Korea has yet again made me feel very unwelcome. A correspondent on-loan to ABC from a Korean news program managed to get this pile of clever, vile, journalistically-irresponsible selective and creative half-truths printed:
English Teachers Bring Drugs To Korea
I would go through all the near-lies, distortions, and damned lies in it, but fortunately, the comments following the article do an excellent job for me. My personal favorite is the quoted “$2,200 dollars a month.” That was true for roughly one month in recent memory – November 2007. She is using a figure (One thousand Won equals One dollar) that is off by around 33%.
A foreign teacher making 2.2 Million Won a month (a very common salary, but more than any public school pays teachers without a master’s degree) is earning $1,583 a month – that’s $18,000 a year. Would you be clawing for an 18k a year babysitting job where you need to leave the country once a year just to start another job, or if your boss fires you, and the government is almost definitely going to take his side unless you shell out 400 bucks and 30% of the winnings for a lawyer?
I am going to stop before I get going on Korean mafia involvement in the drug trade and human trafficking, particularly on the US west coast, much less their complete monopoly on all but a statistically insignificant portion of it in Korea (if we’re making so much money, why the hell would we risk selling drugs?), nevermind the comically predatory practices in my profession (ESL), and besides all that, the flat-out eugenics that college-educated Koreans accept as fact to support their superiority, and look, I didn’t stop, and I’ve about talked myself into moving.
The further disgusting part is when you look at her profile on KBS Global’s website.
Westerners have as strong a prejudice against Asia as their aspirations for the region. Worse yet, the provocative nature of foreign media tends to further inflate existing prejudice against Asia. Korea has many characteristics which draw keen media attention, because what most people recall about the country is that it is still a Cold War frontier and remains divided, with an unstable security situation. Having knowledge of only the Korean War and intense political confrontation, the Western audience doesn’t try to see and analyze the overall situation in the nation.
Yes, the West wants to overthrow your miniscule peninsula, thinks you are inferior, and is completely unaware of you, besides that you make electronics that are better than China and Taiwan’s, but not better than Japan. You’re on to us. (Dear Korean readers: THAT WAS SARCASM)
So please, next time you hear a Western English teacher bitch about Korea, try to show a little bit of sympathy. And for my Korean readers, I can only ask that you try to understand my bitterness and frustration. I’d love to have a beer or two with you, but Jesus Christ, could you just admit that somebody who isn’t Korean even could do something right sometimes?
