Silly Season

So. Election season. Or, as my friend Eric calls it, "silly season." And I thought that elections brought out the weirdness in the US.  Trust me when I say we got nothin' on Korea.

Imagine: trucks that patrol the streets all day long, the faces of Korean politicians plastered on the sides, sometimes making hilarious facial expressions or hand gestures, blaring campaign speak and crazy Korean music out of makeshift speakers.  Want more?  Add to this the spectacle of dancers on the trucks or robots that bend at the hip.  Not good enough?  How about a dude with a bullhorn on the corner dressed like Superman?  Still too lame for you?  Let's try bouncy cartoon characters that sing catchy little theme songs on a giant portable video screen over flashy images of the local mayoral candidate in the style of some music video from the Disney Channel or Nick Jr.

Elections here are insane.  Correction: campaigning for elections here is insane.  Every street corner has trucks and pamphlets and dancers (they really really love the dancers) and every politician has his own multimedia extravaganza with which to bombard you and his very own pop ditties.  (Notice I only use the pronoun "his".... this is not an accident.)  God knows if they talk about issues at all.  Who knows, there might be real matters of substance discussed in the lyrics of these jaunty tunes that I hear all over the country.  But somehow, I doubt it.  The politicians here appear to get by on flash and fabricated personality.  I could be totally wrong though; it's not like I ever understand a word of what's happening nor do I ever have one single clue what is going on around me.

On Saturday, Jen and I lounged on the rooftop of a 4-story Starbucks in Gwanghwamun after seeing the Steve McCurry photography exhibit (which was incredible, by the way) and watched the relatively large political rally happening on the mall down below.  I think we were simultaneously bemused by the huge group of synchronized dancers (did I mention they love their dancers?) and irritated by the extreme volume with which the 'speaker' was screaming into his megaphone.  All I kept thinking was that I will try never to complain about American elections devolving into a "circus" ever again.  Korea is the Big Top with 6 rings and the US could simply never reach this level of in(s)anity.  At least I hope not.  Because then I'd really have to start worrying.