Difficulty Level: E/M

#34

Abstract: Apparently online gaming is popular in South Korea? Sometimes it appears to be

popular enough to cause social diseases.
Vocabulary: Succumb, Exhaustion, Boot Camp, Acronym, Fatigue, Contentious, Rigid,
Dynamic, Curb, Excessive, Assets, Energizing, Holistic, Sector

Virtually addicted: Weaning Koreans off

their wired world
By Nicolai Hartvig, for CNN
Seoul, South Korea (CNN) -- While in high school, Cheong Beom-seok often slept through his
classes and played online games seven or eight hours at night, sneaking in front of the computer
while his parents were in bed.
"I then started to like playing soccer, going drinking with friends and talking," Cheong told CNN
in a smoky basement Internet cafe, or "PC bang," in Seoul.
Now 23 years old and at the prestigious Korea University, Cheong is down to playing two or
three hours on "Starcraft" and "World of Warcraft" three times a week, and believes he's kicked
his virtual addiction.
Cheong, however, may be in a minority of recovering Internet addicts. The South Korean
government estimates that the country has 2 million citizens addicted to the Internet -- the darker
side of being one of the world's most "wired" -- and is launching a fresh attempt to address the
country's online addiction.
Internet addiction has been a South Korean headache for almost a decade where more than 90
percent of households are connected to high-speed broadband and some 25,000 PC bangs
supplying extra gaming space.
"The situation is serious," says Lee Dong-hun, an assistant professor of Counseling Psychology
in the education department at Pusan National University. "Internet addiction problems are not
only seen in school age children, but also college students and adults with jobs. It's a complicated
psychological and social environmental problem and it's not easy to help."
Some recent extreme cases of Internet addiction have made for some shocking headlines: Earlier
this month a three-month-old baby girl succumbed to malnutrition while her parents spent 12hour stretches in an Internet caf playing the role-playing game Prius Online, police said.
In another tragedy last month, officials said a 22-year-old man returned to an Internet cafe to
continue playing immediately after he murdered his mother, who had complained about his
gaming habits. Physical exhaustion after long computer sessions has also caused deaths.

While other psychological problems may well have contributed to these sad cases, symptoms and
causes of Internet addiction are difficult to tell apart, experts say.
Most South Koreans survive in a highly competitive society but those who can't, turn to the
Internet.
South Korea's approach has veered from drug abuse-style treatments and private-run boot camps
to measures against behaviorally based addiction such as gambling. South Korea's new initiative
is called "i-ACTION 2012," an umbrella acronym for a spread of approaches labeled "Attention,
Counseling, Training, Institution, Outcome and Networks."
It aims to make thousands more advisers available for its treatment centers and counseling
hotlines and to launch an educational warning campaign.
Internet addicts will also be offered free software with a timer that shuts down their computers or
a "fatigue system" that bores players by making games slower and more difficult. Still under
consideration and more contentious is banning long business hours for Internet cafes. They
currently operate 24/7 and typically offer the latest popular massively multiplayer online game
(MMOG) for about $1.10 an hour.
That won't work, said Simon Lim, CEO of ThisIsGame.com, South Korea's leading gaming
Webzine.
"You don't only play one game in a PC bang. Every house has broadband so you can continue
playing at home," Lim told CNN, adding that South Korean teens typically switch between three
games at a time.
"The government can't be overly rigid and take a forcible approach -- it will have a bad effect,"
said Cheong.
Owners of Internet cafes point to the larger pressure of South Korea's non-stop, hypercompetitive society. It starts at school with pressure to pass exams and gain sought-after
university places. South Koreans work 2,256 hours per year, among the longest in the world,
according the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).
"South Korea is very dynamic but it's a very stressful society that demands long working hours
and tough competition. Most South Koreans survive in that society but those who can't, turn to
the Internet," Lee told CNN.
Some of the suggested new measures to curb Internet addiction could collide with a gaming
market that is expected to be worth $5.5 billion this year with a 17 percent growth rate,
according to the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA).
There are now just under 30,000 game developers in Korea that generally provide major games
for free. The companies make their money selling add-ons such as weapons, outfits and special
abilities for the online characters. South Korea's Internet cafes also reaped the benefits, taking in
$600 million last year, according to government figures.

Another novel idea to curb addiction is to punish excessive playing by confiscating gamers'
virtual wealth. South Korea's Supreme Court ruled in January that assets earned in gaming -- in
that particular case, virtual money from the online game Aden -- could be bought and sold for
real-life cash. That trade can now potentially emerge from the shadows of so-called black market
"workshops," where it is estimated at $240 million annually.
Game makers are cautiously waiting to see what exactly the government is planning and have so
far said they support playing with moderation. Some also fund treatment and counseling
programs.
"Games can be an energizing element for modern people, but it's only meaningful when it's in
harmony with life and family," said Taek Jin Kim, CEO of leading game developer NCsoft, in
comments provided to CNN.
"We are examining various technological directions to prevent excessively continuous game play
even for adults, and we are also discussing a special system that will allow children and
teenagers to learn a healthy gaming habit," added Jaesung Lee, NCsoft's Vice-President of
External Relations and PR.
The solution must be "holistic," says Lee, who urges more programs to help children deal with
their stress and more awareness of the problem among school teachers.
"The approach should be like oriental medicine," said Lim, "where you don't just attack the
sickness but you work to make the healthy sectors stronger and weak organs healthier, to better
defend against the bad."
Questions:
1) What does the final paragraph of this text mean? How does the logic of oriental medicine
apply to internet addiction?
2) How do you suggest curing people of an internet addiction?
3) Is an internet addiction necessarily a bad thing? Is it a necessary consequence of being a
highly wired society?

Difficulty Level: Medium

#35

Abstract: China has a long and notorious history of censorship. However, due to the amazing
size and population of China, it can go a lot farther in censoring information than most similar
countries. Exactly how far? It is fairly absurd.
Vocabulary: Alleged, Troll, Testimony, Surveillance, Proactive, Derisive, Aspire, Permeate,
Circumvent,

Researcher: China pays 280K people to boost

its Web image
By Nate Anderson
(Ars Technica) -- If you thought corporate "astroturfing" (fake grassroots activity) was a problem
at sites like Yelp and Amazon that feature user reviews of products, imagine how much worse it
would be if the U.S. government employed a couple hundred thousand people to "shape the
debate" among online political forums. Crazy, right? What government would ever attempt it?
According to noted China researcher Rebecca MacKinnon, the answer is China, which allegedly
employs 280,000 people to troll the Internet and make the government look good.
MacKinnon's discussion of Chinese astroturfing measures turns up in testimony that she
prepared from a Congressional hearing this month. When that hearing was eventually
rescheduled, MacKinnon was no longer on the witness list, so she released her prepared remarks
(PDF) anyway.
The government increasingly combines censorship and surveillance measures with proactive
efforts to steer online conversations in the direction it prefers.
In 2008 the Hong Kong-based researcher David Bandurski determined that at least 280,000
people had been hired at various levels of government to work as "online commentators." Known
derisively as the "fifty cent party," these people are paid to write postings that show their
employers in a favorable light in online chat rooms, social networking services, blogs, and
comments sections of news Web sites.
Many more people do similar work as volunteers -- recruited from among the ranks of retired
officials as well as college students in the Communist Youth League who aspire to become Party
members.
This approach is similar to a tactic known as "astroturfing" in American parlance, now
commonly used by commercial advertising firms, public relations companies, and election
campaigns around the world. In many provinces of China it is now also standard practice for
government officials -- particularly at the city and county level -- to work to co-opt and influence
independent online writers by throwing special conferences for local bloggers, or inviting them
to special press events or news conferences about issues of local concern.

That last sentence about co-opting bloggers certainly isn't limited to China; U.S. companies have
perfected the practice, and government public relations people dole out interviews and access to
journalists in ways often designed to shape opinions or coverage. But still -- 280,000 people paid
to permeate message boards and e-mail lists, all backing the government's line? The mind
boggles.
MacKinnon's testimony, well worth reading in full, notes that Chinese citizens aren't helpless
creatures of astroturf, filtering, censorship, and intimidation.
People have developed countermeasures, she says, including:
-- "Informal anti-censorship support networks: I have attended gatherings of bloggers and
journalists in China -- with varying degrees of organization or spontaneousness -- where
participants devoted significant amounts of time to teaching one another how to use
circumvention tools to access blocked Web sites."
-- "Distributed web-hosting assistance networks: I am aware of people who have strong English
language and technical skills, as well as overseas credit cards, who are helping friends and
acquaintances in China to purchase inexpensive space on overseas web hosting services, then set
up independent blogs using free open-source software."
-- "Crowdsourced 'opposition research': With the Chinese government's Green Dam censorware
edict last year, we have seen the emergence of loosely organized "opposition research" networks.
Last June a group of Chinese computer programmers and bloggers collectively wrote a report
exposing Green Dam's political and religious censorship, along with many of its security flaws."
-- "Preservation and relay of censored content: I have noticed a number of people around the
Chinese blogosphere and in chatrooms who make a regular habit of immediately downloading
interesting articles, pictures, and videos which they think have a chance of being blocked or
removed. They then repost these materials in a variety of places, and relay them to friends
through social networks and e-mail lists."
Then comes our favorite: Dirty jokes as a form of protest.
In 2009, Internet censorship tightened considerably. Many lively blogging platforms and social
networks where heated political discussions were known to take place were shut down under the
guise of an anti-porn crackdown. In response, an anonymous Shanghai-based jokester created an
online music video called "Ode to the Grass Mud Horse," whose technically innocent lyrics,
sung by a children's chorus over video of alpaca sheep, contained a string of highly obscene
homonyms.
The video spawned an entire genre of anti-censorship jokes and videos involving mythical
animals whose names sound similar to official slogans and obscenities of various kinds. This
viral pranksterism created an outlet for people to vent about censorship, poke fun at the
government, and raise awareness among many people who are not comfortable discussing such

matters in a direct way.

Now, in true capitalist style, one can buy shirts, hats and stickers that feature the Grass Mud
Horse.
Questions:
1) Why might China feel the need to censor the internet so fiercely? Why is China effective at
this?
2) How do dirty jokes qualify as a form of protest?
3) How might a country both try to have freedom of information and censor large tracts of the
internet?

Difficulty Level: Very Hard

#36
Abstract: The biggest risk in the recent passage of health care reform was that those who voted
for it would be voted out of office by constituents who failed to understand what the bill does.
This article frames the current state of the debate.
Vocabulary: Momentous, Predecessors, Faltered, Leverage, Partisan, Receptive, Tangible,
Populist, Skeptical, Alienate, Excise, Embed

Dems Caught In Populist Crossfire

Most white Americans think health reform benefits the poor and
uninsured, not people like them.
by Ronald Brownstein for the National Journal
Saturday, March 27, 2010
On the long climb to health care reform that ended with this week's momentous signing
ceremony, President Obama aimed many of his arguments at a different audience from the one
targeted by predecessors who faltered on the same steep hill.
Compared with earlier presidents, Obama focused his case less on helping the uninsured and
more on providing those with coverage greater leverage against their insurers. That shift was
especially evident in his final drive toward passage.
And yet, polling just before the bill's approval showed that most white Americans believed that
the legislation would primarily benefit the uninsured and the poor, not people like them. In a
mid-March Gallup survey, 57 percent of white respondents said that the bill would make things
better for the uninsured, and 52 percent said that it would improve conditions for low-income
families. But only one-third of whites said that it would benefit the country overall -- and just
one-fifth said that it would help their own family.
"The goal is to make this a middle-class health care bill." --Rahm Emanuel
In both that Gallup Poll and the latest monthly survey by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family
Foundation, nonwhite respondents were much more likely than whites to say that the bill would
help the country and their own families. Those responses reflect not only experience (AfricanAmericans and Hispanics are more likely than whites to lack insurance) but also minorities'
greater receptivity to government activism. By meeting a tangible need in these communities,
health reform is likely to solidify the Democratic hold on the one-quarter (and growing) minority
share of the electorate, especially if Republicans define themselves around demanding repeal.
But whites still cast about three-quarters of votes. And if most remain convinced that health
reform primarily benefits the poor and uninsured, Democrats could find themselves caught in an
unusual populist crossfire during this fall's elections.
Obama has already been hurt by the perception, fanned by Republicans, that the principal

beneficiaries of his efforts to repair the economy are the same interests that broke it: Wall Street,
big banks, and the wealthy. The belief that Washington has transferred benefits up the income
ladder is pervasive across society but especially pronounced among white voters with less than a
college education, the group that most resisted Obama in 2008. Now health care could threaten
Democrats from the opposite direction by stoking old fears, particularly among the white
working class, that liberals are transferring income down the income ladder to the "less
deserving."
In the Kaiser poll, even fewer noncollege than college-educated whites said that the plan would
benefit the country. In one sense, that's ironic: Census figures show that noncollege whites are
more than twice as likely to lack health insurance as whites with a degree. But these workingclass whites have grown more skeptical than better-educated whites that government cares about
their needs. And the searing recession has only hardened those doubts. In a recent memo,
Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg warned that these anxious and alienated voters are
approaching a "tipping point" that would send them hurtling toward Republicans in November.
House Democrats seem aware of that risk: Of the 34 Democrats who opposed the final health
care bill, 28 represent districts with an above-average share of whites without college educations.
These trends frame perhaps the Democrats' greatest political challenge today: convincing
economically squeezed white voters that Washington understands their distress. On health care,
that means emphasizing the bill's provisions that will most quickly benefit those with coverage,
led by insurance reform (such as allowing adult children to remain longer on their parents'
policies) and more prescription drug help for seniors. "The goal is to make this a middle-class
health care bill," White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel says.
Simultaneously, Democrats hope that the approaching Senate debate on financial reform will
portray them as advocates for average families -- and Republicans as defenders of banking and
investment interests that are resisting tougher regulation. Greenberg says his recent polling
shows that Obama's collision with insurers on health reform has already softened the belief that
Democrats favor Wall Street over Main Street. He predicts the financial fight "will shift it
further."
That could be. But despite a Gallup Poll showing a post-passage bump in support for the health
care bill, skepticism that government will ever deliver for them is bred in the bone for many
white voters, especially those in the working class. Health care reform won't win sustained
acceptance -- or politically benefit the Democrats who finally shouldered it into law -- unless it
begins to excise those deeply embedded doubts.
Questions:
1) Why might people who benefit from health reform be so difficult to convince to support
health reform?
2) Why might minorities be more comfortable with government activism than the white
majority? How does this reflect Americas history?
3) What is populism? Why does it always end up aligned against the government?

Difficulty Level: Hard

#37

Abstract: The recent elections in Iraq have had a surprising result, which has many implications.
First off, does the fact that a non favorite, non incumbent won suggest a real democracy? How
does this influence US policy in Iraq?
Vocabulary: Coalition, Zealot, Despise, Secular, Usurp, Strongman, Rancor, Anarchy, Loath,
Insurgent, Rhetoric, Hawkish, Agony

The Fun Has Just Begun

What does Allawis victory in Iraq mean?
By Michael Crowl
Its too soon to know what the newly-released results of Iraqs March 7 national election will
mean for that countryor for Americas national security. At first blush, the outcome seems
dramatic: the coalition of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has won fewer seats than the coalition
of his rival and former prime minister Iyad Allawi. But thats a far cry from saying that Allawi
will govern Iraq. Thanks in part to the narrow gap between the two front-runners (91 seats for
Allawi, 89 for Maliki), what comes now is a mad scramble among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds;
among secularists and religious zealots; among people who like America and people who
despise America; and among horse-traders swapping everything from prospective oil revenues to
territorial claims. The process could drag on for weeks, or even stretch into the blistering
Baghdad summer.
Nothing about the coming process will be simple, not even the process itself. According to
Michael Hanna, an expert in Iraqi politics and law at The Century Foundation, for instance, a
recent Iraqi federal court ruling means that Allawis electoral edge doesnt even guarantee him
the first opportunity to form a government. Should another coalition assemble with more seats
than Allawis Iraqiya list, it will usurp that privilege from him. And even if Allawi does go first,
theres no telling whether he can put together his own governing coalition. Allawi's victory is
important symbolically and also represents a major political realignment but he is not yet in a
position where we know that he will be the PM-designate, Hanna says. He and Maliki
basically enter this next phase dead even.
What does this confusion and uncertainty mean for the United States? Theres good news and
bad. The good news is that U.S. officials generally feel they can work with either Maliki or
Allawi, both known quantities with good relations in Washington. (This is more true of Allawi, a
former Iraqi opposition leader in exile who worked closely with the CIA before the war; America
has been growing impatient with some of Malikis recent strongman tendencies, which is not to
say that Allawi is a pure Jeffersonian either.)
The bad news is that the longer it takes Iraq to form a government, and the more rancorous that
process becomes, the more likely some factions are to win political leverage through violence,
which is what happened after the countrys 2006 national election, fueling Iraqs horrific civil
war. Though informed opinion is divided on whether this is a realistic scenario, its impossible to
rule out the possibility of a return to bloody anarchy.

But here lies still another uncertainty: If Iraq plunges back into chaos, how will Barack Obama
react? Would he delay plans to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of August?
(Unlike the formal U.S.-Iraqi agreement to have all American soldiers out of the country by the
end of next year, this is a self-imposed timeline with no legal basis.) Senior U.S. military
officials are loath to maintain an exit timetable at the potential cost of seeing the stability so
many Americans fought and died for slip away in an emerging security vacuum. But its not clear
whether an American force which already numbers less than 90,000 would be able to hold the
country together anyway. It took nearly twice that number to stabilize Iraq at the peak of the
surge, and that was at a moment when many insurgent groups were standing down.
Less clear is what, exactly, is on Obamas mind. His support for an escalation in Afghanistan
may have surprised some people, but it was in keeping with his 2008 campaign rhetoric.
Leaving Iraq, by contrast, was at the core of Obamas candidacy. And yet Obamas national
security team has distinctly hawkish tendencies, and its easy to imagine advisors and generals
arguing that the threat of Iranian influence and Iraqs vast oil reserves will require a longer
American military engagement to ensure stability and U.S. influence there.
Those are questions Obama very much wants to avoid confronting. With luck, Iraq will
peaceably form a government more or less friendly to the United States, and spare him the agony
of a renewed debate over U.S withdrawal plans. But Iraq, unfortunately, is a very unlucky place.
Questions:
1) Is there any way in your opinion that President Obama can delay withdrawal of troops from
Iraq without sacrificing his political position? Do the events in Iraq matter in this case?
2) To what extent is it the United States responsibility to stay in Iraq and finish what it started?
How would it influence the United States global standing if it were to leave Iraq in a state of
anarchy?
3) Do you think that the election of a surprise candidate suggests that Iraq is becoming
democratic? Why or why not?