Politics and crappy can openers

A friend sent this video to me a while ago and I just now had the chance to check it out. It's pretty interesting. http://my.barackobama.com/yeswecan




I really do wish I could be there right now. It seems like a great time to be thirty something or younger and be able to vote. I keep hearing how there are record numbers of young people getting involved in politics this year and I think that is a great sign for our country. Maybe they are sick of letting the older generations decide the future of our country and our planet for that matter. I think all good things must come to an end and there really does need to be more of a balance between who is making important decisions from now on. I'm not saying the older generations don't have a role to play. I think the older generations will always be of importance. But our planet and our humanity need an injection of new thoughts and newer ideas. You don't have to be young to have new thoughts and make change but I do believe it helps. I'm not sure who is going to win the democratic side of things but it sure will be historic. And, it sure will scare the hell out of the establishment. I'll leave it up to your imagination who the establishment is. I was listening to NPR again and this guy who identified himself as an old, white southerner told Ira Glass on Talk of the Nation that he will vote for Clinton but if Obama wins he will vote for McCain. When he was asked why he said, "Obama speaks eloquently, but there's not much substance behind him" When Glass pressed the caller for another reason the caller said, "Plus he's Black and I don't care what people say, race is an important factor." He told Ira Glass that he has lots of friends who feel the same way he does.


Again, I am unsure who is the best choice for the Democrats at this crucial time. It's a hard hard choice. But what this man was saying is that he didn't think a Black person was smart enough to lead the country. I forgot to tell you that he said he was voting for Edwards until he dropped out. I have a feeling it is older white dudes like this who will end up being a huge factor. This is what I was trying to say in some previous blogs. This population is flying under the radar for some reason. I really do feel that race is becoming less and less of an issue with the American youth. It's less of an issue for kids in high school now then when I was in high school (all those years ago). Sometimes I get the feeling that the older generations are trying to hold on so tight to their old school prejudices. Some of them have achieved injecting their prejudices into their children which in the end can only set their kids back. Sidney Poitier says something interesting in the movie Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. He's speaking to his father and he's trying talk about his engagement to a White woman. The father just can't understand and is very upset with Sidney and finally Sidney has enough and yells out something like, "It's not until your whole damn generation is dead and buried that we will be able to move on from this mindset". This comment is mostly untrue because like I just said, people pass their beliefs on to their children. But, I kind of understand what he is trying to say. It's like, if we keep electing the same freaking people into positions of power and decision making we're never really going to get any new results. I mean, the planet is in big trouble and it seems like human beings are starting to group into "our-side" vs "your-side" which is always a dangerous mindset. I don't know many people who are born hating someone. It's something you learn to do. You learn by watching those who are older then you interact with the world. You learn by how the world interacts with you. So, I hope if I ever have children that I will keep to a minimum the amount of prejudices I grew up with that have infected my very being. A simple joke about someone, a little head shake, I think that's all it really takes to influence the young about those who appear different. I think change is in the air and it's long past due if you ask me.

More about Korea:
The can openers here suck! They all have plastic turn knobs that break. They were charging 32,000won ($32.00) for can openers in this one store that's like a Nordstrom. Danielle and I could not believe it. It was nothing special either. Still had a plastic knob which means it's good for opening two cans before it breaks. I just broke my third can opener so I'm a little bitter at the moment. I miss American can openers that were probably made in China!!!

You can get a variety of meats on a stick here. Seriously, you can get pretty much any kind of meat on a stick you want. You can also dip your meat on a stick as many times as you want into a communal bowl of sauce. I have never done this and I will never do this because as some of you know I am very Germophobic. I watch people buy their Octopus on a stick or their Sausage's on a stick and then they take a bit and dip and then take another bite and dip and this process goes on and on and on until I feel dizzy and have to sit down. I'm weak that way. Danielle makes fun of me but I don't see her dipping he meat sticks into the communal bowl of disease and death. She keeps trying to get me to buy these silk worm larva things they sell like peanuts over here. I would buy some to eat but they are not crunchy they are slimy looking. If I'm going to eat bugs I need a crunch you know what I'm saying. They also have an assortment of dried seafood items which in all honestly taste like salty dry fish, so if you like fish and you like dry salty things, you'd probably like these.

It's also perfectly acceptable to get drunk off your ass here. Now for some reason I don't drink here. I've had about three beers since I've been here (not that I drink much in the States) and they all taste pretty much like water. The popular drink here is called Soju and you can buy it anywhere. It's like vodka I guess and it's cheap as hell. You can buy a bottle for under one dollar and I've heard it packs a punch. I have no interest in it. I've seen what it does to people. I've walked over many a Korean man passed out on the sidewalk with a bottle of Soju next to him. I'm not joking by the way. You walk by men in suits (it's been all men) passed out on the street. People just step right over them. Every time I've seen one of these drunk pieces of art on the street it's been mid afternoon. It's not late at night, it's in the middle of the day. But kissing in public is looked down on??? I think things like this are very funny. I just found out that it used to be illegal for women to smoke outside (everybody smokes here) but now it's just highly looked down on. So, if you're a lady you can only smoke inside. I guess that's so you get a higher concentration of the cancer causing agents. You are not allowed to wear any make up in school....period. There seem to be lots of restrictions and rules here. Some I find odd and some I don't mind. It doesn't bother me that if I hand money to an older person I should use both hands when doing so, or that I should cover my heart with one hand while pouring a drink with the other if the person is older then me. But, if I was a smoker and had to stay inside because of my gender to do it I think I wouldn't like that so much. I have noticed that the older you get as a woman the more these rules don't seem to apply to you. I've said it before, Worldwide, women are the most oppressed group there is.

I got sick of being stared at this time around. I just wasn't in the mood this past week and it happened a lot. Danielle told me I need to learn how to say "take a picture" in Korean. I think she may be right. Sometimes people will point at me and stare and this really gets on my nerves. I was on the subway two weeks ago watching these grown men give each other neck rubs when one noticed me and started looking at me like I was very very strange. He continued to rub his buddies neck while giving me this look of confusion. I just kept thinking to myself, it really is location location location. Two men giving each other neck rubs on a crowded subway is an every day occurrence here. A black man sitting quietly, listening to his ipod on a crowded subway, fucking abnormal!!!! Korea. Gotta love it.