MARIEL R.
  • Blog
    • Second Blog
  • Happy Horse
  • Published
    • Free Stories >
      • Some Things Never Change
      • The Real Thing
      • For You, Mother
      • Meat Head the Worst Dog in the World
      • Boys As Nice as John
      • Meat Head
  • About
  • Green Gecko Publishing

Language on Ayn Rand's steam engine

4/21/2016

 
 For some inexplicable reason, I've been into North Korea lately. I don't me like in love, but you know, searching recent news and stuff. This is impart due to Atlas Shrugged. I've listened to the audio book twice now, in part because it helps with my insomnia. This isn't to say that the book is boring. Its not, but it is loaded with pro free capitalism diatribes. Enough of those will put anyone asleep, especially the second time around.

One thing the book does really well, at least for me, is make one think. I've been thinking and thinking which lead to a perverted interest in North Korea. Did you know they have a marathon there every year and people pay the North Korean government 1350.00 euros to be a symbol of North Korea's endurance and revolutionary spirit. After reading Aynn Rand's book... 

I've never been to North Korea so I don't know everything but I do know that their prison population is so high that the prisons have become towns and you know if you defect then your relatives for generations will be in prison. Seriously. One woman was release from prison after 37 years... she was born there, and only learned of her charges after she was let go.

"You have now served all your time for your great, great, great grandfather's crime of defecting from North Korea," said North Korea.

"All these bad things happened to me because of something my great, great, great grandfather did."

"Yep and don't you forget it!"

She didn't. She left, though she didn't seem to have any children or family.... to defect knowing  your family for the next three or four generations would be in prison, life would have to really, really suck or be some kind of ( insert expletive). Speaking of expletives that begin with a, I think people who pay to get the dictator approved tour are... well lets just put it this way, Ayn Rand would have put these people on the steam engine as it went through the tunnel in Atlas Shrugged.

From scientists to runners to photographers to Dennis Rodman, people all over the world are like, "North Korea ain't so bad." Its spoken in that "we're all just people." Having not been in North Korea myself, perhaps I just don't get it.

Here's what I do get: In Korean the word for foreigner is 외국인 (waegukin), but it's more akin to alien when it's used to refer to critters from space. No, Koreans don't actually think we're from space but it's not exactly wrong either.   Alien = not human= not us. 외국인=not Korean= not us.  I say this not to fault South Korea... I Iove South Korea. I say this because foreigners who travel to North Korea and leave with this sense of having accomplished something culturally, are making an assumption that all cultures hold personal experiences above societal experiences.

Confucianism holds the group above individual experiences and both Koreas have until very recently have only thought in a way that is alien to much of the world: the societal experience is held above personal. Considers that South Koreans still still say our car, our house, our mother, our father (as in belonging to society). Communism didn't just happen to the people of North Korea. It was built into the Korean language itself long before Marx wrote his manifesto.

This is what ultimately fascinates me: words. They not only  allow people to communicate, but also convey a sense of the society, past and present. Some languages lack a future tense and others lack a past. Others put the emphasis on the individual (stand out) and others put the emphasis on the group (fit in.) Details about a language without out even in speaking it can give you more insight to internal thought structure of its people. That's right. Language forms the way we think. This too is what I like about writing. A story or book or even a single sentence has the ability to initiate a collective thought pattern change, "to go boldly where no man has gone before."



Comments are closed.
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Mariel R. is an ESL teacher, horse trainer, writer, editor, sporadic blogger,  and lover of beer. She lives in South Korea with two house cats, three horses, a German Shepherd and three barn cats .

    Picture
    Bear (Gom in Korean) )
    Picture
    Yeongji
    Picture
    Oreo
    Picture
    Panther
    Picture
    Thor
    Picture
    Thunder
    Picture
    Super
    Picture
    Rex
    Picture
    Geumbi (Goldy in English) R.I.P February, 23, 2018
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Advice
    Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award
    Authonomy
    Author Interviews
    Awards
    Bear
    Cats
    Contests
    Contest Winners
    Getting Published
    Guest Posts
    ICANN
    Icon Not Find It
    I Learned Something New
    Kindle Scout
    Misc
    National Identity Crisis
    Observations
    People I Respect Very Much
    Pets
    Rejections
    Reviews
    Site Outage
    South Korea
    Web.com
    Weebly
    Weebly Woes
    WHOIS
    Words That Amuse Me
    Writing
    Writing Woes

    Archives

    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011


Photos used under Creative Commons from cotaroba, Juliana Coutinho, Dare*2*Dream, Brett Jordan, plasticrevolver, Elvert Barnes, Dan-Scape.co.uk, Camp of Champions, Rowdy Rider, timsamoff, TiffanyMichelle Photography, expertinfantry, stormwarning., VarsityLife, Instagram: Brunobrunan, woodleywonderworks, HotlantaVoyeur, Ally Mauro, eBomb716, kalleboo, 1la, DonkeyHotey, trekkyandy, Dita Margarita, ZeroOne, Marina Aguiar Araujo, You Have Reached The End of The Internet, InSapphoWeTrust, Nina J. G., One Way Stock, Ronnie Garcia, +Angst, Anika Malone, evolvingblue, porschelinn, Horia Varlan, Fred Jala, Dyl86, Cia de Foto, mootown, boolve, final gather, Hexidecimal, Arya Ziai, h.koppdelaney, Fan of Retail, (Domino), Celeste Vasconcelos, I .. C .. U, Nomadic Lass, Risager, taylorpad212, Benny(I am empty), Nomadic Lass, aloshbennett, Ben Mortimer Photography, Suedehead, Kyknoord, Lunar Logic, simononly, mike138, Tim Sheerman-Chase, Rusty Clark, papalars, rocketjim54, dno1967b, Tomasz Stasiuk, Robert S. Donovan, Merelymel13, Crystl, Tirso Lecointere, Leo Hidalgo (@yompyz), david_shankbone, gpatague online porfolio, petersejersen, wadem, mikecogh, ravijain_92, mynameisharsha, World Series Boxing, Jackie L Chan, greggman, saebaryo, All Kinds of New, Dwilliams851, cuatrok77, woodleywonderworks, Alex E. Proimos, Average Jane, gagilas, LifeSupercharger, Incase., Robin Hutton, THX0477, greenchartreuse, BrtinBoston, Trev Grant, CocteauBoy, dno1967b, Matt Erasmus, Tax Credits, Josh (broma), Phillip Pessar, MoToMo, barmala, Steve Snodgrass, Ross Elliott, cell105, Hunter-Desportes, *clairity*, fauxto_digit, Hugo90, tauben, rococohobo, Spencer Cross, alexliivet, HelloImNik, br1dotcom, Jorge Franganillo, علي - ali, olgaberrios, glennharper, kyeniz, cogito ergo imago, chris.corwin, BagoGames, brewbooks, ϟnapshot 19, Pop Culture Geek, rockmixer, jphilipg, qwrrty, noniq, e53, 'Playingwithbrushes', Marcus Q, lowjumpingfrog, ingermaaike2, Bob Jagendorf, allaboutgeorge, mgrybos, Images_of_Money, Tambako the Jaguar, Foxtongue, DBduo Photography, Beige Alert, DieselDemon, Five Furlongs, danicuki, CamEvans, arne h, electricnerve, -Tripp-, bigcityal, Tim Pierce, Vidbynäs Golf Club, Anomalous Productions, Dovecoté Avenue, Shannon Badiee, Modern Event Preparedness, Amydeanne, Arenamontanus, snowpea&bokchoi, H.Adam, Victor Bezrukov, wwootton1, Bulldog Pottery, M.Ryan Photography, thskyt, Muscle Dominator, Pinti 1, crimfants, Maarten_G / GreenPictures.nl, gematrium, Helga Weber, jon_a_ross, stevendepolo, Starar Band, UT Connewitz, brad_holt, Looking Glass, NatalieMaynor, flowerguy, Peter Huys, The Good Reverend Flash, PhoTones_TAKUMA, greyloch, faceleg, odonata98, Blyzz, sgd, Jeffrey Beall, anneh632, Roy Montgomery, Ivan Marianelli, Lel4nd, autumn_bliss, briggz5d, orsorama, zzkt, Chasqui (Luis Tamayo), gruntzooki, Walt Stoneburner, marc falardeau, karlnorling, john antoni, Kris Krug, aussiegall, CarbonNYC, pheαnix - off 6/29 - 7/8, wwward0, Philo Nordlund, myhsu, US Army Africa, mrsdkrebs, bratha, Veronique Debord, susivinh, Wesley Fryer, Rubyran, Cali4beach, plindberg, Flikkesteph, Paul and Jill, Pilot Theatre, JoeInSouthernCA
  • Blog
    • Second Blog
  • Happy Horse
  • Published
    • Free Stories >
      • Some Things Never Change
      • The Real Thing
      • For You, Mother
      • Meat Head the Worst Dog in the World
      • Boys As Nice as John
      • Meat Head
  • About
  • Green Gecko Publishing