04-07-2012, 03:13 AM
(04-06-2012, 06:01 PM)ham Wrote: Another victim of the false dreams fostered by sit-coms and those stupid juvenile movies of the 1980s.
If the guy was American I'd be tempted to buy in, but Koreans are unlike Americans in many respects. Those of us who grew up on cowboy shows instinctively tend to appreciate the self-reliant, rugged individualists, even if we aren't always in a position to emulate them. Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Harrison Ford, etc.
Koreans on the other hand tend to be far more social and cooperative in their outlook, with more emphasis on the group than the individual. In a way that's good if you happen to be an outsider, because they tend to embrace you and include you in, as if to say "things are tough here, we need all the help we can get."
The guys tend to work 6 or 7 days a week, and after work they tend to go out and have a few snorts with their buddies. So the moms raise the kids and the kids rarely see the dad. Because military service is mandatory in Korea nobody really worries about the boys growing up unruly or wussified without the fatherly presence because they know the Army will straighten them out in a hurry.
As a result the kids tend to act like kids a lot longer than their American counterparts. For those who miss the military service (such as by moving to the US) it's longer still.
So I can see where a guy who grew up in that culture has a tough time relating to "you don't go to school to make friends." He's never heard snickers when someone says "male nurse," he doesn't understand why his new female "buddies" don't want to hang out with him like the guys on the construction job did, he's working hard and doing everything he's supposed to do but somehow he always feels like he's on the outside looking in. Nobody's helping him and nobody's aiming him in the right direction, not like they always did when he was among his people.
Worst of all, he gets pissed off but nobody is telling him that shooting up the joint is a bad idea. It's not like it doesn't enter everybody's head at some point, but most of us have an internal voice that says "that's nuts!" This guy never developed the self-moderation that comes with self-reliance. He's isolated and he reacts just like the third grader he probably is emotionally. He was expecting mom or his buddies or somebody to tell him it was time to stop playing guns now and go to bed, but nobody did.
Not that any of this justifies the loony tunes behavior, just that it seems inaccurate to explain it in terms of American culture. Obviously shooting up the place is just as unacceptable in Korea as it is in America. The fact that yet another Korean has done so in another school suggests there is a commonality that is being overlooked.
The McBeef douchebag was similarly isolated, and IIRC none of his roommates were even Americans. He had no one to tell him "dude, that's fucked up" because none of them knew whether it was or wasn't and they didn't want to be "judgmental" or engaging in "cultural imperialism" or some of the other socialist PC bullshit in which they all no doubt had been indoctrinated.
In the pervert-riddled Bay area I'd expect the education drones and their students have been similarly indoctrinated. The "Romie Delariman" types probably made sure that all the ladies knew that any guy who spoke to them was only really asking (as Chris Rock said) "want some dick with that?" He probably didn't hate women, he just hated those alleged women.
Although maybe they were right for teasing him about his lack of manliness, if the only way he can make the gals swoon is with a bullet in the head.