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'Factfulness' is the first book I borrowed from the public library in my neighborhood after coming back to South Korea. Until now, I have been reading up to page 74. I typically used to write a book review after finishing.
But, when it comes to 'Factfulness', I think revealing what has come to my mind reading just a portion of it is not a bad idea. Surely, it doesn't mean the rest part I haven't read yet is not worth reading further. Rather, the book has got me to review so many ideas I had been holding very vividly with less than 100 pages. That is why I thought it would be better to write short review blogs several times rather than one extremely long blog.
My recent concern: a friend of mine happened to use the term 'Apocalypse' in a social media and I couldn't say it can't happen at all.
Roaming around YouTube, I got to watch a portion of Korean TV Talk show named "비정상회담" in Korean and "the Summit of Non-leaders of the world" in English. It is a talk show in which good-looking(?) guys from all around the world talk about various kinds of issues from nationalism to climate change.
The video I was watching was about climate change. The German panel(he was speaking Korean so well) in the show introduced general understandings about climate change among the young generation in Europe and mentioned a term "the last humanity". He said that the majority of the population in Europe has been concerned about the climate change quite seriously and thinks that if there is no radical changes in dealing with it soon, there is high possibility that the population born in the 21th century might be the last human beings on the earth. We have the same destiny with dinosaurs.
Even my niece mentioned that taking a drastic measure against climate change needs global cooperation, but with 7 billion decision makers or practitioners, it is impossible to make it.
Oh, we are doomed. The world is becoming worse. Covid-19 is just a omen for the Apocalypse. Really?
Death toll by Covid-19 reached 1 million a few days ago. 1 million is a huge number, but compared to Spanish Flu in the early 20th century, it is a big triumph of the public health care network worldwide. Covid-19 is a sign that we have improved in overcoming threats from viruses.
My father had to get through two wars: Korean War and Vietnam War. I didn't get through any kind of war or violent conflict. Except for a few regions, the world is free from wars.
'Factfulness' gives more evidences that the world is becoming better than the past even with lots of serious problems to be solved.
Then, what distorts our view to the world?
It is our instincts.
The first instinct is dichotomy.
I do not like "Marvel movies" that much. One aspect I don' like is that in most of them it is clear who are the good guys and who are the bad ones, which may be the main reason for their worldwide popularity. They are very human instinct-based produced.
And living your life, you may agree or not,the the most difficult people to deal with are the ones who have very clear views over what is right and what is wrong.
Dichotomy is widespread and general even for the educated.
When I was in middle and high school, even in university, I learned countries all around the world are divided into two groups: developing and developed. The US, Japan and dozen of countries in Europe are the developed and the rest are the developing.
The reality is a bit more complicated.
When I worked in Japan, I was in charge of foreign customers. Many of them were from East Asia. But I could serve customers from the U.S , France, etc.
I had thought the customers from the West could spend more money in my restaurant than the rest. The reality was different. As far as I remember, the customers who spent the most per capita were all from Southeast Asian countries(let's exclude Singapore, you guys know what I mean).
Surely, it could be said that it was because only the a few richest people from Southeast Asian countries can afford to travel Japan. It is true. But the experience I had in the restaurant I worked made clear that the frame that people from the developing are poor and the ones from the developed are rich is wrong. The terms of 'developing' and 'developed' didn't work enough to explain what I experienced.
'Factfulness' gives a good frame to replace the dichotomy of 'developing' and 'developed'.
Level 1: income per capita a day $2 or less
Level 2: income per capita a day between $2 and $8
Level 3: income per capita a day between $8 and $32
Level 4: income per capita a day more than $32
Domestic controversy: is South Korea rich or not?
It has been a big issue among the Korean population visibly after 2002 World Cup. The book made it clear. South Korea is included in level 4. The book describes typical life of a typical person of a country in level 4. The person has more than 12 years education. The person has been on an airplane on vacation. The person can eat out at least once a month. The person can buy a car.
Definitely, the person is me, who is comparatively poorer than the average Koreans.
Hope is crucial in life. There are many ways to have hope. But in this kind of modern world, I think hopes based on facts could be the most powerful and realistic.
'Factfulness' gives hope.
To be continue!!!
