Thursday, September 15, 2011

외모 지상주의에 대한 나의 견해



요즘 들어 한국의 사회문제로 재기되고 있는 외모 지상주의는모가 개인간의 우열과 성패를 가름한다고 믿어 외모에 지나치게 집착하는 사회 풍조를 일컫는다. 이로 인해 너도나도 외모를 가꾸기 위해 많은 시간과 돈을 투자하게 됐고, 이른바 ‘성형 열풍’ 현상까지 나타나고 있다.

이런 현상의 원인은 여러 가지가 있는데, 단연 가장 원인은 대중매체의 영향이라고 본다. 케이블 티비, 인터넷은 물론 스마트폰의 보급으로 대중매체를 접근하는 것이 더욱 쉬워짐으로써 사람들은 하루에도 여러 상업적 방송들을 접하게 되었다. 광고주들은 외모가 출중한 연예인들을 자신의 광고에 출현시킨다. 이는 상품에 대한 광고효과를 위한 것이지만, 사람들의 모방심리를 자극하게 된다. 연예인들이 본인의 성형 사실을 공개하고 그것을 당당하다고 표현하며, 말초적인 관심사를 확대 재생산함으로써 아직 비판적인 시각을 갖지 않은 미성 세대는 대중매체로부터 쉽게 영향을 받고 있다. 예를 들어, 배우 신은경이 양악 수술로 인해 부드러운 인상을 갖게 되자 불과 며칠 사이 많은 네티즌들은 본인도 양악 수술을 고려하게 됐다는 의견을 보이고 있다. 그뿐 아니라, 컴퓨터에서는 본인의 얼굴을 원하는 데로 고쳐볼 있는 기능을 통해 누구나 쉽게 ‘얼짱’이 있다는 심리를 자극하고 있다. ‘얼짱’들은 단지 외모만으로 유명해지게 되었고, 이들을 소개하는 인터넷 카페도 수십 개가 생겨났다. 아름다운 외모에 대한 욕망과 첨단 기기의 고급화가 맞물려 얼짱 문화의 가속화를 촉진하고 있다.

넓은 시각에서 살펴보면, 물질적 여유와 여가시간의 증가도 하나의 원인으로 꼽을 있다. 예전 한국은 농경사회 (채취사회) 였다. 먹고 살기에 급급했던 당시의 육체는 목적 달성을 위한 수단일 뿐이었다. 그러나 산업화가 되고 물질적으로 여유가 생기면서 육체의 웰빙 (well-being)까지 신경 쓰게 되었다. 노동계급이 아직도 육체를 노동의 목적으로 쓰는 데에 반해 소위 말하는 지배 계급이 삶의 가치를 ‘무엇을 해야 할까’에서 ‘어떻게 해야 할까’하고 질적인 데에 두게 되었기 때문이다. 웰빙은 원래 행복, 안녕, 복지 건강하고 안락한 인생을 살자는 의미, 삶의 질을 향상 시키자는 의미에서 생겨났으나, 의미가 변화하여 외모가 출중해야 삶의 질이 향상 된다는 식의 주장이 생겨나고 있다 . 이는 외모가 자기만족 뿐만 아니라 취업, 승진등에도 직간접적인 영향을 미치게 되므로 경제적인 능력과도 무관하다고 없게 것이다. 심지어 요즘 ‘외모는 사회적 지위’라는 식의 사고방식이 세대를 불문하고 만연되고 있다. 가장 유명한 예로, ‘선풍기 아줌마’로 알려진 한미옥씨는 예전에 아름다운 미모로 가수 생활까지 했지만 본인의 외모에 만족하지 못하고 지나친 성형으로 인해 얼굴이 변형되고 2배로 커지면서 성형중독의 무서움을 알리는 존재가 되었다. 흥미로운 것은, 한미옥씨가 빼어난 외모를 가지고 있었음에도 성형 수술을 이유가 연예인 대부분이 성형 수술을 하기에 자신이 성형 수술을 하지 않으면 남들보다 뒤쳐질 거라고 생각했기 때문이라고 했다는 것이다. 이는 이미 웰빙의 의미를 벗어나 지나치게 외모를 중시하는 현재 한국 사회의 풍조를 보여주는 극단적인 예라고 있다. 또한, 영국 신문 ‘인디펜던트 (Independent) 2007 8 12일자 판은 ‘잘생긴 사람이 직장에서 외모가 별로인 사람들에 비해 평균 12% 번다’고 보도했다. 외모가 중요시되는 것은 우리나라만이 아니라 세계적인 추세라고도 있다. 서구사회에서 이렇듯 외모에대한 관심을 보인 것은 경제적 시간적인 여유를 통해 추구되는 삶의 질의 상승이라는 사회적 현상의 하나로도 있다. 문제는 이것이 지나쳐 성형이나 외모에 대한 집착이 다른 가치있는 것들보다 중요시되고 우선시 나타나는 것이다.


그렇다면 외모를 가꾸고 미를 추구하는 것은 부정적이기만 것일까? 사람들은 외모 지상주의를 논할 대개 거부감을 먼저 보인다. ‘외모 지상주의’ 자체가 ‘외모에 집착을 한다’는 부정적인 내용을 포함하고 있기 때문이다. 그러나 사회적인 만남에 있어서는 상대방의 내면까지 파악할 기회가 쉽게 주어지기 힘들기 때문에 처음에 보여지는 외모가 중요시 되는 것은 어쩔 없는 현상이라고 본다. 외모 지상주의가 도덕적인 현상인지에 대한 의견은 사람에 따라 다를 있다. 그러나 분명한 것은 사람들은 외모가 뛰어난 사람에게 끌리기 마련이라는 것이다. 외모도 () () 같이 사람의 매력중 하나이고, 사람간의 대면이 아예 사라지지 않는 ‘외모’라는 매력은 부각될 것이다. 그러므로 외모를 중시하는 풍조가 사라지는 것은 힘들다고 생각한다. 뛰어난 외모에 끌리는 것은 인간들의 본능이고, 이를 부정적으로 생각하는 것보다는 존재를 인정하되, 건전한 시각에서 바라보고 도가 지나치지 않도록 조율하는 능력이 필요하다. , 대중 매체에 나오는 사람들은 공인으로서 본인의 행동과 발언에 책임을 느낄 필요가 있다. 자신들의 일거수일투족이 사람들에게 영향을 있다는 것을 인지해야 하며 중에는 미성년자들도 포함되어 있다는 것을 염두에 두어야 것이다.


대중매체의 영향, 물질적 시간적 여유 다양한 원인으로 인해 생겨난 외모 지상주의. 사회적 풍조는 어찌 보면 빠르고 쉽게 변화하는 우리사회의 공허함 보여주는 단면일 수도 있다 . 지나치게 외향적인 것만 좇게 되면 정신적인 공황상태에 이르기 쉽고 ,이는 정신적 질병과 심지어는 자살이라는 또다른 사회문제도 야기시킬 있다. 그러나 너무 외모에 자신감이 없게 되면 본인도 모르게 위축되고 자신이 하는 일에도 자신감이 없어지게 되는 것도 사실이다. 그러므로 우리는 각자의 자리에서 책임감을 가지고 일하며 자신의 분야에서 능력을 계발하고 발휘하는 것을 우선시하며, 물질과 외형보다는 내면의 능력과 아름다움이 만족의 기준이 되도록 생각을 전환할 필요가 있다. 따라서 복잡하고 다양한 정보의 홍수 속에서도 내게 필요한 것만을 선별하여 받아들이고, 본인의 외모를 아름답게 가꾸면서도 자신의 인격과 능력, 지혜로움 내면의 아름다움을 가꾸려는 노력의 조율이 더욱 필요하다.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Born In California, Then Nothing Happened

I was thinking to work on a biography about my grandfather until I opened this site on ‘NPR six word memoirs’. I, just out of curiosity (I had no idea what a 'six word memoir' is), clicked the 'next' button on the screen and felt myself getting more and more involved into it. When I finally finished seeing every single one of them, I picked out some that I was interested in, and looked at some different sites. In the end, I felt that this memoir, 'born in California, then nothing happened', spoke to me the most.

The picture on the right is the picture of my family when I was about 2years old. Now, as an eighth grader, I'm not sure what exactly has changed because of the existence of me. Nothing happened except that my parents are much more stressed, a few utensils in our house broke, and...my sister is stressed.

I think (and hope) that most other people are feeling this way too, because as middle school students, we (yet) have no impact in our society, although some of us may have the potential to. The author, Mark Harris, probably felt the same way except that now, by creating this memoir, he has touched some people's feelings.

After reading this quote, instead of feeling relieved that I'm not the only one feeling useless of themselves, I had a feeling of motivation to work harder so that ‘something’ does happen. I don’t exactly know why, but I think that’s the reason why this quote was so touching and spoke to me. This links back to my quote (blog entry #1), ‘patience and fortitude conquer all things’. Although the memoir that spoke to me was ‘Born in Seoul (California), then nothing happened’, I’ll be more mature and hard working in high school so that when I graduate university and become an adult, I could say that ‘Born in Seoul (California), worked hard with patience and fortitude, conquered all challenges. Something did happen indeed’.


The picture on the right is me in a weird posture beside my cousin, Joseph Bae. This cousin of mine was a brilliant student in elementary school, but started to be a lazy a bit in middle school. However, after realizing 'something' from my grandfather's lectures about the Korean proverb 'animals leave their skins when their dead, but humans leave their names when their dead', he totally changed his lifestyle and went to a very good university in the US.


I've also been very lazy these past years, but from next year, as a high schooler, this six word memoir, 'born in California, then nothing happened', and the Korean proverb which gives a similar motivation to people will have an impact on me.

Monday, May 18, 2009

The Lost Boys of Sudan

Sudan, the largest country in Africa, has been having many conflicts and civil wars going on for 50 years since 1953. (Both of the civil wars). This caused many deaths (over 2million), especially to the Dinkas, tribes of cattle- herding people in Southern Sudan in the Bahral Ghazal region. However, only about 20,000 boys were able to escape from all the fire and gun shooting to the refugee camps in 1992. Women and girls left were taken away to be raped or to be sold in slavery. On their way to Kakuma of Kenya set out on foot, they faced a lot of obstacles such as thirst, hunger, lions, heat and gunshots. Many drowned while crossing the Gillo River, placed in Ethiopia, most of them had ripped off feet skin, and some couldn’t stand the lacking of food, eventually getting eaten by lions and other wild animals as suppers. These boys were nicknamed as the ‘Lost Boys’. Luckily (?), the US refugee program offered them to settle in the US and start a new life. They thought that the life in America would be like the ‘heaven’, they will be the future of Sudan and considered the opportunity as some kind of ‘free offerings’. There are a lot of free offerings, especially for buying electronics, but they all turn out to be later on that they aren’t actually free; you either need to fill out a lot of complicated sheets, have to pay later on anyways, or (especially for mobile phones) have to pay a lot more money than ordinary users when using the object. The Lost Boys’ lives in the US also turned out to be like that- they faced a lot of conflicts to adapt through the new culture, and couldn’t gain much benefit living there.

An example of the Sudanese boys having difficulties during their life in the US is shown in the docudrama, “The Lost Boys of Sudan” as it focuses on the lives of two Lost Boys, Peter and Santino, before, during and after they have been given the chances to live in the US. Although they had a lot of different tragedies, the major difficulties were probably loneliness, racism (low income) and cultural differences. However, the two boys eventually adapted to the new culture and (although they still had some problems) and were able to overcome the difficulties.

Before they arrived and re-started their life, they were really excited about their new world, new life and a new start. Although they were a little afraid and worried, they had no idea how much challenges there will be when moving to a totally different place would be like, and were thrilled about the new opportunities and better education that they were soon going to have. Their vision of going to the US was like going to the heaven where all problems can be solved. Yet, when they arrived, things turned out to be very different from what they’ve expected them to be- many afflictions started to show up.

The first difficulty/ disappointment that they faced, was loneliness, as America is a busy country compared to Sudan, they didn’t have any friends there (or time to make friends), and they weren’t able to blend in. During the docudrama, one of the boys says “Time is money in America”. Also, other people’s behaviors towards them was another factor that made them feel lonely; since the Americans haven’t seen that many pure Africans before, they looked at the boys in a strange way, making them feel uncomfortable, and perhaps, small. On the bus way to the work, Peter was stared and glanced by other people. He said, “People just look at me. I look odd. I feel shame and I don’t like that. I’m so black than the black people living here. I’m so…black.” This shows how some people are racist towards them and how he feels about that. They also had too many things to do, such as their job or school (studies, homework, and class time) - he had no time or energy to do anything.

Another struggle was the racism and the short of money that followed that. As shown in the docudrama, Santino isn’t used to work in factories, and can’t work fast, so he couldn’t get good jobs. The job he had only paid him 7 dollars per hour, an amount definitely not enough to pay for all the necessities, rent, food, money to send back home, and he was even requested to give money to help the rebels- they didn’t even work full time as they had to study (do homework, at school) and do their housework. They were not only paid for a low income but also biased during work; Santino were told from his boss while working at a supermarket, that since he’s used to the heat, he should work under the sun. “The boss said Africa is hot and we are used to the heat. It’s not funny. She thinks I’m already burnt because we’re black. It doesn’t mean that I need to work under the hot sun,” says he. –this incidence shows how the boys are trying to blend into the American culture, but the other people aren’t opening their mind in return. Peter moved to Kansas due to the lack of jobs, since he heard that there were more jobs there. Yet he still couldn’t get good employments because he was attending high school. He even had a hard time to get this chance of being educated, because the schools thought highly of birth certificates, and Peter wasn’t able to attend the school until he requested a new birth certificate from Sudan where there aren’t many proper hospitals. His naivety about the currency in the US also gave him some challenges to deal with his money.

People experience cultural differences even when moving from one school to another- moving from a country to another that has barely any, or no similarities at all would have given them a lot of cultural shocks. Peter and Santino had this case, and when they first arrived in America, they were ignorant about everything going around them. They didn’t know how to use the facilities in their house, so they had to be instructed carefully about all the details and safety. They even needed help when making their own beds; it’s quite obvious that they would’ve had troubles in many other things, too. Driving license, cars, and receipts were all new for them, so not knowing what to do, they drove without a driving license, didn’t keep the receipts after paying the rent, causing to pay for a lot of fines when they were unaware of the laws there.


However it is then, when recognizing the fact that living in America isn’t a free offering that the boys decided to make some changes- no more sufferings. They eventually adapted to the American culture- they used slangs such as “Man” or What’s up”, changed their clothing style, ate Western food, didn’t hold hands and used advanced technology such as TV. Making friends, working hard at school was also some ways they were able to get used to living in America. Peter, after requesting for a new birth certificate and becoming a junior I high school in Kansas made many more friends, and was adjusting to America with the helps from his friends. He learned to speak English fluently, graduated and was accepted by many white friends when he went to a church along with his white friends. However, they kept most of their cultural identity, and still spoke in their own language while talking to each other. They also started to contribute to their country, Sudan.

Although the life in America and adjusting to it wasn’t spoon- fed to them, they gradually adapted to it, having quite a successful experience there. =]

Thursday, May 14, 2009

901

It’s the most joyful day of the year. Well- it is supposed to be. It’s supposed to be day with balloons, gifts, parties, and possibly, my favorite of all that exist in the world, money!
I woke up in the morning, excited to see what my family had prepared for me. I staggered past the corridor expecting my parents saying “Happy birthday!” but the living room was empty except for the furniture. Hmmm…this definitely didn’t seem right. I glanced at my watch to check if it actually was my birthday today- maybe I’m mistaken. Sadly, the watch clearly stated ’08-06-28 and yet, nothing had happened. I was beginning to get really serious. Have they totally forgotten about me? My birthday? Don’t they have it marked on their calendar? Then I began to imagine stories like- ‘Are they planning to reveal the secret of my birthday or something? Like…”Jaewon, you actually were adopted. We’re sorry about that. I think you’re old enough to understand” OR it’s like one of those movies where you’re normal, but everyone else suddenly turned into Ancient Roman or something’ Oh my God. I knew that those things wouldn’t happen, but I really was serious at the time. I’d rather have a real family that doesn’t even know my birthday than to become like on of those tragic characters that appear only in novels or movies.
I trudged back to my room. Maybe they did something surprising in my room while I was in the living room waiting for surprises. I inhaled deeply before entering the room- there they were, greeting me with happy smiles- well, in the family photo hanging on the wall of my room. I suddenly felt something at the back of my throat and my eyes. I tucked myself into bed and started sniffing. Crying for a while, I fell asleep. Knock, knock! The door slightly opened, and there was my stupid evil mom saying, “Your saxophone tutor is coming in a minute.” Tuition. On my birthday. Wow. Great. I was annoyed at my mom organizing tuition on my birthday, but I love to play the saxophone, so I just wiped off the tears, and went outside to greet my tutor. My mom doesn’t even know my birthday, and that’s probably why she organized a lesson today. The doorbell rang and I slowly opened the door. My tutor and I went inside my room. Then…my dream…came true…My say tutor handed me the baritone saxophone she brought and said, “Happy birthday! This is the surprise from your parent. No more crying now, JaeWon! Phew! I had a hard time organizing this with your mom secretly so that you wouldn’t notice. Well, why don’t you go thank your mom now?” I was dumbfounded. I couldn’t move an inch from where I was. A Yanagisawa 901 baritone saxophone that I dreamed about every single day in my hand… Nothing could possibly be better than this.
Baritone saxophone is much bigger than the saxophone that people normally play and the pitch is in an octave lower- that’s why I love it so much. The saxophone that my parents bought for me is made by a brand named, ‘Yanagisawa’ and it’s one of the top three saxophone making companies. When I first saw and received the saxophone, I was contented with the saxophone. Although 901 is the cheapest model in Yanagisawa, it’s far better than the professional models of Yamaha. It was so shiny and lustrous in the beginning. Its keys were made out of real pearl, and everything was so comfortable to use; the keys press down smoothly, and has a perfect thumb hook for a stable grip. I was so impressed. However, as time passed by, I was starting to have greed towards owning a 991 black- lacquered saxophone, 992 a bronze saxophone and 9931 silver- plated saxophone that has so many more functions than mine. Is there a limit to my greed? - In my opinion, the answer is NO. Yet, I still love my saxophone, and the saxophone well taken care of by me. Thank you mom and dad!

Sunday, April 26, 2009

From Colonization to Exploitation


Why do people colonize and how does colonization lead to exploitation???

Colonizing refers to an action of taking control of an area or a country that is not your own, especially using force, and sending people from your own country to live there. Then why do people colonize? There are many different reasons for that, but for many occasions, colonizing doesn’t occur simply to ‘help’ the indigenous people that originally live in the land; I would rather say that it’s due to religious or territorial problems, and even to obtain natural resources of the land.
According to an excerpt from a book written by Englishman, Richard Hakluyt, called ‘Reasons for Colonization’ written in 1585, he justified colonization by stating its purposes as-
1) “The glory of God by planting of religion among those infidels”
2) “The increase of the force of the Christians”
3) “The possibility of the enlarging of the dominions of the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, and consequently of her honor, revenues, and of her power by this enterprise.”
4) "Where there be many petty kings or lords planted on the rivers’ sides, and [who] by all likelihood maintain the frontiers of their several territories by wars, we may by the aid of this river join with this king here, or with that king there, at our pleasure, and may so with a few men be revenged of any wrong offered by any of them; or may, if we will proceed with extremity, conquer, fortify, and plant in soils most sweet, most pleasant, most strong, and most fertile, and in the end bring them all in subjection and to civility. . . The ends of this voyage are these: 1.) to plant Christian religion. 2.) To traffic. 3.) To conquer. 0r, to do all three."
(For the rest of the text, click:
http://www.netlexfrance.info/2005/07/28/reasons-for-colonization/ )
All of these justifications show a strong desire for power. The first and the second one are mainly to spread their religion, which was Christianity, and the rest are to earn more land, natural resources, and authority. They were willing to conquer other countries for honor, wealth and power which they believed would be the outcome. There are many other examples of religion and greed causing colonization. The first example could be from Queen Isabella of Spain who showed a genuine desire to bring about the conversion of the millions of new subjects. She funded Columbus and his successors to providentially bring the discoveries and to extend the bounds of Christian influence further into unknown regions of the New World (America, Oceania).
(For more information about the relationship between religion and colonization, click: http://southwest.library.arizona.edu/spmc/body.1_div.2.html ) The second example is also from Spain; In the 16th century, the Spanish dream of finding great riches in America was realized when Hernando Cortez, the Spanish conquistadores and Francisco Pizarro each conquered the Aztecs in Mexico, Maya, and the Inca Empire in Peru, South America. Natural resources such as gold and silver were poured into the Spanish king’s treasury and satisfied many Spanish. The last example is during the Age of Exploration. Brazil was the only country in South America that wasn’t conquered by Spanish, because the Pope at that time divided South America into half when Spain and Portugal came to ask who had claims to what, and what was fair for whom to colonize which country. At the time, land and wealth went hand in hand, and they wanted access to whatever potential natural resources were in Brazil- people seemed to think that there were just ridiculous stores of gold all over the New World. (Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_colonization_of_the_Americas#Conquest_of_Mexico for more information)
It’s so beneficial for one country to colonize others, yet it’s too appealing for people to resist all the benefits they’ll gain by colonizing like the three examples. Many thought that colonizing was sensible as it brought in so many natural resources and enlarged the domains of their country.

Then why did people start to exploit the indigenous people if they actually went to colonize other lands for the spread of religion or for money?

In the famous poem, “The White Man’s Burden” published in 1989 by Rudyard Kipling, there are exhortations to empire with sober warnings of the costs involved.

For example, he says “Your new caught, sullen peoples, half devil and half child”, showing how the Americans neglected, and thought lowly of the Filipinos. By calling the Filipinos ‘half devil and half child’, he’s showing his feeling that the Filipinos are as uneducated as young children, and are as immoral as devils. The colonizers thought colonization to be a justifiable action as they would make the colonized and their land more civilized and modernized. However, the results didn’t turn out to be good. For instance, the British intention for making Australia more civilized caused the act of taking away the Aboriginal children from their parents using force. The British ‘educated’ them and ‘employed’ them to provide the Aborigines the chance of a better life, but all that did, was producing many mixed- race children with lost family, their cultural identity, freedom, and much more.

He also said, "To veil the threat of terror, and to check the show of pride," showing how the Americans were scared towards some courageous Filipinos who were dedicated to protect their country and their people, that they might take their country back.
Lastly, he said "Take up the White man's burden... To seek another's profit and work another's gain," which tells us that the Americans thought that they had great burdens that they should watch over the Philippines to seek their profits and take them back to America on them. This is very unfair, but this was not their only greedy act; they took away the native’s land and resources so they could use it for their own benefit. For example, the Japanese colonizers took away the Korean’s land, weapons, houses, and daily necessities so that they could use them. Also, all males were taken away from their family to fight for Japan (not Korea), so people left had nobody to help them gain food, harvest, or at least, steal things. King Leopold, the colonizer of Congo, also took away resources such as ivory and rubber, and afflicted the ones that didn’t bring enough of them.

Religion is a means of exploitation employed by the strong against the weak; religion is a cloak of ambition, injustice and vice” (Georges Bizet)