Nothing ever changes in the English-language Korea-related blogging world.

I woke up this morning, turned on my computer, and read the news that the Virginia Tech killer was a South Korean national. Unfortunately for me, my first thought was of the blogs. I thought, “Oh boy, this is going to get ugly.” Sure enough, the usual suspects showed up at The Marmot’s Hole comments section readied with - depending on which side of the fence they’ve placed themselves - either their accusations or their rationalizations. You see, it doesn’t matter what sort of Korea-related news comes down the pipe, it’s all just fuel for the engines of two sides that, though they can’t admit it to themselves, would rather hate than debate. On one side you have those who are eager to flaunt anything that comes their way to flog what they perceive as deficiencies in Korean culture and/or mindset. On the other you have those who receive the slightest criticism of Korea as a personal afront and/or an example of cultural imperialism and proceed to pull out the “yeah, buts”. Actually, both sides are pretty good at the “yeah, buts”. And both sides are perfectly aware that they are not going to change the other’s mind, but that is not the point nor the desire. It’s an angry place filled with angry people partaking in mental masturbation. And now here I am with my two strokes.

Bottom line: thirty-two people who didn’t deserve to die have lost their lives to a sick and deranged human being. That, and only that, is what matters. Any attempt to extrapolate from that to bolster tired arguments that were here yesterday and will be here tomorrow is pretty damn sad, because the victims from Virginia Tech will not be here tomorrow.

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