crazy koreans and keeping up with the lims (limses)

i'm trying to keep up with my wife's blogging frequency but it can't be done. regardless ("irregardless" ... i still laugh when people say that ... if you don't know what i'm talking about then don't worry about it but listen for a chuckling asian man in the back when you say it), i think this is the most number of posts i've had in this short a time span in a long time. i hope that made sense.

anyway, i wanted to include a link to a new york times story. in case you have been behind in your asian politics (maybe you haven't been tivo-ing overseas news), the korean president has been trying to get american beef back into korea. there's been a ban for a few years due to a mad cow scare. i think one cow came down with mad cow and american beef has been banned ever since. well, if you didn't know, koreans tend to be a superstitious bunch. pardon the pun but there also tends to be a herd mentality--less individualism and more group-ism, i guess a result of the confucian influence. even though seoul is one of the most modern and technologically advanced cities in the world, koreans tend to be pretty gullible and naive. hmmm, interesting. i just thought, maybe that's why i tend to get suckered into things at times, like paying $10 for some dumb word of the day texting service. it's in my genes. i can't help it.

getting back to the story, in the article they mention how all these koreans are protesting (koreans love protesting things, too) the decision by the president because they worry about getting sick from contaminated beef infiltrating their country. what i found most striking was the accompanying slideshow. the third picture shows an amazing amount of people on the streets with candles protesting. unbelievable how many people are out there and it's funny how once you get people protesting, others will come out to protest all sorts of other things. others were out there protesting inflation. "nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd" as soul asylum used to sing. i love the flyer that's being passed around, "mad cow drives our people mad!"

here's another article in time about the fears. a separate wall street journal article also talked about how koreans think americans are even paranoid and don't eat american beef but instead import their beef from australia and other places. i wonder what they would think of me. there is a chance i will be involved in 3 meat buffets this month, 4 if you include baby's b-day party july 5.