? Funny children......

I think "Unnie News" on Arirang is not meant to be in the same vein as the nightly news. It's a casual news program that's as much edutainment as news. It's not like she's talking about some trade deal or the Korea-Japan dispute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74ZEbo_AMaw

I stand corrected. Leave that crap to youtube and casual tv news.

Thanks for bringing that post to greater prominence. It got held up by moderators when I joined the site and ended up buried at the bottom of semi-retired thread, but now you've inserted it into a much more active one, which belatedly validates the work I put into it. A bit unsightly as a full quote, mind you, but the effect is the same.

Probably held up for being absolute tripe.

Thanks for bringing that post to greater prominence. It got held up by moderators when I joined the site and ended up buried at the bottom of semi-retired thread, but now you've inserted it into a much more active one, which belatedly validates the work I put into it. A bit unsightly as a full quote, mind you, but the effect is the same.

Probably held up for being absolute tripe.

i've never had it, but i hear tripe is pretty good

I think "Unnie News" on Arirang is not meant to be in the same vein as the nightly news. It's a casual news program that's as much edutainment as news. It's not like she's talking about some trade deal or the Korea-Japan dispute.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74ZEbo_AMaw

I think what Martin failed to grasp here is that Arirang is the Korean channel that is beamed around the world.  It is what foreigners in other countries might stumble upon while they're flicking through a million channels from their satellite dishes on the top of their house.  It is like state tv as it's financed by the Ministry of Culture and, Sports and Tourism, so it's like the public relations arm of the SK government.  I was on holiday in Italy with my dad and he called me over to tell me he'd found this 'fantastic Korean channel', thing is he said that about 'Russia Today' and 'CC TV' too.  Basically, my dad is an idiot.   

I think what Martin failed to grasp here is that Arirang is the Korean channel that is beamed around the world.  It is what foreigners in other countries might stumble upon while they're flicking through a million channels from their satellite dishes on the top of their house.  It is like state tv as it's financed by the Ministry of Culture and, Sports and Tourism, so it's like the public relations arm of the SK government.  I was on holiday in Italy with my dad and he called me over to tell me he'd found this 'fantastic Korean channel', thing is he said that about 'Russia Today' and 'CC TV' too.  Basically, my dad is an idiot.   

That's true, but it's also true that it is a segment that's seemingly specifically designed for casual consumption on youtube. Now, they should stick to "lighter fare" rather than serious issues with those kind of effects, so that's a fair point, but at the end of the day it's a cutaway segment to something called Unnie News so let's not make it out to be more than it is.

Arirang is complete and utter ****. I used to work in the Arirang building and even being subjected to 20 seconds of Arirang TV in the elevator was torturous. I always hoped to bump into some hot Korean celebrity there but never did :(

Arirang is complete and utter ****. I used to work in the Arirang building and even being subjected to 20 seconds of Arirang TV in the elevator was torturous. I always hoped to bump into some hot Korean celebrity there but never did :(

That is hilarious 

Nothing like turning up to work in a foul mood after being tortured like that for a short space of time.  What if the lift got stuck?   

Worse than that would be if your carshare is a K-pop fan with a phat stereo.  Christ.  Kill me now.   

I was on holiday in Italy with my dad and he called me over to tell me he'd found this 'fantastic Korean channel', thing is he said that about 'Russia Today' and 'CC TV' too.  Basically, my dad is an idiot.   

It's difficult to figure out what Arirang's deal is. Personally, I think it's just another one of those goofy attempts to attract tourists or positive attention to the country. It's right up there with those hilarious 비빔밥 and 막걸리 ads they put in the NY times to try and attract tourists or the "I Seoul You", "It's Daejon" fiasco.

If Arirang wants to market Korea, that's cool, but it's a bit disjointed when everything about the presentation and image screams 'serious news channel', then the focus on K-pop, close-ups of white girls crying over Korean celebrities and related content. Rather make it an MTV style format, the majority of English speakers watching it are Koreaboos anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOzzTMaXaTY

It's difficult to figure out what Arirang's deal is. Personally, I think it's just another one of those goofy attempts to attract tourists or positive attention to the country. It's right up there with those hilarious 비빔밥 and 막걸리 ads they put in the NY times to try and attract tourists or the "I Seoul You", "It's Daejon" fiasco.

If Arirang wants to market Korea, that's cool, but it's a bit disjointed when everything about the presentation and image screams 'serious news channel', then the focus on K-pop, close-ups of white girls crying over Korean celebrities and related content. Rather make it an MTV style format, the majority of English speakers watching it are Koreaboos anyway.

Yeah. It seems to be caught between two worlds.

Of course, what else is to be expected by a government run operation?

My CT is preparing the students for 'talent show', they're performing a dance, the same one as last year.

I find it bewildering that, to my knowledge, no parent, teacher or student has raised concerns over the utterly uncomfortable and inappropriate spectacle  of a bunch of 12-year old girls (and younger) gyrating and semi-twerking to the choreography of raunchy k-pop videos.

They're all cool with pretty much anyone coming off the street, into the school hall, and filming these children.