I had the chance to pick up a copy of Sisa-in시사인 yesterday at the train station and start ed reading it through. I must admit I was shocked.
When Sisa in was formed in 2007 by a group of journalists who could no longer take the commercialization of Korean media, it featured often extremely insightful articles on current affairs. This group of editors and reporters from Sisa Journal resigned in protest over the deletion of an article that was critical of Samsung and set out to pave the way to a new form of journalism in Korea.
Although I would not say that I agreed with all that Sisa in published ten years ago, and I found some parts rather self-indulgent, as opposed to analytic, their writing offered a refreshing perspective on contemporary Korea, and often provided details not found elsewhere.
But when I picked up current issue and started reading it, I was immediately struck by how glossy and superficial the analysis has become. Particularly unimpressive was the repetition of positive interpretations of the engagement with North Korea of the Moon and Trump administrations without mention of the complete contempt for international law and diplomacy that has been shown by Trump Administration. Not a word about Trump’s contempt for the international community as shown in his actions on the Iran agreement or the Paris Summit.
Not sure what happened, but I offer some suggestions in my upcoming article on Korean journalism in Korea Times.
How do we describe the entirely incomprehensible politics of the United States today? In which Trump is both about to be impeached and about to make himself a dictator at the same time? I think the best term is “Schrodinger’s cat governance” –a term I just coined. That is to say that in quantum mechanics things are both true and untrue at the same time. We are both about to have a breakthrough meeting of the North and South at the Pyongchang Olympics and at the same time, we are on the edge of nuclear war with North Korea. In a non-quantum world, these cannot be true at the same time. And of course in a quantum universe as well, the wave must break down at certain instants. I will work on this concept further, but I want to throw out this new idea.
Some people naively assume that when this government shutdown is over, the government will be up and running after some last minute political deal. But that is hopelessly naive.
This new generation of politicians is planning to destroy everything, like anarchists.
Many ask, why the Republicans would want to shut down the government if they control all three branches?
The answer is rather simple. The Republicans do not control all the bureaucrats. A lot of them are still thinking people, even Democrats. People who are educated and increasingly people who are more interested in governance than anyone in the Congress. So they need to destroy the government itself to achieve the absolute power they crave.
Maybe government officials can be replaced with automated kiosks? Don’t rule it out. There may not be much government left when we get back.
My friend Jiun just posed one of the most amazing suggestions to me today that I have ever heard. I was completely floored and had to sit down and catch my breath.
He suggested that the fruit offered to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the so-called apple (although that designation seems to be fake news–we still do not know exactly what fruit it was) on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was planted there by God as a set up for humans. It was the first false flag operation made to snare humanity into joining the fallen world. Something like luring the Japanese into bombing Pearl Harbor, perhaps?
I admit it is a bit far fetched, even disrespectful to the Almighty, but what a conspiracy theory!
Jiun says:
“Had Adam not eaten from the “Tree of Knowledge”, he wouldn’t be discerning to be able to separate right & wrong.
Thus, he did not listen to God, and ate the “Forbidden fruit”.
Didn’t God basically set him, a trap, from which he could never escape?”
I remember when I watched the United States launched spacecraft to the Moon on television as a child. The process of preparation was shown for hours with occasional commentary by scientists and experts. There was no thrilling gossip by overpaid TV personalities or attempts to spice up the story with exclusive interviews “behind the scenes.” The entire point of the reporting was to present the facts in an accessible manner to the public. People had the patience to listen to the complex narrative because the systematic pursuit of facts, and science had value. Now all that tradition has been washed away by an obsession with the self, and by an appeal to immediate satisfaction.
For those who would like to read the actual text, here is the recently released to National Security Strategy from the White House. Although some of the language is predictable, it reveals that bizarre mixture of isolationism and aggressive militarism which we have grown to know and love.
The focus is on the “homeland” and there is little, or nothing, to suggest that security requires international cooperation. In fact, most allies reading it might wonder what the purpose of an alliance might be. There is no sense that the United States is going to sacrifice itself for anyone else. Perhaps the assumption is that the United States is so powerful that the world will come to seek its help. Seems to be a poor bet.
The term “take direct actions” is used to signify entirely illegal and off-the-record actions against perceived enemies. It does not take much imagination to see where this might lead.
Much more to say, but as I have not finished reading it yet, I want to share it first.
Take a look.