The Korea Times

What does tolerance even mean?

gettyimagesbankBy Scott ShepherdWe live, it seems, in divided times. I suppose we always have, but in the past few years the social ruptures have become noticeably deeper and more severe. So partisan and so divided are we today that people living on the same street or in the same town experience vastly different realities. Former U.S. President Barack Obama has spoken on this several times, reflecting that if he watched Fox News, even he wouldn't vote for himself.There are two questions that I've been pondering for a while: Are we really as divided as it seems? If we are, then who or what is to blame?To start with the second question ― and leaving aside the easiest answer of “politicians” ― the most obvious scapegoat is social media. I can't speak from personal experience because I quit it all years ago, but the wise ones tell us that most of us live in our own online bubbles or echo-chambers of like-minded people constantly reinforcing our own opinions.While this picture certainly seems accurate, I would add that the cause of much of today's division is the decline of th

Sep 11, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

Biden must take responsibility for catastrophe in Afghanistan

U.S. President Joe Biden walks from the podium after speaking about Afghanistan from the East Room of the White House, Aug. 16, in Washington. AP-YonhapBy Scott Shepherd“You don't think this actually could have been handled better in any way? No mistakes?” asks the interviewer.“No. I don't think it could have been handled in a way that ― there ― we're going to go back in hindsight and look, but the idea that somehow there's a way to have gotten out without chaos ensuing ― I don't know how that happens. I don't know how that happened,” replies U.S. President Joe Biden.An incoherent reply, a stubborn refusal to accept the obvious truth. Remind you of anyone?After four years of Trump, the world thought it would see a more engaged America, ready to co-operate internationally once again: a strong and open country with a serious leader once again. “America is back,” Biden claimed.And now we gaze listlessly into our screens at the heart-wrenching images coming out of Afghanistan, the latest of America's disgraceful withdrawals from the world.There's so mu

Aug 21, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Biden must take responsibility for catastrophe in Afghanistan

Opinion

Despite all the problems, Tokyo Olympics bring hopes and inspirations

Faith Kipyegon of Kenya celebrates after winning gold in the final of the women's 1,500-meters at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics, Aug. 6. AP-YonhapBy Scott ShepherdIn the run-up to the Olympics this year, I was feeling pretty gloomy about the whole prospect, to the extent that I nearly wrote an article arguing that it should just be canceled. With the virus showing no real sign of disappearing even in countries with high vaccination rates, and with the announcement that no audiences would be allowed to watch the games, I felt that it was pointless to have the games at all. What's the point of a spectacle without spectators?I wasn't alone in my opposition. A petition calling on the Japanese government to cancel the Olympics bore more than 350,000 signatures, and polls indicated opposition in the country was widespread. Nonetheless, of course, the authorities pressed on, and accordingly last month the XXXII Olympiad opened in Tokyo with great fanfare but no fans.Predictably, there has been all manner of scandals and upsets from the very start. Korean broadcaster MBC's coverage of the o

Aug 8, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Despite all the problems, Tokyo Olympics bring hopes and inspirations

Opinion

Korea is safe country but its roads are not

gettyimagesbankBy Scott Shepherd2021-07-24(코리아타임스)The big bosses of the bus companies never actually ride the bus in Korea, not for their daily commute or for running errands or shopping. I have no evidence for this claim, but it has to be true, and therefore I repeat it boldly: they don't ride the bus. If they did, things would be very different.A bus journey in Korea is rarely a pleasant one. Those passengers unfortunate enough to not have a seat desperately cling on to each other or to the assortment of poles and handles as the bus bounces along the road and skids around corners, accelerating and decelerating at a rate that makes the eyes water and the cheeks flap. Of course, the driver rarely bothers to pull his vehicle over to the side to let people on or off: any would-be passengers must anxiously clutch their cards and rush forward the moment the bus arrives in the hope that the bus will slow down long enough for them to somehow board.Before the bus has screeched to a halt, the doors have sprung open. There is a surge; the quick ones from outside jump in and rush for a good sp

Jul 24, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Korea is safe country but its roads are not

Opinion

Abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality

Lee Jun-seok, head of the main opposition People Power Party, has proposed the idea of abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. YonhapBy Scott ShepherdWith eight long months to go before the presidential election, politics is already becoming somewhat strange if not going pretty mad.The latest proof of this came when two contenders for the presidency from the People Power Party (PPP) suggested the dissolution and replacement of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. It's not the first time that the supposed disenfranchisement of Korea's young men has been in the news. Some apparently feel angry, victimized by feminism. The politicians are tapping into this anger, selecting the ministry as a target to rally the “angry young man” demographic to the voting booth. Unless I'm being overly cynical, it looks like a polling company or some statistical genius somewhere has identified this demographic as key to winning the election.Clearly, the young men of today do face real issues. Education is horrifically competitive, the job market is hard, housing is imposs

Jul 10, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

Sexual harassment and violence in universities

gettyimagesbankBy Scott ShepherdI can't imagine that many people were surprised when The Korea Times reported earlier this month findings by Kyung Hee University, showing that 60 percent of the alleged perpetrators of sexual abuse in its graduate school were professors.Obviously, the data is unlikely to show the full picture. The sample isn't representative and there are likely many more of these types of instances that are never reported. Sadly, with this kind of crime, the true extent of the problem will probably never be known. Nonetheless, the survey paints a clear picture: there are professors who behave atrociously.The Kyung Hee University report came out the same week that I attended my own university's mandatory annual sexual harassment and violence training session. The training is run by the government and all staff and faculty at the university are required to participate.It was a two-hour PowerPoint presentation on Zoom, and it was, to say the least, boring. The vast majority of the participants, including me, had their cameras off. Of those who kept their cameras on, I s

Jun 27, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Sexual harassment and violence in universities

Opinion

Taking off the masks

Visitors wearing face masks as a precaution against COVID-19 walk in the rain at Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, May 28. AP-YonhapBy Scott ShepherdThe government recently announced a set of incentives designed to increase the uptake of vaccinations. There is a raft of measures, but foremost among these is the promise that, starting in July, those who have received their first jab of a COVID-19 vaccine will not be required to wear a mask outdoors. While the long-awaited announcement of the easing of restrictions should have been the cause of great joy ― free at last! ― the reaction has been rather more skeptical than the government might have hoped, and for good reason.Let's not get bogged down in questions of whether wearing masks outdoors is effective. The government here has gone with universal mask-wearing in public spaces both inside and out, and its COVID strategy has obviously worked pretty well ― especially considering the incredibly high population density of the cities. Whether there's a causal link between the country's low COVID-19 rate and the fact that people have worn masks

May 29, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

What to do on Wednesday?

Mt. Bukhan / gettyimagesbankBy Scott ShepherdOnce, after I had waited for a while at the bar of a London pub, two staff members came over at the same time and served both me and the person next to me. Dutifully following the appropriate etiquette given the situation, I observed to my fellow queuer that the service here was “like busses”. To my great consternation, he replied by telling me that he was a bus driver and began to explain in a rather defensive tone how and why external factors can sometimes cause delays to London's bus service.Since then, I've been a little hesitant to compare anything to busses, especially in the presence of strangers who might well turn out to be off-duty bus drivers. But it's time that I overcome my fear. I hope you will allow me, therefore, to use an old cliche: national holidays in Korea are like busses. You wait ages for one to come and then two come along at once.Following hard on the heels of Children's Day on 5 May, this week's holiday is in celebration of Buddha's birthday, but for the majority of the population who aren't Buddhist,

May 15, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

Undiplomatic immunity

gettyimagesbankBy Scott ShepherdIn the past few weeks, Korea has seen a number of diplomatic faux pas, to say the least. Last Saturday it was revealed that two employees of the Pakistani embassy were allegedly caught shoplifting; strangely, they were accused of stealing chocolates and a hat, which doesn't seem worth risking a diplomatic career over. Much bigger news, however, was the story of the Belgian ambassador's Chinese wife, Xiang Xueqiu, who was accused of slapping a worker at a clothes shop in Seoul.Her disdain towards the staff is visible even through the blurred CCTV footage. Accompanied by a picture of the employee's shockingly reddened face (how hard that slap must have been!), the news caused an almighty fury, which was further fanned by the fact that Xueqiu is Chinese.This public anger was exacerbated further still because, as the wife of a foreign diplomat, Xueqiu is immune from prosecution here. Indeed, the police let her go because they have no right to arrest her. Similarly, the police closed the case of one of the Pakistani embassy workers after establishing that h

May 4, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Opinion

A home of one's own

Apartment buildings in Seoul / YonhapBy Scott ShepherdHousing is something that we all need, like food or water or clothing; society has a fundamental problem if the price of a home is high. This is a belief I have firmly held for years, ever since an economist friend pointed it out several years ago.President Moon Jae-in seems to think so too. He has faced intense criticism for his measures intended to curb the ever-increasing price of housing in Korea. Despite all the effort and political maneuvering, his various schemes have failed.I don't want to boast, but last week I bought a house. Well, not an actual house ― the few houses in Seoul are reserved for the very top echelons of society: the politicians, the tycoons, and the unfathomably rich owners and heirs of conglomerates. Mere humans can usually only afford to buy apartments, villas or officetels.For those unfamiliar with the Korean system, by the way, a villa here does not live up to the image the name conjures of a luxurious country house replete with pool; imagine instead that an apartment building and a house had a four-st

Apr 18, 2021By Scott Shepherd

Scott Shepherd

Read more

What does tolerance even mean?

Biden must take responsibility for catastrophe in Afghanistan

Despite all the problems, Tokyo Olympics bring hopes and inspirations

Korea is safe country but its roads are not

Abolishing the Ministry of Gender Equality

Sexual harassment and violence in universities

Taking off the masks

What to do on Wednesday?

Undiplomatic immunity

A home of one's own

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