I was reading someone’s blog, and this one portion caught my attention:
“I’m sick and tired of Koreans being so freaking judgmental on the way people look and act. It drives me NUTS!!!!!!
I can’t stand it. Seriously. I’m overweight. yes. I know. But don’t look at me like I’m some fat tub of lard that can’t do anything!
Seriously. SERIOUSLY. Damn Koreans are all fake with their plastic surgery and their anorexic issues including their over obsession with having to have everything and demoralizing everyone. DON’T ACT superior, DON’T ACT like you’re some gift from God. slkjfalskdjflaskjdfhvoxivuefr!~!!!
I’m seriously so over this having to be perfect thing. You know what’s sad? Korean parents will tell their children that they love them… and then tell them that they should get nose surgery, eye surgery, leg surgery.. to lose weight.. to not drink water cause they’ll gain weight.. to wear a corset so they get tuck in their bellies and sit up straight… to pretend they’re perfect.
SCREWWWWWWWWWWW YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Sorry. I’m Korean.. and I love being Korean… I love Korean food.. and some of Korean culture… but I can’t stand… 99% of the Korean population which explains whyyyyy I only have a handful of korean friends. >.< ” (http://jinahchae.blogspot.com/)
Damn, this girl is dead on! I have to say that I pretty much agree with what she’s saying. Some aspects of Korean culture are f-ed up to the max. But don’t get me wrong, I love and appreciate being half Korean and I wish I could study up more about it! Recently I’ve had this urge to go study abroad in Korea in college, but everything that this girl was referring to up there scares the shit out of me.
Will they even except you if you don’t look the tiniest bit like this?
Have perfect skin like this:
Dress like this:
Or be as skinny as this? Hell, even the guys are pretty damn skinny:
(Pictures taken from http://fuckyeahuhljjang.tumblr.com)
And then we get people like this:
I always have people tell me how whenever they go to Korea, there are all these pretty uhljjangs that pretty much run the damn place…how Korea is so superficial and if you’re not pretty, you’re not excepted.
Honestly, don’t go to Korea because of the dramas you watch online. I have so many people (and this has happened to my friends too) come up to me and be like, “OMG, DO YOU WATCH KOREAN DRAMAS? HAVE YOU SEEN _________?” And when I tell them I don’t really watch dramas, shock covers their faces.
“You don’t watch Korean dramas? Aren’t you Korean?”
OKAY. FIRST OF ALL. I’m half. Second of all, that’s a horrendous stereotype in its own sense. It’s like saying, since you’re Chinese, you must play hardcore mahjong every single day. Or if you’re German, you secretly hail Hitler every night before you sleep.
…Those are pretty bad analogies, but whatever.
Going off on a tangent a bit, my bad. Anyway, people expect so much from Korea because dramas portray Seoul in such a bright light, which I’m sure the Seoul government is very pleased about. Why? Beautifully portrayed Seoul=fools that fall for it and travel there. More tourism=flourishing economy, guys.
Everyone believes Korea to be all about plastic surgery (Korea was named the most superficial country, I believe?) and we all want to go there hoping to meet the hot guys we see in dramas. OKAY GIRLS. To clarify this topic, a lot of my friends have been to Korea and let me tell you, most of the guys you’ll see are soju-drinking-pot-bellied-ahjusshis. Just saying.
We all forget about the traditional, authentic culture that really founded the hard grounds of Korea.
What about stuff like this?
LOL. Whatever, you get what I mean.
Anyway, this is a incredibly long post. My point is, Korea has so much more to offer than horribly scripted Korean dramas, uhljjangs, cute boys with six-packs, plastic surgery, K-pop girl/boy bands, and superficial morals. Go there to learn about their history, their pure culture, eat their food (LOL), etc. and I’m sure you’ll come to terms with all these previous conflicting opinions of Korea.
