Youtube in South Asia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKILQPBcVTI

This is a video called "Free Hugs in Korea." My fiance's brother and sister-in-law live in Taejon, South Korea, where they teach at a Christian Academy. They had shown me a video clip of an extremely dangerous intersection they saw in Seoul once, and I wanted to find a video clip of that. While I was looking, I came across this video of a young man giving free hugs to anyone who wanted one on the streets in a busy city in Korea (probably in Seoul).

The video shows a little bit about the characteristics of urban Korea. I thought it was interesting to see how few people approached the man to give him a hug. I even saw several men, not allow their girlfriends or wives to go near him. It just seems like many of the people on the streets there did not appear to trust him, but it could be that in Korea, such close contact with strangers seems strange. I guess that in America, people are not really that likely to hug someone on the street that they've never met before.

While I was watching it I thought about the internet filters used by many countries in East Asia. I doubt that this video would be blocked in South Korea, but I think that it quite possibly is blocked in China and North Korea. It would not surprise me that communist countries would not want their people to see someone who loved and accepted everyone enough to give them free hugs on the street. It would not fit in with the communist mindset of everyone doing their designated job and listening to the government. In a communist society free hugs for the general public would have no place. I think that the internet filter in countries like China and North Korea, not only sheild their citizens from freedom of press and information, but it also sheilds them from love and hope, because it does not allow them to see that there might be something more than the life that they know. It does not allow them to see that there are people and a world outside of their borders that is not bent on following rules and turning a profit, but on showing kindness and building friendships with one another. It especially doesn't allow them to see that there are people who want to share the wonderfully freeying message of salvation with them as well.

So I picked this video because it's hopeful. It does show a little about the urban geography of Korea, but I think that the thoughts and questions that I just discussed also have a lot to say about the geography of the area, and the controling governments that govern South Korea's neightbors.