Article

2003-05-21 Korea

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Posted by ZeroAngel 2003-05-21 07:23 am|| || Front Page|| [7 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I cant wait until our troops are out of there.

Posted by g wiz 2003-05-21 09:13:06|| 2003-05-21 09:13:06|| Front Page Top

#2 Gwangju. In 1980, demonstrators against the then military government of S.Korea revolted. The Korean government sent in the troops to put the revolt down. About 230 of the citizens were killed in the fight. The Korean military unit which was employed to carry out the action had been part of the Combined Field Army [corps] under American command. The American command released the unit from its command to the Korean government which was then the controlling authority for the action. When the military handed over the government to civilian authorities in later years, the action in Gwangju was a big stumpling block in the transition. Many in Gwangju have never forgiven the government, even the new one for the action in 1980. Then again, a hundred and forty years later, there are those Americans who still think that Lincoln was wrong and are ready to demonstrate the point with daily displays of memories of that rebellion.

Posted by Don 2003-05-21 09:17:31|| 2003-05-21 09:17:31|| Front Page Top

#3 Don, me lad, can't let you implication pass without comment. There may indeed be some Americans who demonstrate their beliefs as you assert. Without going into great detail about the ACW and its antecedents, displaying memories of the rebellion does not mean that the displayer thinks that Lincoln was wrong or that he was right. And persons who think Lincoln was wrong may not demonstrate the point with displays. I trust that you are not implying that displayers of the glories of Southron history are, in effect, contradicting Lincoln. I think that the analogy to Korea is a bit stretched.

Posted by Highlander 2003-05-21 11:14:14|| 2003-05-21 11:14:14|| Front Page Top

#4 Highlander - Any generalization has its exceptions. It may be a hijacking of the symbols of Bobby Lee and great granddad's gallantry (I didn't grow up in VA, so sue me), but a goodly number of the "displayers of the glories of Southron history" I know are precisely looking to signal their disagreement with Lincoln, the Warren Court, MLK, LBJ, etc., etc. I've found that's the safest thing to assume until demonstrated otherwise. Of course YMMV.

Posted by VAMark 2003-05-21 13:12:44|| 2003-05-21 13:12:44|| Front Page Top

#5 Important to note that regionalism is very strong in South Korea, and that Kwangju (Gwangju) lies in the Southwest -- the least prosperous and (supposedly) most discriminated-against part of the country. The division goes back to the Three Kingdoms period, when the SW formed the kingdom of Paekche.

Posted by closet neo-con 2003-05-21 13:25:32|| 2003-05-21 13:25:32|| Front Page Top

#6 VAMark: I don't think you entirely get it. Right or wrong, for better or for worse, the south of my great, great grandfather was invaded by (essentially) foreigners whose stated goal and purpose was to break it, economically and culturally, to the point where it could no longer resist the federal government. The end result was that the entire Southeast was plunged into something of a dark age which was to last for about 100 years.

Over the last 30 years this region, long the poorest and most isolated portion of the United States, has been faced with a new wave of immigration from the Northeast, long the richest. I am a child of that immigration, with a father from Long Island and a mother from the Everglades, and believe me the Southern Heritage movement should not be simply dismissed as a bunch of rednecks nostalgic for segragation (none of us are). There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep your culture intact and unassemelated, nor is there any sin in not trusting a federal goverment that, historically speaking, recently destroyed your country.

Personally I like Lincoln, though. Probably the funniest president we've ever had.

Posted by Secret Master 2003-05-21 14:11:11|| [www.budgetwarrior.com] 2003-05-21 14:11:11|| Front Page Top

#7 Did a hilarious McClellan impersonation, I hear...

Posted by mojo 2003-05-21 16:47:11|| 2003-05-21 16:47:11|| Front Page Top

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