Sometimes Korean's will make comments about the West which are meant to show their knowledge of it but actually shows how little they really know.
I remember reading a Letter to the Editor in the Korea Times, Worst in the Nation, around the time of the Mad Cow BS. It was written by a bizzy ditch named Kim Jin-Hyun in reply to a previous letter. Among the nuggets of stupidity in her letter was the following
Now I ask Mr. Jackson how much he knows about Korean culture. I know most Americans eat only steak, but Koreans eat most parts of a cow.
Most Americans only eat steak? Really. She then went on to say in Korea cows are part of the family and a sacrificial food. She ended up looking like she didn't know American OR Korean culture.
The following was written by one of the regulars on Marmot's Hole, YuNa. She was referring to the picture of the naked idiots at the baseball game. It made me think of Ms. Kim's letter to the editor.
It’s not so bad..they look like they are having a good time, and it’s just part of their (probably Anglo-Saxon) culture and heritage.
While I hope she was trying to be funny I am not so sure it was meant in jest. It just comes off as a stupid thing to say when talking about that kind of behaviour. It makes it look like she really knows nothing about Western culture. If she did she would know that behaviour, in the West, would have landed the people with at LEAST a Public Indecency charge.
Some Korean's are quick tell us that we don't understand Korean culture but think they know everything about the West. Nothing like showing your ass when trying to make yourself look knowledgeable.
Sometimes my students and I would have a good time teasing each other. I would say Canada is the second largest country in the world and Korea really was very small, and they would say no, it was the other way around. Just joshing around. But when you're talking to adults, and they still hold that position, and they're serious, you begin to wonder just what thye learned in school.
ReplyDeleteLike when people are astonished when I tell them that Canada has four seasons.
yeah...that does make me shake my head
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