Good. the Simon Wiesenthal Center has denounced Rhie Won-bok’s comic “Far Country, Neighbor Country” for its anti-Semitic content (HT to One Free Korea):
“The images in question in Monnara Iunnara echo classic Nazi canards like those found in Der Sturmer and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion by recycling various Jewish conspiracies like Jewish control of the media and money, Jews profiting from war, and even the reason for the 9/11 attacks was that, ‘Jews use money and the media as weapons in America to do as they want’,” charged Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center, adding, “the author also even alleges that the ‘final obstacle to success’ in the U.S. for Korean-Americans is a so-called ‘Wall of the Jews’.”
“The Center urges Koreans of goodwill whatever their political, ideological or religious affiliation to denounce this bigotry and strongly suggest that if they wish to know the truth about the Jewish people and their values that they reach out to their Jewish neighbors,” said Cooper.
Cooper is also urging the Eun-ju Park, CEO of Gimm-Young, the publisher of Monnara Iunnara, to “carefully review the slanders in this book that historically have led to antisemitic violence and genocide,” and instead, “consider providing facts about the Jewish people, our religion and values to young Koreans.”
Rabbi Cooper was nice enough to acknowledge the efforts of American expats (not used as a dirty word here) in Korea for bringing the issue to the center’s attention.
I’ve linked to the press release above. Rabbi Cooper’s letter to Gimm-Young Publishing, meanwhile, can be read here.
Now, if we’re lucky, some local and/or foreign press will pick up on this story as well, especially now that the Wiesenthal Center has weighed in on the issue.
The only thing that I find regretful about this whole affair (so far) is that the attention comes a little late—the fact that the comic has been out since 2004 and is getting attention only now (even after the Chosun ran a story on it) should be proof enough that the Jews don’t control the media. With the foreign press running several pieces this week on a xenophobic comic book in Japan, I couldn’t help but think that there were times Korea should actually be thankful that it so often flies under the world media radar.
Nevertheless, it’s better late than never, and much credit should go to Joe in Bucheon for taking the effort to translate the book and bring it to wider attention.
UPDATE: Israel’s Ynetnews has run a story on the Wiesenthal Center statement.
UPDATE 2: This comment by “austin” does provoke thought:
Now if a foreign ‘professor’ at a uni can be fired (Contract not renewed) for writing stuff about Dok Rocks (Not Dok-Do as Do means island) that Koreans disagree with, what are the consequences if a Korean Professor employed at a University, writes racist, and slanderous books, that are condemned internationally. Surely, doesn’t this tarnish the reputation of the University. Then again, in the eyes of Korean netizens, maybe being racist is in fact good for ones reputation.
Well, I’m not going to assume anything about the netizens, but as for the rest of the comment, if Gerry Bevers could be disciplined for tarnishing the reputation of his school by posting controversial opinions about the Dokdo islets on a blog, one naturally might wonder what Rhie’s employer—Duksung Women’s University—should think if his comic book were to come under greater attack. It would be quite unfortunate if a situation were to develop where one could fairly criticize Korea for being a place where publishing blatantly anti-Semitic rhetoric in a popular student comic book series is OK but posting unpopular views about Dokdo on a blog puts you beyond the pale.
293 Comments
Better late than never I guess Mr Marmot. I hope it does come to the world’s attention, but it probably won’t. Why does it seem that most Korean nationals hate everyone but themselves?
“The only thing that I find regretful about this whole affair (so far) is that the attention comes a little late—the fact that the comic has been out since 2004 and is getting attention only now…”
Well, if Korean-American parents can blow a gasket about a book by a Japanese writer that was published 20 years ago, I think the Wiesenthal Center is justified in protesting this bigoted crap. It’s still being published in Korea after all.
With ya on that one michael. It’s about time something be done about this blatant hypocrisy. Again, Koreans can do it to others, but when it happens to them…And of course Westerners do the same. The difference is that Westerners are barbarians, Koreans are not.
Quite simply, it’s envy clumsily manifested as hate.
Take a look at the cartoons in question, substitute “Koreans” for “Jews,” and you have the aspirations and dreams of the author in question. Not to mention that of a good number of Koreans.
Breaktrack wrote:
“Why does it seem that most Korean nationals hate everyone but themselves?”
Given the Korean propensity to sectionalism, provincialism, and other tribalism of all sorts, your presumption is highly contestable.
Mr. Choe is right, there is an element of self-loathing in some parts of the society that manifests in the ways he described. It’s one of the paradoxes here that the people can be so nationalistic and factional at the same time.
By the way, Joshua’s Blog is “suspended”–probably for exceeding its allotted bandwidth. Has he become prey to VANK-er aggression?
No, I’d imagine he’s become victim to Bluehost’s CPU usage issues. I like Bluehost, but they were prone to do that. It’s why I moved.
Bizarre semi-related football analogy incoming!
Back in the’good ole days’ when hooligans were allowed to be hooligans, you may be beating the crap out of a guy with a pipe one day (club matches) then the next week standing side by side with the same guy beating the crap out of a foreign guy (international).
I just got home and discovered that my site crashed after a lot of digg links to my last post about the mass escape from Camp 16. Guess all those gargantuan images were a bit much.
The revenge of Feffer for OFK.
The site is back up. Not VANK or Chomskyites, just hotlinkers. I know that trick where you replace switch your image url with some gay cat porn, but I’m just too nice a person to do such a thing.
This time, anyway.
“Nevertheless, it’s better late than never, and much credit should go to Joe in Bucheon for taking the effort to translate the book and bring it to wider attention.”
Well, some of us did email some links to the Simon Wiesenthal Center. It’s funny how blogs now make the news.
I’ve actually had one of my emails plagiarized by several leading American magazines and newspapers. I emailed some guy who had a blog about a reality TV show about a tidbit of information that I had found out online. Told the guy to quote my email word for word if he wanted as long as he didn’t reveal his source. It’s exactly what he did, and then the reporters plagiarized it from there.
i wonder how this is going to play out with the Korean netizens once they read that the Wiesenthal Center was tipped off by American expats in Korea.
More wisdom from Prof. Lee:
http://article.joins.com/artic.....ID=2611754
Here’s a photo of the good professor. Please forgive the follow-up post.
http://www.heraldbiz.com/SITE/.....190004.asp
Actually, the football hooligans analogy is a good one Goat.
Anybody else see the Chinese guy get decked at the friendly match in London? Good to see China taking its place on the international stage
http://www.goal.com/en/Articol.....oId=229456
Jews are cool
dogbertt’s photo shows the professor with a glass of Medoc getting ready to dine on mung-mungtang
Oh sorry, I’m stereotyping.
Back in high school I used to smoke weed at parties with the parents of my Jewish friends. Jews are cool.
Looking at that photo of the prof with dog, I’m reminded of Baduk’s talking cat. Not sure why.
My wife just told me she has read the book. What she got from it is that although she doesn’t believe his intentions were malicious, he did rely heavily on stereotypes, good and bad, to express his views.
I already sense goose shit boy putting his parastaltic machinery in action to pinch a loaf about how this episode is really about the victimization of Koreans, especially by the subhuman expat scum floating on the waters of the pure-blood minjok.
Hey Someguy, definitely no offense to your wife, but that’s just lame. Serving up every stupid, bigoted stereotype under the sun (look at the quotes on Joe of Bucheon’s blog for Lee’s views of whites etc) but “not in an intentionally malicious way” only means the man is incredibly stupid.
Now if a foreign ‘professor’ at a uni can be fired (Contract not renewed) for writing stuff about Dok Rocks (Not Dok-Do as Do means island) that Koreans disagree with, what are the consequences if a Korean Professor employed at a University, writes racist, and slanderous books, that are condemed internationally. Surely, doesn’t this tarnish the reputation of the University. Then again, in the eyes of Korean netizens, maybe being racist is in fact good for ones reputation.
michael, she was saying that the guy probably doesn’t know any better. She’s not excusing it, she just understands his mistake.
Oh, and I don’t think he’s that stupid. Over 10 million books…even if he made 500won off each, that’s quite a bit of cash.
Someguy, I meant I understand she’s not excusing Lee, he’s just incredibly stupid. And over 10 million books sold is a combination of “there’s a sucker born every minute” and someone shrewd enough to capitialize on that.
Unacceptable for a man in his position.
The thing is, a lot of objectional things get said in the Korean media by people who think foreigners don’t understand Korean enough to take them up on it. But, times are changing because an increasing number of foreigners now study Korean.
The psycho-social dynamic of Korean demonization of other races/nations rivals in its origins and complexity - particularly in respect of the memes of sectionalism, provincialism, tribalism, national humiliation, etc. - that of that other völkische people so well that it’s probably worth rereading Fritz Stern’s The Politics of Cultural Despair: A Study in the Rise of the German Ideology to really get a perspective on how to understand it. The Metropolitician already has done yeoman’s work in collecting and catalogueing a lot of the sources. See his “Starter Post” on Korean racism to get digging. Jargon alert: first you have to chew through a thick cardboardy crust of pop-Gramsci) goobledygook. Which is too bad, because the “theory” is simple enough. You don’t need to read German, Italian, Russian or even French loggorheaolics of abstraction to get it. Herodotus, Xenophon and Tacitus laid it all out in simple prose a long time ago. Caeser and Ghengis Khan were practical masters of it. Unify related but contentious groups bent on internecine conflict over limited natural and affective resources by focusing their violence on outsiders, particularly ones who can be painted as having a fifth column inside the tribal tent. The devil is in the details, though. What happens in a modern industrial state forged out of the remnants of a humiliated nation, which itself and the volk on which it is based themselves both are more wishful thinking than settled historical fact and without an effective competing ideology (e.g., govt of, by and for the people having equal rights w/out reference to religion, ethnicity or color or creed. One of the results is a knucklehead like Rhie Won-bak who actually has a sizable audience. The MP provides a lot of materials that elucidate both the emergence of a dangerous clown like Rhie and the reasons why he is not an anomaly.
10 million books? Wouldn’t that mean almost every household in Korea would have a copy somewhere? Do the Jews control publishing, advertising, and booksellers in Korea too? Without harnessing their secret powers, I doubt such marketing genius could be possible.
Have they translated that “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” yet? I don’t think this kind of thing indicates any racist tendencies on the part of Korean society, merely a tendency to be late to the party. Believing in the Zionist conspiracy for world domination is so 1930s, so it’s only fitting that it finally arrive here. Kind of like how every other person on the subway is reading “Angels and Demons” by the DaVinci code guy
Angles and Demons…That book was a waste of my time, to say the least. It’s like a Hardy Boys mystery, but with simpler sentence structures and a more predictable plot.
Angels, not angles.
ain’t it interesting? while the koreans must adopt to the sensibilities of westerners, westerners themselves don’t need to adopt to the sensibilites of asians. when a racist book about koreans came out in japan, many of you defended it. you certainly weren’t whinning about racism then.
i’m going to write to the wiesenthal center and ask them to peruse the comments on this blog so they can see that the people who whine about racism in korea are racists themselves.
as far as the book is concerned, korea is a democracy and thus the book should be available to anyone who wants to read it.
I believe that figure equates to the sales figures for the entire series of books rather than this particular one, so I think we can safely assume that some households are likely to have multiple volumes. But even so, considering how comic books are traded, borrowed, and otherwise disseminated, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that many (or even most) people of a certain age have at least read one of these.
“as far as the book is concerned, korea is a democracy and thus the book should be available to anyone who wants to read it.”
I agree with this. Books don’t kill, people do.
Pawi: Go right ahead. And while you’re at it, maybe you can ask them about “Jewish groupthink.” You can also finally ask them how this compares with Chinese netizens saying mean things about Korea.
Yep, and anyone who finds it offensive should be free to criticize it.
Wooo! Good luck with that, tonto. Are you also going to pigeon-bomb them? Oh, forgot, that’s what your posts are — so much bird shit.
That’s funny. I remember a not so long ago time when the Korean govt. had an internet ban so as to prevent anyone who wanted to view a certain video from doing so and that ban affected tons of sites unrelated to the questionable video.
Why anyone would have wanted to watch the video in the first place (just as why anyone would have wanted to read this comic book in the first place) is beyond me but Korea as a democracy in terms of access to media, well, as the Beach Boys sang, “Wouldn’t it be nice?”
I don’t think a-letheia was defending the internet ban. And for that matter, I happened to agree with a-letheia that the book shouldn’t be banned. It should be condemned, however… or at least it should have been when it was published in 2004.
And for the oh-so-easy guess about the inevitable editorials.
1) Who better than the Koreans to empathize with the Jews, i.e. if we can’t beat ‘em join ‘em.
2) Korea’s cultural and/or economic isolation has caused this misunderstanding, i.e. give oneself the idiot pass.
3) Korea tricked by anti-Semitic works from the west, i.e not our fault.
4) And a slam against the Japanese, i.e. we’re not as bad.
Pawi, I reckon the Wiesenthal Center will find much to worry about when they peruse everything you’ve posted. Please do send that e-mail.
““as far as the book is concerned, korea is a democracy and thus the book should be available to anyone who wants to read it.””
How do you feel about the Korean government banning porn in the name of protecting ‘impressionable young minds’?
As Robert was saying, the book shouldn’t be banned, but it must certainly be condemned.
Jeez….Korea also bans video games.
Oh, and Pawi, since you are so focused on calling out expat hypocrites (often building strawmen in the process), let me ask you this—Since you defended Gerry Bever’s university for getting rid of him, don’t you think Duksung Womens’ University should get rid of Prof. Rhie for inviting international condemnation?
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Of course, Korea isn’t exactly a paragon of free speech and toleration; but that’s besides the point for birdman, because pointing out a fact about Korea when you’re not Korean = anti-Korean racism and discrimination in his Little Book of Kimchi. It’s the farcical rerun - a stick-figure comic version of Chaplin as The Great Dictator — of the proto-Reich govt denouncing Thomas Mann as being un-German for having the temerity to demur from the national socialist line. One of the true tests of a racist is that’s what it all comes down to in the end for him. Who fits that description - the lawn despoiler or his critics here in the lists who, despite occasional disparaging asides, generally ground the tire spikes they scatter in the way of overinflated Korean pretensions on the less sanguine ground of some neutral principled position or other. Somebody please pass me the Bernelli; the single shot version will do nicely.
“It is understandable, though unfortunate, that some misguided Koreans have, in an effort to understand why this recognition hasn’t come, been duped by “answers” written by anti-Semitic writers abroad.”
Read pp. 223-224 of ‘State and Society in Contemporary Korea’. Very interesting passage about Yi Bom Sok who went to Germany in the 1930s to study the Fascist youth groups, helped set up the Blue Shirts in Taiwan, and founded the Korean National Youth in the late 40’s in Korea.
Let me change my question for Mr Choe. Why does it seem that most Korean nationals hate all other ethnic groups but their own? I guess I should have been clearer with that one, I thought it was simple enough. Please note that I used “seem” and “most Korean nationals” and not “all Korean nationals” in my question. I’d like to see Pawi respond to Mr Marmot’s question. That would be a hoot! Since the US is a democracy they had every right to use Kawashima’s book in their schools right Pawi?
Aw, come on. If we keep forcing nulji to jump through hoops in order to justify his hypocrisy, his head will explode!
“Let me change my question for Mr Choe. Why does it seem that most Korean nationals hate all other ethnic groups but their own?”
Most Koreans don’t hate other ethnic groups despite the fact that Korean modern nationalism finds its roots in Social Darwinism. Read up on colonial Japan’s policies aimed at assimilating Koreans, the writings of Yi Bom Sok, and their effect on Korean ethnic nationalism. That should be a good place to start.
it’s funny how expats keep comparing this professor to gerry. gerry was a highly replaceable esl teacher who keep posting at anti-korean website call occidentalism.org. to expats, occidentalism is truth telling website (it was nominated for best blog) but to koreans, it’s a hate site. for sake of argument lets say i was highly replaceable korean language teacher in some college in israel. and if i post some bs about how jews are stealing lands from palestine on some blog that also claims that jews fabricated holocaust then i doubt they would renew my contract too.
i used to like this blog but slowly, this blog is turning into one of those antikorean website (occidentalism). i know this blog is not nytimes so it doesnt have to be objective but i am rather disappointed. i think too many expats are effected by kenkanryu.
kimchi,
It’s not ‘expats’ but ‘expat’ (austin at #25). Don’t try to divert the topic.
jd wrote:
“i wonder how this is going to play out with the Korean netizens once they read that the Wiesenthal Center was tipped off by American expats in Korea.” The blogger who contacted the Wiesenthal Center lives in the US.
You’re right—it probably is silly to compare the two. But not for the reason you say. All Gerry did was post about Dokdo on a blog. And from what I understand, where he was posting was never an issue. Prof. Rhie, on the other hand, chose to perpetuate anti-semitic stereotypes and accusations in a popular comic book aimed at teaching students about the world. The fact that you can not only compare the two, but actually suggest—as you do—that what Gerry did was somehow worse might be suggestive of the real problem.
BTW, about Occidentalism, personally, I don’t like its tone, but if you’re wondering why some expats think it’s a “truth-telling website,” perhaps you might wish to begin your search by reflecting one more time about what you wrote in comment 53 (I don’t mean that to sound confrontational, BTW).
kimchi2000 wrote; “i used to like this blog but slowly, this blog is turning into one of those antikorean website (occidentalism). i know this blog is not nytimes so it doesnt have to be objective but i am rather disappointed. i think too many expats are effected by kenkanryu.”
Blaming troubles in present-day Korea to the Japanese is just absurd. I am starting to see that Koreans, generally, don’t know much about personal
responsibility. It is never their fault, it is always the fault of the others. I think this is one of the reasons why so many expats are down on Korea. You guys should try to fix yourselves for your own problems. Otherwise, many more people will come to dislike Korea more and more.
I recall pawikirogi spouting some similar racist nonsense a few months ago on a thread about the korean king’s visit to yasukuni. His point was that the jews manipulate the U.s. government into manipulating the media and people into ignoring military action in Lebanon while yasukuni wasn’t on the agenda because it isn’t important to the jews.
Kimchi 2000 it”s obvious by now that Koreans are the experts on hate. World-class, they are. Anyway you can always take your disappointment to naver or one of those cyworld cafes…
“i used to like this blog but slowly, this blog is turning into one of those antikorean website”
I can’t vouch for all the other posters, but I doubt that’s what motivates the majority. I don’t hate Koreans (my wife and son are Korean and, well…they’re great). I’ve been witness to racism all my life, even had some directed at me, so the colour of a person’s skin most certainly isn’t a deciding factor in how I form my opinion of them. My posts are simply an expression of my hopes that Korea will become a much greater country than it already is (Is it too much to ask that my son isn’t exposed to nationalistic propaganda and bigotry?). I guess you just don’t get it because you have a different opinion of what makes a country great than I do (for example, Norway and Sweden are pretty awesome in my books (well, except for the high taxes…Korea’s got them beat on that one)).
Jiwonsi—I believe you were referring to this comment:
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/.....ment-46197
No need to get nasty with Kimchi2000, though.
jiwonsi,
i do not know what pawikirogi said and i really dont care. jiwonsi, please find some peace within urself. hate is not a good thing.
kimchi2000: “i used to like this blog but slowly, this blog is turning into one of those antikorean website (occidentalism).”
This is not an anti-Korean website; this is not an anti-Korean discussion. You are just going to have to trust that statement. In Western cultures, discussion and debate are just the way things are done.
Nobody’s burning the Korean flag, here. Of the posters, most seem pretty reasonable; it seems only one is anti-Korean (btw, Sperwer, I hope you check your self…your postings demonstrate some ‘issues’). Just because many people show you examples and reasons of why they think you could be mistaken doesn’t mean they are ‘out to get you’ or out to get Korea.
Get a thicker skin, and listen to reason.
Perhaps the ESL sector or English-Korean dictionary publishing world is doing the great Korean nation a disfavor. How do “criticism” or “disagreement” somehow always get translated as “hatred” in Korean cyberspace?
Sine qua non:
My only “issue” is with people like Pawi and those who use pycho-babble like “issues”. I’ll be gunning for you next; watch out.
Professor Rhie could always try the classy Jimmy Carter response to his recent troubles with the Tribe — “Fuck off, lying Jews!”
And then there was China….
Peter Hessler wrote, in his excellent book about his Peace Corps experince in China, that the Chinese thought ALL Jews were smart(Einstein etc etc) BUT also got the biggest kick out of Adolf Hitler !!!???
lol at the spoof editorial in #48!
Sperwer:
I used to word ‘issue’ as a euphemism. I was trying to be polite, out of, what now appears to be undeserved, respect. To go around talking about using a gun on a person is psychopathic. It’s not any kind of joke; no other posters thinks something like that is funny, just you. That’s mentally unstable psychopathy. I hope the explanation of the psycho-babble word ‘issues’ is clear.
Furthermore, your sense of writing style is tortured and forced. It doesn’t work. It’s flat. Get a new style. To wit:
“…critics here in the lists who, despite occasional disparaging asides, generally ground the tire spikes they scatter in the way of overinflated Korean pretensions on the less sanguine ground of some neutral principled position or other.”
Mixed metaphors like this communicate as clearly as a passed-out drunk, mumbling to himself on the floor.
kimchi2000:
There. Does this help? The criticism isn’t reserved solely for Korean issues. Westerners are open to criticize wherever there are problems. This isn’t an anti-Korean website. It’s just open and frank discussion. (Now, kimchi2000, let’s watch Sperwer continue his ‘discussion’ with some weak, over-wrought, pseudo-intellectual poseur remark about how smart he *really* is.)
Somebody’s having a bad day, it seems.
This story is about to get much, much bigger. The Anti-Defamation League just held its national conference this week in Florida.
Thousands of politically-connected organizers, tossing around copies of Rhie’s garbage…. Rhie, prepare thyself for the fury of Abe Foxman.
to robert
i read my post and i must admit that it was wrong of me to compare ur blog to occidentalism. it was very low of me. occidentalism is a site with bad intention, urs is not.
This story is about to get much, much bigger. The Anti-Defamation League just held its national conference this week in Florida.
Thousands of politically-connected organizers, tossing around copies of Rhie’s garbage…. Rhie, prepare thyself for the fury of Abe Foxman.
If this causes some genuine soul searching and a sincere acknowledgment of the evils of this type of claptrap I’m converting. Of course getting that out this lot will prove that the Jews do indeed rule the world
Kimchi2000 my comment was for tit for tat for your calling this a hate site. I only wanted you to wake up - visit Daum or Naver for examples of genuine, untrammeled vitriol.
Anyway I thank you for your concern for my emotional well-being; I’m puting on some Alice Coltrane now to help me achieve some inner peace.
Erm… Obviously, when you were taking ‘pseudo-intellectual diatribe 101′ and ‘two-cent words 101′, you should maybe have taken ‘common idioms 101′ as well. ‘Gunning for’ doesn’t actually mean what it sounds like - it means ‘challenging’, ‘taking on’, ‘confronting’ and so forth. Sperwer wasn’t saying that he would be coming to your house with a .30-06 anytime soon.
(Doh… sorry for the double-post. I hit ‘post comment’ accidentally (damn Windows!) I’m really not meaning to pull a baduk or wjk.)
Before you, criticize, another person’s, writing, style, you might think, about, laying off the, unnecessary, and misplaced, commas.
jiwonsi
id suggest drinking a cup of green tea, it’s good for ur mind and body and i hope ur journey of finding inner peace goes well.
i have visited daum and naver but u must understand that those people are not grown ups and they are pulling things out their ass and they know it. they are bunch of teenagers who need to find inner peace within themselve. can u honesty compare daum and navar to websites like stormfront.org or occidentalism.org? the key difference is that navar and daum people are not serious but stornfront and occi people are dead serious.
Zonath:
The commas used were grammatically necesary.
Also, refer to Spewer’s comment #47 where he makes reference to using a gun with the suggestion of assaulting a person; and that poster even failed to correctly spell the name brand of the shotgun.
Actually, the commas weren’t necessary. I’ll give it to you that they may have been properly used (though gratuitous) commas, since I don’t have any of my usage books handy at the moment. They sure do scan poorly, though.
Good of the Weisenthal Center.
Having said that….
“Now if a foreign ‘professor’ at a uni can be fired (Contract not renewed) for writing stuff about Dok Rocks (Not Dok-Do as Do means island) that Koreans disagree with, what are the consequences if a Korean Professor employed at a University, writes racist, and slanderous books, that are condemned internationally.”
First of all, the analogy would be more appropriate if the Korean writer was working and living in Israel (which he isn’t). I think it would be NO surprise if he WERE to be working in Israel that the university in Israel would have fired him immediately….or at least not renewed his contract. But as he is in Korea (not that that excuses his actions), the situations are NOT comparable with what happened to G. Bevers.
I am still gonna make the point that you don’t go to a country and harp on and on again about a sensitive issue that felt nationwide and then complain later that you got either fired or didn’t have your contract renewed. Bevers is not a martyr, and to those of you who try to present him as one, you lose your own credibility when you argue about other cases that ARE legitimate.
Imagine going to teach English at a university in Saudi Arabia on a contract-basis and then slamming the Koran or Mohammed. Suppose you got fired or didn’t have your contract renewed. IS THIS A SURPRISE????? Imagine a Korean coming to teach chemistry at a university in the US on a contract basis and say that this Korean said the US deserved the attacks on 9/11; the Korean lecturer does not have his contract renewed. IS THIS A SURPRISE?????? I’ve seen AMERICAN lecturers and professors in the US get fired for much less than this, so imagine what would happen to a FOREIGN teacher teaching on a yearly contract basis in the US (not that I often hear about yearly contracts among university lecturers in America, which explains why a lot of them don’t even last a year) if he WERE to touch on a raw nerve of the American public. I doubt he’d last.
You don’t hear too much about this, though, because foreign lecturers in the US NOT on tenure are not stupid enough to do this. Leave it to someone like Bevers to pick on a sensitive topic to Koreans and then harp on it over the years online in PUBLIC and then acts like a martyr because he didn’t have his contract renewed.
I accept JK’s broader point about rejecting Bevers/Rhie analogies, but it is troubling and even pathetic to see nationalistic Korean sabre-rattling over an insignificant set of islets that it ALREADY CONTROLS AND IS NOT IN DANGER OF LOSING equated to heartland fanaticism over a/n (allegedly) great religion. What is troubling is not this apt-enough comparison itself, but the fact that it can be legitimately made about the values and views of a first-world country.
Rhie’s problems would appear to be the tip of the iceberg in Korean academia, where it seems there is no shortage of quacks and cranks in every field. (Not that Korea is alone here.) For starters, think of the various “peace” movement PhDs writing for OhMyNews or the large ranks of North Korea scholars influenced by Bruce Cummings who somehow missed the memo from the USSR archives.
Sine qua non:
ur such a fucken asshole u grammer nazi why dont u shut up and mind ur own or imma shot ur ass with a fucken gat!
There now. Occupy yourself with criticizing that little post and stop bothering others with your inane, precious chatter.
wel sed, colontos!
colonhole drunkenly slurred: “ur such a fucken asshole u grammer nazi why dont u shut up and mind ur own or imma shot ur ass with a fucken gat!”
kimchi2000: See? Now if you see something like directed at Korean culture, you can be pretty confident that that would be an anti-Korean post.
Dokdo=Koran and Mohammad? Geography=Religion?
The problem is, Gerry makes his case dispassionately using original sources. The Korean argument against him is based on popular sentiment, not reason. It’s like fighting fire with gasoline.
Oh, and Rhie Won-Bok is a complete idiot.
Because, you are judging Korean thru a blog or blogs …
I hope Rabbi Cooper’s letter to Gimm-Young Publishing did not read yet by Ms. Eun-ju Park nor Professor Lee(Rhie) with misspelled name as it seems a formal complaints letter … It’s Lee(Rhie) Won-Bok not Won-Bak.
Or was this Rabbi misspelled name with intention to annoy Prof. Lee? Maybe practicing “an eye for an eye”?
And he could see the sections of publication about Talmud, Jewish education system and culture which get more interest to Korean parents than Monnara Iunnara in any bookstore in Korea.
Is he?
WTF???? award: Or was this Rabbi misspelled name with intention to annoy Prof. Lee? Maybe practicing “an eye for an eye”?
GOD NAMES NEXT “CHOSEN PEOPLE”; IT’S JEWS AGAIN
“Oh Shit,” Say Jews
Jerusalem (SatireWire.com) Update — Jews, whose troubled, 10,000-year term as God’s “chosen people” finally expired last night, woke up this morning to find that they had once again been hand-picked by the Almighty. Synagogues across the globe declared a day of mourning.
Asked if the descendants of Abraham shouldn’t be pleased about being tapped for an unprecedented second term, Jerusalem Rabbi Ben Meyerson shrugged. “Of course, you are right, we should be thrilled,” he said. “We should also enjoy a good swift kick in the head, but for some reason, we don’t.
God conducts blind drawing for next Chosen People
God conducts blind drawing.
“Now don’t ask such questions until you watch the news, or read history, or at least rent ‘Fiddler on the Roof’.”
Much of the world’s re-blessed Jewish community shared that feeling. “It’s always been considered a joke with us. You know, ‘Please G-d, next time choose someone else,’ ha ha,” said New York City resident David Bashert.
“Ha. Ha ha,” Bashert added. “Shit.”
According to a worldwide survey of faiths, not a single group expressed an interest in being chosen, and the only application submitted before last night’s filing deadline, on behalf of the Islamic people, proved to be a fake.
“Somebody filled out a form and signed our name to it, but I guarantee it wasn’t us,” said Imam Yusuf Al Muhammed of Medina, Saudi Arabia. “I’m not going to say who it was, but the application was filled out in Hebrew.”
“Oh, don’t be such a k’vatsh,” responded Meyerson. “It’s only 10,000 years. Trust me, after a few diaspora, you would have gotten used to the universal hatred thing.”
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Due to the absence of voluntary candidates, God’s Law stipulated that the Almighty had to choose a people at random to serve out the next 10-millenia term. Elias Contreau, director of the International Interfaith Working Group, said he wasn’t surprised it came to a blind drawing.
“According to the Bible, God promised to bless Abraham and those who came after him,” said Contreau. “Who knows, maybe that sounded good at the time, or maybe ‘blessed’ meant something different back then, like ‘Short periods of prosperity interrupted by insufferable friggin’ chaos.’ Whatever, I think it’s safe to say that people didn’t know what they were agreeing to.”
Now they do, Contreau added, which he said explains why so many religions had lately been exalting God’s existence, but downplaying their own.
“We were not avoiding Him. We just told our parishioners that if Anyone asks, we’re out,” insisted Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. George Carey, who had called off services during February. “Besides, we weren’t the only ones. I didn’t see the Hindus raising their hands.”
“Now look, it’s like we told the ethereal vision who dropped off the application, ‘Sure, we have a strong shared faith and all that, but I wouldn’t exactly say we’re a ‘people,’ not really,’” recalled Hindu leader Samuldrala Swami Maharaj of Calcutta. “Plus, you know, I told him we had a lot of other commitments. We’d like to help, honestly. Another time, maybe.”
In Jerusalem, Jewish leaders said they will propose an amendment to God’s Law prohibiting a people from having to serve more than two consecutive terms. “Hopefully, G-d will hear our prayer,” said Meyerson. “No, wait, that’s what got us into this.”
Americans, meanwhile, expressed outrage at the decision, saying they had assumed they were God’s chosen people. However, explained Archbishop Carey, “It only seems that way because so many people don’t like you.”
“First of all, the analogy would be more appropriate if the Korean writer was working and living in Israel (which he isn’t). ”
Not really. Bevers’s attacks were on what he thought was incorrect arguments and historical data concerning a territorial claim. His posts were directed at adults. Whereas, the book in question perpetuates racial stereotypes, good and bad. The comic book is directed at children. In other words, if you wanted the analogy to be correct, the professor would have gone Israel but, instead of perpetuating stereotypes, would have questioned Israel’s claims on the West Bank and Gaza.
Correct; taking down a precious pissant tosser like SQN wouldn’t require anything bigger than a .22LR.
1. anti semitism in kora is not a problem since there is no anti semitism in korea.
2. even if you could prove that there is widespread hatred for the jew (which there isn’t because koreans don’t think about jews), i think korea would represent a low priority for israel and her aliies. contrary to the expat’s claim, koreans are not the new nazis of the world nor are they terrorists.
3. a korean man writing a book with stereotypes about jews does not represent the korean population. for those who say it’s about sales volume, i’d say two things:
one, sales volume doesn’t confirm that koreans hate jews anymore than the sales volume of ‘kenkanryu’ (a bestseller injapan) confirms that japanese hate koreans. two, just because someone buys a book doesn’t mean they agree with it.
4. did i already mention that koreans don’t think about jews or israel?
5. what’s the differenc between gerry and lee? well, let’s talk the real world here: gerry chose to write about the sacred cows of the people who gave him a job. he wrote about this openly. he paid the price for bitting the hand that fed him. lee doesn’t live in israel and the consequences of his book will have little impact on his life. lastly, looking at it objectively: was gerry tenured?
6. i think it’s important for the wiesenthal center to know that the guy who runs this blog provides links to guys who run hate sites. hey marmot, david duke is polite. did you know that?
7. nothing i’ve written on this board is anti semitic. the example marmot provided was clearly directed at the expat’s hypocrisy. but sly of marmot not to provide context.
8. go home people. there’s nothing to see here.
9. how do i feel about korea’s ban on pornography? well, how do you feel about people going to jail for saying the holocaust didn’t happen? i read just the other day that yet another man is going to be put into jail in germany because he denies that it happened. free speech doesn’t always mean free speach.
1. The book contains stereotypes and traditional conspiracy theories aimed at Jews, which are anti-semitic. The book was written in Korea by a Korean, so it’s quite obvious that anti-semitism exists in Korea.
2. Nobody is claiming that. Many of us are foreign residents of Korea, parents, educators and journalists, so it’s only natural that we are concerned about this book, in my case because it is aimed at children. I don’t think most parents are aware of the contents of this book when they get it for their kids. They see that it was written by a professor and automatically think they it is educational.
3. see number 2.
4. That’s besides the point…then again, it would explain why it took foreigners to bring any attention to the contents of the book.
5. Lee wrote a book that will/was published in many countries, so the point is moot. I’d say the book makes Koreans look bad.
6. Whatever, linking to another site does not consist an endorsement of its content.
7. Have you ever been to a concentration camp? It was offensive, regardless of your intentions.
8. You wish.
9. It was a rethorical question. I was suggesting that it is hypocritical to claim that pornography is banned in order to protect young minds when such books are published.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....l_accosted
it’s the white man who does things like this. Not the Korean man.
there are some horribly twisted people in America.
for all the hate Koreans are accused of displaying towards the Japanese, I don’t think you can compare with select white Americans who paint Nazi symbols every single year around major US cities, yearly. Lee Won Bok is wrong, but don’t bury all Koreans with him.
Just posting so that wjk wouldn’t have 8 consecutive posts, then I saw this:
Finally!
Fair enough.
“1. anti semitism in kora is not a problem since there is no anti semitism in korea.
2. even if you could prove that there is widespread hatred for the jew (which there isn’t because koreans don’t think about jews)…”
There is a distinct prejudice against Jew in Korea. That IS undeniable. Although I have heard and seen it for over 10 years now (And, no, I am not even Jewish), I am now beginning to wonder if this book isn’t the main reason for it in the last couple years.