Q: If you put people who make incendiary comments AND people who allow them to derail civilized discussion by responding on a deserted island, who would survive?

A: The rest of us.

oranckay: 이장직 기자님의 양심과 정신상태가 의심됩니다.

A: The rest of us.

So Robert, stay focused on your goal of having fun blogging, and making this place a fun place to share ideas and information about life in Korea. A Podcast outside of Mr. Lee’s place of employment (with 10,000 screaming Marmot’s Hole fans) might be a fun endeavor, and definitely make him think twice before getting jiggy with the Marmot again.

Thanks for the fish.

–Remort

Yes, I post on Matt’s blog, but I did not make the above comment to promote the blog. I do not even care if Robert links to Matt’s blog, though Matt might. I do not worry about hits, even on my own blog. I usually post as a way to get things organized in my head.

The reason I wrote what I wrote was that I got angry at Robert for calling Mr. Lee “pathetic” because he had erased comments on his blog. If Robert can manage his blog the way he wants, then why can’t Mr. Lee do the same? Maybe, Mr. Lee also felt the comments being made were “unwarranted, unbalanced and mean-spirited”?

Anyway, it just sounded hypocritical for Robert to complain about Mr. Lee’s deleting comments while Robert, himself, has refused to link to a relevant, popular blog for reasons that I can only guess. The request for a link to Occidentalism.org has been made several times in the past, but it has always been ignored. By the way, I have only recently started contributing to Matt’s blog and have nothing to do with its popularity.

I post on Matt’s site for two reasons, dda. One is to shut up people like you and Oranckay, who have claimed that “Dokdo” was historically Korean territory. In that respect, I think I have accomplished my goal. The other reason I post on Matt’s site is to create a discussion on Dokdo/Takeshima, which hopefully gets me more information on the issues, especially from the Japanese side. As I said before, I am not interested in getting hits, but I do want people to know the truth about “Dokdo.” Of course, you, dda, are free to ignore my maps and post on “Dokdo” and search for pictures of half-naked women or whatever you are interested in.

To Robert,

I apologize for my comment above, especially the part about your being a “blowhard.” Actually, in the beginning of your blog, and while you were working at Chosun Ilbo, I did consider you somewhat of a blowhard, but it was never very serious. It came out today because I was angry about some of your comments. I think I was just holding you up to too high of a standard.

I recognize and envy your knowledge and skills, and I am amazed at how fast you have learned Korean, but, I guess I sometimes feel that you are often too easy on Korea when it comes to Korea-Japan issues.

Anyway, I am sorry for calling you a blowhard.

Gerry Bevers

It’s a really petty article.