Obama Gets A Black Belt

[Ichi_Geki]

Political...Hmmm. I doubt the Kukkiwon really cares about being politically correct to the President of the Unites states. They did it as a gesture of kindess and to honor him being in their country. I still thing he should have said "I dont deserve this"....because he did not. I am a fan of Obama as a president...but not as a martial artist.

[RichardZ]

Political...Hmmm. I doubt the Kukkiwon really cares about being politically correct to the President of the Unites states. They did it as a gesture of kindess and to honor him being in their country. I still thing he should have said "I dont deserve this"....because he did not. I am a fan of Obama as a president...but not as a martial artist.

Thats it. The president of the US is respected among our supportive countries. It isnt a matter of honor as political gesture. simply, upon a visit to a country, many politicans are "given" such "gifts", which depends on the culture has to offer, in order for a plitical gesture.

He the pres went to Obligee which made pocket knofves, he would get a pocket knife while visiting as a gesture from said country to show the rest of the world that they met the US pres. Purely political.

[ninjanurse]

Many Asian cultures believe in "reciprocity" as a matter of respect not politics...he will be expected to return the gesture.

[Ichi_Geki]

I concur with ninjanurse. Especially with the Korean mind frame (I am korean). Korean people they like to give, but they also have in their mind what they plan on receiving, not necessarily with politics, but this might be a way of ensuring that if he were to come to the USA that Obama would be at his side for the full duration giving him the "tour" of America.

[Patrick]

Just as a general reminder, I wanted to mention that the discussion on this thread should focus on honorary belts and the practice of giving them to public figures or leaders. Not on Obama personally, as a President or otherwise, the American political system, etc. Basically, please keep it martial arts related. Everyone has done a good job so far and this has been a good discussion. Thank you.

[RichardZ]

Many Asian cultures believe in "reciprocity" as a matter of respect not politics...he will be expected to return the gesture.

So, anyone of us, going to Korea, can recieve the same "homorary belt". I mean, if we were not into politics or celeb status, or public statyus, would anyone recieve such?

I would think not.

[Ichi_Geki]

Many Asian cultures believe in "reciprocity" as a matter of respect not politics...he will be expected to return the gesture.

So, anyone of us, going to Korea, can recieve the same "homorary belt". I mean, if we were not into politics or celeb status, or public statyus, would anyone recieve such?

I would think not.

Depends if you happen to be friends with a grand master or the kukkiwon, haha. Although President Bush was on good terms with Korea, and he never got one.

Bush Sr was very well acquainted with Jhoon Rhee and he never gave him kuro obi

[RichardZ]

Like I said, getting on the current "bandwagon"

[isshinryu607]

That makes me so mad. That is just so stupid to give Obama a black belt in TKD because he didnt even work for it. That is so disrespectful to the art and to all of the black belts that earned it!

[Lupin1]

It doesn't make me any more mad than colleges giving out honorary degrees. I worked hard for my degree. I put in four years of all nighters, 3-hour long 10 page final exams, essays, presentations, boring lectures, etc, usw and these people are handed a slip of paper for some trival reason and suddenly they can say they have that degree without any of the work or any of the knowledge I have. It used to anger me. Until I realized that honorary degrees really mean nothing. A person with an honorary doctorate can't go apply for a job that requires a doctorate and expect to get it because their degree is just a piece of paper with a meaning entirely different than an actual degree from the same school. Same with Obama. His belt is just a black piece of cloth with an entirely different meaning than an actual black belt.

To tell you the truth, though, I never got the point of honorary degrees and things of that sort. It's widely recognized that they don't mean anything beyond a friendly gesture. So why do it at all? Why can't schools give out "thank you for being part of our community" awards without rewarding honorary degrees? Why couldn't those people give Obama a "we like you and thanks for being our friend" certificate instead of an honorary black belt. Those "honorary" things don't mean anything anyway, so what's the point? Why not make the same gesture in another way. All these things do is confuse people whenever someone forgets to specify that the degree or belt or whatever is only honorary.