Oblivious or selfish?

I was working out at the gym one day when my work out buddy (a co-worker) showed up late. He was PISSED. He spent the next 15-20 minutes ranting about how selfish Koreans are. About Korean drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists. It was strange because I am the one that usually rants about things.

He was late because of some stupid (or as he put it selfish) drivers. Idiots obstructing traffic, driving too slow, cutting people off and slowing down. The usual sort of things that drive people crazy. Then he started talking about how Koreans usually pay no attention to what is going on around them, whether they are walking, driving, bicycling, shopping, etc. This is why the tend to walk into people, cut people off, and drive like idiots. If it isn't a direct part of their little world then it doesn't matter to them. Hence his calling them selfish. He also said that they learn this growing up from Korean Society. Watching how their family and peers are.

I always considered them oblivious. Koreans just don't seem to use their peripheral vision. (I remember a guy on Dave's ESL getting slagged as a racist because he asked Do Korean's have peripheral vision?) They don't seem to pay attention to anything around them. Just the night before I had been shopping at Home Plus. Just going from the back of the store to the front, which should have taken a minute took 4-5 minutes because of these stupid zombies. A couple, each with a cart, had to walk side by side taking up a whole aisle. Then a friend of the woman was pushing a cart towards them. They just stopped, blocking the whole aisle. The women squealed and whined greetings while the man just stood there. They were totally oblivious to blocking the aisle. In the time it took to get to the front of the store I ran into another 9 morons like these ones. Some whacking you with their cart because they aren't watching where it is going. Others stopping in the middle of the aisle and then moving their cart sideways to block the aisle while they look at something on a shelf. A bunch of oblivious morons. Or so I thought.

My friend didn't agree. He said the obliviousness is part of it but it is because they are selfish. They just don't care how their actions affect others. So they don't pay attention to others or what they do.

It was an interesting discussion after the rant, although the rant was interesting too. Oh before the apologists start jumping on my friend for being a racist (and I am sure I can hear them salivating now) I should mention he is Korean. Not Korean-American, Korean-Canadian. Nor has he lived abroad. He is a Korean born and bred.

Taking all of what he said into consideration, and his insights into Korean culture, I had to switch from obliviousness to selfishness as the reason Koreans are the way they are.