I remember one MBC News Desk female anchor--a member of the MBC labor union--saying the other day that she was worried that their strike would be viewed as a selfish act to advocate their vested interests. Ha Ha Ha. But the fact is, that's just that. They are a union solely intent upon protecting their established interests, and nothing else.
The reason gets clear by demonstrating the dilemma they are stuck in.
They claim that if ownership of the nation's broadcasting is distributed over a number of private companies and newspapers, people's views would be disoriented and there would be lack of criticism against the wrongs of the established institutions, thus leading the nation in the wrong direction and degrading democracy.
Well, if it is true that the role of broadcasting is that immense and people are so ignorant that they are swayed by the content of the broadcasts to such an extent, then wouldn't it be safer to let them choose among more various channels based on which they can build their own opinions? More over, how dare they say their--MBC's--current broadcasts are ever just and leading the people in the right direction? Has that ever been validated with any trusted body? Who's accusing whom?
Broadcasting is a form of delivering information to people who are consumers to its content whether it be news, documentary films, or entertainment programs. It's the viewers that determines the quality of the broadcast content--"the invisible hand of the market" comes into play here. Isn't this more democratic than limiting the news broadcast channels to just a certain number?
Diversification of broadcast channels and their ownership has long been espoused in many developed countries including the US, which is often cited as the paragon of liberal journalism. Just think about how many TV channels are there in the US. How many broadcast news sources are there in that country? Is there any broadcasting company having such privilege as one MBC has in Korea?
What is so contrary to their point is that those advocates for MBC's current cause are the same people who almost everyday are expressing so much worry about the dominance of the big three newspapers in the Korean newspaper market even as their dominance is purely a result of the readers' choice, never the kind of privilege MBC is given now.
When it comes to democracy, what we need most is diversification. But the demonstrators show very contradictory behaviors. They are calling for forcible distribution of power over more newspapers while at the same time calling for forcible centralization of power to one major private broadcasting company. The only way to figure out this inconsistent and even schizophrenic behavior is, as the female anchor already unwittingly admitted, to understand that they are merely a labor union fighting for their own vested interests--which are too sweet and comfortable to lose.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Kenneth J. Arrow
Impossibility Theorem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow%27s_impossibility_theorem
www.usimin.tv
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow%27s_impossibility_theorem
www.usimin.tv
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Novotel, Shanghai
Who said Shanghai is a good place to live?
As it was found out, the air was polluted so densely--I couldn't see any sunlight--and was humid. It's a stark contrast to Korea's beautiful autumnal weather now--clear skies and cool temperatures.
The 40 something minutes' taxi trip from Pu dong Airport to the hotel told me that Shanghai, for all its worldwide reputation, has a long distance to go before actually being able to be competitive against other world-renown cities at least by the environmental standards.
The living condition seems pretty OK, though, inside this 4-star hotel.
As it was found out, the air was polluted so densely--I couldn't see any sunlight--and was humid. It's a stark contrast to Korea's beautiful autumnal weather now--clear skies and cool temperatures.
The 40 something minutes' taxi trip from Pu dong Airport to the hotel told me that Shanghai, for all its worldwide reputation, has a long distance to go before actually being able to be competitive against other world-renown cities at least by the environmental standards.
The living condition seems pretty OK, though, inside this 4-star hotel.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Early in the morning in Stevenage
It's been an intensive week, taking PXI training and being filled in on important issues. I'm going back to Korea today.
Since my flight is departing in the evening, I will do some sightseeing in London during the day.
Since my flight is departing in the evening, I will do some sightseeing in London during the day.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Audacity of Hope: now at page 194.
Just finished the "Opportunity" part. This part was the most interesting so far. However, I sensed that he copied a lot from Thomas L. Friedman's "The World is Flat." Even though he insinuated that he agrees with him on the flattening theory, actually quoting some lines from Friedman's book, this chapter overlaps with the content of the book just too much. Anyhow, there would be nothing wrong in repeating what's right and important even in the form of copy and paste--as long as it doesn't violate someone else's copyrights.
If you want to learn about Barak Obama's vision and philosophy, I guess this book is a must.
I agree with Mr. Obama that a small government may sound very appealing and persuasive thanks to its simplicity, but that doesn't actually work.
A job is not only a means of supporting oneself, but a means of giving one's life purpose, direction, order and dignity. On this I can't agree with him more.
If you want to learn about Barak Obama's vision and philosophy, I guess this book is a must.
I agree with Mr. Obama that a small government may sound very appealing and persuasive thanks to its simplicity, but that doesn't actually work.
A job is not only a means of supporting oneself, but a means of giving one's life purpose, direction, order and dignity. On this I can't agree with him more.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
MB's English...
Here's a peek at the level of President Lee Myung Bak's English.
He doesn't even know the most basic English grammar.
"Be a MB(ambi)tious"?
Why is there the article "a" before an adverb (ambitious)?
Even if he claims that he fashioned "MB(ambi)tous" to mean "ambitious boy," that would still be flawed--the article, then, must be "an."
Most of all,
"Boys be ambitious!" is the original form of the quote.
Before ever pretending to have the recipe for improving Korean youngsters' spoken English, Mr. MB Lee himself needs to check his own English first.
Friday, September 26, 2008
A Pyeongyang citizen with blue eyes
That's the title of a documentary film that I saw on TV tonight.
He is an American soldier who defected to North Korea around the early 1960s or the late 1950s--I just guess so since I didn't see the former part of the documentary which might contain the information.
He's old now, having two white sons who are university students and a little kid from his current Togolese-Korean wife. He got the white sons from an Eastern European former wife who died soon after the birth of the younger son, and then remarried many years later a woman who is a cross between a Togolese and a North Korean.
He seemed to speak very frankly and freely even though it was filmed in North Korea and he's still living there. But none of his words violated the rules that he is supposed to follow; he said he's happy just living there in North Korea, being taken care of by the dear leader and party. He said his former life in America was an unhappy one, but now, ever since his defection about 40 years ago he's been treated well and has led a much happier life.
I felt he was candid in his explanation about what he experienced there, and the majority of people who watched that documentary might have felt the same way. It would be better for him to live there for the rest of his life, which doesn't seem to be very long considering his current health conditions--his heart and liver are in terrible states and he's still smoking and drinking as before in spite of doctors' strong recommendation that he quit them.
He said he would never know how to appreciate the dear leader enough for the special care he's been receiving. Even during the "March of Suffering" in the 1990s he said his ration never changed while hundreds of thousands of North Koreans were dying of famine. He almost got to the point of weeping at that.
I know why he was treated that special. In North Korea, foreigners, especially Americans like him, are so rare like precious diamonds. That's quite simple logic. In light of that, he must have made a very clever decision in choosing to defect to North Korea where his worth could be maximized. For him, as he stated, North Korea definitely is the paradise on earth, a Shangri-la; otherwise he might have had a very good chance of ending up a white trash in America.
My conclusion? Everything is relative and personal. One's nightmare can be another guy's paradise. And the master of one's life is the person himself. Free will!
He is an American soldier who defected to North Korea around the early 1960s or the late 1950s--I just guess so since I didn't see the former part of the documentary which might contain the information.
He's old now, having two white sons who are university students and a little kid from his current Togolese-Korean wife. He got the white sons from an Eastern European former wife who died soon after the birth of the younger son, and then remarried many years later a woman who is a cross between a Togolese and a North Korean.
He seemed to speak very frankly and freely even though it was filmed in North Korea and he's still living there. But none of his words violated the rules that he is supposed to follow; he said he's happy just living there in North Korea, being taken care of by the dear leader and party. He said his former life in America was an unhappy one, but now, ever since his defection about 40 years ago he's been treated well and has led a much happier life.
I felt he was candid in his explanation about what he experienced there, and the majority of people who watched that documentary might have felt the same way. It would be better for him to live there for the rest of his life, which doesn't seem to be very long considering his current health conditions--his heart and liver are in terrible states and he's still smoking and drinking as before in spite of doctors' strong recommendation that he quit them.
He said he would never know how to appreciate the dear leader enough for the special care he's been receiving. Even during the "March of Suffering" in the 1990s he said his ration never changed while hundreds of thousands of North Koreans were dying of famine. He almost got to the point of weeping at that.
I know why he was treated that special. In North Korea, foreigners, especially Americans like him, are so rare like precious diamonds. That's quite simple logic. In light of that, he must have made a very clever decision in choosing to defect to North Korea where his worth could be maximized. For him, as he stated, North Korea definitely is the paradise on earth, a Shangri-la; otherwise he might have had a very good chance of ending up a white trash in America.
My conclusion? Everything is relative and personal. One's nightmare can be another guy's paradise. And the master of one's life is the person himself. Free will!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Audio database
I should have written down this yesterday.
Englishmanaics.org's audio database may have some usefulness, even though short of making profits. If it can be utilized in English learning, with good software to support it, in conjunction with the textualized versions of those audio files, it will serve as some audio reference for English learners.
More detailed planning would be required. For now, what I am sure of is that the more extensive the data, the better as it is true for a dictionary.
So, let's keep going with the transcribing activities. Doing more audio files, like two a week instead of the current one-a-week system, would be a good idea as long as it doesn't put too much stress on the people involved.
Maybe, it would be a good idea to recruit one more drafter for an additional audio file. Interesting.
Englishmanaics.org's audio database may have some usefulness, even though short of making profits. If it can be utilized in English learning, with good software to support it, in conjunction with the textualized versions of those audio files, it will serve as some audio reference for English learners.
More detailed planning would be required. For now, what I am sure of is that the more extensive the data, the better as it is true for a dictionary.
So, let's keep going with the transcribing activities. Doing more audio files, like two a week instead of the current one-a-week system, would be a good idea as long as it doesn't put too much stress on the people involved.
Maybe, it would be a good idea to recruit one more drafter for an additional audio file. Interesting.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Reading Barrak Obama's "Audacity of Hope"
Currently having read a little over 60 pages into the book, I find this book very well-written. Barrack Obama's really thought to be intelligent and smart.
I wonder if it was his father, a Kenyan brain, or the benefit of cross-breeding--between a white mom and a black dad--that endowed him with such talent.
Anyhow, I'm for Obama though I don't have a vote.
I wonder if it was his father, a Kenyan brain, or the benefit of cross-breeding--between a white mom and a black dad--that endowed him with such talent.
Anyhow, I'm for Obama though I don't have a vote.
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