Is the ROK Drop a Korean Hate Site?

Usually I just ignore e-mails critical of me and my site, but this time I figure I would respond and let people who read this site share their opinions on if I am a Korea basher or not. Below is a email I received recently, I won’t publish the name or e-mail address of this person because this person probably means well, but is sending me this e-mail with little information about me or having much of an understanding of Korea in general, and has obviously read very little of my site. So I will give this person the benefit of the doubt unlike what is given to me that I am a automatic Korea basher.

Here is the e-mail:

Hello! I have a few comments about your wesite.

You are obviously an American who has the typical supremacy complex. You feel that anything that isn’t socially acceptable in America, is wrong in other countries. This just shows how egocentric Americans are. I am sure that people who visit America have millions of thoughts describing how ignorant and rude Americans are.

When anyone visits another country, they should be respectful of their culture, not critical.

How would you feel if soldiers from another country, on the other side of the world, comes and tells you what to do and criticizes the way you act – I am sure that you would be angry, offended, disgusted, etc…

About your comments about Seoul… you have obviously never been to New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago. When you describe the problems in Seoul, you would find those same problems in any major city in America.

Gee, Koreans are learning English.. what morons! If you aren’t aware of this… English is the accepted universal language. It is the business language that connects the world. If you have ever taken the time to visit other countries, you will realize that any country that keeps up with the ever-changing global community, learns English. As for their speaking abilities, have you ever tried to learn another language fluently enough to hold a conversation?? If you aren’t aware of this, English is one of the hardest languages to learn and master. In America, we have citizens (who are born and raised here)Â that still can’t speak English correctly. Also, the best time to learn a foreign language is when you are young.

Now, you are probably thinking that I am a pompous Korean… big surprise!!! I am American, who is ashamed that you are the representation of an American GI. You are the reason why everyone else thinks that Americans are stupid.

While I appreciate your ideas and opinions, because everyone has their right to their opinions, please take mine with the same feeling.

I find it interesting when I am accused of having a supremacy complex when the person accusing me is the one saying that Koreans must learn English to be successful in the world. If that isn’t a sign of a supremacy complex I don’t know what is. Obviously this person hasn’t been reading my blog very long.

I have long been saying that Koreans shouldn’t put so much emphasis on children to learn English especially if the emphasis isn’t on speaking ability. Koreans that study English learn to read and write well but have poor speaking skills. If a nation is going to put an emphasis on English than at least emphasize speaking ability. The best and brightest of Korean males are selected to serve as KATUSA soldiers with the US Army in Korea to complete their mandatory service. Many of them when they come to the unit do not speak English well even though they have been studying it since they were little kids. The unit has to train these soldiers to become proficient in English and usually by the time they leave after two years of service they speak English much better and with more confidence compared to the years of English education they received from Korean schools and hagwons. I could take a cheap shot and blame it on foreign English teachers not doing their job well, but I actually blame it on a system that rewards memorization of words instead of speaking ability. I know very well how hard learning English is and that is why I think Koreans should not spend as much time as they do dwelling over learning it.

It is fallacy to believe that the only way to be successful is to learn English. I tend to think that Koreans can be successful speaking Korean, imagine that?  Yet, I am the American supremacist? Japan is no where near as English friendly as Korea and their educational system does not put an emphasis on English education as much as Korea and yet they are a major power in the world with world’s 2nd largest economy. They didn’t become a major power by having their kids coming back from English hagwons at 10PM every night.

I consider Korean culture to be their food, language, history, etc which is something I have never criticized. In fact on this blog I have highlighted Korean history a number of times and if all anyone has to do is look at the What I Like About Korea list to see the number of cultural things I enjoy about Korea. However, I don’t consider Korean culture to be throwing soju bottles and trash all over the beautiful Korean country side, or parking on sidewalks right in front of a no parking sign, or running red lights which has led Korea to be second among OECD nations in car accidents per capita. This fact has led Korea to lead all OECD nations in children fatalities from car accidents.

I also don’t consider the lack of concern for sexual assaults in Korea to be part of Korean culture. The South Korean government giving a billion dollars a year to North Korea in order to fund a regime that continues to keep 250,000 political prisoners in gulags and in turn causes North Korean female defectors to become sex slaves in China, while at the same time refusing to properly fund the US-ROK alliance which has been directly responsible for the development of the ROK for the past 55 years to be part of Korean culture. I could go on and on, but I guess I should ignore all these things because I am being undiplomatic?

As far as criticizing Seoul I almost thought this person was confusing me with Nomad. If anything I have been supportive of Seoul. I am a big supporter of the Cheongyecheon Stream project, critical of things that make the city look ugly, plus I have been strongly supportive of Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s attempt to green Seoul, and turn Yongsan Garrison into a city park. Plus I have complimented the city’s mass transit system including the recent expansion of the subway to Dongducheon. There is a lot to like about Seoul, but anyone who thinks Seoul is paradise on Earth is sadly mistaken. Go ask Nomad, he can provide the details.

Just for the record I have been to Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York and I’m willing to wager I have been to more countries than this e-mailer has been to states in the US. I can read Hangul and have a working knowledge of Korean. I would study Korean even more if it wasn’t for things like deploying to Iraq where I was immersed in Arabic among other countries I have been to for what I like to call combat tourism.

Additionally I have had plenty of conversations with foreign military soldiers stationed in the United States. There are thousands or foreign soldiers in the US either training at US military schools or permanently stationed at foreign bases such as the German Air Force Tactical Training Center in New Mexico or the Singapore Air Force’s flight training squadron at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. I have had plenty of interesting conversations with these foreign military types and they have expressed criticisms about America to me, which I have always found interesting to talk to them about without accusing them of having a “supremacy complex”. I only became “angry, offended, and disgusted” one time with a foreign soldier when a Saudi officer try to treat me like one of his slave boys back in Saudi Arabia, but that is a whole other story worthy of a blog posting of it’s own one day.

Also, not for a minute did I think this person who e-mailed me was a Korean. Actually at first I thought great, another holier than thou Canadian English teacher sending me hate mail. I have had a few of those. (Note: I don’t think these e-mails are reflective of Canadians in general.) Why don’t Australians send me holier than thou hate mails? Anyway I really wasn’t surprised either when I saw something even worse, a holier thou American (English teacher?). Like I have maintained on this blog, the biggest anti-Americans are Americans themselves and the same thing is true with my hate mail; the greatest GI Korea haters are Americans. The e-mailer obviously has a low regard for herself with statements like, “everyone else thinks that Americans are stupid”. No, “everyone” may just think you are stupid.

This person seems ashamed to be American. It makes me wonder if this person is one of those types of Americans that walks around with a Canadian flag on their backpack? I have never hidden being an American, but I don’t rub it in people’s face either. I have spoken with many foreigners in many different countries that don’t agree with American foreign policy, dislike President Bush, or concerned about global warming for example, but the vast majority like the American people and want to visit the country if they haven’t already. It is possible to disagree with others and have an intelligent conversation without declaring the other side as being stupid.

I receive plenty of e-mails from people thanking me for creating this site which I really appreciate, especially from the numerous Korean War vets and retired soldiers that served on the DMZ before me. Those are guys I really enjoy getting feedback from because the soldiers in Korea today are carrying on a long tradition of service in Korea that started with those guys long ago. I also like answering questions from expats and soldiers that may be coming to Korea. There are people reading this blog right now who have e-mailed me questions about Korea that I have answered for them. However, if someone is going to send me hate mail at least read the site and then post the hate message as a comment on the posting you don’t agree with so I and everyone else can see it plus I can have a better context of what your gripe is.

I’m not a Korea basher and I consider Korea my second home. It just so happens that many of the issues going on in Korea are of a negative type. How can I put a positive spin on recent USFK issues? How can I put a positive spin on some of the nonsense going on with the anti-US groups? How can I put a positive spin on anything North Korea related? These are all major issues going on in Korea that don’t lend a whole lot to be positive about thus the blog reflects that. However, that doesn’t mean Korea is a bad place. Korea is country that has accomplished a lot that most of the world can learn from and hope to see the country do even more and that’s not stupid.