Picture of the Day: Crowd Crush Victims Altar
Bereaved families cry at a joint mourning altar for the victims of the deadly Itaewon crowd crush in Seoul on Dec. 14, 2022. The families and a civic group set up the altar earlier in the day at a public square near the site of the Oct. 29 accident that killed 158 people. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
Lefty commies exploiting a tragedy.
Will it serve any non-political purpose? Will it help educate young people avoid a repeat?
When the Homeland is threatened
What does Space Force do?
PEW PEW PEW
When the enemy attacks Democracy and Freedom
What does Space Force do?
PEW PEW PEW
When the missiles we sent Ukraine are turned against us
What does Space Force do?
PEW PEW PEW
When Musk exposed government corruption
What does Space Force do?
PEW PEW PEW
When contractors get paid by pews
What does Space Force do?
PEW PEW PEW
PEW PEW PEW
PEW PEW PEW
Informal verse only sung at parties where military members are using regulated marijuana.
From the Shoulder of Orion to the Tanhauser Gate
What does Space Force do?
PEW PEW PEW
Let’s try that again… but in the space force topic.
As expected, the Setnaffarians and Flyingsword descreate the desceased so that they may see Yoon remain in power.
Yoon remaining in power means that the USFK can stay in Korea forever which is the prized agenda among the Setnaffarians.
As I said the Setnaffarians rather see innocent Koreans die then see their precious USFK leave Korea because a leftist government replaced an imbecile right wing government.
Maybe they should do all of us a favor and stay out of Korean affairs.
When the whiners whine
What does Space Force do?
PEW PEW PEW
I wonder if they intended to set up an altar rather than a memorial or even a shrine.
The allegedly “Korean” left want to replicate the synthetic emotional exploitation of the Sewol tragedy as they did to improperly remove President Park. Unfortunately, no one painted the lifeboat locks closed in Itaewon, illegally overloaded the boat, ordered the middle school children back to their rooms, or escaped without rescuing the children.
Nearly all of the dead in Itaewon were at least nominally adults; and all of the leftist games have been so clumsily played that everyone they want to influence is on to them. It is certainly a tragedy; but not political. It ought to be about teaching young people to understand where they are at any moment in time, not scoring cheap political points against a rival.
And they utter a variation of “Have you no decency?” while knee-deep in the gore and feeding themselves off the still-warm corpses.
I’m not defending Yoon; but he was no more responsible for hundreds of deaths in Itaewon than our Chinabot’s biological father. Wherever he is in Xinjiang.
The dead in Itaewon were doing essentially the same thing as people who lean over 800-foot drops to get a selfie above a waterfall while gripping a wet, algae-covered and crumbly stone.
Large crowd are dangerous all the time. Especially in alleys not big enough for 10 percent of the crowd who unthinkingly pressed in, killing the people in front of them, and in some cases, themselves.
I found myself in Itaewon Friday morning to get a latte (can’t get them on Yongsan anymore) and stumbled across this memorial / alter / tent / shrine shortly after it was set up.
IMHO the picture in this article was staged. And I can explain why …
What I saw were two visitors (emphasis on TWO) in the tent just standing there, unemotionally, 15’ away from the memorial table. No crying, no wailing, not dressed in black.
Photographers, however, far outnumbered visitors by a factor of 30:1. Photographers everywhere.
What is not shown is all the huge 이재명 banners displayed all around the outside of this tent. Each banner had a huge picture of his innocent/guilty smiling mug. And there seemed to be more banners of him than victim photos on the table.
Standing 20 meters away from the fray, it looked more like an 이재명 campaign event than anything else. Opportunist anyone?
But what got my attention most was this dude … wearing a black panther beret, plenty of bling, looking a fool (in my opinion), and aggressively barking orders to ~10 minion organizers who were falling all over each other to obey his every command.
At one point he kicked over two very large planters with Yongsan-gu placards on them and then yelled at his minions to pick that up.
Where are the pictures of that?
You can feel the lefties wanting to make Itaewon the new Saewol…
…and coup their man into power.
Again.
But the lefties are just tools of the anti-Korean globalists who want to move wealth-creating factories overseas, make Korea energy-dependent, kill small business, and normalize socially destructive and devisive habits… from trannie children to corn syrup in everything, if they have their way.
Koreans aren’t stupid but they are very naive about globalism… mistaking a globalist leader for proudly increasing Korea’s presence on the world stage… rather than a saboteur giving away Korea’s sovereignty to global interests for exploitation.
Protip:
This is how we know Korea Person and such are not Korean.
They don’t quite see Korea from anything on the spectrum of how Koreans see Korea, from globalist to nationalist.
I will not refute setnaffa’s Scottish sockpuppet(aka Mcgeehee)’s claims word for word, since I myself have never been to the temporary memorial/altar mentioned above.
But there are two parts in his somewhat ludicrous claim that I find interesting
Itaewon Friday morning to get a latte (can’t get them on Yongsan anymore)
Strange that he would go to Itaewon to get a latte when there are about four Starbucks in the Shin-yongsan Station area and more in the vicinity.
And to supposedly “stumble” across the temporary memorial means he would have gotten off Noksapyeong Station, which is the station before Itaewon and about 600 meters away from Itaewon Station or the Itaewon Starbucks for that matter.
Which means, assuming Mcgeehee is a real person, he went there deliberately to check it out for a fake news scoop or if not most probably setnaffa pretending using some geographical references he pulled from Google Maps.
Quick quiz.
What exit do you have go out from Noksapyeong Station to get to the memorial/altar?
But what got my attention most was this dude
Don’t know about this dude, but the hairstyle of the persons behind him are of the hairstyles worn by Korean men during the 70s and 80s.
Not exactly a photo supposedly taken last week or last month or last year even.
If you want to make believable fake news, do better research, Setnaffarians.
Korea Person, that attached picture is for illustrative purposes only.
That guy is not even Korean.
That is Richard Masato Aoki, a leader of the Yellow Power movement in the 1960s Bay Area.
And we can credit him with giving the Black Panthers some of their first guns.
You would think this would make him a pretty bad guy.
But no.
He was working for the FBI.
So not only was he helping stamp out racism by writing about 50 reports a year on yellow and black supremists, he was also helping the Black Panthers shoot other Black Panthers over whatever petty nonsense Black Panthers shot Black Panthers over. Black Panther.
This played a part in COINTELPRO where the FBI instigated violence and conflict with the Black Panthers to set them up for police crackdowns.
We see the same thing now as they set up clueless inbred hillbillies and retard Muslims with the motive, means, and opportunity… and then cry right-wing white supremacy and terrorism… and then pat themselves on the back for saving the free world… and then go home and beat it to BMDM ladyboy pr0n.
Ah… there was once a time when the FBI was working FOR America instead of worrying more about Twitter shìtposters of the Meme Wars than Twitter pedo rings… not to mention chasing down armed insurrectionists who didn’t bring any guns or protecting Hunter Biden when he does things that would send us all to jail.
As for Mr. Aoki, he died of complications of dialysis… wait… no, that was the story for a long time until it came out he shot himself.
(Another gun “crime” statistic)
The lesson here is when you are a rat for the FBI, you eventually get ratted out yourself. Some guys, like Sharpton, overcome this, primarily because they have a cult of personality and everyone who looks up to them is on the dumb side of the Bell curve.
But Mr. Aoki didn’t have that and was disgraced among people who didn’t have much grace to dis to begin with.
It was a smart career move.
Chinabot brings up an interesting point. If one was going to use the Subway, why would one go to Itaewon, when there are so many better shopping and/or dining neighborhoods in Seoul?
And, Gentle Readers, just to set your mind at ease, the last time I was in Itaewon was 2007. All my recent trips to Korea have been in the vicinity of K-55.
Between the touristy bits, the restaurants, and the tailors, the shops in the “Shinjang Shopping Mall” outside K-55 offer everything I require. And I can get my steps in walking around the area and seeing what’s new. All of my in-laws are within a bus or taxi ride (yes, even Paju-si and Guri-si are good day trips–and so is 화신횟집, down in Daecheon).
It’s a matter of personal preference.
If one’s a foodie and want to try other food than the regular fare served in other eateries in Seoul, Itaewon is the place to go.
Itaewon is also known as a “bar neighborhood” and is a go to place for Korean twentysomethings who are into bars.
If one is into clubs then that person would obviously go to Hongdae but I disgress.
I don’t know exactly when the trend of going to Itaewon during Halloween, but because of the pandemic gatherings like this were banned during the past two years or so.
Which made this year’s event noteworthy in that because people had all these pent-up feelings which probably led to the huge number of people gathering on that fateful day.
Now the main question when it comes to responsibility of this tragedy isn’t was Yoon was responsible or not.
The main question is did the police and the local government know in advance that this was going to happen and if they did, did they prepare enough for this?
If they did not know in advance, fine, then were adequate measures taken when the first 112 calls came in some cases hours before the tragedy?
The above will come out in a subsequent inquiry which will happen one way or another.
Excaberating this situation are comments made by the Interior Minister, the Yongsan-gu Mayor, and PPP politicians who look like they are trying to avoid responsibility, showing insensitivity to the plight of the victims and look very much that they are trying very hard to avoid another Sewol type aftermath.
Which I’m afraid is backfiring badly.
The article below pretty much sums things up
https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2022/12/113_339078.html
Even Pres. Yoon censured the police over their “bungled” response to the tragedy
https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20221107001752315
@TOK, I don’t think you are going to get much argument about the police response to the crushing disaster. It is pretty clear not enough was done to manage the crowds. Just doing something as simple as shutting down Itaewon Station probably would have done a lot to disperse the crowds better that night.
Anyone who needs the police to protect them should remember that’s not their job.
They’re law-enforcement, not personal bodyguards.
It’s time to stop wetting our pants about the government not being harsh enough.
Let the people who want that move to North Korea, Communist China, or Iran.
Let the people who want personal liberty take personal responsibility.
Move, stand up for yourself, or just shut up you whingers.
Many of you sicken me with this idea that the police should arbitrarily deny liberty to some while allowing others.
At the same time, these two-faced bastards would whine about oppression if they were the ones not allowed to join the party.
It makes me believe the complaints are at best disingenuous, at worst part of a planned tragic event.
So take care of yourself and stop trying to force others to follow rules that you won’t.
Read what Thoreau wrote about selfishness and just grow tf up.
Every time I am on a river in Korea, some scold with a whistle informs me I need to wear a life jacket.
There is a place for a life jacket but it isn’t in a river where the water is knee deep.
This is what happens when authority is given the responsibility to “keep you safe”.
They will.
There are times I want the government to keep me safe.
I want them to enforce red lights, put criminals in jail, make sure there is nothing toxic in the environment, etc.
But we see what happens when we give that power to government.
They lower the yellow light times to give more red light tickets (which causes more accidents).
The start looking for criminals where there aren’t any and then start creating them.
They lock people in their homes and destroy small business because of what is the flu to all but a narrow demographic.
Those are just 3 examples of what government does when you start demanding the government protect you.
It never ends well.
And you want to sell me on the idea that the government should be involved in “keeping me safe” in a situation where participation and risk-taking is 100% voluntary?
No.
Like all government slippery slopes, that ends in “protests being too crowded” or “the event didn’t contribute to the ruling party’s campaign” or whatever.
There is not just a track record of this progression… it is the rule rather than the exception.
The Itaewon situation was tragic. It was unnecessary. There are probably many small things that could have been done which would have avoided it.
But I am not going to demand the government protect me by controlling my movements. I am going to take responsibility for myself.
You cucks can lick any boots you wish.
It is only because a minority of people refuse to live in a totalitarian world that you don’t live in a totalitarian world. And for that you should be very, very grateful.
The motto of the LAPD is “to protect and to serve”
At least for the LAPD, protecting LA citizens is part of their job description.
And the Mission statement of the NYPD
https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/about/about-nypd/mission.page
TOK, you need to switch from Kool-aid to Brawndo. At least you will get electrolytes.
If you believe “protect and serve”, you probably also believe the hooker loves you.
But don’t take my word for it… let’s see what the Supreme Court has to say… back in 1981.
Spoiler: Cops are very protecty and servy when it is in their (sometimes bad-intentioned) interests… but as for protecting and serving you when not in line with what they want to do? Well… not so much.
Bonus: As I recall, the finding that police do not have a duty to protect (or serve) in Warren vs DC (1981) had an influence on overturning DCs handgun ban in DC vs Heller (2008).
I also recall this question coming up in sensible circles after this finding by the court: If the police have no duty to protect and my ability to protect myself is taken away, what are the other options?
Which is actually quite a good question.
This was followed by, “Better to be tried by 12 than carried by 6.”
Read the background of Warren vs DC and if you walk away thinking cops are protecting and serving or women don’t need a handgun, you are not only stupid but also a misogynist.
When seconds count, the police are only minutes away. 400 of them in Uvalde. Waiting in the hall and outside the school building until the single shooter runs out of bullets after murdering the children inside.
And many more examples.
It is so pathetically naive to believe a web page or decal on a cop car means more than past behavior.
And yet, we see repeatedly that cops have no problem shooting people in their own homes—one was sentencd to 11.5 years for that today in Texas.
If you see a crowd like the Halloween crowd, is your first thought, “That looks like fun! I can grab some chick’s arse and she won’t know it’s me!”?
Or is it, “How do I escape if something panics the crowd and they start running wildly?”
Watching the selfie video from the black guy involved, you see him start with “This is fun” and then, too late, realize he can’t get out. And you hear and see others fall and cry out.
Each adult is responsible for themselves. If you choose to force the government to treat you like you’re non compos mentis, they will. But you’ll never be free again.
Look at the totalitarian regimes north and west of the RoK. Ho much freedom do the people have? How much justice? How much equity?
Then go apologize to your parents for shaming them by acting like a baby in public.
They aren’t sold here in Korea, and am not sure if the second one is real.
If one were to try to translate setnaffa’s ramblings about Itaewon, I think this would be the result;
The job of the police is not to control the crowd in Itaewon because their job is law enforcement, specifically catching bad guysSince it was not their job to control the crowd, they shouldn’t be blamedSince the police shouldn’t be blamed, ultimately the Yoon government and Yoon shouldn’t be blamedSo, the Korean left shouldn’t turn this into the next Sewol and use this as an excuse to impeach Yoon and return the Korean left into powerIn light of this, let’s explore what the job of the police is.
As setnaffa said, their main job is law enforcement, namely enforcing the laws made and passed by the legislature.
That ranges from issuing tickets to speeding drivers, investigating criminal cases and if necessary making arrests if their is good reason, and crime prevention.
The police are also responsible for providing security for public events and maintaining public order.
Which is the reason why they are deployed to guard stadiums and other facilities during major sports events like the Olympics and the World Cup and on crowd control duties during major protests.
Here in Korea, the police are also responsible for guarding embassies.
For those who haven’t made the connection, guarding things also means protecting things. So yeah, police do protect people and property as part of their jobs.
In a perfect world which setnaffa sometimes alludes to yes people would be odedient and not break the law and not to big public events.
(Ironic considering that he also calls for lifting of all government controls)
But we don’t live in a perfect world.
And teenagers and twenty somethings like to gather, party, and drink.
And also we know when people party and drink somethings things get out of control.
This is where the police come in.
Usually when local governments or local merchant associations sponsor and hold a big festival, such as the Seoul Fireworks Festival and the Yoido Cherry Blosson Festival they request the local police to come in and maintain public order and crowd control and if you’ve been to those events you would have seen police on duty with lighted wands and whistles.
The one in Itaewon didn’t have such sponsors, but assuming that the Itaewon ward office knew about people gathering during Halloween to party on their turf, they should have put measures to request the police department to provide public order and crowd control.
Obviously, they didn’t.
But the Yongsan Police Dept. predicted something like the above but didn’t implement any measures.
Why they didn’t will obviously come out one way or another.
But if they had, who knows things may have turned out differently and we won’t have the political shitfest we are having now.
Or as GI Korea mentioned something simpler as the Yongsang Ward Office or Police requesting Seoul Metro to not have trains stop at Itaewon Station might have helped.
In any case what happened and happened and we can’t turn the clock back.
But that doesn’t give the PPP lawmakers, government officials, and such an excuse to not use their brains and pour oil on what is a sensitive situation.
A bit long, but I wrote in one go instead of setnaffa, who divides his comments.
The fact that there isn’t Brawndo means capitalism has failed.
After consideration, there are many failures with the Itaewon situation.
Some of the fundamental failures are:
– nobody really expected it to be that busy due to residual covid fear (which is a government worker concern far more than a 20-something concern)
– unlike a demonstration or artificially contained event, nobody expected that level of disorder with people just out having a good time and no bad intentions
– itaewon has never had this problem and it has had big disorderly crowds
– Sam Bankman-Fried didn’t kill himself
– the chain of command in Korea (and everywhere else) doesn’t lead to fast decision-making when the janitor notices the subway station is busier than he ever saw and he reports it to the ticket girl who tells the night manager who has to call his boss who needs the Minister of Rolling Stock to sign off on closing a station.
(Back in late 2021 when everybody except you knew Russia was going to invade Ukraine, the newly appointed General changed a lot of chain of command issues to make it much easier for Ukraine to defend itself. A key point was important decisions being made locally by lower ranks)
Considerations:
– everybody can get some blame
– nobody can get enough blame to be found the cause
– there are many situations in life where this is the case and those with personal responsibility succeed where others fail
– if government gets blamed for this, they will happily take the responsibility… but they won’t really feel responsible… they will just have another tool in their toolbox to push their own crappy agendas “for safety”.
“The demonstration against government sponsored rape gangs risks becoming another Itaewon so we are shutting the stations down and arresting anybody we find in the area.”
This attitude is the rule rather than the exception.
– stay out of dangerous situations