SMUN 2013 Summer Session

Last July, I participated in a MUN conference called SMUN (Susung Model United Nations).  The conference was hosted by Susung High School in Daugu but most of the chairs and staffs were from other schools in other cities. Although it was the first SMUN conference, about 300 middle school and high school students took part in it.  The delegates had to discuss the agendas, write resolutions, pass the resolutions and make amendments in two days. Although the schedule was somewhat hectic, I believe it was a very enjoyable and meaningful experience for me.

But, what I felt when I arrived at the school on the first day wasn't a sort of excitement or thrill. It was rather a mixture of nervousness and depression, actually. There were two reasons why. About one or two weeks before the conference, I participated in a debate competition held in my school and lost to the seniors who were in the third grade. That was mainly because I and my team members were pretty much overwhelmed by the aggressiveness of the opposing team. Putting logic and organization of the arguments aside, they were full of confidence that our team, consisting of three freshmen, was no match for them. I was facing the same reality again. Since it was obvious that I was the youngest delegate in my committee, I wasn't sure I could debate actively without being overwhelmed by other delegates much older than me. Also, it was the very first time I took part in a real MUN conference. I've joined the KIMUN workshop hosted by Kyunghee University last May but what I did there was a 'mock MUN' which was somewhat different from real MUN. While thinking about the two things, I opened the door of conference room  and went into the room.

I was the delegate of Brazil in GA (the General Assembly) which was one of the English committees. The two agendas of GA was, a) establishing global cooperation for sustainable development, and b) developing aiding mechanisms for Least Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs). As soon as I entered the room, the chairs called roll call and the conference started. The delegates did three-hour bout of debate on the agenda a. Some delegates argued that we needed to educate young people of developing countries to help the countries develop sustainably. Others insisted that we should control the carbon emission of the developed countries. I, as the delegate of Brazil, argued we should reform the Kyoto Protocol which was becoming useless because of low participation rate of developed countries.

After having lunch, we started a debate on the 2nd ageda. Truth be told, I was a little bit embarassed when the chairs proposed to move into the next agenda because I thought that the delegates would debate one agenda a day. There was almost nothing I prepared for the 2nd agenda so I had to deliver impromptu speeches for the last 3 hours of the first day. Delegates proposed various aid mechanisms to deal with the problems of LEDCs such as hunger, illiteracy, disease, civil war and so on. The two mechanisms I suggested were tobin tax and ecotourism. After delivering my first speech about tobin tax, I received so many notes and POIs from other delegates requesting more explanations about the taxation system. It seemed that since they weren't familliar with the term, tobin tax, it was a little bit difficult for them to understand the concept and expected effects of the system. As the result, I had to deliver speeches related to it over and over that day. At that time, I wasn't happy about it.  But now, looking back, I think proposing enforcement of tobin tax and answering the questions of other delegates gave me a lot of opportunities to share my opinions with other delegates and persuade them.

We spent almost half of  the second day's conference finishing writing resolutions. I wrote a resolution on the agenda a with some other delegates but didn't write one on the agenda b because I couldn't find anyone to write it together. My group went through some trials and errors while writing it but I thought we did pretty well. After finishing the work, the resolutions were introduced and delegates started criticizing their opponents' resolutions. Our team's resolution got numerous criticisms from our opponents. Although I couldn't find them while writing it, there were a lot of defects in the resolution. At the end, our resolution failed and the resolution of the opponent passed with almost unanimous vote. But I wasn't that disappointed because I knew our group did our best.

During the closing ceremony, I won a prize. It was great but I learned something greater than the prize in the SMUN: the skills to persuade others, negotiate with others and cooperate with others. I also learned that during debate it is important to be aggressive like a hunting eagle. It was truly an awesome experience which gave me a lot of knowledge and lessons. I hope I can do better in the next MUN conference by reflecting on my mistakes in this conference.

My Debate Script: THW Make Counseling Mandatory For All Substance Abusers And Their Families

Simon Park is an English writer who worked as a priest for over 20 years. Though he could earn a lot of money and be respected by other people as a priest, he suddenly quit his job since he thought that he needed change in his life. He started his new career as a clerk in a local supermarket and, after three years, he wrote an essay about his experience in the supermakret which was called . The book was mainly about the lessons he could get as a clerk. In his book, Simon Park insisted that only the poeple who knew what happiness was could make other people happy.

In today's modern society, the people who do not know the meaning of happiness may be the drug abusers. Since they started using drugs, their lives were ruined. The lives of their families became nightmares. It's time to make substance abusers and their families come to know what happiness is again by mandatory counseling.

Hello, I'm Eujin Jo and I'm the Prime Minister today. Today's motion is 'THW Make Counseling Mandatory For All Substance Abusers And Their Family" and our team strongly approve the topic. That's mainly because, first, counseling can help the addicts cure themselves, second, the situation is becoming more and more serious these days, and, lastly, we have to treat the addicts as human beings.

Before I state the three arguments in more detail, I wanna define the terms first. I define the term "counseling" to mean "having conversation with professional counselors and finding ways to cope with the problem together". Also we define the term "all substance abusers and their families" as "all the people in this country who can not live ordinary and peaceful live because of drugs as well as their parents, husbands, wives and mature children.

From now on, I'm going to state our team's three arguments. First of all, drug abusers can cure themselves while puring out their heart to the counselor. There are 'cause and effect relationship' in everything though we sometimes ignore the 'causes' and just discuss about the 'effect'. Likewise, there are reasons why the substance abusers are addicted to drugs. Most of them use drugs to neglect the status quo. They may have troubles with their families. They may suffer from poverty. It is a well known fact that if you have a difficulty, you can overcome it by revealing the problem to others. This common sense shows that if the addicts talk about their problems to the counselors, they can cure their minds and find the ways to solve the problems.

Secondly, the number of drug addicts are increasing more and more and the drug addiction problem is getting mroe serious. According to the 2010 research of Korean Supreme Prosecutors' Office, about 9732 people were arrested on the charge of using drugs that year. It truly is a serious situation and we need to put more efforts to cope with the problem. When we are hesitating to make counseling mandatory for the addicts, drug addicts are dying on the street and using their money to take drugs. Now, there isn't enough time to hesitate.

Lastly, we should treat the drug addicts as individuals and legitimate members of our society. Generally, we control the addicts' behaviors by medicines as if we are treating the dogs which suffer from rabies. Drug addicts are not dogs. They are humans. So we should provide the treatments for humans to them. A few months ago, a nurse tied an old woman who had some health problems on her bed just because she bothered the nurse. Controling the addicts with the medicine is just like tying old and weak patient on her bed. Actually, the drug addicts are our neighbors, friends and families. They should be respected. In terms of respecting the addicts, counseling is much better than giving them bitter medicine.

According to SBS, the Korean broadcast station, the real number of substance abusers are actually 30 times more than the number of the addicts who were arrested. This means that the real number of drug addicts in Korea amount to about 300000 people. It is a definite sin if we just ignore the difficulties of the addicts or try to control them with medicine without curing their mind. We should tackle the problem together. Drug addicts are not the criminals but the victims of the modern society, where only the winners can survive and the losers are forgotten.

Advertisements: The Most Dangerous Temptation For All Human Beings



Gordon Moore

In 1965, Gordon Moore found something very amazing. His discovery is called "Moore's Law". and it is a theory that the amount of information we can store in our microchips increase double every 18 months. When Gordon Moore first found the theory, it was such nice information for consumers since they could know when was the proper time to buy new electronics. Also Moore's Law was gorgeous information for corporations since the companys thought that they could make people change the electronics more frequently than before. And, with the help of Moore's law and a 'small method' to fuel people's infinite desire, the corporations achieved their goal. As the result, the earth became more polluted and people started suffering from horrible natural disasters much more than before.

So what, do you think, was the special method the corporations used to fuel people's desire? As you might guess through the title of this post, it was "advertisement". The effort the corporations put to make people buy more products created a horrible vicious cycle. As soon as they finish their hectic day at the workplaces, most people loll on their sofas and watch TV. It is obvious that they need to watch some advertisements while watching TV programs. Oh, actually not "some advertisements" but "NUMEROUS advertisements". Annie Leonard, the narrator of the famous video Story of Stuff, insists that nowadays people watch more advertisements in a year than the people of 1960s watched in their lifetime. The advertisements keep telling people that they need to buy something new. So, as the result, after watching the ads, people go to their workplaces again and work more dilligently. And, when they are payed their salaries, they go shopping and buy the products that are, in most cases, unnecessary for them. Then they return home, turn on the TVs, and watch new advertisements. And then... they take all the previous actions again. In the vicious cycle, people not only lose their money but also destroy the earth.

Most of us are in the vicious cycle. We are programmed by the advertisements and, if we don't escape from the vicious cycle right now, we will be the slaves of the corporations in the near future. So it is obvious that we should get out of the circle. However, it is totally impossible to escape from it if we do not know how advertisements work. We should know what strategies the advertisers are using first.

Narcissism

So today, I'm going to explain top three ways the advertisers use to make people purchase the goods. First, they satisfy people's narcissism. Narcissism is basic human instinct that we all have. All of us want to be famous and be treated as heroes. I heard that some young villains who are full of narcissism often request police officers to give them newspaper. When they finally find the picture of themselves on the newspaper, they think they become famous at last and become very delighted. Advertisers use our narcissism to sell their products. The famous movie stars or atheletes often appears in advertisements and say something like, "you are very special. Thus you have the right to be the owner of this car". Consumers in front of televisions feel great since they are respected and, when they go shopping, they willlingly buy the products.

Advertisers not always praise or respect consumers. Sometimes advertisers threaten people by making consumers think if they do not buy the product or take the action, they will be heretics. We all have the fear of being bullied. So the advertisers, who know our thoughts very well, keep telling us, "do you wanna just follow others or lead others?", "oh, didn't you use this awesome product? 20000 people are already using this!" Everytime we watch those advertisements, our inner voices tell us that since they don't want their owners to be ugly ducklings, we should buy the famous stuff. If we follow our irrational inner voices, we will eventually fall into the vicious cycle and put a lot of efforts to buy the products. Therefore it's very important to be rational and think whether or not this product is useful before we buy the stuff.

Lastly, advertisers are using the words that have positive and good meanings such as "special", "good", "best", "courage", "family", "happiness", "love", "patriotism", and "friends". While using the words to describe certain product, the advertisers are trying to "brainwash" us. Our brains tend to connect the words with the object other people are describing using the positive words. So, if we watch the advertisements that are describing a product with the positive words again and again, we end up thinking that the product is truly awesome and our lives with the product will be very charming. As the result, when we go shopping, we unconciously choose the product.

These days, mankind is faced with a huge crisis which will destroy every human being at last: the global warming.  While we are watching the advertisements, the earth is becoming hotter and hotter. While we are fueling our desire to buy the new products, polar bears are starving at the north pole. And while we are unconciously buying useless products after watching the advertisements, the Tuvalu residents are losing the place to live. It's time to do something for them. We should resist the temptation of purchasing fancy but useless products for the mother earth and for the future generation.

About Herd Behavior

Herd Behavior

There was a horrible scene in a Korean movie called Tower. Tower Sky was an extremely tall apartment where riches usuallly lived in. One day, the tall building was caught in fire because of an accident. As they realized that Tower Sky was caught in fire, the riches and cooks in the building struggled to get out of the building as soon as possible. Actually, they should not use the elevator since it was burning, as well. But, right after they saw a person was running toward it, all of them tried to get in the elevator. Eventually the people who successfully got in the elevator were all burnt alive in the elevator and died dreadfully. Can you guess the reason why the people did the behavior? I think that was because of basic human instinct called "herd behavior".

Herd behavior is also called 'mob mentality'. Herd behavior is the instinct to just follow other people's behaviors without knowing the reason why they need to do so. People often follow this instinct when they do not have enough time for decision making.

As the matter of fact, not only humans but also other species of animals follow the instinct. Springbucks are the sheep living in Africa. They feed on grass and live in groups. They often can not find enough grass to eat since huge number of springbucks move together and eat together. To find a mew grassland, one of the springbucks start running. After a few seconds, other springbucks in the group run after it without knowing why they need to do so. As the result, when they reach a sharp cliff, all the springbucks fall down and die. Through the example of springbucks, we can find that the actions of other animals are also controled by the herd behavior.

We can find numerous defect of herd behavior in our daily lives. I will tell you one example. Many people watch television programs at the end of the day. Everytime we turn on the TV, we can watch various kinds of advertisements. And I found that the advertisers were using herd behavior to make people buy their products. In most advertisements, famous actors (or actresses) and singers appear and say, "one thousand people are already using this product. Now it's your turn." or "I'm using this product these days and want to recommend it to you. It's really nice" When we are watching the ads, the herd behavior in our mind leads us to buy the product and we unconsiously decide to buy them when we go shopping.

Some people may think, "but herd behavior is sometimes very good. For example, I can buy better shoes if I buy shoes at the famous shop. Also, in emergency situation, it's more likely to save my life if I follow the people who are running in a group." But, I don't think so. As the old Korean saying goes, "there isn't enough food in the famous party". The proverb means that there is nothing special in the place where many people want to go, or the product that many people want to buy. As a matter of fact, this proverb is telling us not to follow the herd behavior.

If human beings are all rational, we may not follow the herd behavior. But we are animals with our own emotions. In other words, we are "irrational animals" who often follow our instinct. Therefore, we should learn the way to control ourselves and should not let the herd behavior in our mind to control us. Springbucks which tended to follow their fellow's action, eventually fell down on the cliff and died. We should remember the destiny of the poor sheep. We should live our life following our intuition, not our instinct since we are not rabbit or chicken, but the Homo sapiens which means "wise people".

Should We Provide Workplaces for the Elderly?

I often saw the scenes about happy and enjoyable lives after retirement of old people with silver hair in movies and dramas. And I'm sure that many people watch those movies and dramas at home or at the theater. While watching them, we dream of the fantastic life we will enjoy after the retirement. However, unfortunately, the reality is different from our imagination. But, why? Why can't we achieve our dream? Why should some of us spend the rest of their lives lonenly in a small, stale and cold house? That's mainly because most people have to use a huge portion of their savings on their children's college tuition and wedding expenses. What can we do if we do not have enough money? Of course, we should earn more money! I think that's why we should give jobs to old people.

There are even more advantages of giving jobs for the elderly. As I mentioned, old people nowadays are very lonely. The suicide of old people is becoming a serious social problem. I believe they will be less lonely if they have their workplaces. They will get friends, who make small talk with the lonely elderly, and use their talents for good causes. Also, they can contribute to the development of Korea. According to UN,  average Korean man can live until the age of 77, and Korean woman can live until the age of 84. While the average lifespan is increasing, the number of young people and children is decreasing. Since young people who can work for the development of the country are reducing, it is essential to give workplaces for the elderly.

Of course, some people are insisting that we should not give workplaces to old people. The main reason why is the unemployment problem of young people. According to the recent research, 7.6% of the Korean youth are unemployed nowadays. Meanwhile, some old people, who are serving as professors, doctors, or politicians, earn a lot of money every year and their children, who are luckier than the majority of people, inherit the fortune. Moreover, the couple with a young child needs to spend a lot of money on their child's education. Nowadays, many children attend kindergarten or academy and some of them even have private tutors. Young child's kindergarten fee which amounts to 6,000,000 won a year burdens ordinary people. The people who oppose to providing the elderly workplaces are arguing that we can save the money if  the old people stay home and take care of their grandchildren.

Speaking of my opinion, I think that it is the old person's freedom to decide whether or not he(or she) get a job. I mean, if an old person think that he need the second workplace for his second life, the nation should support him to find such a good job. But if he (or she) decide to stay home and take care of his grandchildren, we should allow him to do it. Everybody, including the elderly, have their own thoughts about the point. I think the only role of young people is helping the elderly to do what they want.

I believe this issue is very arguable. But, I think, before we argue about this problem, we should think what is the best way for old people first. There are so many dark sides in our society and one of them is increasing of old people who live alone without any help from others. It is said that a good society is where government provide good social welfare program. So why don't we make society where old people are happy?

Moral Dilemmas

Throughout our lives, we need to make important decisions. Often, our desicions determine our lives, our wealth and even our credit. Everytime we are faced with those important problems, we tend to ponder about them seriously. But why do we ponder about the problems? Why do we spend so much time thinking about the problems? Well, there are many reasons for the phenomenon but it's mostly because of 'moral dilemmas'.

I recently read a book called  'Justice' by Micheal Sendal, the professor of Harvard University who became a professor at a very young age. In his book, he explained about moral dilemmas. Today I'm going to introduce two of them to you.

Four sailors were lost in the middle of the sea. One of them was a 19-year-old boy and other sailors were all adults. Nobody came to rescue them for several days. They did not have enough food and could not stand anymore. Eventually, even if one of the sailors disapproved with the point, the captain of the ship decided to kill the boy, who was very sick at that time, and eat his flesh. After a few days, the three sailors were rescued and the people who successfully saved the sailors found a corpse of a boy which was half-eaten.

A few decades ago, hurricane swept Florida, a city in the United States, and many people lost their houses, money and even their families because of the brutal hurricane. To make the matters worse, the stores and factories in the town increased the price of products which were essential to the survivors. The survivors became very angry but they had no other choice. They needed to buy food and tools. As the result, the merchants earned a lot of money and survivors became poorer.

Are the behaviours of the merchants and sailors justifiable?This may be an extremely difficult question for most people since they are pretty complicated. Let me explain about the first moral dilemma. Think about it, the sailors who survived insisted that all the four sailors might have died in the middle of the sea if they had not eaten anything. But they had sibling, parents and children who fed on the fishes they brought home. They might think, 'my children and parents will all die soon if I do not return home with fishes. So I have to be alive.' For the reason, the sailors' behaviour is justifiable on one hand. But on the other hand, it is not. The four sailors are 'fellows' who worked together, had a meal together and spent difficult time together. They should not eat the flesh of their fellow by all means. They rather needed to take care of the young sailor and wait patiently for a helping hand together.

As we can know through the two examples above, moral dilemmas are pretty difficult to solve. But all of us have to be faced with many moral dilemmas throughout our lives. Therefore, it is important to deal with the problems wisely and make the best decisions for the situations.