Stop letting 'em in. Save your culture.
Monday, January 06, 2025
5 comments:
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Bit of a one-sided look at my hometown. But what I really don't understand is how you can post such stuff when at any moment someone could turn around and say "alas, poor Seoul, stop letting 'em in" and not renew our visas? You're perfectly entitled to your views, but I struggle to reconcile them with the fact that you yourself are living as a (temporary? semi-permanent?) immigrant here in Korea. I know technically you are here on an F4 visa (reverse chain migration?). but essentially you came back for the economic opportunities. It strikes me as being somewhat hypocritic that you slap up posts decrying multi-culturalism and various forms of immigration and supporting conservative policies while living here as an economic migrant and enjoying this country's cheap semi-socialised healthcare every time you have a health scare.
ReplyDeleteMy reply was too long! So...
Delete[Part 1]
posts decrying multi-culturalism
Where did PJW decry multiculturalism? Maybe you don't understand the larger, culturally rightie argument: it's not immigration from non-Western countries that's inherently bad, nor is diversity inherently bad: it's illegal immigration by people who then refuse to embrace their new home's cultural norms (see France, for example, where unassimilated Muslims in no-go zones of the banlieue around Paris refuse to integrate with French culture—for generations—and have effectively become a bloc unto themselves, which is not a reference to all Muslims in France, obviously). If all you see from PJW (or whomever) is a bigoted "dirty foreigners" argument, then you may need to think again.
As much as I complain about aspects of Korea that rub me the wrong way, I've also publicly affirmed, on multiple occasions, that in my experience, the good outweighs the bad, which is why I remain. When I'm outside of my domicile, I don't go around blustering and insisting that everything be done the American way; I recognize I'm in a foreign country, and that I need to practice a measure of acceptance. It's just that I don't go around virtue-signaling about how much I accept. (On the flip side, I also have no desire to do the pretentious thing and "go native.") Also: I know that, were I to move back to America, or move to France (where I speak the language fluently), I'd end up chafing at all the nonsense there, too. Meanwhile, this blog has been around long enough to span a few years of my time in the States (roughly 2008-2013); feel free to go back and see how serene I was about life, work, and culture in Virginia. You'll find plenty of bitching.
cheap semi-socialised healthcare
That's not what this article (scroll down to the addendum) says. If anything, it argues that the Korean system is more free-market and privatized than the American system, which is what makes it cheaper (the article I'd quoted back then seems, alas, to be the victim of link rot).
Bit of a one-sided look at my hometown.
At least PJW is honest and up-front about his biases, unlike the mainstream media, which falsely tries to paint itself as somehow neutral and objective.
If the complaint about the rightie/conservative POV is its tendency to unquestioningly value the past (heavily implied in PJW's rant... and the man is always ranting), the complaint about the leftie/liberal view is its tendency to blindly view change and difference as an unqualified good, even at the expense of societal integrity. That seems to be at least one ingredient in the left/right impasse. Truth is probably somewhere in between.
[Part 2]
Deletereverse chain migration?
Google's all-wise AI says:
Chain migration is a social process where immigrants from a specific area follow others from that area to a new destination. In the United States, it refers to the ability of immigrants to sponsor family members for green cards, which can lead to a chain of migration.
I can't remember, but I may have been inspired by other gyopos to come to Korea to find out more about my roots, as well as to continue with what was then my love of teaching—just not teaching in US high schools. If I'm an "economic migrant," I'd say that that condition came about years after I'd arrived for what were originally utterly different reasons. And as I said above, I've been back and forth between the US and the ROK. Does economic migration explain that?
Frankly, I don't see what pleasure you get out of visiting my blog, Paul. What's your endgame? If you think you can change my basic stance, well, I think that's as likely as my changing yours, which is why I never try; I merely defend myself after you've once again, for whatever compulsive reason, put me on my back foot. Why keep visiting if it's only to carp, complain, correct, and point out perceived hypocrisies? Visiting this blog must be a weirdly delicious form of hell for you. I mean, you could fall back on the "Hey, I'm just having a discussion" excuse, but if you're getting personal by insinuating I'm acting hypocritically, then I'd venture there's an emotional investment that keeps you coming back. Could you please explain that?
PS: I've also explained many times that I have little desire to return to the States unless it's to live somewhere where the population density is very low. Please factor that into why I remain in Korea.
Owl, get your head out of the sand. England isn't English anymore thanks to all the illegal and mass migration (Is there much of that in South Korea?), crime and assorted social issues associated with it (Did you watch to the end of the video or daily uncensored English news?), and England destroying politicians having anyone arrested who speaks out about it.
DeleteI know I'd hate to live in or visit and be arrested for a personal email/text/phone call/comment to anyone stating anything negative about the issue, or any issue, that is considered harmful to the insanity that is currently modern England. Truly a real-life dystopian day/nightmare is occurring right before our eyes in real time.
You are blind to the truth and reality of it living far away in your safe Asian cocoon. Too bad most of the people in England don't have the luxury of doing the same, especially when it comes dealing with male Albanians, Afghans, Iraqis, Algerians, Moroccans, and Somalis (per the brave souls reporting for "The Telegraph").
Just a note to keep everything above the belt, gents. (Not that you hit below the belt, John. I'm only offering a caution—as much to myself as to anyone else.) I don't agree with Paul's political point of view, but he's a smart guy who's generally more literate about US politics than most Americans, including me. He's also been more than helpful in suggesting walking routes to me, and his Korean skills way outstrip mine (yes, I've seen the videos of you, Paul).
DeleteI can't ban anyone specific via Blogger software, and I have no intention of banning Paul, who may have levied an accusation of hypocrisy... but that's a far cry from calling me a shit-eating cocksucker who should burn in hell, so I can't say I'm all that bothered.
As for England, it does seem to have turned into an Orwellian hellscape, but if there are leftie English out there who are keen to overlook all the current problems in favor of gaslighting and fear-driven political correctness ("What are you talking about, my good man? There are no problems here!"), well, let them. It's their country, which they can keep or lose as they choose. For a little while longer, anyway, before the big decisions get taken away from them by demographic pressure (similar to the pressures that are building in the US, actually).
I have a bizarre love of England despite my having spent only three days in London years and years ago. And I think American culture owes everything that is basic to it, from food preference to language to common-law jurisprudence to worldview, primarily to England. But my love of England is a lot like my respect for China: I have little to no respect for Chinese culture and politics now, but I revere the pre-"communist" China of old, imperfect as it was, for the wisdom and civilization it bestowed upon the world. By the same token, the England of yore gets and deserves my deepest reverence and fondness. The UK of today, alas, is stuck in an even worse cultural mire than the US is. We should all be trying to help ourselves and each other out of that mire.