One thing that is allowed in Korea, but shoudn't be, is the "right" to disturb the peace. This morning at about 8am these two blue/white trucks parked at the intersection below my home began blaring political messages. I wasn't planning to wake up for another hour. I know the election is coming up in a week, but this crap makes me want to vote Lee Harvey Oswald style--except I'd only shoot the loudspeakers.
UPDATE 5/24: Other candidates were here for more of the same crap today, but beginning at about 7:30am. I'm looking forward to more on Thursday and Friday, and heck, why not Saturday and Sunday?!
Just because you see some people do it, it doesn't mean people think it is right.
That's like you see a guy in US pissing on the side of the street and automatically assume
"Oh it must be not against the public etiquett to piss on the street in US"
Who da hell would be glad to hear the blasting political messages on the way to work or sleeping in the bed unless they're
directly related with the content of the political message?
You see a lot of protests going on in Korea. But ask random korean citizens what they think about most of the demonstrations that take place in Korea.
It's more of a difference in opinion and needs. Some people will do whatever is necessary to get the message across whether it is politically correct or not.
Just like Bush attacking Iraq without UN sanctions.
It doesn't mean most Americans agree with him.
Direct concerns > public etiquetts
I'll give numerous farmers that protested in Korea a while ago. If the wealth and safety of your family is at stake, would you give a damn about a public ettiquet? In one way or another, unless it is of your direct concern, you wouldn't be shouting on the street to get the message across all day. Well simply it is not fun when you could be working or do something more useful. You don't hesitate to think whether it may make some people frown their faces.
Maybe Koreans talking loud on the phone on a busy train would have been a better example.
Ummm... Matt, if you'd signed it with TypeKey you would have seen your comments up here instantly... but reading them, and looking at your three attempts, I wonder just how much you've been drinking!
Anyway, you missed my point. There are apparently a bare minimum of noise pollution laws in Korea. Other examples:
The same vegetable truck drives by my school daily with the same loud repetative message, and as such I'm distracted and can't concentrate on learning. Hell, one time the guy parked right below the classroom's window for several minutes and never turned off his damn barking bullhorn.
Everytime a new business opens it requires that they call up a couple of sexy girls with long hair to dance under a baloon arch while a DJ spins the same tunes non-stop at a volume sure enough to distort the speakers--and the minds of those within a half kilometer... Though, I *do* like the girls.
Other trucks advertising whatever-the-fuck-they-want drive around town blaring messages and songs as well.
I never said Korea does not have anything that is by western standard 'unacceptable' things 'acceptable' as far as noise goes. I even gave one example myself. All I'm saying is shouting political message from the truck on a busy highway is not one of them. Because simply it is not 'right' by Korean standard as well.
You can get arrested for it. In the past, many people got arrested for similar incidents when the government was more authorative.
"Anyway, you missed my point. There are apparently a bare minimum of noise pollution laws in Korea. Other examples:
The same vegetable truck drives by my school daily with the same loud repetative message, and as such I'm distracted and can't concentrate on learning. Hell, one time the guy parked right below the classroom's window for several minutes and never turned off his damn barking bullhorn."
I don't know if by "law" you mean enforcable government laws, if you arrested a poor truck vegetable sales men trying to make few dollars a day to feed his family, there would be massive protests across the country. And I don't know anywhere in the world where you are actually charged for honking. I live in western country myself, but I doubt if I can say I hear less horns here in the busy city. It happens everywhere around the world but you think but you just notice it more because you are in a foreign country.
"Hell, one time the guy parked right below the classroom's window for several minutes and never turned off his damn barking bullhorn."
Ok so you witnessed one guy who didn't turn off his horn for several minutes.
Ask your girlfriend if she thinks what he's done is right. Since she's Korean if average Korean thinks it is acceptable she'll respond accordingly.
Just because you see some people do it, It doesn't mean people think it is 'right'.
There are some things Korean people will think is 'right' which western people will disagree, and likewise what western people think is 'right' but Korean people disagree, but all I'm saying is your example provided was not one of them.
My original claim was that it appears that anyone has the right to make just about as much noise as they want, when they want.
Based on the fact that:
1) ALL political candidates employ vast aramadas of trucks to blast propaganda on the street all over the country
2) Vegetable trucks and all other trucks selling goods have bullhorns with loud repetitive messages (I've not just heard just one of these as you've assumed, rather thousands of them noise pollute daily across the nation)
3) Street advertising campaings employ sound systems that are sometimes painfully loud to walk by.
Further, I never suggested arresting "poor vegetable salesmen" was a solution to the problem--that's your own slippery slope. And I could care less whether or not Koreans think that all this noise is "right" or not. Although, I do know that many enjoy the in-home/in-office loudspeaker that the building management broadcasts near-daily announcements over... I pulled the wires out of mine.
Finally, you *do* hear more horns in Korea and it has nothing to do with being a foreigner or not, busy city or otherwise. In San Francisco, honking is considered rude and to only be done in dire situations. In NYC, the horn is your friend. In Seoul, people have the Hyundai emblem worn into the palm of the hand they honk with; except for city bus drivers it's Daewoo.
This is a blog mostly with photos, and sometimes my opinions. I'm not interested in debating a guy in Australia about noise in Korea, so why not visit The Marmot's Hole where you can debate to your heart's content with some of the finest assholes in Korea.
It's finally Wednseday, Election Day. Glad all this campaigning is over. Too much talking, lots of promises I am sure.! By the way, some great photos over the past several postings.