tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post5304685064158664866..comments2024-02-23T23:53:54.842+09:00Comments on Gusts Of Popular Feeling: NBC uses the power of t-shirts to insult Korea... againmatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-77842278905023806922013-10-30T13:05:55.016+09:002013-10-30T13:05:55.016+09:00I learned about it from Koreans, who called them &...I learned about it from Koreans, who called them "Olympic babies" - I reckon those now in their mid 40s and older would know about it. You may want to check Korean news reports 6-9 months after the Olympics concluded. I have several friends who were English teachers, businessmen, and smugglers living in Seoul at the time and all stated it was a full-on f*ckfest during the Olympics; the local girls were on the hunt for foreign fellas. Prior to the games most Koreans considered all foreigners there to be US military, and only the lowest of the low associated with them. But with the world's spotlight on a preening Seoul the normal wariness waned and all Seoulites were encouraged to be kind and hospitable to the foreign guests. This significantly reduced the normal harsh glares and worse women received from her fellow Koreans when accompanying foreigners. This relaxed environment allowed many to try what they had thought about. seouldouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17791822827637582937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-79373586443118250492013-10-29T19:58:24.812+09:002013-10-29T19:58:24.812+09:00Seouldout,
Thanks for the comment. I still have a ...Seouldout,<br />Thanks for the comment. I still have a concluding post(or two?) to write. The NBC reports would be great to get ahold of, but I imagine that wouldn't be so easy in Korea. But a "post-Olympic mixed-race baby boom"? I know nothing about that. Feel free to say more about that!<br /><br />I didn't mention the meaning of bad, since I remember it, but I suppose younger generations might not have any idea of 'bad's former meaning (it doesn't seem to be used anymore, except perhaps in 'bad-ass').matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10296009437690229938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-78788581230293160092013-10-29T09:12:34.388+09:002013-10-29T09:12:34.388+09:00The "We're Bad" slogan may in part h...The "We're Bad" slogan may in part have been influenced to Michael Jackson's album "Bad", released on 31 August 1987, and the same titled #1 song. Jackson's "Bad" world tour concert series was from 1987 to 1989, and at the time he was amongst the world's most popular entertainers, if not the world's most popular. <br /><br />Speaking to Koreans in 1989 I was told they understood NBC's "We're Bad" to be "Korea is bad".<br /><br />I don't know whether you've concluded your '88 Seoul Olympic coverage; if not you may want to see if you can dig up any of NBC's country profile pieces. I recall Koreans were outraged over stories about mixed-race children, prostitution, and anti-American fire-bomb attacks. The post-Olympic mixed-race baby boom is another issue that "shames" Koreans. seouldouthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17791822827637582937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-21057085533034162352013-09-30T11:02:08.404+09:002013-09-30T11:02:08.404+09:00"That would be the same USSR that blew Korean..."That would be the same USSR that blew Korean Air flight 007 out of the sky five years earlier, killing 269 people, just to keep track."<br /><br />This kind of disconnect is just mind boggling; all the more reason to kill nationalism.F5Waeghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13294604895295140810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12946845.post-64987197383908473872013-09-30T01:26:51.790+09:002013-09-30T01:26:51.790+09:00"Some employees of the American broadcaster N..."Some employees of the American broadcaster NBC, which came to Korea to cover the Olympics, are causing controversy due to a group t-shirt order they made which has writing in English denigrating Korea."<br /><br />I love it when newspapers claim innocently that some third party is "causing controversy," when it is often more accurate to say that it is the newspapers themselves that are stirring up shit as is the case here. This was a private, small-scale business deal that evidently didn't even come to fruition. The only reason it became "controversial" was because newspapers like the Donga Ilbo decided to make it so.<br /><br />Anyway, lighten up, Korean people, seriously. Any grade-school American kid at the time would have known that "We're bad!" was actually a machismo boast in Ebonics. Only pussies can't take a little trash talk, which is to say, the Koreans weren't very "bad" at all! King Baeksuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15106210206814275410noreply@blogger.com