Finding Meaning Through Ideas | David Tizzard 

This is an amazing post. Thank you for sharing your experiences and providing greater insight into the Korea that was. It's fascinating to learn about the past and helps provide a lot of perspective for the current situation. I really appreciate you joining the conversation around the podcast and the various topics covered. Do please let me know if there are any ideas, guests, or subjects you would recommend for the year ahead.

Love reading! Let me know how you get on with them.

Thank you so much for saying that. This was a bit of a one-man lecture haha. I've actually been thinking about recording my next semester's lectures on Korean Culture. It's just getting the equipment and everything else sorted and then wondering whether it will affect the students in any way... Too much to ponder, as usual.

@@DavidTizzard Oh you should! I've learned so much about not just Korea, but history and post-modernism from your lectures. I frequently think about your series of lectures on E.H. Carr, and in particular the analogy of history as a curvy track, rather than a straight line.

@@thevirtualtraveler Yes, those Carr lectures were a lot of fun. And that idea, in particular, is a great one. People keep asking me to do more. I've debated revisiting them, but perhaps with a partner to provide more insight. Thank you for learning with me~

I've always loved Clifford Geertz's idea: culture is the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves. Would be interesting to hear your take on Korean culture and how things have/haven't changed...

I find Han Byung Chul's work really relatable. Near the end of high school amongst some friends, we would joke naively that we wished we lived in a communist state where we would be told what job we would have to work for the rest of our lives after graduation. The freedom to do whatever and the countless possibilities to take was really overwhelming and made us feel lost. I considered joining the military after graduation because I desired structure so dearly. I think a lot of people struggle with the level of freedom. It makes people feel like they have no meaning, are not valued by society, and are anxious to ensure that they pursue the "right" path in life. I can also relate to his discussions of people becoming commodities. As a recent university graduate in a white-collar field, all you have to offer is yourself. Applying for jobs feels like a race with others to explain why you are the better, more qualified product. It can become very disheartening to be constantly rejected. Because as you say, there is little you can change to improve your quality. That is especially true when you have all these qualifications, achievements, etc. You begin to question how much more is necessary to prove your value. I would agree with Mark Fisher that capitalism has become the hegemonic idea that we can not imagine a world without. This world feels like its shared imagination has stagnated in recent years, we are stuck in nostalgia and revamping old ideas. I feel however that new ideas like those of the past don’t necessarily appear in the mainstream initially but emerge from the periphery. Interesting ideas of the future that I can at least think of include solarpunk and degrowth which I believe the average person wouldn’t be aware of. But to your point, these could be argued to not necessarily be new ideas either, just remerging or revamped. I do believe we are nearing a changing point in history as more youth are fearful of their shared future and desire serious change. There is also the possibility that new ideas emerge outside of the Western English-speaking world that challenge prevailing hegemonic ideas. They might offer different viewpoints that allow us to challenge social norms and create new visions of the future. It's a hope at least. A great video to end the year with. I’m always thankful to people who provide educational and professional material online for free. I would love to attend your lectures; they sound like fun and engaging classes and I’m sure you’re a great teacher. I look forward to new videos, new guests and new ideas in the new year.

@@aggressivemonkey1234 Thank you so much for this (and all the support more broadly). I'm really glad to know that I was able to communicate some of Han and Fisher's ideas clearly enough that you could then interpret and apply them to your own path. And, I will confess to have not really having come across solarpunk or degrowth before so you've given me something to read about this morning over coffee. Thank you for that. I love learning and hearing about new ideas from people. Reminds me of the old George Bernard Shaw saying about sharing apples :D 새해 복 많이 받으세요~