Korea Beat has translated a Naver story about the inclusion of Rhie Won-bok’s comic book “Countries Near and Far” in a US State Department report on global anti-semitism. Rhie was outed to the English-speaking world by blogger Joe Mondello, who posted translations of the edition on the US at his website.
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23 Comments
what - no mention of Seoul’s, Hitler Cafes???
Sonagi, I now understand why an anonymous Korean left a message at my blog this morning complaining about misrepresentation of Lee (Rhie) Won-bok on a blog entry that I posted a year ago.
I was puzzled at the comment after nearly a year . . . until I read this post here.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
does the state dept waste our tax payer dollars with annual reports on global anti koreanism too? why do jews get special report and not koreans? you mean, something worse bout being anti jew than anti korean? a waste of tax payer money.
Mr Rhee should have told the jewish pastor to go to hell.
Korea getting the recognition that’s so richly deserved. Bravo your country.
@ pawi, the U.S. has “wasted” the tax payer’s money w/ that comfort women testimony.
Jewish pastor? You think mean a rabbi.
‘It should be noted that this book has by no means been taken off shelves, nor has production stopped, nor have any changes been made to recent additions. Rhie and the publisher’s apology and pledge to change were just so many empty words.’
the above is expat comment on the matter. ain’t it something? now, westerners have a right to censure and decide what gets published in korea. can you imagine the arrogance? these are the same people who rushed right out to defend a japanese lady and her book. you remember that, right? when korean AMERICANS protested the book, so many of you talked about free speech. the koreans are dead on about the expat. no wonder they ignore you.
“Jewish pastor” . . .
Rabbi, indeed.
Like you would know what Koreans think of “the expat.”
Funny, I don’t remember ever seeing anyone named ‘Joe Mondello’ posting here…
I’m all for Rhie Won-bok’s comic books being continued in production, and distributed to children other than mine (my wife had bought Countries Near and Far for my seven year-old, and I was aghast at the anti-Semitism expressed, as well as the ignorant views of Africans). Free speech is free speech, you know.
But we have the right — indeed, the obligation — to denounce that book and the society that produces such a book as mainstream “educational” material. I’m organizing a denunciatory committee. Our first meeting will be at the Hitler Hof in Shinchon.
does the state dept waste our tax payer dollars with annual reports on global anti koreanism too?
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls.....100524.htm
‘Like you would know what Koreans think of “the expat.”’
are you kidding? the expat on full display right here, marm.
‘The report cited two examples of anti-Semitism in the book. One comic strip shows a newspaper, a magazine, a television, and a radio, each with a Star of David, and is captioned, “In a word, American public debate belongs to the Jews, and it’s no exaggeration to say that [U.S. media] are the voices of the Jews.” ‘
now tell me that’s not true. who runs all those movie comapanies? who runs all the major newspapers? not a lick of truth to the above, right? yeah, right.
mr rhee is my hero.
The Wall of Jews keeping you down, I take it?
Geez, go shake hands with shorty and release some of that Han pressure, Pow Pow. Just make sure you’re downwind, please.
“now tell me that’s not true. who runs all those movie comapanies?”
+Columbia/Sony Pictures = Sony Corporation (konichiwa!)
+Disney Studios/Miramax/Pixar = The Walt Disney Corporation (as Apple-Pie American as it gets)
+Paramount Pictures = Viacom (multinational media conglomerate)
+Fox Pictures = News Corp. (Rupert Murdoch’s puppy)
+Universal Pictures = General Electric Corp. (as WASP’y as corporate america gets)
+Warner Bros/New Line Cinema = TimeWarner (multinational media conglomerate)
Admitedly, a lot of these studios were started by jewish folk back in the day, but the current reality is that these studios are now controlled by multi-national conglomerates. For you to rant that American media is under the control of a jewish-cabal perpetuates myth and stereotypes that Rhie 1-buck is being chastised for…
‘For you to rant that American media is under the control of a jewish-cabal perpetuates myth and stereotypes that Rhie 1-buck is being chastised for…’ mondoo
‘only blacks buy kia.’ mondoo on another thread
Well, look at that. Back from spring break and first thing I see is about Lee Won Bok and his books.
I would say that LWB’s books aren’t anti-semitic, concurring with the anti-semitic arguments (like the Jewish people controlling the gov’t & the media). The book(s) isn’t exactly gleeful when it covers the Holocaust or the pre-Holocaust treatment of the Jewish people - and the author is a professor of design, not history or politics. It is most likely a result of poor research rather than ‘fucking Jews…’ type of sentiment.
This becomes more clear in his related work “God’s World, Human’s World” where he covers the major world religions (Judeo-Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc.). When it covers Judaism, I don’t see anything other than sympathy and empathy towards their historically infamous suffering (even bringing up the Merchant of Venice). Here’s a quote.
“Due to the Diaspora, many Jews had to live in a strange, foreign land. Because of this, their motivation to work hard as well as coagulate strongly as a community was strong in order to survive the incredible native backlash.”
Picture of Hitler saying “Jews are stealing away our riches! Let’s eradicate these human garbages from the face of the Earth!”
—
“The History of the Jewish people is a history of tragedy and suffering. But why did they had to face such hatred? During the period when the Romans believed in many gods, a monotheistic religion like Judaism was persecuted even more so than the others.”
*Picture of a Roman soldier beating up a guy (assumed to be a Jew)*
“But during the 4th Century, when Romans accepted Christianity (with its roots in Judaism), the persecution intensified”
*picture of a Roman soldier glaring at a Jewish guy. The guy wonders “We’re both monotheistic, so why do Christians hate us?”*
“The justification was that the Jews killed Jesus on the cross.”
*Picture of a Roman soldier pointing at a Jewish guy saying “It’s your fault!” and the Jewish guy going “어머머머”*
“Even during the Crusade, the Crusaders massacred every Jewish settlements on their way to Jerusalem. Because they were so hated and persecuted, it was not uncommon for a Jewish person to be labeled with a clothing mark signifying their race. Jews were also not allowed to have a normal job, but were forced into jobs that people thought were beneath them.”
The point is, it’s not antisemitism, it’s just poor research (the guy is a professor of Design, after all, and not history or politics). The author really should get on fixing it (assuming there’s no legal stuff messing the process up).
Despite some mistakes and bad research, his books are absolutely wonderful ways to get a kid to be interested in world history… speaking from first-hand experience, of course.
@pawi
Well, whoever points out the fault is irrelevant, right?
Lol… and why am I in France? (Though I wouldn’t mind being there…)
#13 Marmot, I think Pawi would make a good case study. He is obviously suffering from many phobias of being Korean. Why else would he rail the “expat” to the point of pejorative? Don’t worry pawi, we will let you have your self pity, self loathing, and victim complex. Don’t worry the expat(White guy) won’t let the Jews threaten your han.
Hey Pawi, I’ll let you know next time I’m in DC. Why don’t you come down so I can walk you through the Holocaust Museum. If you haven’t changed your tune after that experience, then I’ll be happy to kick you in the nuts.
mr rhee is my hero.
The Swan Guano Imperial Wizzard could retire and nevber say another thing after this pregnant, essential quote.
sorry, “never say”
We can always rely on Pawi to try and defend an indefendable position.
I don’t know if he believes EVERYTHING Rhie says in his books, particularly what he believes about Jews. I think he’s just being reactionary (knee jerk reflex) to what others think about Rhie as being anti-semitic.
A lot of posters here are in a sense closed minded as well. This is the logic that appears to be prevalent here:
Anti-Semitic = Evil.
Rhie Won-bok = Anti-Semitic.
Rhie Won-bok = Evil (or at least worthy of blanket ridicule).
Oh, btw… Rhie writes books for children teaching them about other countries and cultures. Rhie’s books are popular in Korea, thus perhaps anti-semitism is popular in Korea.
Extremely simple line of reasoning I know and probably not what most posters here believe because most posters here are somewhat familiar with Korea and Koreans. However, if the uninformed comes to the hole and reads about these discussions, he or she may follow the aforementioned line of reasoning and come up with it’s absurd, but simple conclusion.
So pawi’s response is a reflex. Personally, if you confront pawi with the evidence, he may agree with you that Rhie is wrong. However, in a more public forum, where he thinks Rhie is hanged in effigy and the discussion leads towards criticism of Korea, he’s gonna close ranks and appear to disagree with you.
That’s just my gut opinion. I may be totally wrong.