[KS] History's twists: thoughts on kwago ch'ongsan and the MOPE syndrome

Lucas Husgen lhusgen at kirogi.demon.nl
Sun Sep 8 19:20:50 EDT 2002


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Afostercarter at aol.com 
  To: Koreanstudies at koreaweb.ws 
  Cc: choeyh at hawaii.edu 
  Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2002 1:37 PM
  Subject: [KS] History's twists: thoughts on kwago ch'ongsan and the MOPE syndrome


   As an Irishman, my 800 years of oppression 

  This is hardly a convincing argument....As a starter, there's the glorious example of Napper Tandy, in his attempt at all out national liberation not getting further than uninhabited Rutland Island, off Donegal coast, with 30 (!) French soldiers...he got too inebriated to liberate the land. Ever been to Donegal regions? I can imagine this great hero took to the bottle, after topping off the encountered dereliction of the land by considering how long it would take him to get to Dublin succesfully with this mighty army of this...

  Or what about the Flight of the Earls? Or didn't the Irish comply with the Treaty of Limerick and have 10.000 of their fighters take service with Louis XIV, trumpeted as the Wild Geese? Didn't these valiant Irish noblemen choose a life of luxury at French palaces, apart from going into continental batlefields that should not have interested them? And isn't it also true that deep into the 17th century  there were plenty of noblemen's mansions where Irish culture still flourished?...Yet, eventually, without the Wild Geese they didn't stand a chance...

  And, as soon as his illicit love-affair was being revealed, didn't the Irish let Parnell down, just for the sake of catholic holy matrimony? 

  Worst of all: wasn't it an Irish nobleman who ushered the English in, those famous 800 years ago? He wanted his wife back.  So, as a result of this one Irish nobleman wanting his wife back there's still no definitive peace and security in the six counties of Ulster. 

  The one thing that can be learnt from this: there seem to be some nations in the world with a very specific partiality towards their own history, even though the facts are not at all kept from the general public. Yet, I have known regular Koreans to admit that 1592 could have been avoided by Koreans themselves. Which I'd deem to be the number one way to start coping with a nation's history.

  Best,

  Lucas H.
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