[KS] For your consideration

[Steven Capener]

Dear list,
   
  Having lived, studied, and worked in Korea for the past 18 years I have seen a number of trends come and go. Approximately coinciding with the 2002 World Cup hosted in Korea and subsequent lager scale gatherings/demonstrations, I have seen a resurgence in a crude nationalism that had, it seemed, died down in the late 1990s. I could give many examples, but the one that has stimulated me to write this post comes from something I saw on a cable music channel (I believe it's called "M-net") on Monday night.
     There was a man dressed in a gorilla suit with banana peels on his head and he was counting down the 10 funniest bloopers committed by celebrities. After that he went on to a category that included unpatriotic statements and actions by celebrities. Included in this section were comments on Ichiro the Japanese baseball player and Anton Ohno the speed skater. 
     The gorilla starts with Ichiro whom he calls a Japanese monkey. He recounts Ichiro's comments during the World Baseball Classic regarding Korean baseball and then says that the "seki" should be physically beaten. Needless to say, I was taken aback. After Ichiro, he says, we have Ohno that "American monkey." He goes on to berate Ohno for cheating during the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and belittling the Korean people, calling him an American monkey three times. 
     This is a widely-watched 24 hour cable channel and the program was broadcast around 10 p.m.. 
   
  Comments?
   
  All the best,
   
  Steven Capener
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