schizophrenic political beliefs

[kismetcapitan]

I am an American. I am a diehard member of the American Libertarian Party. I hate government, taxes, and hope for a bright future in America where the police do not bother or hassle citizens, drugs are legal, abortion and gay marriage are free choices that all citizens can make, and that fat behemoth of power that has festered and grown from the 1930s until today in Washington DC gets pared down to pre-1900's size.

Yet for the first time, I've begun to consider how I'd vote if I could in Korea. And much to my surprise, I am a fascist, if I had a say in Korean politics. The left wing has seized upon a misstep by the conservative Korean government and has turned this mad cow idiocy with the Free Trade Agreement signed with the United States into huge daily anti-government protests. It's like Tiennamen Square almost two decades ago...except there's nothing to complain about. Korea is far more wealthy a country than ever, and the new president knows what he's doing. Left-wing media has overblown mad cow (a total of three cows, all of canadian origin, have ever been found with the disease on US soil), and if you ask an average Korean, particularly high school and college students, they are convinced that if they eat American beef, they will contract the disease.

I wouldn't go so far as my parents to say that the organizers behind these are North Korean spies, but....I support an immediate military crackdown on all these commie bastards clogging the center of the city and throwing garbage at the US Embassy. Send in the Special Forces and end it (this has been done before). Dissolve the National Assembly and give the president 5 years limited dictator powers - I didn't like him at first, but the more I've seen him and his policies, the more I've seen him as a guy who gets stuff done quickly and well - reminiscent of the president/dictator (1960-1979) who built Korea from a wasteland into what it is now.

Digital Chosunilbo (English Edition) : Daily News in English About Korea

I know some guys who are riot police. Far from being the iron fist of the government, these are 19-20 year old kids who are just serving their mandatory military service just like every other male, and are just trying to finish out their two years so they can get back to college. Not a one of them are volunteers. I'll bet Kim Jung-Il is having a jolly good time watching the TV every night and seeing these commie bastards protesting over basically nothing. Stupid idiots - the FTA benefits Korea about twice as much as it does the US - it allows Korea to flood the US market even more with tax-free cellphones and flat-screen TVs, as well as have the 2% car tax removed on Hyundais, where US cars get their tariff reduced to 20% and get to export beef to Korea, where the price per kilo for beef is the highest in the world (until the US gets back into the game). I'm sick of beef costing 30 pounds sterling per kilo. I've eaten American beef for most of my life and it tastes just fine I smell the filthy stink of protectionism, of pointless anti-Americanism.

**** them. Call in the military, roll in the tanks, shut them down.

[beaumackenzie]

hmm and all while eating a mac attack combo with beef from new zealand, smoking a cigarette made by a britsh tobaco giant, driving a car made in japan with trim made in china on a road with tar from the middle east, complaining about koreans and russian,s paying a tax to a man who's own state that rivals most mid size country's spending it all on isreali made ballistic warheads with circut boards and gps units made by a small factory in new plymouth new zealand, talking about pounds sterling with there own dollar falling while discussing spy's and throwing garbage??????????????????????????????and and least we forget on a UK car forum of all places....you should be a politician, you'd fit right in on the hill.

[kismetcapitan]

a bit confused by that post....it's the ultranationalism that the demonstrators are expressing that makes me disgusted. Someone put up on the Korean web a video of a virulently angry protester, wearing a cow outfit and ranting about mad cow disease and "American infestation"....while smoking a cigarette, probably a Marlboro heh. Last I checked, the odds of dying from cigarettes are millions of times higher than dying from vCJD (contracted from cows infected with BSE).

The world is globalized, just as you say. These Korean idiots trying to imagine otherwise are fools. Free trade agreements equal progress. Yes, in a democracy everyone deserves a say, but in this case, the radical left (pro-Noth Korea, anti-American) has gained enough momentum to destabilize the government. Korea isn't a country where democracy is so entrenched that it can withstand a large movement by a radicalized splinter group.

[kismetcapitan]

and just to clarify:

Left wing in Korea - pro-communist, seeks union with North Korea on any terms, anti-American and protectionist.

Conservatives in Korea - pro-American, pro-business and pro-globalization, seeks union with North Korea on South Korean unconditional terms only.