Illegal Downloading: Stealing is illegal.Today, both young and old Internet users are so accustomed to downloading copyrighted songs. In Korea, music, movie, and other software files are the widely shared through a lot of websites, and a lot of young Koreans, especially teenagers are very familiar with and part of the illegal downloading culture. Downloading copyrighted materials are much cheaper than directly buying things. In addition, it is very convenient because people can get anything with the click of a mouse. However, I believe that it should not be legal, and there are three reasons why illegal downloading must be punished; illegal downloading is destroying the cultural industry, damaging people who are related with the industry, and making unqualified people earn money.First of all, illegal downloading destroys the nation's cultural industry. For example, there are now countless Internet sites sharing the files such as Pruna and Torrent, and due to these sites that allow people to download songs for free, people do not buy CDs anymore. Down loaders may argue that the music industry makes too much money, and the price of CDs is too high. I understand that down loaders do not want to pay for the musician because musicians seem to earn a lot of money, but this does not justify illegal downloading. Illegal downloading leads to reducing the profits of creators and companies due to the decreasing number of people who are willing to pay for what they listen. Therefore, the artist and producers cannot afford to create high-quality music. Furthermore, with future profits looking bleak, the cultural investment would be reduced and so ultimately the action of downloading is hurting the nation’s music industry.The second reason is that the illegal downloading directly damaged to a lot of people related the cultural industry. First of all, because of the illegal downloading, people who create the file like musicians, writers, and film producers are suffering from a large financial loss. In addition, their work is no longer protected under copyright, so it discourages them to create new works. Furthermore, another problem is that people in the industry could lose their job. For example, there are lots of product workers in the film industry, but if making films is no longer profitable due to the illegal downloading, they will inevitably lose their job and have difficulty making a living.The third reason is that illegal downloading gives the illegal file-sharing website operators an unfair advantage. The illegal website operators do not pay the copyright owners the rightful fees, and even cash in on this situation. Website users who are on the operator’s side may argue that they simply think that many of files are just not worth paying full price for, so they pay their money to the website because of its low coast. However, the low-quality materials are also caused by illegal downloading, and people should know that they help the websites to raise illegal revenue. For example, the file-sharing websites such as ‘Share-File’ or ‘File-nory’ allow their users to download a film for just 10 won per 100Mbytes. It is much cheaper than buying the original movie ticket, so they can attract many people to use their website. Therefore, the operators of these websites make a huge profit from a stolen thing instead of the owners who have the right of the files. This is deeply unfair and it is essential that the law protect victims.In conclusion, it is important that people realize that the illegal downloading is a serious crime because it is destroying the nation's cultural industry, making a lot of people in the industry suffer, and making illegal operators earn money instead of the creators. Furthermore, if people continue to share files, the biggest victim will be the audience themselves because many musicians and film makers will not try to improve the quality and standards of music and film. Therefore, it is crucial that the legislature pass strict copyright laws to make illegal downloading a punishable offense.
For some people, Thanksgiving means planning a lively celebration. Thanksgiving Day is the biggest holiday in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. It is a wonderful time of the year to gather with family and friends and give thanks for all of life’s simple pleasure. Many young Americans live far from their parents or family members and cannot see their family members very often. However, Thanksgiving Day allows the whole family to get together, and they don’t mind the long trip to their family’s house even through it takes for hours. There are three main parts that people should plan to have a great Thanksgiving Day with their family and friends; invitation, Thanksgiving dinner, and volunteer work.
The most influential person in my life is my best friend Ju-hee. From the moment we met, she has changed me better than before. Spending a lot of time together, my personality changed following her so I have active personality like her and it make me many friends. In addition, she influenced on my career path as well as my personality. When she was 10 years old, she lived in Canada for two years so she was good at English. She is the first motivation attracting my interest for English.
The capital punishment is the most effective and necessary system to treat crime so Korea government should bring execution back into practice. Although the capital punishment which is a criminal punishment by death exists in Korea, It has been more than 13 years with no executions. However, recently, violent crimes are occurring in succession, there have been repeated calls to reinstate the capital punishment. First, the capital punishment can give criminal the strongest penalty of the criminal’s crime. Someone who objects to capital punishment may insist that capital punishment is the ultimate denial of human rights.
Difference between Korean values and American valuesGrowing up in Korea, I enjoy watching American dramas such as a ’Friends’ which are based on American real life. Watching American drama is very interesting because I can meet people from different culture. Whenever watching them on TV, I think that their lives are much the same as Korean’s. However, there is an obvious contrast between the cultures of East and West. Although, Korea is becoming more globalized, and Korean people easily assimilated into American culture, Korean and Americans have obvious different views of individualism, privacy, and directness as well.One of the major differences between Korea and America is that the ideas about individualism. Americans highly value the individualism, but Koreans believe that the person’s relation is more important than individualism. Individualism and personal freedom has been a part of the American’s philosophy since the country began. They believe that human can think and make decisions, and therefore, their freedom should be respected. On the other hand, Koreans think that a person’s identity belongs to their group. Koreans have been taught that Individuals have to sacrifice their own interests for their family, their group, and their nation, so individualism is often regarded as egotism or selfishness in Korea. For example, when we have neighbors who live upstairs and make a lot of noise, Americans might speak to them directly about the excessive noise. However, in this case, Koreans might simply complain to themselves, but they would rarely speak directly to their neighbors about the matter. Because Koreans think that they must live with the community and have good relation with others.The second difference is privacy. Koreans and Americans have quite different views on privacy. Because Americans value highly individualism, so individual’s privacy is respected by them, but Korea’s traditional collectivism is far from privacy. Americans value individualism and freedom, and they respect individual’s privacy in strict laws. However, the notion of privacy has not traditionally been valued in Korea, and there is no problem to ask about other’s personal information. For example, when Koreans meet together at the first time, the common topics are name, the place where they live, age, marriage, and even income, while asking these questions are not appropriate to American. Although, privacy doesn’t count much to Korean, Americans don’t talk about these topics because these are taboos in their cultures. Americans think that it is an invasion of privacy, and they don’t feel necessary to answer such personal questions.Finally, the ways of speaking in American and Korean are so different. Americans explicitly state their feelings, wants, and needs, while Koreans speak much more indirectly. Americans do not hesitate to express what they want because directness is honesty for them, and they think that directness make them to free from unnecessary misunderstandings. However, from Koreans point of view, American directness is often perceived as aggressive. Directness is considered a rather impolite in Korea, so most Koreans who come to the United States are at first shocked and have a problem with the American direct way of speaking. For example, The American students felt comfortable asking questions during class, and they even contradict their teacher and spontaneously express their thought, while Korean student usually don’t. Likewise, Americans are self-reliant, so people express their personal opinions directly, even if they’re contrary to those of the group. However, Koreans worry that expressing their contrary personal opinions are considered rude, because Koreans are trying to live harmoniously in their community.Although, Korea and America has share many similarities, there are remarkable differences in their view on individualism, privacy, and directness. Some people think that Korea is becoming more globalized nation, and American and Korean’s thought became almost same. However, Korea and America are unique countries, and there are many differences between the two countries.