WSJ Commenters 3

4:50 am June 8, 2012

Expat Hypocrisy wrote:


“South Korean media, as happens in other countries, tend to scapegoat, deride and criticize foreigners for a variety of reasons, some real but many exaggerated. English teachers, in particular, get an outsized heap of criticism from the South Korean media, owing in part to the fact that, as elsewhere, scary stories about children get lots of attention.”


In the same way that foreign bloggers “scapegoat, deride and criticize” Koreans? I have a problem with this criticism especially when it comes from expat bloggers who have no qualms about disrespecting their host country. I don’t believe anyone should be scapegoated, but work on your own house first before criticizing others.

Ah yes, the old "don't disrespect your host country" line. A favourite of apologists second only to the "it happens in your country" excuse. Which the fucktard manages to cram into his last sentence.

I love it when they try to equate complaining about poor treatment with showing disrespect to your host country. It is just so bat shit.

Why the wouldn't people complain when they are treated badly ANYWHERE? Especially when they are actually living and working in the country in question! Paying taxes. Contributing to the economy. It is happening to them where they are living and working NOT in their home country so of course it would is relevant.

When people encounter racist behaviour anywhere they should speak out. I complained about the stupidity I encountered in South Korea and on my other blog I complain about the stupidity I encounter at home in Canada, and anywhere else I encounter it. 

What a fucking moron.

What the ... top headline?!?!?

What is the TOP headline story in the Korea Times for Wednesday, July 4, 2012?

Yes, that is actually what they put as the top headline. Beauty contestants believe 'leg line' most important: survey. What the kimchi?!?!?


The leg line is more important than anything else going on in South Korea or the world. What are the number one headlines at some other papers?


The International Herald Tribune: Pakistan Opens NATO Supply Line as Clinton Apologizes


The National Post: Amid cabinet shuffle speculation, Bev Oda finally calls it quits.


The Times: Barclays adrift as scandal sucks in Bank of England.


How about another Korean English language paper the Joongang Daily: Lee’s elder brother queried in bribe case This was actually Korea Times 2nd headline.  What was Joongang's number 2 headline? Provisional pact with Japan already signed in April. How could they have missed the leg line story?!?!??


Thank you Shin Na-Yun and the Korea Times for bringing this "important" story to us and maintaining your the tile of Worst in the Nation.

Shit Herr Consoleman Says about ESL wages.

Why ESLers able to live like King in Korea
by Consoleman » Sun Jul 01, 2012 11:08 am

S.Korea spent about $6 billion dollars per year in ESL education and have scored 121st place (2009 data - 157 countries) in speaking test.
So how did $6 billion with 20,000 naive English speaking teachers only able to scored 121th place (even worst than North Korea - who learned English from N.Korean teacher and worst than most African countries).


There's gotta be something wrong with education system, and ESL teachers as well.


One would think from the title of Herr Consoleman's thread and what he wrote that ESL teachers in South Korea are personally getting the $6 Billion a year. Of course, what he says has nothing to do with actually explaining why ESLers can live like kings.

Did I live like a king when I was in South Korea? Hmmm ... small ConApt hardly seems like a castle. Part of your pay scammed in some way by the school. (The favourite method of doing that seemed to be charging you double or more of the income tax rate, which they pocket.)

Now to be fair I did live well. I did save some money, but spent the bulk of it in South Korea. Thanks to the lower cost of living I was able to do more within Korea than I would at home. Go out more often. Travel more, when I had time off.

The funny thing is he has a point but his batshit obscures it. There IS something wrong with the education system in South Korea, not just the ESL part of it, and the teachers are part of the problem. They just aren't the part of it him and his fellow KKKlan members think they are.

The SYSTEM allows hagwons to hire people whose only claim to fame as a teacher is being born in an English speaking country and having a University degree. Hagwons prefer to hire younger teachers, fresh out of Uni. One might even call them NAIVE  English speaking teachers because most haven't travelled abroad, let alone worked in another country. Not because they are skilled but because they are easier to screw over than more mature and experienced people.

Which would jibe with some of what he says later in the thread.

These ESL Hagwons aren't that stupid, they're using mainly North American to grab market share of $6 billion dollar a year industry.

Yes. The hagwons are a big part of the problem. All they care about is making money and not educating the students. Which is why students will be in classes that are too high a level for them. It keeps the parents happy. Low marks aren't sent home. Shit that drove me crazy at times when I worked at hagwons. They aren't stupid. They are just fucking greedy and will screw over the teachers as quickly as the students/parents to make a buck.

Having been exposed to Herr Consoleman's written English the last few years I think he should be complaining about the English education system in Australia. After all, he spent at least High School there, plus University, and his written English is bad. Just look at some of his sentences in this thread starting with the title.

Why ESLers able to live like King in Korea

It should read: Why are ESLers able to live like kings in Korea? or even How are ESLers able to live like kings in Korea?

So how did $6 billion with 20,000 naive English speaking teachers only able to scored 121th place (even worst than North Korea - who learned English from N.Korean teacher and worst than most African countries).

Where the hell do you even start with that clunky sentence?!?!? He makes it sound like naive English speaking teachers scored 121st place on a test. "Worst" than? Really? Fuck Herr Consoleman ... ewww didn't mean it that way ... you should see about suing the Australian Education system because they definitely didn't teach you proper English. How in the fuck can he communicate at work?!?!?

Oh well, at least he is entertaining in an insane kind of way. :)

What the ... health report?!?!?

Once again the Korea Times, worst in the nation, has lowered the bar of stupidity. A friend pointed out an article titled Korean food better than Western one against weight gain: research. It is hard to decide what to talk about first, the article overall or the poor English.

Let's go with English first. The article is so poorly written it could have been a Herr Consoleman production.

"Korean food better than Western one against weight gain: research." 

It left me wondering what one Western food Korean food is better than? 

"A research team announced on March 28 that Korean food helps people not gain weight as its actual absorption of calories is about 10 percent lower than meat-oriented Western food of the same calories." 


Wait a minute! Hold it! Korean food absorbs calories? What the kimchi?!?!?

"Scientists presume that Koreans has absorbed low calories  ... " 


Ok, enough of beating that horse. You get the point.

Then you have the gist of the article. My friend Bald Flint said it best and I will paraphrase him.

What genius! Foods made from rice and vegetables are healthier than fried chicken and Coke! Thank god for the scientists who figured this stuff out and The Korea Times for reporting it! Is it any wonder that there was no reporter named as being responsible for the article?

Shit Herr Consleman Says about Immigrants.

"Koreans have right to say "Go back to your country" to any foreigners specially these from North America."

Herr Consoleman wrote that nugget in response to a discussion about American racism towards Asians. Considering the fucktard has decided to settle in a foreign country, Australia, yet still spew out his racist bullshit one has to wonder how he would feel if Australians exercised a similar right and told him to go back to Korea? Or better yet, forced him to return to the Fatherland to live.

WSJ Commenters 2

The commenter known as NN really left herself open to ridicule.

2:23 am June 14, 2012
NN wrote:

I’m a Korean woman with a fluent English, 

Whoa! Stop right there! If she really believes her English is fluent she is living in a fantasy land. Just the 1st part of this sentence, let alone the rest of what she wrote, puts the lie to that.

but I think there are really ‘some’ Korean women who rather lacked proper communication skill, but wanted to take an advantage of ‘foreigners’ as well as some ‘foreign men’ (especially white) who try to take reflected advantages from those women and satisfy their fantasies about Asian women. I often felt that they are often deluded by this misunderstanding even if they knew it was wrong. On top of that as those foreigners are mostly short-term visitors, so two groups seem to take this as an ‘adventure’ or ‘escape’ rather a serious reality or commitment. However it is not well accepted here, Korea, where has really closed and narrow society with high moral standard.

Heh ... thanks for making me laugh. I can agree with the closed and narrow society but high moral standard? What the kimchi?!?!?!?

I do have several white-foreign acquaintances who married to Korean women and do not think all of them are the same as the below Korean man claimed. However it is still true that there are really lots of ‘scumbags’ here, too. They came here to find a job as a short term English teacher something but do not take their work seriously. Also they just have fun and leave soon when they enjoyed enough with some money. This is not bad at all and entirely their freedom, but the problem is that there are really some socially wrong and irresponsible people. I personally met some like this, but ‘they’ warned of me this and confessed they are doing some ‘rubbish’ jobs when they met some ‘easy’ Korean women. Personally I really could not get this, because some of them are fine as an acquaintance or coworker, but I think they still do so even if they know it is wrong.

Hmmm ... so she is saying that they are scumbags because they are white-foreigners, they come to work for a short term (a couple of years? a few years?), don't take their work seriously, want to have fun, and leave after making some money. Interesting definition of what makes a scumbag.

Or is it the ones who meet those criteria AND are socially wrong and irresponsible that are scumbags? And what the hell does socially wrong mean?

I think no matter wherever I go, I could find those people. If this happened between the same Korean people, or even American, this would not be such a big problem. However this could be serious because this is not just ‘personal issues’ but could be some ‘diplomatic issues’, too. Also it must be clear here is obviously Korea, not other countries. I think some foreigners should respect (precisely ‘aware”) of the difference before they come to here, rather than trying to apply their rules here.

Overall, she makes sense in places but her "fluent" English turns some of that into gibberish. Her last paragraph really wants to make sense but she just can't pull it off.

If NN hadn't started off by prattling about how fluent her English is I probably would have just ignored the shitty writing job she did. But she didn't.

WSJ Commenters 1

I read through the comment section for the Wall Street Journal article "MBC Producer What's the Fuss About?". There were some interesting ones, both good and bad, which bear commenting on.

The first one that stood out  was from a commenter going by the name "Welcome to the Real World". He addressed a topic dear to me, apologists.


9:37 am June 8, 2012
Welcome to the Real World wrote:

Apologists for this piece need not raise their voices here. Korean culture gets slammed for xenophobia, racism, fascism, etc, because it deserves it, plain and simple. If Koreans didn’t act this way daily to foreigners of all colors, races, creeds, and nationalities, then the “rumor” (fact!) of racism in this culture wouldn’t be deserved. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Far too often, the significant others of Koreans in mixed relationships must endure disgusting behavior that is entirely based on the insecurity, incivility, and ignorance that exists in Korean culture.


Apologizing for it and quieting it over, deflecting, or outright denial about it won’t make it go away. It was only the intolerance of this type of behavior in other cultures that has suppressed and made these inhumane actions unwelcome there. The same intolerance is expressly deserved and long overdue here as well.

This was very well said. In fact I will probably use this in the future when responding to Korean apologists.