The biggest problem, imo, is the fucking Chebols. I love my Samsung phone but that company is 22.4% of the South Korean economy, that’s fucking bonkers. The Chebols can dictate economic and social policies and ROK really just needs to break those fuckers up. It’ll be painful, it’ll cause a recession… but much like the famous Prussia quote “Korea is a corporation with a nation.”
On the other hand, because they’re so big they could push changes through the government that would normally take a long time in normal political process. Of course, first they must realize there is a problem and admit to themselves fundamental changes are needed that go against traditions.
This is the classic pro/con argument about authoritarianism. Dictators suck but they’re extremely effective. Democracies move slower but embrace the desires of their citizens [1].
Are the Chebols desires aligned with the needs of the citizens? Well, they effectively run the country now and it’s fucking dystopic so I feel confident saying we should get them out.
Ideally, America is a great example of that going awry because (and I hope you don’t think this is too No True Scotsman-y) it isn’t effectively a democracy.
I know it’s pretty close to asking the scorpion to save the frog but they’re halfway down the river by now and we’ll see very soon what their nature is.
In any case, it’ll be a nice model for USA and EU of what their future will look like.
Those changes they push through are not likely to be good for workers and the general public. They push them through because they help their own profit. Them being able to do that fast is actually a negative.
I’ve worked extensively in SK marketing and analytics before, and for whatever reason Koreans by and large have accepted chaebols. most do not want them gone.
we used to have a saying at work that SK took all the worst parts of American capitalism and ran with it. the society is heavily encouraged to look up to chaebols as examples of success. Korea’s marketing heavily emphasizes materialism in an on the nose way. societal elitism in Korea is part of their culture and they make it known they’re better than you if they’re in a higher social position than you.
you can see the chaebol dream if you’ve ever consumed any Korean media before. the trope of meeting a random person who ends up being a down to earth chaebol is one of the most typical, overplayed story lines in kdramas ever. and even before that, the trope of running into a random person who ends up being some down to earth prince trying to escape royalty was super common. more people fantasize about that kind of stuff there than despise it.
all this to say the chaebols almost aren’t the problem. they’re practically a symptoms of a society who glamorizes them. it feels like how the US felt about the rich in the early 2000s.
Definitely, feminism it’s a consequence of capitalism. Usually they like to be seen as progressive left wingers but nah at the end hypergamy keep rocking.
If you don’t want to hear comments which makes you feel uncomfortable you are free to ban me I don’t have any problem about it. Idk if you are mod or something but I don’t give a flying fuck anyway.
I am a mod, hence the M, and if you violate the community’s rules again, I will indeed ban you. If you don’t care, that’s up to you. If you wish for the rest of your comments to not be deleted, you’ll follow the rules as listed in the sidebar.
I recognize few usernames here. One is that guy’s, and it was the second time I ever considered blocking someone for being aggravating either here or on Reddit, lmao
I also recognize yours, and you’ve usually got great comments/posts. Seems like you’re working hard to make Lemmy lively. Thanks!
I’ll have to let my wife know; she’s consistently made more than me through our relationship. I had her beat for 18 months at one point, I guess she sees my future earning potential 😂
Not everyone looks at relationships as wholly transactional. You get what you look for.
I’ve been a house husband twice in our marriage. First when my daughter was born about 14 years ago until she was 3, and again now that she’s in online school and they require a parent to stay home and supervise. And before and after both instances, my wife made more than me.
She’s also much more highly educated than me. She has two masters degrees, I’m a college dropout. I’m pretty sure the only ‘transactional’ thing in our relationship involves things like ‘if you do the dishes, I’ll take out the trash.’
They are against things like mandatory military service for men only, women-only universities, women's quotas, and other things that create a noticeable disadvantage in their daily lives, in one of the most ultra-capitalist societies in the world.
You know, against things that are effective gender discrimination and that feminism advocates. But yeah, their reaction and rise can only be explained by them being terrible men, no doubt.
There are extremists to every issue. Some want women to have to do military service, and some think that a woman’s place is at home raising the children for her husband.
Some of them are going to be terrible, and those are going to be the ones that women don’t want to partner with, let alone raise children with.
Of course, my comment was in the context of the one that has since been deleted where it blamed feminism for making women not want to have kids, lol
I think the biggest factor is actually the work culture, not gender issues.
It baffles me that the SK government is evidently incapable of understanding that the issue is wage slavery. Everyone needs to work themselves to the bone, and every single time there’s an efficiency improvement, wages don’t go up and hours worked don’t decline, but “the economy” gets “stronger”. Which most workers don’t actually see any benefit from. So don’t be surprised that your citizens simply don’t have the energy or free time to even consider starting a family.
You can, of course, replace “SK” with many other countries, and the paragraph still works 100%.
A better strategy would be to pull back from late-stage capitalism and find some sort of equitable happy medium between that and socialism that doesn’t also destroy our ecosystem, while maintaining a (small-d) democratic form of government.
Part of the problem is developing nations are playing catchup and create a lot of pollution. I wouldn’t mind spending some tax money to help them skip straight to green energy.
We have more than enough resources to feed everyone on earth. We have the land, we have the money to pay the farmers, we have the infrastructure to transport it anywhere in the world easily and quickly. The issue we’re having isn’t too many people, but a small group of people utilizing multiples of the energy they need, and dozens of multiples of the energy of the masses of the world.
Wow so cool, responding to someone taking the time to point out why your eugenicist rhetoric is definitively and provably incorrect, and you just respond with memes. You’re so nonchalant.
Leaders don’t really care about the culture. The current economic and financial system need growth and most growth comes from increasing population. That’s their real concern.
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