i also want to point out that there is a difference between korea-bashing (which is whining for the sake of being an ass) and raising issues or questions that don’t make sense to someone and which, well, may be a blow to a nation’s (Korea’s) ego but are grounds for good discussion, education, etc. i don’t think such people who raise these issues (no matter how “ugly” these thoughts may seem) should be made to feel guilty for questioning things that go unexplained to them (and again, it doesn’t matter what your ethnic background is).

and just as you accuse people of seeing the bad or dark side of a culture, i guess i accuse you for seeing only the bad or dark side of my post.

i mentioned gyopos who have returned to korea and have had very positive experiences. the post was not dedicated to the entire criticism of korea although criticism within the post did exist but is that a crime? it wasn’t hateful criticism. it was the sort of stuff people say amongst themselves but are too afraid to say in public as they fear the exact same reaction you gave.

maybe this will get me in trouble some day but i am not afraid of such reactions like yours and i am willing to call things as i see them in the hopes that things can be explained to me and that discussion can be generated.

i don’t think i owe anyone an apology for writing that post. it had some stuff that was difficult to hear but it wasn’t written out of pure hate.

sure i get frustrated living here and that frustration may have beared its ugly side at the end of the post, but as a person who has been living overseas yourself, i think you can acknolwedge that it is quite normal for someone to feel this way once in a while. when it becomes unhealthy then it is time to leave, but you can’t expect everyone to love it anywhere all the time.

if the post came off as being racist and hateful, then i apologize as that was not my intention. (i didn’t publish the post immediately after writing it but waited a day and read it once more before putting it on the blog as i wanted to be sure that i wasn’t coming off as being too unfair. i’m glad i waited. i went back and softened some things that i was feeling strongly about and perhaps unfairly during the heat of the moment when writing it.)

if you are still calling for my head on a silver platter, then i am williing to discuss this further offline. you know the blog’s address and the contact information is on there.

thanks for hearing me out….

In other words, how well you fit in/find your place/harmonize depends on your attitude? Can’t argue with that.

As for my own two cents, well, I tend to be rather verbose when voicing my opinion, so I’ll try to keep this short. Every place has its good points and bad points, and I try to focus on the positive. It’s not always easy, but I do try. There are a lot of things that I don’t like about Korea, but I try not to dwell on them. I try not to bash Korea either, but I believe it is possible to have a reasonable discussion of a country’s shortcomings. I guess it all really boils down to attitude, which I suppose lines up with what you were saying.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the dark side, though. We all have negative moments, and just because you dislike something about Korea doesn’t make you a bad person–as long as you don’t let that negativity fester and take over your whole outlook.

Don’t know if that made any sense…

However, that wasn’t the point of my post. The easiest thing to do is wear ones ignorance on your sleeve and by constantly pointing out what is wrong with Korea and Koreans you are building a wall that will impede any kind of allow me to say integration..no no I’ll go with harmonisation…. reinfocing the notion of us and them (don’t wanna get into Ed. Said so will stop now). In short.. if you think you can harmonise or if you think you can’t..then you’re probably right. Would you agree?

Glad my poor word selection made you feel compelled to post. As a veteran of 10 years, it’d be great to get your two cents worth on the Korea bashing of others and attempts to find your own place.