Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Pligganease]

I have been in Korea for about two months. I have met many foreign teachers and many more Koreans. All of the Koreans I meet seem to like the fact that I am from the U.S., but all of the foreign teachers throw some stereotype such as "Bush-lover", "Warmonger", or just plain old "Ignorant American" on me before I can say a word...

Here's the question: If all these foreigners are so much better, so much more intelligent, and claim to make no judgements about people like the "ignorant Americans" do, then why do they make all those stereotypes about Americans?

I also find it very humorous that they love to bash the U.S. military so much. I find it interesting that anyone in Korea teaching should be thanking every G.I. they see for the simple fact that they would not be able to have their easy job if American soldiers weren't protecting the peninsula for them... How many American soldiers died just to give them a place to come? Any foreign teachers in Pyongyang? Doubt it...

So, to any waygooks that bash megooks, realize how rediculous you sound. Also realize that there is more to American history than the past 5 years. Don't get upset when you come to me talking about how terrible we treat others and I ask you about the I.R.A. Don't claim that Americans are so racist and then exit the conversation when I ask about the generation of stolen Aboriginal children. I don't like to discuss politics, but if you're an American in Korea, that is all anyone ever wants to talk about.

[d503]

have to say i dont get much american bashing here. now if we were to talk about all the canadian bashing that goes down. ohh wait that has been done.

[Derrek]

Wielcome to Korea, Pligganease:

I came to this country thinking of Canadians as sort of a "brother to the North."

I looked forward to meeting and talking to Canadians.

Actually, I liked Canada. Especially because I had a really fun summer trip through Monteal and Toronto when I was in high school. Also, I have some really great Paradigm stereo speakers from there.

Now I view it as a country that produces educated yet often unintelligent, jobless, angry, anti-American potheads that bash Americans because the politics of their own country are too pathetic and meaningless to mention.

From the start, I ran face-first into a wall of Canadian anti-Americanism that I never knew existed. I was never asked, "How do you feel about_______." I was automatically sneered at before I said a word. When some Canadian met me and asked where I was from, they rolled their eyes said "Oh, you're from America...."

This all existed before old Bushie went into Iraq, too.

Most Americans didn't know it existed until recently. That's why you have stories about it in the media, and Americans are now starting to bash Canadians.

People who get pushed will push back.

[chronicpride]

[Derrek]

[FUBAR]

I think for many Americans, running into people from around the world can be a real an eye opener. Living in a environment where the media shelters its citizens has led many to believe that they are the good guys, the watchful older brothers so to speak. While in fact, those policies have led to America to being resented, hated and or distrusted. This has come more to forefront as far back as the first Gulf War, then 9/11 and Iraq War which really shed light on our former Prime Minister's (Jean Chretien) dislike for Bush. It was exascerbated by several public outbursts by members of his staff in addition to fellow MPs that were captured by the media. That was about the time when Americans realized that they aren't as loved as they think by their neighbours.

On the flip side, one of my buddies who worked for the Canadian Foreign Relations Office in Buffalo said there were several instances where Americans dislike for Canada has come out and they had to try hard to keep it under wraps. A few years back in Atlanta people were protesting the import of Canadian soft lumber outside Home Depot. During the protest they were burning Canadian flags. If incidents like this had gotten out, the relations between the two countries would have come to a head much sooner than they have.

However, from the Canadians point of view, relations between Canada and America haven't been good for a long time. Siince the Brian Mulroney signed Free Trade Agreement relations have been in deterioration. They only seem good to people who don't pay attention to the foreign media. Anyone who reads the newspapers will see that the America has been long screwing Canadian industry when it comes to the agreement and their failure to abide by the terms of the agreement. The unilateral decisions made by the government has led to a lot of resentment by Canadians towards America.

One of the poster's comments

[Yangkho]

I've been in Korea for two years, and I've never met another American.

My Canadian friends have treated me real well and have accepted me as an individual.

OK, so I had a few bad experiences, but that's just simple numbers. You meet enough people, you're gonna meet a few jerks.

[just because]

FUBAR
Great post that was.

I don't judge people on nationality, i judge them on who they are.

It does seem that some Americans are pretty shocked of the world view of themselves especially when they are outside their sheltered media environment. Just look at their attitude on the Kyoto Accord(fair or unfair as it was) as an example of this at the moment of why their arrogance is really starting to give the rest of the world the poops.

However, some people do get on the bash-America bandwagon because it makes them look good to their non-American peers. As soon as people say they are from America people jump down their throats, with Bush is an idiot and so forth. This is wrong, one of the coolest people I have met here was from Chicago, and while there are plenty of arrogant american jerks, there are plenty of arrogant Australian, canadian, Kiwi, English,etc,etc..... jerks as well.

[blah]

I, as a Canadian, could go on for hours about things that bother me about Canadian government policy, as well as Canadian cultural. In fact, when I sit around a table with fellow Canadians we generally have an easy time bashing our own country and culture. It doesn��t take long before heated debates break out as we realize we can��t agree about which aspects of our country are good or bad.

It��s pretty obvious that Americans are quite divided about issues within the US as well. The last US election yielded results that clearly show the country is in disharmony. I have witnessed Americans debate issues and end up in heated disagreement about which way the country should head, or who should or should not be in charge.

I think problems arise when Canadians pipe up about the US, and conversely when the opposite takes place. For some reason people are more offended when an ��outsider�� makes negative comments about an ��inside�� issue. It��s OK for me to say my mother used bad judgment with respect to a particular decision, but it stings if someone else says it.

As far as general attitudes and dispositions of North Americans go, I think people from Seattle and Vancouver, or from Toronto and New York have more in common than those from Vancouver and Toronto, or from Seattle and New York.

So Derrek, next time a Canadian gives you a hard time for being American, please feel free to hate him for being the idiot he is, but don��t fall into the trap of thinking we all feel the same way. He��s just another moron, of which there are plenty on both sides of the border

Pligganease, if I meet you and like you, it won��t be because of what the American military has or has not accomplished in the past. But rather because you are a quality person, of which there are plenty on both sides of the border.

[eamo]

[Pligganease]

[kprrok]

[eamo]

[uber1024]

[Pligganease]