The world you see is just a small piece
Peel off the shell that surrounds the world!
A Hidden World in 9 Questions

★★★ A journey of insight filled with intellectual pleasure.
★★★ 20 million cumulative views
★★★ Knowledge curator Yongdusami publishes his first book, "Knowledge Beyond the Eyes."

With over 20 million cumulative views, 'Yongdusami', which has been raising hot intellectual topics, has published its first book, 'Knowledge Beyond Gaze', containing the depth of insight that could not be fully conveyed through video.
This book analyzes the cracks and contradictions in the social structures, histories, and cultures of nine countries, including Denmark, Japan, Singapore, and France, and directly dismantles the standards we have taken for granted.
We uncover the untold stories behind the so-called "advanced nations," and offer a three-dimensional perspective by comparing and deconstructing a single country.

In an age overflowing with light and fragmented information, "Knowledge Beyond the Gaze" restores the "joy of thinking" beyond simple knowledge consumption through an exploratory attitude of questioning, re-examining, and pursuing the truth.
It will provide an intellectual exploration of insight for readers seeking intellectual stimulation and cultured readers seeking a deeper understanding of the world.

This is the question that Knowledge Beyond Gaze poses.
"Who evaluates us, and why do we internalize that evaluation?", "From whose perspective is the standard for what constitutes a developed nation established?" Only when we transcend that perspective can we truly understand ourselves.
This book makes us look at the perspectives we take for granted in a new way.
I propose an attitude that seeks to go beyond superficial evaluations and images and understand the historical context and essence behind them.
This creates a new connection between me and the world, and leads to deep insights into the communities we belong to.
At the same time, it reminds us that knowledge is not simply an accumulation of information, but a framework for perceiving and interpreting the world, and a power to reconstruct existing cognitive structures.

--- From the "Prologue"

The collective narrative that "we" who have overcome pain together should be the happiest has become a force that unites Danes' pride, but at the same time, it can also act as a harsh signal of exclusion for those excluded from the narrative—that is, outsiders or those who do not belong to the Danish "us."
So, are the happiness, equality, and hygge that Denmark emphasizes for everyone? Or have they become exclusive tools of solidarity for only a select few who have shared in the suffering?
--- From "The Contradiction Hidden Behind Happiness, Denmark"

This passage from former Deputy Prime Minister Wong sounds like it hits the heart of Singapore's social problems, symbolized by Kia Su.
But the nice words he spouts about “needing to change our mindset toward success” sound like empty words to Singaporeans living in a society where cutthroat competition is already deeply ingrained.
The People's Action Party, to which former Deputy Prime Minister Wong belongs, is the one that transplanted that mindset of endless competition to Singapore.

--- From "The True Face of a Hyper-Competitive Society, Singapore"

The warm and friendly atmosphere that many people experience when traveling through the American South seems to be inherent to some extent in the people of the South.
Southern hospitality, which began as a culture of hospitality among a small number of plantation owners 200 years ago, was shaped by a long history of oppression and victimization of Black people.
It is difficult for us to view this purely as a warm and friendly concept,
--- From "The Unresolved Past, America"

Just because one McDonald's franchise disappears, it doesn't mean Iceland will fall out of the developed world.
Nevertheless, Iceland's long history of being dominated and marginalized, coupled with its desire for recognition from more powerful nations, has left it feeling anxious and lost at joining the ranks of "countries without McDonald's."
The absence of McDonald's in Iceland is viewed with some irony.

--- From "Shadows of Typed History, Iceland"

The program's structure is to confirm Japanese pride through the eyes of an American who admires Japanese culture, which may be a cross-section of the Western-centric complex deeply ingrained in Japanese society.
Ultimately, the current "Japaneseness" is closer to an image borrowed and constructed from outside sources to fill in the missing spiritual identity.
The spirit of Japan in the past, symbolized by the national system, was buried along with the fall of militarism, but without a proper opportunity to reflect on it, a new identity was forced upon us within the framework of the "good people."

--- From "Mirror of Complexes, Japan"

Today, France, despite being the birthplace of the revolutionary spirit, cries out from the gap between its ideal of a republic advocating "equality before the law" and its actual social structure.
While the slogans of liberty, equality, and fraternity remain the national symbols, the fact that these ideals are monopolized by the culture and institutions of the upper classes reveals that France is still in a state where the contradictions of the old system have not yet been completely eradicated.
As long as French society embraces a new feudal system called elitism, can it easily escape this sad fate of repetition?
--- From "The Reality of Elitism, France"

For decades, the working class has been utterly marginalized by neoliberalism.
But at the same time, they are a generation that grew up in another huge trend: modern consumer capitalism.
A shocking paradox arises: we are raised to value and desire material wealth, yet the legitimate avenues for accessing it are completely blocked.
Youssef analyzed that the Roadmen, who were born in such a place where they experienced extreme disadvantage, mobilized what little "capital" they had to produce value in order to combat contradictions and inequality.
--- From "The Shadow of Neoliberalism, Britain"

The state tolerates this trend, views citizens as petty producers who value material gain, and begins to organize society around material gain.
As a result, China rapidly transformed into a society where communal ideals disappeared and values ​​centered on materialism and achievement dominated.
Nihilism after the Cultural Revolution was not merely an individual problem, but a problem for Chinese society as a whole, which failed to fill the ideological vacuum during the period of systemic transition.
The shadow of this nihilism and materialism remains deeply imprinted in Chinese society, leaving an indelible scar.

--- From "China, a Materialistic Society"