I would never have guessed you were American until you wrote that you were. Maybe you shoud say, "as an Amerian passport holder" or something. What day in March five years ago?

i guess i've been put on a list.

oh the mirrors, the mirrors that reflect the dark.

It was this way throughout the authoritarian rule period and it has held over from it.

The current phenomenon is about US beef, and anti-US sentiment, and anti-Lee sentiment.

It doesn't matter that the foundation on the US beef angle was bogus. It was what clearly sparked the fire and is still used as a main theme in the protests.

And the new beef deal and the disinformation is very much about Korea's will to dislike the US in Korea.

And it has purely internal Korean political aspects as well.

However, when foreigners are banned from entering business establishments, USFK camps are fire bombed, and GIs are attacked, kidnapped, and stabbed then we can compare this to 2002. These protests are no where near being anything close to 2002.

These protests are closer to the nonsense in 2000 in regard to the Yongsan Water Dumping incident which was nearly as ridiculous as this issue.

Maybe because all your friends are Kyopos, and don't mix with Americans.

So, you don't speak Korean, nor have you been to Korea as an adult. Yet, you want to interpret events of Korea for the "expats". Speaking of arrogance, look in the mirror. Many of the "expats" you dismiss as having "one-dimensional, american-centered" actually do speak Koraen, have lived in Korea as an adult, and are not American.

My gut feeling is that you are an apologist for your ethnicity. An no matter what happens in Korea, and no matter how small your undersanding of Korean culture is, you will try and deflect and mitigate the reality.

i think these protest (and most protests) are great from the perspective that it is citizens going against a government that is trying to push something unilaterally.

as an american who considers that day in march five years ago as a day of infamy, it gives me hope when common citizens anywhere can influence a government beyond the limited options fed to them at the ballot box.

and yes, i think some koreans are racists, anti-american and ignorant, as i have met them. but i have also met others who are not. and until i have an adequate sampling size of koreans that i have come to know personally, i will reserve any sweeping generalizations.

"” i just think koreans deserve to be viewed as having a little more depth and diversity which may be difficult to do when there are language and cultural barriers.”

So do you speak Korean? Just wondering, and how long as an adult have you lived in Korea.

You are acting as a spokesperson on this, so I would like an honest answer.”"

i didn't realize my statement above implied that i spoke korean nor that i am one who can cross such barriers that differences impose and play the role of spokesperson. i was just merely recognizing the wall and its possible influence on perspective.

but i can understand your assumption.

based on how you seem to assign my posts and the assumed position you have given me, it is understandable that you would draw the conclusion from my statement.

and although, i think mr. sohn is an opportunistic niche grabbing parasite, he is obviously savvy enough to recognize that koreans can make similar hasty conclusions from just one sentence -influenced by their prior assumptions of versbhow's position.

and before you accuse me of clouding up the water even more, i think what i am trying to do is just appreciate the dense population of fish and plants floating in the water.

ultimately what shocks me is how personally so may foreigners are taking this issue and how some have linked this event with the previous events of anti-americanism (i.e. the 2002 soldiers, tanks, little girls, oh my!)

and although perhaps it is a defense mechanism in anticipation of confrontation with koreans, i have yet to hear any stories of foreigners or even american soldiers being harassed from these protests.

as of today, aside from verbal attacks on vershbow and bush, i have not heard of any incidents on expats…but of course i can be wrong on this.

So do you speak Korean? Just wondering, and how long as an adult have you lived in Korea.

You are acting as a spokesperson on this, so I would like an honest answer.