South Korea and the fate of liberalism
The assumption that Korean society will one day resemble American society is based on the belief that Americans will do everything they can to hold on to their power and influence. Gettyimagesbank
By Peter Paik
At times I encounter among Koreans the assumption that Korean society is moving in a direction that will cause it increasingly to resemble American society. The influence of tradition will wane as people gain more freedom to determine the course of their lives, free of the pressures of tradition and authority. South Korea will therefore become more individualistic, more diverse, and more tolerant of different lifestyles in the coming years.
But looking at life in the U.S. today, one wonders whether the embrace of liberal values that characterize American society might reproduce the same problems that have brought the country to the brink of social and political dissolution. The U.S. may look rich and powerful from the outside, but viewed from the inside, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that American society is unraveling on many levels.
Decades of de-industrialization and outsourcing of jobs have hollowed out the economy in the heartland. The working class no longer has access to well-paying jobs that enabled them to support families and sustain communities. The resulting despair has stripped people of confidence and a feeling of purpose, leading many to turn to drugs to escape a bleak, hopeless reality.
Identity politics has divided Americans into warring camps, leaving them unwilling to work together to address vital concerns, like a lopsided economy that favors the rich while pushing the middle class into poverty. Liberals in particular refuse categorically to make common cause with anyone whom they believe is filled with hatred and prejudice. But what for liberals counts as hatred and prejudice is even mild dissent from what they hold to be racist, sexist, and homophobic. Anyone who does not agree with their view that American society is hopelessly intolerant is himself a racist.
The promotion of radical stances on social issues dominates the mainstream media, as it treats the issue of bathroom use of the transgendered as an issue of paramount importance, while vital concerns of policy, such as the ongoing strife in the Middle East, recede into the background. Foreign affairs are not covered with the aim of fostering debate about what courses of action the U.S. should pursue after 17 years of fruitless conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq. Instead, the media treats the fate of the entire region as an extension of U.S. domestic politics when it bothers to consider terrorist bombings in Iraq or military clashes in Syria at all.
There has been a fundamental shift in how children are taught American history. No longer are they made aware of the energy, drive, and courage that made the U.S. into a prosperous and influential nation. Instead, American history is taught in a way that makes it into an object of shame, stained irremediably by the crimes of genocide and slavery. Strikingly, this self-flagellating view of history refers only to misdeeds committed by the U.S. in the past and avoids any mention of the catastrophes in the Middle East.
Liberalism fosters an unquestioning shame of one's own country that is just as imbalanced and unthinking as nationalist fanaticism. It also undermines people's willingness to compete against rivals in such vital areas as economics and technology. Liberalism has become antithetical to pragmatism. It seeks to destroy the American can-do spirit in the name of social justice for excluded groups.
It is not obvious what the disadvantages of being open-minded and tolerant are. The problem is that for many Americans, being open-minded and tolerant has become the core of morality itself. Open-mindedness counts far more than courage, moderation, and prudence. An individual who is intelligent, courageous, and practices self-restraint will not be regarded as a good person if he is seen as intolerant.
The assumption that Korean society will one day resemble American society is based on the belief that Americans will do everything they can to hold on to their power and influence. It is unimaginable for many Koreans that a wealthy and powerful nation would give up its values, moral code, and longstanding intuitions to denounce its citizens in the name of tolerance and social justice.
But those who have enjoyed power can succumb to the belief that they do not need to work hard or take precautions to maintain their privileged position. They pursue a socially destructive vision of justice because they refuse to recognize that power is finite and that history brings down the arrogant. The fatal illusion that besets them is that they believe reality will always conform to their wishes.