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MC Si Kyung starts to read notes from fans for Abnormal Summit. Ha, the first note is for Se Yoon to style his hair upwards. He totally looks like he's wearing a wig today. Another note that Si Kyung reads is a request for the summit members to tell any story using five Korean idioms. The mother of the note writer criticized her child for knowing less Korean idioms than the summit member Tyler.
Naturally, the first victim(?) is Jun Hyun Moo. Everyone asks Hyun Moo to give an example of how to do the request. Surprised but prideful, Hyun Moo starts his story, but he falters. He admits it's really hard. Tyler goes next and he actually finishes his story. The others are astounded by Tyler's knowledge of idioms and many couldn't even understand Tyler (which shows how high his knowledge of Korean is).
As Se Yoon is getting his hair fixed by a staff member, Si Kyung reads the next fan note. The fan asks if Alberto can say "Refrigerator, refrigerator, refrigerator" (in Korean) to make the fan laugh. This is a joke in the show because Alberto has a hard time pronouncing the Korean sound O. Refrigerator in Korean is "naeng-jang-go" but Alberto can't pronounce the "ng" sound so he sounds like "naen-jan-go." It' hilarious to see Alberto struggle to say "Refrigerator." He scrunches his face every time he says the word.
- Time for Global Cultural Conversation
The topic for today is the world's best men.
Zhang goes first and introduces two men. The first man is named Jang Ok-an and was chosen as the world's best male face. Ha, as Zhang is speaking, the others take note that his pronunciation of some words sounds like he's speaking in Chinese because he uses Chinese tones as he says some words. Another man was known as the world's best face is Melanbang.
Takuya introduces Kimura Takuya. He is part of a singing group and is also an actor. He also says that recently due to his popularity boost, he beat Kimura Takuya in search engines. Takuya also introduces Ikalashi Hiroyuki, the leader of Japanese group EXILE.
Julian introduces a Belgium top actor named Benoit Poelvoorde who is a comedian and an actor. Julian praises him to no end by saying Poelvoorde is the funniest comedian ever and a really good actor.
Guillaume introduces Canada's best man Guy Laliberte. He started his career as a street fire-breather and later started his own entertainment group Sun's Circus. The group became the world's best circus group. He even went to space for fun.
Tyler picks Rajiv Shah as America's best man. He is a leader in USAID and has helped many children and others around the world. Tyler actually saw Shah in person once and was touched by the way Shah was so loving with his family.
Daniel introduces Thomas Muller, Germany's best soccer player. Daniel says that Muller is a very popular player, but Muller is also humble.
Robin's world's best man is Zinedine Zidane for being France's best soccer player. Out of Robin's praises of Zidane, there is one that gets me in the heart. Zidane couldn't afford soccer shoes when he was young so he felt sad, but when he saw a person with no feet he realized how rich he was. Robin's other best man is Michael Jackson. He dances Michael Jack's Billie Jean.
Sam choses Will Smith as the world's best man.
Se Yoon concludes the conversation by saying that women like men who focus on one thing, whether it be working or partying. Men who are so passionate about one thing are charismatic. He hopes that all of them will become the world's best man.
- Today's Korean Representatives are Super Junior's Kangin and Zhoumi. Kangin is representing Korea and Zhoumi is representing China. As Zhoumi is talking, the others are astounded by how much Zhoumi's Korean pronunciation and Zhang's Korean pronunciation are so similar. They both speak Korean in Chinese-style ways.
The MC's ask Zhoumi if Chinese people really do eat small worms. Zhang said in an earlier episode that Chinese people eat big worms, but not really small worms. Zhoumi says that in some districts of China, people do eat small worms. He brought duck from China for the summit members to eat and the members say that duck is delicious.
The agenda for today is read by Kangin:
One year ago, a thief broke into my house and since then, I have been anxious about living. I moved and put security measures in my house, but the anxiety didn't go away so I got some self-defense weapons including pepper spray, an alarm device, and an alarm necklace. Out of anxiety, I carry around self defense weapons. Am I abnormal? (The writer is female.)
Eight pressed their buttons to signal that they think she is abnormal.
Sam is one of the eight. He thinks that the woman is being too much. Just because a thief broke in once doesn't mean she needs to be prepared to defend herself. Korea is also a very safe country so it's not really needed to carry around self-defense weapons.
Si Kyung says that a thief broke into his house once and completely understands the woman's feelings because it would have been a much scarier experience for her.
Julian disagrees by saying self-defense weapons won't help her catch a thief. Kangin says the weapons are an effective way of protecting yourself. He would actually buy self-defense weapons for his girlfriend if he had one. He thinks it's a good idea to protect yourself.
Tyler thinks that while it's normal to carry around pepper spray for an unknown future, it's abnormal to always be anxious about getting attacked.
Kangin brings up a scenario. He asks the members if they were going on a trip without their girlfriends and a thief broke into their girlfriends' house before, would they want their girlfriends to carry a self-defense weapon? Wouldn't they feel better if they know their girlfriends can protect themselves?
Tyler says that yes he would feel better, but this scenario is different from the original agenda. The woman carries around more self-defense weapons than needed and is overly anxious about getting attacked.
- The MC's ask if Korea is not safe enough that woman need to carry around self-defense weapons.
THe MC's ask how safe the members think Korea is. Guillaume answers that even if he leaves his wallet at a coffee shop, no one tries to take his money. Sam says that his friend left his phone in a taxi yesterday. The taxi driver actually drove back to his friend's house to deliver the phone. Robin agrees that there are much fewer fights in Korea than in other countries.
The MC's say that on the list, America is #44. Tyler says that in 2011 there were a lot of criminals and America had the highest number of prisoners in the world. Tyler says that this is a huge problem because it wastes so much tax money.
France is #50. Robin says no matter what part of the country you go to, there's always a dangerous neighborhood.
Italy is #60. Alberto says that crime is an increasing problem. Die-hard soccer fans (called soccer hooligans) commit acts of violence in soccer stadiums. Italy also has the mafia. It's not a mafia like in the old days, but more corporation like in the dealings of drugs and other things.
China is #107. Zhang says that 10-20 years ago China was dangerous and people still have a dangerous image of China. However, China is getting safer and safer. The MC's ask Zhoumi if he thinks the same. Zhoumi says that he used to think China was safe, but it's not as safe as he thought because of scammers.
Germany is #116. Daniel says that since aging is an increasing problem, criminals are also getting older. There are gangsters for those who are at least 60 years old. Some are in their 70's and 80's.
Japan is #125. Takuya thinks that Japan is as safe as Korea. However, there has been an increase of voice phishing towards the older generation.
- The MC's shift the topic to terrorism.
Kangin tells an anecdote about a time he almost got arrested for peeing in public. Fortunately for him, he wasn't arrested after revealing that he's a Korean singer.
Zhang says that in China, security checks people's bags. He also says that since porn is illegal in China, people can get arrested for watching porn.
Tyler talks about the full-body scans in airports. The scans scan each body like an x-ray for security measures, but there are people who think that it's too much.
MC Hyun Moo reveals that Korea is #1 in the amount of CCTV cameras. On average, a person is filmed on average 83.1 times a day on CCTV cameras. The amount of times would increase if black boxes were included.
Alberto says he feels some uncomfort for being filmed by CCTV, but since Korea is incredibly safe he thinks it's a good payoff.
- The MC's ask a question: Do you think that CCTV cameras infringe and disturb people in Korea?
Sam, Robin, Zhang, Julian and America think so.
Julian thinks that there are more effective ways of preventing crime than having CCTV cameras everywhere. Also, he wonders who watches all those cameras.
Daniel says he understands Julian's point of view, but he thinks that the cameras are useful. CCTV cameras are used to catch criminals so maybe that's why Korea is so safe.
Tyler says that we can't just assume that the CCTV cameras are the reason why Korea is so safe. In Korea, guns and drugs are illegal.
Daniel thinks that Korea should start using body cams. In Germany, Frankfurt used to be very dangerous, but because of the use of body cams, it became much more safe. The police must tell people that they will be filed before turning on the body cam so the others agree that it is a good idea.
Zhang says that CCTV cameras are not the solution to everything. For example, why do people steal money? Because they need money. The government should focus on why people commit crimes in the first place instead of just using tax money to put in more CCTV cameras.
Zhoumi disagrees. In places where there aren't a lot of police, CCTV cameras are effective. Police can't be everywhere all the time. Also, it's not like people are doing private things in public so CCTV cameras shouldn't be such a problem.
Zhang things that there should be a certain amount of cameras unlike how it is now with cameras everywhere.
Robin says that there are a lot less bad people than good people in the world. For a small amount of people, making everyone suffer is not good.
Daniel disagrees. Even though there are a lot less bad people in the world than good, those bad people can do terrible things. He brings up the 9/11 event as an example.
Tyler says that CCTV cameras are not only used for preventing crimes, but for punishing criminals.
MC Hyum Moo says that in one area, a fake CCTV camera was installed, but crime still went down.
Tyler says that cameras don't really help in identifying criminals. Cameras can film what criminals do and where they are going, but can't really stop big crimes.
Kangin says that CCTV cameras do help in catching criminals.
Tyler says that although cameras can help, but it's bad to rely on cameras too much. Instead of letting the government handle everything, people should be aware of dangers too.
Although the advantages of CCTV cameras can be debated, no one can deny that the cameras do a good job. Even if people have to give up some privacy, overall the sacrifice is worth it.
MC Si Kyung says that the problem is that we don't really know who is watching the cameras and what is happening to the footage.
- Si Kyung changes the topic to the death penalty.
Ghana, Japan, China and America have the death penalty.
Takuya says that he himself was surprised to find out that Japan had the death penalty, but there actually has been a case in 2014. Zhang says that in China, the death penalty happened often in the 80's and 90's, but now the usage of the death penalty decreased a lot. It's only used in extreme cases. The death penalty does exist in Ghana, but it has not been used since 1993.
The MC's ask a question. Do you think that the death penalty should exist?
Five says yes and seven says no.
Takuya thinks that it should exist because it is effective in preventing crime. Zhang disagrees that the death penalty is effective. Even though some districts of China don't have the death penalty, as some American states don't have the death penalty, crime in those districts and states are not high.
Tyler starts a lecture on how crime is brought to court in America. He also says that according to a Columbia University study, the death penalty doesn't necessarily decrease crime. On that note, Tyler agrees that the death penalty isn't effective.
Zhang says that the death penalty may bring some peace towards the victims and families of victims, but before the death penalty takes place the criminals have to stay in jail and live off government taxes that the victims paid and that doesn't make sense.
Robin disagrees with Zhang that the government can kill criminals for the victims. If we acknowledge that the government has the right to do that, then we make that country into a country for revenge. Robin says that we cannot mix feelings with the law. It's very difficult, but it has to happen in order to seek justice.
Zhang asks whether the victims are important or the law is important. Robin says since they are all humans, the l aw much treat all humans the same way. Zhang argues that a murderer is different from person who has never commited a crime. The others argue that the murderer is still a human.
Julian says that our society and the world is not perfect. No matter how hard we try, we cannot prevent all mistakes.
Tyler brings up a real story where a person received the death penalty because the person was black. However, the person was innocent. Years later, the death penalty has still not taken place and the Illinois government freed the innocent person.
Si Kyung asks if a person really was guilty, would we have the right to kill that person? Tyler says that one person's rights are not better or worse than another person's rights. He thinks that the government does not have the right to kill its people.
Kangin asks if when watching TV, they ever felt that the bad guys needed to be killed. The others say they have.
Robin says that if we kill of murderers, then we become murderers too.
Alberto says that everyone wants murderers, child pornographers and other unforgivable criminals to die. However, the law and feelings are two different things that cannot mix. No matter where you are, no one has the right to kill anyone else.
The final vote takes place. Eight people think that the woman in the agenda is abnormal and four people think that it is normal.
My Comments:
As the MC's said in the show, this episode was filled with heavy topics and not as much laughter as other episodes. The episodes generally are thought-provoking and give insight into what people of different countries think. However, in this episode there weren't a lot of debates and arguments and each side could understand the other. It's wonderful to see how alike people's thoughts are once more.
I actually really like police procedural shows like NCIS, Hawaii Five-0 and CSI. There are some criminals in these shows like serial killers who I think don't really deserve the same treatment as everyone else so I understand Zhang's point of view. However, I also understand Robin's point of view that revenge is not justice. A human is human and all humans need to be treated like humans. Like Robin said, it's hard not to confuse the law with feelings, but it must be done to seek justice. Like Julian said, our society isn't perfect and our law systems are not perfect, but we do the best that we can. This statement reminded me of cases I saw on the news where obvious criminals are found not guilty due to excellent lawyers, but overall the law does a good job.
Alberto's statement that everyone has the same heart when it comes to criminals of unforgivable crimes, but we can't just kill those criminals because no one should have the right to kill anyone is a very powerful but simple statement. Robin's point that there are much less bad people than good people in the world should not be forgotten. It's also important not to sacrifice humanity for revenge. The episode made me think a lot about what it means to be a human and how we should treat other humans. This reminds me of a teacher who taught me that it's always important to be a human before being anyone else. The world isn't perfect and it's easy to think that the law is not effective, but no one can deny that conditions in the world have become much better in the last few decades.
What are your thoughts? Do a lot of women carry around self-defense weapons? Do you agree or disagree with the effectiveness and usage of the death penalty?
