My main questions, at first, about the Korean War was what it was, generally speaking. After taking a look at the main timelines through research, I started looking into more in-depth articles with the help of my IDS instructor. By this time, I started looking into an article which critically analyzed the bias in textbooks (The main educational tool to influence a country’s people)

#2 This later led me into the research into how Wikipedia shows and fixes its bias as well. As shown in an earlier post, I came to a conclusion that this tool is quite neutral in its opinions and not the worst choice for research.

#3 In the end, what I gained from this experience was to read my materials and data gathered from exterior sources with a critical eye. My research abilities also improved as well as my ability to create projects and take what’s useful and apply them to other data. After this project, I feel much more motivated to do independent research in the future.

After this project, I feel much more motivated to do independent research in the future.My main questions, at first, about the Korean War was what it was, generally speaking. After taking a look at the main timelines through research, I started looking into more in-depth articles with the help of my IDS instructor. By this time, I started looking into an article which critically analyzed the bias in textbooks (The main educational tool to influence a country’s people). From this project, it showed just how much the media modifies information for the public without much notice.

Again, looking back at the Koreas, both of these two countries had very peculiar connections with the outer world.

• This war was started by North Korea who earlier agreed with Russia (That Russia would provide weapons while China would provide man power) that if anything went wrong in its attempt to unify the Korea’s, it would get backing.
• After North Korea  attacked South Korea, South Korea looked for help in the Democratic side of the world (USA). This proved to be successful as they charged up to the border of China.

In this case, USA textbooks seems to give well justified reasons as to why China got involved saying that they were forced to protect their border from USA.

Note: taking this a bit further, a reason for why Japan was so neutral in this situation may be because it is both a democratic country but at the same time it tried taking over China, a communist country. Although this does not sound contradictory (their goals were otherwise as well), it actually… is. After it’s take over of China, Kuomintang was getting hatred from its people for surrendering their ground. This gave the current Chinese government to go from just a few men to a few hundred thousand soldiers. That was why after WWII, Japanese relatives inside Asia were well treated while China did not claim any payment from Japan, a country that lost WWII.

• At this time, China’s civil war was almost at it’s end (Kuomintang has just lost of party of Republic of China therefore has escaped to Taiwan) and was getting ready to finish Taiwan taking this chance to finish the opposing party. The next minute, America was at its doorstep getting ready to bite off some land~
• Here one, North Korea and China made a counterattack pushing North Korea back into the south
• Taking another chance, USA countered with South Korea taking back most of the peninsula.
• FINALLY TRUCE WAS ANNOUNCED

Even today, there are still conflicts withing these countries. Korea is truly a very strong nation as well as a very interesting culture. Even though it was taken over many times by China and Japan, their neighboring strong countries, they still managed to retain their culture and remain independent. The North sides snuggles comfortably in the hands of communist countries, China and Russia, while South Korea takes it’s place with Democratic countries Japan and USA. These two countries played a great role on the international stage and still do today.

Not recommended?

In our school districts these days, most teachers recommend students to study from  various sites to ensure the accuracy of the information and to let students search a bit more around the web before relying on the all convenient wikipedia. This works very well as it helps with the student’s research abilities. Something else to look at are books, the most traditional way of finding information. Whether it’s digital books or hardcovers, we all trust it. To give it a rating, it is a good thing. We develop the skills to research but no Wikipedia is not bad, that would not quite be the reason educators do not recommend it.

Overcoming Biases

Not only is Wikipedia not bad, it is also generally non-bias. After looking at wikipedia and comparing the biases, I learned that there are very few in comparison to published books. *reference to previous post* The reason for that may be quite simple. If we look at how books are published, it is written by a few authors for a publisher. There on after, editors take the book and change the odd parts to meet their requirement. From here, they need help, and there comes the government. In order to release it into public settings they need the help of the higher ups and since the ones who are capable of manipulating the contents are very few, it is easier to do. This satisfies the world, the people, and the government. While textbooks take this course perfectly, they aren’t all bad, they state facts and leave some out, some say this would be propaganda, but the knowledge is what counts. Not all books are like this, many are to satisfy different points of view. This leads us to having many books to read through in order to get the big picture. It does us no harm and in reverse benefits us.

If you’re the type of person who doesn’t have much time, then ebooks and the internet is our best choice. Putting ebooks aside, there are many resources online in which we can use, some are made by individuals who wish to share their biases or facts and many are made by organizations. To collect all these together may take time but still, a fast, easy and great choice.

Wikipedia hurrah!

Now comes to the main topic, Wikipedia. You may think that it is an unreliable resource because of how much freedom everyone has in editing it but that is the actual reason as to why it is reliable. Having read through some more popular articles (Korean War), I’ve come to a conclusion that it is quite neutral in its opinions and facts. It states the facts straight out, if it doesn’t, someone will find it and correct it. Some of the examples here (from the Korean War article analyzed) include how a section on Japanese colonialization was included. In most Western textbooks, they avoid giving details on the details of how Korea was colony before the war which would indicate that that US, back then, was trying to take Korea away from another Country which would not be so different from the image they gave the communists. In addition to that, Wikipedia also gives a little part to the casualties during the war. This topic was also something that the rest of the world did not want their people to know. According to the textbook analysis article, only South Korea gave a comment on this. The tragic that went on behind the glory front.

Because it is an open source, anyone can correct it, having millions of people observing its articles each day, it has been proven to be a great editing strategy in comparison to the few professional editors. Why would people edit it? Self motivation and a sense of contribution has to be credited for that. Although I will not get into the psychological factors, the fact is, everyone overlooks wikipedia. Once one bias appears, someone else will take it off with another opinion. With its constant changes, a conclusion can be drawn that it is quite a neutrally opinionated data-base therefore, not a bad thing. Wikipedia, hurrah!

Biases:

Japanese rule (1910–1945) –

The topic of Japanese rule was mainly glorified and emphasized in Japan’s point of view.

The communists, led by Kim Il-sung, fought the Japanese in Korea –

US bias: North Korea is usually labeled as a communist country and in a Japanese Bias, the country usually avoid colonial description

He established control by restoring to power the key Japanese colonial administrators and their Korean and police collaborators –

Chinese: Although China use to be a part of the Allies, it is made obvious that the force behind this was US therefore as opposing sides, it is more benificial to the leaders of Asia

U.S. troops withdrew from Korea in 1949,[52] leaving the South Korean army relatively ill-equipped. The Soviet Union left Korea in 1948. –

Korean/Japanese: Because US left both these countries in turmoil after WWII, it is more likely they would disclose this information which did not appear as often in other english references

His team delivered the intelligence to headquarters that invasion was imminent. Thirteen days later, the North Korean People’s Army (KPA) crossed the 38th parallel border and invaded South Korea. –

US: In here, it is described in the beginning that the escalation of war was in the fault of North Korea while the CIA officer is made to feel like a peace keeping protection agent

Under the guise of counter-attacking a South Korean provocation raid, the KPA crossed the 38th parallel, behind artillery fire, at Sunday dawn of 25 June 1950 –

South Korea: It is more likely for the one who is at odds with North Korea to use “under the guise of counter-attacking” to lower North Korea’s image. Why it possibly might not be US is because, Usually in this situation, they would point a finger towards Soviet Union, their real target

There were no large foreign military garrisons in Korea at invasion time, but there were large US garrisons and air forces in Japan.[39] –

Japan: An indication of US using Japan as key ground

President Truman announced that the US would counter “unprovoked aggression” and “vigorously support the effort of the [UN] security council to terminate this serious breach of peace.” –

China/Japan: Since these two nations were at odds with US with this issue, this passage is most likely used to emphasize US’s real goal behind this support of civil war within Korea

It is a comparison on the contents of the Korean War from perspectives of different textbooks used around the world.

The American media: North Korea

• Quote: “North Korea, is the last Cold War frontier and remained an isolated nation from the rest of the world”
• 1993
• June 27, 2008 – North Korea blew up part of its Yongbyon nuclear plant – demonstrates commitment to halting its nuclear weapon programs
• Six-party talks – discussion between South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and USA to disarm North Korea because of its withdrawal from Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2003
• Fall 2008 – North Korea restarts nuclear plant

Comparison Chart

EDIT

reference to original text

Politically:

The Great Depression

• The US economy before 1929 was going on a great course
• Right before election time (March 1929) Republican Government seized control over market
• March 1929: Hoover of the Republican was elected

Current

• End of 1992, George W H Bush applied restrictions to the bank and the market preventing a major bubble burst as USA’s economy was going onto the road of not being able to be supported by the real market, therefore slowing the bubble growth before it got too big. This caused a slight wobble in the economy
• 1993, the Democrats were elected and USA’s economy looked very well (IT bubble 1995 – 2000)
• Unlike his father, George W Bush let market go on freely ensuring the well being of the economy during his election during 2005. He was re-elected for his final stand of presidency
• Lack of control = bigger fall from the overly sized bubble

The Recovery:

The Great Depression

• Dropped Gold Standard
• Did not support the banks, let them drop

Current

• Fed Govt puts money into the banks
• Govt has lots of debts = peoples’ money, other country’s money
• banks put these money into the market again –> bubble again
• political depression

The Great Depression

Websites

“A Photo Essay on the Great Depression.” Welcome to English. Feb. 2010 <http://www.english.illinois.edu/MAPS/depression/photoessay.htm>.

“The Great Depression and New Deal, 1929-1939.” IWS.CCCCD.EDU – Faculty Web site Directory. Mar. 2010 <http://iws.ccccd.edu/kwilkison/Online1302home/20th%20Century/DepressionNewDeal.html>.

“The Great Depression Timeline & Summary – Facts About the Great Depression.” Http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/. Iloveindia. Feb. 2010 <http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/the-great-depression-981.html>.

Online Data Bases

Smiley, Gene. “Great Depression.” Library of Economics and Liberty. Mar. 2010 <http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GreatDepression.html>.

“Great Depression.” Wikipedia. Feb. 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression>.

“List of Presidents of the United States.” Wikipedia. Feb. 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States>.

Graphs

“Financial Graph & Art – The Recent History of Gold Wallchart.” Financial Graph & Art. Mar. 2010 <http://www.financialgraphart.com/fedchart.html>.

Please notice the amount of bonds/loans the government made after 1929

Patterns:

1. Bubble stock/housing
2. People followed – Pack/Wave
3. Over excessive loans from the bank – eg: When one only has $1 but spends $10
4. Flipping the prices – Supporting the buying and selling with no real money involved
5. More and more people buy in as market grows
6. Money for Businesses go into the market
   
7. Market is unable to support prices
8. Bubble bursts
9. Everyone tries to get out by selling
10. Stock plunges
11. Debt piles up on banks – People cannot return debts
12. Banks declare bankrupt

1933 recovery methods:

1. Drop Gold standard

Current recovery methods:

1. Putting Federal money into banks – in order to save them preventing the loss of the peoples’ money
2. Govt. runs out of money
3. Govt. cannot return Bonds/Debts
4. Political Fall

Detailed GDP of USA

General GDP of US

The above two graphs represents the GDP of US history. The top one is a more detailed intake while the bottom one gives a more overall image.

As you can see, the GDP dropped right after the market crash (Black Tuesday) during the 1929 but if you look closely, it wasn’t at the beginning of the year., but during the last quarter. There was an election during 1929 and it took place during March. It was the year Republican Herbert Hoover came to his seat. When you look at the patterns, it might prove to be quite familiar as a very similar ordeal happened not too long ago.

1920s. That was when the US economy was booming. This was what defined the Republican. In front of the people’s eyes, US was going on a great course thus the Republicans won with an overwhelming number. Although that was the case, the fact that the market plummeted after the election tells us that the economy was already gearing towards that course, it was all a matter of whether the government can hold it out after they get elected or not. Theoretically, it would have been a better idea to put some control over the economy but as the election drew close, it would be a much better thing for the campaign if the economy could be looking good at that time therefore, many people say the great depression was as serious as it was because of a successful campaign.

Comparing that situation to the one we had recently, we could say that George H W Bush gave us a great example of what could have happened if the Republicans didn’t do what they did back then. Instead of letting the economy go, this guy took the liberty of passing a few bills of restriction upon the market. For that reason, the US economy took a slight hiatus from the thrive. At the same time, he did not succeed in holding office for the second time. On the other hand, his son George W Bush succeeded in a re-election by doing the opposite.

Although these are only speculations among some analysts, it is what worked, therefore: reality DUN DUN DUN. In the end, it is only a theory.

The Depression’s impact on the economy
1929     1933
Banks in operation                                           25,568     14,771
Prime interest rate                                            5.03%     0.63%
Volume of stocks sold (NYSE)                         1.1 B     0.65 B
Privately earned income                              $45.5B     $23.9B
Personal and corporate savings                $15.3B     $2.3B
-Historical Statistics of the United States, pp. 235, 263, 1001, and 1007.

Behind the Bankers:

The Depression’s impact on people:
Consumer spending (in billions) on selected items, 1929-33
1929     1933
Food                           $19.5     $11.5
Housing                     $11.5     $  7.5
Clothing                    $11.2     $  5.4
Automobiles           $  2.6     $  0.8
Medical care           $  2.9     $  1.9
Philanthropy          $  1.2     $  0.8
Value of shares on the NYSE     $89.0     $19.0
Historical Statistics of the United States, p. 319.

Data (Mystery!):

• Contraction began in 1928 + 1929… Why so long??
• 1933: 25% of all workers + 37% of all non-farm workers were out of work.
  

  Detailed Unemployment rates in the US during The Great Depression

  

  General Unemployment rates in the US during The Great Depression

• U.S. economy began to recover in the second quarter of 1933
• Recovery stalled for most of 1934 + 1935… WHY??
• Recovery commenced in late 1935 – 1937

IJYO!

Visual Graph – History of Federal Reserve