Korea: The Cultural Appropriators

***HEAVY SUBJECT***
So, this is something that I've always wanted to talk about. It's a very sensitive subject, so if you can't handle it you may stop reading anytime. 

I really do appreciate the things Korea produces I really do, but there are times when I can't take the culture appropriation and the racism, it's disgusting. So I'm not going to act like Korea is this great place where everything is fine and dandy. 

They hate the idea of being dark but like the things that us black people do, but you know that can be said about every race who isn't black honestly. Yes, I'm being general here, I know not everyone is like that, but when the a majority outweighs the minority, then you're going to be lumped in with that group or not and as you read this, I don't want you to say, oh I'm not racist I have this many black friends, that's racist. You're not really helping the problem here now, are you? 

I know where all people of color here, but if all we do it put each other down and not try to help we will all be stuck. 

I digress. So, Korea the cultural appropriators. Let's just dive right into the nitty gritty here. HIP HOP  and Rhythm and Blues also known as R&B is black. It started in black communities did it not? I'm pretty sure it did. It's is one of the many like styles of music throughout the world and very popular in Korea. I'm not saying that people can't do the same music, of course they can there is nothing wrong with that. It's when they start to emulate and take the idea of being black without being black and hating BLACK is where lies the big issue I have. 

Now I know not everyone is caught up on their American history, but most people know of this flag this my dears is the Confederate flag one of the LARGEST symbols of oppression in the Black  

community, but yet  it can be seen on clothing in Korea. Which is highly offensive, you do know you just might possibly have Black fan right. You know just saying! I mean not a big deal or anything.
This flag could be seen in Zico's Tough Cookie M/V which I hated, it was horrible and all it did was take the idea of black culture and shove it in one video and I bet half of those guys would never want to be black. I mean who told him that it was a good idea to do that.

There was also the Korean drama which I reviewed You're Beautiful where one of the character wore a hat with the confederate flag on it. Honestly someone please tell me what the hell is up with them and this offensive flag? They are sensitive people but don't care about the sensitivity of others. Once

again excuse for the generalization but seriously, what the hell?

Another problem that I have is that they try an emulate this culture and they only take away the negative aspects of it. The violent "gang banging" aspects as if it's cool or something. They do this with no knowledge of what it really means and how harmful it is to a community. If you create popular music or anything for that matter and portray a group of people to an audience, who like you, have no knowledge of that group of people they will believe whatever it is you put out. 

It's nice to be INTERESTED in another culture, that's fine, but when you start to try and become that race and take things from that race that don't represent it well and tell other people that's what they're like. 

If they just took the time to learn where certain things come from before tying to be like them it would help a great deal. 

If you know anything about global history, you would know at one point the Japanese had colonized Korea it was a horrible ordeal for them even now there is still tension about the issue. The Rising Sun Flag has a similar meaning that the confederate flag does. It's a symbol of a hard time, a time of oppression, regardless of what other's think it means it has its true meaning.

They even do black face, I'm just saying they do take things too far. The racism there is very prominent, now I'm not saying in America it's not, because I mean this year is freaking crazy look at Donald Trump. A giant bigot running for president, he's literally unleashed every asshole racist in bloody America. I will never understand people who shame and hate black people but love the things they can accomplish, their entertainment. Everyone wants to be black, but no one wants to take on all the struggles that black people face.

Ghost Stories are Lame But

So I'm going to be real, I haven't heard a great ghost story or a creepy urban legend in a while. There hasn't been one that has chilled me to my very core. I mean, it's just like "Oh okay." Maybe I haven't heard them in the right setting. With the lights off with only one light. In the middle of a place where my back is exposed. Even then I don't think I'd be scared. I've been watching too much Supernatural. I've figured out how to deal with all kinds of shit from that show. I don't know. 

Anyway, I decided to do some searching and find some cool Korean ghost stories and urban legends, thought it would be a good idea after doing superstitions! None of them scared me though sadly, if anything they were just interesting! Let's see where should I start?

How about here! 

#1 Sesame Seed Bath Okay this one was just really gross to me, and I kind of ended up laughing, even though I shouldn't have because this was messed up. So apparently there was this young girl and she was obsessed with having beautiful and healthy skin. So she asked a healer or someone for a way to keep her looking beautiful forever and they suggested sesame seeds in her bath water and to rub them on her skin and soak in the tub. She was in there for a long time and so her mother started to get worried. She knocked on the door twice but there was no answer from her daughter so she opened the door. In there she found her daughter with sesame seeds stuck in her pores and her trying to take them out with toothpicks. 

Isn't this just gross? I broke it down like well the bath was hot, her pores opened up and boom they got stuck and then they closed. It's grossss. 

#2 Roach Mask This one is worse than the first one. So, there was this man who had horrible acne he had tried everything to get rid of it and one day while surfing the net, he find and article that gave a cure. It was a roach face mask. All he needed was a cockroach and so that night, after having read the instructions, the man put the roach on his pillow. When he woke up, he was happy to find the roach AND his acne gone. He went to school all happy, but throughout the day had pains and itching in his face. So he went to the bathroom to look at it, and he found that the roach had laid eggs in his face. 

This one was like 10 times worse. On a scale from 1-10 the sesame seeds were probably a 5 maybe 6 even, but this, this is a 9. What makes it worse is that everyone can get pimples and acne is common and roaches are freaking gross man. BUGS IN YOUR FACE! 

#3 Red Surgical Mask/ Slit Mouthed Ghost I really like this one. I actually first heard it by one of my Japanese friends, because they have the same kind of ghost there too. I was just like, she must be teleporting or something because how does Japan and Korea have the same ghost. I know the countries are close, but still! 

You probably know the story, so at night if people are walking by their lonesome they will be stopped by a woman in a red surgical mask. The woman is often described as pale skinned tall and with really long black hair that covers her face. She normally asks them if they think she is pretty. If they say no she kills them with a scalpel, but if they say yes, then she removes the surgical mask to reveal her horrible face. Her mouth that has slits from ear to ear showing all her gums and teeth, and she will ask them again if they think she is pretty. If they say no, she will cut them in half, but if they reply yes again, then she will cut their face just like hers. Mwhahahahaaa!

#4 Harvesting Organs There was once a KakaoTalk that had circulated talking about organ harvesting. It was about a drunk man who took a ride in a cab, and he was stabbed in the neck with a needle. Later he woke up by himself in a field bleeding from his stomach. He went to the hospital later to find out that one of his kidneys had been stolen from him. 

This is actually a really big problem in Korea apparently organ trafficking and people selling them because they are in tremendous debt. I mean granted it's a quick way of making money, but it's a horrible idea to sell your organs pals. I won't do it. 

#5 Bongcheon Dong Ghost I read this comic nearly peed myself. I has jump scares. Not cool man. Not cool. Anyway, this story is actually based off real life events. There were this woman, everyone only know her sir name Cho, anyway she got divorced and in the settlement she lost everything including her two year old daughter. He took the girl with him. (She was having an affair). Anyway, in 2007, she jumped from the top of her apartment complex and died on impact. People said they would see her walking around the complex asking for her daughter. 

Here is a link to the webtoon comic. Bongcheon Dong Ghost Comic

Ghost stories are lame but, I hope you all can go to sleep tonight! 

Super Korean Superstitions

VERY SUPERSTITIOUS!

Okay, yeah that was a little corny, my bad I won't do that again. My level of corniness is outrageous though, so beware. Whatever though, it leads into the obvious topic because it's the title, but let's talk about Korean superstitious. The word 'superstition' in Korean is mishin 미신. 

Here are 10 different Korean superstitions! 

#10 Fans Never go to sleep with an electric fan on in your room with the windows closed, behind a closed door, or it'll freaking kill you! It's believed that a person will die from suffocation you know, lack of oxygen or die of hypothermia. So be careful this summer everyone! 

#9 Red Ink Are you trying to kill someone like Light Yagami from Death Note? In Korea it's been said that if you use red ink to write someone's name they'll die. In Korea they normally use red ink to write the names of the dead, so to write the name of the living is considered wrong because you could possibly kill them. (I know in America we use red ink to correct and mark papers.) So unless you're planning to kill someone, don't use red ink in Korea!

#8 Giving Shoes as Gifts To give someone a pair of shoes as a gift especially to someone you love puts a strain on the relationship... because whoever is the receiver of those shoes will probably end up running away from the giver. Forever. I once read somewhere that if you "sell" the shoes instead it's basically a loophole to the superstition and they won't run away!

#7 Shaking Your Leg I actually have this really horrible habit, guess this is why I'm so poor. It is said that if you shake your leg you will shake away all your god fortune. In Korea apparently (I had no idea this was a thing there) there is prosperity that lies in the leg, so when you shake it, you're basically shaking it all away. 

#6 Dreaming of Pigs If you have a dream of pigs, Koreans would say that a lot of money is coming your way. So keep dreaming of pigs everyone!

#5 Whistling at Night Whistling at night is thought to bring evil spirits, bad luck, snakes, the works man! So don't whistle at night otherwise you're going to have a bad time. Keep the spirits out of your house. (I have learned that his isn't just a Korean superstition this is an international superstition. I once watched this anime Mushi-shi--love it, but there were an episode where Ginko instructed this boy to not whistle at night because bad mushi; that looked like snakes, would come into his home!) So just don't whistle at night.

#F The Number 4 Means Death This one is the most interesting to me, because I first learned it from my Chinese math teacher. The number four in Korean sounds like the word death so often it's skipped on elevators and there is no 4th floor in many apartments.If there is a 4 it's normally replaced with 'F,' hence the #F. (This is also true of Chinese even Japanese culture isn't this cool?) 

#3 Blinding Butterflies I know how beautiful butterflies and moths can be, but don't let them touch you, and if you do, make sure not to rub your eyes right after. Why you ask? Because if you do, you're bound to go blind! Apparently though, this superstition has been around for centuries it has it's believers and non believers just like any other superstition. 

#2 Moving Spirits Don't move, you might as well just stay put. If you decide it's time for you to move into a bigger and better house you need to make sure you do it on a moving day. If not, you're going to be bringing bad spirits or just spirits in general from the other house. For the people that believe this, there are calendaer made so they know when it's a good time for them to move and when it's not. My advice... you better find the perfect place from the start.

T.O.P and Ueno Juri in Secret Message 

#1 Deoksugong Path I love and hate this one. It's like.. symbolic, you know? It's been said that if you and your significant other walk down this path that means you're going to break up soon. It's also like, symbolic because couples who are going to get divorced have to walk down this path to the family court.

We Are Back!

Hey everyone we are back and ready for action, going to have to have some blog post coming your way soon, by soon I mean very soon. Look out for them. Share them, comment and read. Keep coming back.

Fun fact about me, when I write my blog post, I always listen to kpop, that seems like an of course, but there is like a set playlist for my blog write with certain music for my blogging grind. I need it to motivate me to keep it moving, because although I like to write, I get distracted. But this music is like good music to keep up with my pace for writing that it keeps me writing even more.

Do any of you have motivational music to help you with things?

Anyway, moving on the schedule for things will be different because well a lot has changed. Sorry I lied and said we'd be back at the end of September I should've never made a promise I couldn't keep, so that is definitely my fault, I will gladly take all the blame for that one. Sorry to make you keep reading the same post over and over!

I've been going through a lot and it's not the best excuse but it did effect the way I felt about writing and watching Korean Dramas and just keeping up with things in general. I guess you can call it some kind of slump.
So, yeah we didn't get back back up in October my apologies.

I still want to cover the material I made in October but never posted! So you'll see things like Korean Superstitions and famous ghost stories and horror movies I'll move on from there. I will still do the drama review so get ready for that. I know that's like all of your favorite parts.

I'll also start trying out some Korean food recipes and talk about my experience making them and what they tasted like. I'll even take pictures and maybe even a video or two.
I am really trying to make the best of this blog and give you all some good reading content!

So this will probably end up being a summer blog if anything, if I find the time to post during school I will! I'm about to be a senior in college, so you know, about to be like the F4 and run the entire campus.

Hope you guys stick with me and let's enjoy Korean pop culture together!