Skype Teaching

Shoes for Darren Pt. 2

Well how about these? Bargain at a tenner.


Now stop worrying and book your tickets over here.

The Curremt Democratic Deficit and Nietzsche

After the little offers of reforms from the major parties it reminded me of the democratic studies I did at university.

Two things stick in my mind. Firstly, democracy is dependent on civil society not on political parties. Secondly democracy, in history and in practice, is never given it is always taken.

After reading Zarathustra two quotes stick in my mind.

'A right that you can seize yourself you should not let yourself be given!'.

I agree. When politicians milk the system and then promise to change it when they are caught, do not be fooled. They have not had a moral revelation and are not doing a good thing for our country by changing our system. Our democracy is a right not something we should be thankful for or have to plead for. We should take it back not wait till we are offered it.

Secondly,

'but though it is old and smells musty, therefore it is all the more honored. Antiquarian chatter still counts as wisdom.'

Did we not trust our gentry and institutions too much simply because they were traditional, noble and right honourable?

It's not enough.

Cameron It's not enough.

You can't cross a canyon in 2 steps.

That's all.

Zarathustra

'Thus Spoke Zarathustra' by Nietzsche is more like poetry or a lyrical rendition than a story.
Laced with metaphors which leave you perplexed it can be difficult to see beneath the surface. I never enjoy having to flick forward to the end notes in order to decipher what the writer is going on about. However this exercise, however frustrating, engages you with the book and increases your understanding of the writer as a whole.

Sometimes Nietzsche hammers a point home by directly addressing an issue and taking it to pieces through plain speech and a self driven philosophy. This will to power leaves you enthused with wanting to do the same thing. Other times his metaphors, similes and anecdotes tell more than an example could ever do.

I personally relate to Nietzsche in a number of ways. Yes he is polemical, arrogant in his writing, and sometimes seems in dispassionate and nihilistic. However I think this is to take Nietzsche at the extreme.

His argument that we have to grasp life now and anyone who preaches otherwise is misleading strikes home with me. His love of humankind is twisted by his continued references to herd mentality and human condition. However it seems to me that he has deep compassion for humanity, as a product of nature. The condition of being part of nature means we contain both the qualities to create and destroy. This must be overcome , become the overhuman, so we can drop the latter and keep the creativity and passion. Nietzsche notes 'if one thing is true nature also has a backside' which in context is a clear reference to nature also containing an arsehole.

I could go on but I'll leave it here. If you want to discuss or criticise leave a comment.

They then call out 'Zarathustra is Godless'

And especially their teachers of submission call this out -but in their ears I love to shout: 'Yes! I am Zarathrusta, the Godless!"

Who is more godless than I, that I might seek out his instruction'

This Time it Will Hurt the North

In my amateur analysis I would say North Korea's actions will only harm itself.

• The Obama administration opened the door and eased negotiations for aid and power supplies to North Korea. These will become more hardline, if they resume at all.
• China has distanced itself from DPRK recently and this will continue this trend.
• China is worried about mass immigration if the DPRK falls or becomes fragile. This has encouraged them to prop up Pyongyang in the past. But if the US can broker a deal. Such as financing (from DPRK assets frozen in Switzerland?) or guaranteeing taking on refugees from the north then this could be solved.
• If this test is related to internal affairs in a bid to scare away outsiders interfering in the passover of power then it has only shown the weakness of the regime. Furthermore it may have just tipped the scales in in the minds of international negotiators that the only way to solve North Korea is regime change.
• The likely hood of war is minuscule but the Chines can literally not afford a long scale/damaging war between the US and North Korrea, never mind coming in on the DPRK's side. If the US bails on the Chinese deficit then China will sink. If the dollar falls so do China's cash reserves. Blessed be trade.
  
• South Korea has no choice now but to fall in even deeper with Japan and the US. North Korea's threats of war due to Seoul's relationships with the West will now be totally ignored.
  

Downtown Daegu

Something I have meant to do for ages is share photos of downtown Daegu.

Here are a few and when I get soe better once I'll put them up too.

North Korea is Breaking My Bank

I know there are more important things but look at the change in currency rates after the North tested that bomb.

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/fds/hi/business/market_data/currency/11/40382/intraday.stm

It's osting me money!

North Korea Test Nuclear 'Bomb'

At 11am this morning I switched on the TV and it was being reported that North Korea tested a nuclear explosion within the last hour. It has now been confirmed by North Korean media that it was a nuclear test in the name of 'security deterrent'. As I write there are some fighter jets scrambling over head.

I think most South Koreans have got used to the idea of a nuclear motivated neighbour.

New Way Thinking

I like the concept of noting the division between those committed to politics and those who rely on violence. It is obvious that the Islamic faith is divided between those who use faith to justify certain religious beliefs and others who defend Sharia law, barbaric actions and primative views. Moreover some who take a literal reading of holy texts can and will use it to justify violence.

We in Britain can tolerate any viewpoint and commit ourselves to freedom of belief inside the boundaries of debate and politics. In this way we can draw a line between us, of any and no faith, who are commited to a peaceful society and those who seek to bring change through violence. This could overcome the major hurdle of where particular groups 'fit' in society. Looking at the Muslim faith in this way can also help to marginalise radical groups through open debate and deliberation of ideas.

Teachers' Day

Friday the 15th is Teachers' Day in Korea.

Parents and kids are meant to thank their teachers for hard work and dedication to them.
This was often done by giving them gifts and money. However the tradition got so out of hand because of bribery attempts by mothers that the government actual made a law making it illegal to give gifts to parents or it would be treated as an offence.

Luckily for me many of my students are adults and don't really think the law applies to them. Bring on the pressies. I managed to get a box a delicious home made brownies and 2 silk handkerchiefs. Not bad I say. I also got another strange girt which I still haven't figured out what it's for or why I would need it.

Mmmmm a delicious box of 20 homemade brownies.

?

I'm sure it will come in handy one day and was great to receive a gift regardless.

Who Would You Have Instead?

Well I am not sure if the question referred to the Euro elections, politicians in general, or the Labour party.

I'll try and write a quick answer to all three. Well I have already publicly severed my connections with Labour a few posts back. I'd still support a party headed by a coalition of David Miliband, Alan Johnson, and Jack Straw over the Osborne and Cameron club. However Labour has too many unpopular, uncredible and downright poor front benchers. I genuinely fear another Labour victory will lead to a sterile, ineffectual government whose only hope of popular governance is an appeal to xenophobia and active scare mongering. Which would most likely result in more anti-liberal laws, scape goating and preservation of the status-quo. At least if Labour came back to power the party may be so unpopular that all cash for honours and bribery may end.

We still need politicians though and I'll be voting for the party which offers the most ambitious but realistic set of reforms. In 1997 Labour ran on a reform agenda set on bringing in proportional representation and reform of the House of Lords. They have spent 11 years probing at the latter and have completely forgotten the former. Clegg, on Sunday, renewed calls for Lords reform, something which I think is greatly needed, and ordered any capital gains avoidance made from house 'flipping' and and profits from property investment to be paid back to the public. Is that change we can believe in? Maybe not, but its the most radical, realistic alternative.

In regards to Europe there are two parties i would not like to see take the seat. The SNP or the Tories (well ukip and BNP are unlikely). Labour can't be trusted the clean up their national expenses so I doubt their MEPs will be troubled much by not only Europe's SISO system or their massive public waste. That leaves us with the Greens or the Lib Dems and I don't even know who their candidates are.

Ahh, delving into minority party voting...it feels so....unprofessional.

Shoes for Darren

In my short time home last October I went shopping fro new trainers with Darren. However he was never quite satisfied with any recommendations I made. He liked arty, colorful, some would say unique, others, gay.

However I think I have found shoe heaven for Darren and I have attached photos of my recommendations.

Hope you like them mate!

A British activist for Korean Independence.

An interesting story about the 100th anniversary if Ernest Bethall, a British journalist who started Korea's first free press and was involved in the anti-colonialism movement.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BloggerMartinUden/~3/8B6O19Ai5Ts/a_british_activist_for_korean

Proxy Voting

Should I bother to find a proxy?

I can't vote in the local elections only the European elections.
It's a Labour safe seat.

However I do want to 'Throw the bastards out!'

A house of Cards

The bloggosphere is rattling with sounds of keys being smashed to the tune of 'get those rotten MPs out', 'Corrupt institution' and 'losing faith in democracy'

I am going to add my own 2 pence worth but keep it contained to what has interested me.

• Class; As Andrew Neil notes, 'class is never far beneath the surface' in British politics. While Labour MPs forage for capital gains and squander the rest of our money on bath plugs, porn and junk food. Tory MPs have been using our taxes to maintain there swimming pools, tennis courts and Georgian mansions.
  
• Transparency International rates Britain at 16th in the world. This was before the cash for honours, nepotism, extension of detention without charge including denying evidence to those who would be charged, and last weeks corruption revelations. Let's face it, we all guessed these things were going on but lets see how far we are down graded on this measure of freedom.
  
• Michael Martin has simply forgotten the Speakers role in Parliament. Not for the first time either, and lest not forget he was embroiled in his own expenses controversy over his house a few years back. He failed over protecting parliament from authoritarian governments, crumbling in front of the police and now he has completely misunderstood the public's reaction and a foundation of democracy; transparency. He has pushed his ineptness beyond party and kinship loyalty and should (eventually?) be pushed off of a very high position. But as we know the lofty never fall far and will probably land on a comfy red bench with a long, indeed, eternal shelf-life.
  
• This is the first time I have seen David Cameron take a lead on any issue since Northern Rock. He stood tall and has took a tough line. The government is now truly on the back foot and losing control of the agenda. This might be what exactly Cameron needed and hats of to a well presented speech. I don't think for a second e would have took this issue seriously if it wasn't threatening his own leads in the polls but he has handled it well.
• Reform, with every crises comes opportunity so lets hope we grab a chance to reform not only the banking sector but way of parliament too.
  

This Will Not End Well

One Criticism

Maybe it's just my fear o conglomerates or my left wing history but it seems sport in Korea is dominated by big business and sponsorship.

What's great is that Korean's love their sport, maybe to watch more then play, but their is no doubt the variety and interest in sports and activities in Korea makes the UK seem like a bunch of couch potatoes who only eat one flavour of crisps. Turn on the TV an not only will you catch the latest Korean soccer league games but also the English and Spanish headlining matches. Turn over a few channels and you'll find every sport from hand ball, to ice skating , coupled with UFC and Tae kwon do matches. Even females get a look in with sports from bowling to golf. It really is surprising the variety and the multiplicity of Korean sports channels.

I only have one criticism. When ever you mention a team in the UK it is usually by its place name. Such as "Man City' 'Newcastle' or with the team name like 'Celtic', 'Villa', 'Spurs'. These names, seem to me a least, to echo a connection with the area and a history of dedication to the sport coupled with historical roots. However every team in Korea goes by a company name rather than a place or title. As I mentioned earlier 'Samsung Lions' are Daegu's team. However this is mostly boiled down to just Samsung and for every other town and city they are known by their sponsor whether it be 'Hyundae' 'Ooori' or 'LG'. It's not just baseball it's every other sport too and it's always the same companies. So in the volleyball league there is a Samsung team but this time they represent Seoul and in Basketball they will be the main title for another sports club. It's all very confusing and I wonder how much these companies get out of it. It's so ingrained, it seems to me, that Daegu would rather drop the Lion before Samsung.

Maybe it's all just a financial aid to the teams and I'm just a grumpy old lefty but it just seems unfamiliar having a powerful symbol of one's allegiance reduced to a generic brand name which is chosen through purchasing power.

My First Baseball Match

I never thought I would ever go to a baseball game, least of all in Korea, but they just love it here.

It was a blistering 32 degrees and I had already agreed to go and see the baseball with a Canadian friend. It turned out to be a pretty big game. Daegu's Samsung Lions versus LG Seoul.

My first impression was mild disappointment. Not only was the stadium pretty small for a guy used to a regular 60,000 attendance at his local football game, a mere 10,000 here, but also the size of the field was pathetic. Whenever I caught a glimpse of baseball on American or Korean TV I thought the field was huge, at least the length of a football pitch. Instead it looked like I could hit a 'Homer' given the right 'pitch'.

It was filled to the max however. The atmosphere was of festivity and it seemed like a mix between a family day out and a drinking competition. Now this I could enjoy. I stocked up on some nice cold beer and sat in the sun listening to the intricacies of baseball being explained to me by an avid fan. It was actually pretty interesting. So much so that I enjoyed watching it. It's a sport were you spend most of the time sitting, drinking and talking. Occasionally paying attention when the bases are 'loaded' or a star player is about to bat. Which for Daegu was a 39 year old playboy / fan favourite who seemed to just 'bunt' the ball and woddle off.

Between all of the 'innings', whatever they are!?! There were drinking, dancing and kissing competitions where people made a fool of themselves for a chance to be on the big screen. This is pretty unusual and you can't even bring a beer into a stadium back home never mind hosting a down-in-one competition sponsored by that teenagers' favourite boy band 'Big bang'.


I was asked about cricket and I did my best to explain the rules but politely stated that cricket was about as popular in Scotland as Thatcher. That didn't clear things up much.

Friday

A quick look at the papers and two statics hit me.

Firstly the gap between rich and poor is the widest since the 1960s and the gap between the wealthiest and poorest is the highest since Britain under Thatcher.

For Labour to hit it goals of halving child poverty by 2010 they would have the spend 4.5 billion pound a year. Very unlikely.

Is this the final nail in the coffin of New Labour?

Also t seems that the papers are eventually waking up to the truth about trash culture. Jonathan Jones writes

"If the left is ever to regain a voice in Britain it will now be necessary to face the truth about mass culture and its tyranny. Reality TV shows, celebrity "culture", inane pop groups and sport are not, and never have been, the hope of democracy"

Children's Day

Tuesday the 5th in Korea is 'Children's Day'.

It is like a mix between a bank holiday and Christmas. No tinsel or puddings, but a day off for all the kids and guess what! me too.

Take this opportunity to add an extra night out to the week.

Next week, on the 15th, is 'Teacher's day'. Where traditional kids would give presents to their teachers to say thanks. Unfortunately the whole thing got so out of hand a few years ago with parents using teachers day as a chance to bribe teachers tat the government actually made it illegal to give gifts to them. :(

Maybe something will pop up unexpectedly.

The Karamozov Brothers

Well a few weeks ago I eventually finished The Brothers Karamozov by Dostoevsky.
Three months it took me. That's a long time, even by my standards. Granted that I sometimes put this book down for over 2 weeks, it was none the less a truly awesome read.

I find Dostoevsky puts so much work in his characters and backgrounds that it sometimes can be hard to take in all the detail. Thus the frequent breaks in reading the book. However all his work come to a fruitful blossoming as the story develops. First, almost apprehensively, the story grips you, then it grows in pace and events, before you are overwhelmed by simple but none the less consistent insightful dissections of humanities psychology.

I'm not gonna review it, just interpret my three favourite events from the book.

• The Grand Inquisitor: What a great story told by Ivan. I have never thought about the symbolism of Jesus' visit into the desert in such away before. How the three trials by the devil are a representation of power and authority. Ultimately Dostoevsky sees Jesus' unwillingness to derive control over humanity by providing them with sustenance (bread), overcoming them by authority (control of the city), or overwhelming them by mystical power (angels), as a homage to Jesus' humbleness and kindness.
  
  I happen to disagree here. I think where Dostoevsky sees purity I see celestial arrogance. Asking people to have faith for faiths sake is not a value we should promote. You have to read this book, or even just this chapter to get a sense of the passion with which this debate takes place.
  
  
• A Devil Visits Ivan; Another great scene which continually keeps you guessing whether Ivan is mad, the devil is really there (unlikely) or Ivan is doing this to himself in order to orate his thoughts. I like the the passionate, compelling and rushed rant by the devil about humanity's love. A point I have often made myself. That if man realised love was a tiny finite spark in a infinite dark universe then it would be revolutionary. Love is not diminished by it's brevity but explodes into a deity itself. With love, true love, finite, fragile, framed in the context of eternity and delivered out man's fraternity with nature, man would realise his true position.
  
  Dostoevsky taunts that it would take 3000 years for man to realise this and would destroy himself before he could.
  
  
• Mitya's Justification; What an excellent character who reminds me of the innate ability to justify one's action no matter what the circumstance. Continually blaming his problems on just one hardship, which if he could just overcome would make him a pious man. Yet every time the opportunity arises to redeem himself he either runs from it or embraces it. When ever he embraces it he realises there yet another dilemma around the corner which is the real cause for his debauchery, never himself, and never ending.
  

North Korean photos

Just a quick post for anyone interested in what North Korea looks like.


This guy posed as a foreign investor and managed to smuggle out a ton of photographs of the secret state. I was particularly impressed by the workers monument and the classroom pictures.

http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/tomasvanhoutryve/gallery-show/G0000Y50turHpKaY?_bqO=50&_bqH=eJzzSi5zTo5MCXDLsbAszQ5J9SnKNQ50c_dxNwi1MjO2MjK1snKP93SxdTcAgkhTg5LSIo8C78RINXfPeHdHHx_XoEhs0gCH7RoX&ppg=25

Failure

Well I pretty much failed in my monthly aims.

I only manged to make 18 posts despite drafting almost 20 and I only got half way through the two books.

THis month am going easy on myself and setting the same goals; so lets get them done.

Fly by

Well this month has flew in and to kick of the new one I am off to Seoul to meet some friends from the UK who have come over to visit (real friends> Daz, Doug Mark etc).

So another night on the tiles and a weekend of bustling from transportation to destination and back again. Well so be it!

I will really really try and take photos and videos this weekend and get them posted up here.