No, Syngman Rhee is not Gay, nor is he a prince. Those are two different tags.
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Prince is out but not down
In India, where being gay is a crime, a royal son was shunned when he told his secret. Now he fights to change the law and public mind-set.
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His straight friends were shocked to find out he was gay. His gay friends were shocked to find out he'd been married.For his parents, it was the last straw. He is no longer on speaking terms with his mother. His father, despite disinheriting him, has softened slightly, declaring in a newspaper interview that he had felt pressured by friends and relatives into taking such a drastic step and describing Gohil as "a gifted individual" and "a good son." The two men still speak occasionally, but their conversations are awkward.
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"They cannot get a prince on hire. I am the prince, and whether I am gay or not gay is hardly the issue," Gohil [the prince] said. "I'm the only son — there are no cousins or brothers they can go to. They have to come back to me."
Read the rest of the story here.
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I hate Syngman Rhee right now. 이승만! 승만야! 왜 그런냐?? (Yi Sŭng-Man! Hey, Sŭng-Man! How could you??)
4 millennia, Syngman. 4 bleedin' thousand years and you sold out on them.“After Korea's liberation in 1945, President Syngman Rhee suppressed the imperial family to prevent the restoration of the monarchy. Syngman Rhee seized and nationalized most of the family's properties. The imperial family also had to shoulder the psychological and historical burden of their ancestors' responsibility for the "collapse of the nation". Stripped of most of wealth and authority, many members of the family secluded themselves from the merciless world, even from other family members. Some flew to the USA or Latin America in desperate effort to disown their ancestors.”
I would have loved to see an Imperial Family still in existence in Korea. It's like the president listed them off history..
ReplyDeleteYeah, me too, a la 'Princess Hours' (lol). I feel deeply for the deposed monarchy. Can't tell why. Basta. Darn that Syngman Rhee and his bitterness and greed! Where would Korea be without its Kings?
ReplyDeleteSana hindi nga nawala yung royalties ng Korea. Puwede pa rin naman na para ng symbolic lang ang rule nila gaya ng Britain or Japan.
ReplyDeleteAng China naman meron ding royalties di ba? Dynasty? Emperor naman. Ano kaya kung may Emperor pa rin ang China to this day.
Hmp. Hindi ako masyadong natutuwa sa "symbolic rule" na iyan. Democracy, a constitution, and the monarchy can coexist. Pero kung iyun lang sana ang pwede nilang mabigay, sana ibinigay na nga lang nila sa Korean royal family. The people wanted them back anyway, it's those greedy capitalists that didn't.
ReplyDeleteYep, mayroon ang China. From 2070 BC to 1911 AD. I also lament on their passing. And they had to kill pa the Dowager ha. Sama.
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"President Rhee Syngman's seizure of the imperial properties deprived Prince Gang (Emperor Gojong's sixth son) of most of his wealth. Afterwards, many of the family members had to swallow the disgrace of working for a living. According to the prince's 11th son, Prince Seok, his mother Hong Chong-sun had to sell noodles as a street vendor. However, despite their suffering, most family members have not been able to adapt themselves to the new fast-changing capitalistic Korea. To make matters worse, many people swindled them."
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^ This is so not 'Princess Hours'. LOL! The Japanese also had the last Empress assassinated. Sama talaga. Walang kAizen-Sama. Hahahahaha j/k
I stick by the faith that the civilisations we have today would be nothing (NOTHING) without the old kings.
Ano ba yung Dowager? Una kong na encounter yun sa panonood ko ng Julio at Julia ang kambal ng tadhana. (do you even know that? hehe)
ReplyDeleteAng Pilipinas naman may Datu. Yun ang royalty natin di ba?
Haha, I remember 'Julio at Julia'! 'Di ko siya napanood pero naaalala ko pa siya.
ReplyDeleteAnywho, Empress Dowagers in China, Japan, and Korea usually mean the "Queen Mothers," or the widows of the previous kings, thus mothers of the current ones. In the West, a dowager could simply refer to the widow of a titled nobleman (i.e. the title comes from the husband and not her own), and not necessarily that of the Sovereign.
Datus are not really 'royalty' in the Western and Oriental senses. They're like tribal leaders or chieftains. "Petty kings." Usually a royal dynasty claims descent from a long line of "supermen" as in the case of in the West, India, China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and other 'great' civilisations. Our sultans and rahas are more fitting for that description: Raja Soliman, the current Sultan of Sulu, for example. ^_^
Hindi ba ang Maynila may Raja din dati?
ReplyDeleteSana nagkaroon ng mga magagarang palaces din sa South. Medyo mahilig din ako mag appreciate ng mga ancient structures. Sana may Angkor Wat man lang tayo hehe..
Si Raja Soliman/Solayman nga ata iyun. Pero tatlo sila sa matandang Maynila: siya at si Rajah Matanda sa katimugan ng ilog Pasig, at si Rajah Lakandula sa hilaga. Mga ka-alyansa raw sila ng mga sultanato ng Brunei, Sulu, at Ternate. (<----kelan ko lang nalaman na mayroon din pala sa Cavite. Ayus!)
ReplyDeleteMayroon atang mga palasyo sa South. Sa Lanao del Sur, Sulu, and the like. Ewan ko lang kung kasing gara nung mga nasa Malaysia.
Alam ko wala tayong Angkor Wat-type megastructures pero mayroon naman tayo kahit papanong "pyramids" raw sa Cordillera. :)
wow talaga? Anong itsura ng "pyramids" sa cordillera? hindi naman yan yung banaue rice terraces? Interesado rin ako sa mga Mayans at Inca. Sana may ganuon sa atin. Napaka mysterious din ng kanilang sibilisasyon.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen them, really. Nabalitaan ko lang dati sa TV. Hindi siya iyung sa Banaue. Hindi rin ata siya katangkaran, basta mounds for the dead I think. Mayroon ding mummies duon.
ReplyDeleteMayans, Incans, Aztecs. Misteryoso nga. There have been controversial postulations that their civilisations, that of Egypt's, and that of Cambodia's are all related in some trading sort of way. Some theorists believe that "Atlantis" mediated their trade. The movie 'Alien VS Predator' made use of that theory.
I'm not much into the American civilisations but I do use them when I play 'Age of Empires'. Hahaha