Who said anything about sparking change? I was speaking strictly to motive, not to efficacy.

So was that you or your visitor talking, Sonagi?

The reason wjk might—and not unjustly—get slammed for posting those videos is because of an aversion to balance as you claim, but rather because it appears to be the tired old tu quoque “defense” that seems to be the only tactic in the arsenal of so many Korea defenders. Wrong is wrong, whether it happens in the U.S., Japan, or Korea. Thing is, this is a Korea blog, so it follows that many of the wrongs that are pointed out here are going to be Korean ones.

Yes, very true.

And granted, some of the people who point out Korea problems here may do it out of bitterness or schadenfreude. But the vast majority, it seems to me, do so because they genuinely want to see this great place become even better.

Half-right. Most commenters here do like Korea, but I don’t think anybody is foolish enough to think that our comments in English on this blog are going to spark change. It’s just electronic chatter akin to conversations in cafes or bars.