Notes from Martha’s Vineyard, North Korea, and K-reality TV

Hello from a Cessna! 

This week, it’s just us, on a grab-bag anthropological journey. [2:55] First, Jay unpacks his recent trip to Martha’s Vineyard and what he learned about the academic elite on a panel about affirmative action. [23:35] Next, we discuss Season 4 of “Love After Divorce”, in which Korean-American divorcees shack up and speak subpar Korean. [42:30] Then we catch up on the sad saga of former NFL player Michael Oher, who has claimed that the film purportedly based on his life, “The Blind Side,” misrepresented his story and unethically enriched his white "adoptive" family. [55:10] Last, we talk about the U.S. soldier who crossed into North Korea, allegedly because he was “disillusioned at the unequal American society,” and the trilateral summit at Camp David.  

On this episode, we ask: 

Is it wrong to eliminate legacy admissions just as Black students and other students of color stand to benefit? 

Are people becoming more tolerant of gyopos and their (our) broken Korean?! 

Will the Michael Oher claims force writers to be more critical of savior stories? 

What do we make of the U.S. perspective on Asia as a theater of war and deterrence? 

For more, see: 

* The panel Jay participated in last Thursday: ‘The Rise and Fall of Affirmative Action’ - The 2023 Hutchins Forum 

* Michael Oher’s claims against the Touhy family, and Blind Side author Michael Lewis’s subsequent comments defending the family

* Coverage of Travis King, the U.S. soldier who crossed over into North Korea, and the recent U.S.-Japan-Korea summit at Camp David 

* The latest TTSG appearance by K-drama expert Jenny Wang Medina, from July: K-content spectacular 

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