By Lee Cheun-heui
The recent furor over the possibility of contracting the human equivalent of mad cow disease from the consumption of U.S. beef may be a big deal to most Koreans, but to a Korean-American like myself who now works and lives in Korea, it seems like a non-issue.
Why? As President Lee Myung-bak said so himself, it is strictly up to the individual consumer whether he or she would want to take the risk of consuming U.S. beef.
It is virtually the same as making a decision as to whether one should smoke or not. Cigarettes are proven to cause lung cancer, but millions of people continue to smoke.
But savvy readers will soon recognize that the issue is not so much about the safety and health of the Korean citizens, but more the protection of farmers who raise cattle here in Korea.
Since U.S. beef is considerably cheaper than hanwoo (Korean beef), the import of mass quantities of U.S. beef is sure to threaten the very existence of Korean cattle raisers.
However, the bigger issue is that Korean politics works under the premise that the Korean people are too ignorant to make key decisions for themselves.
In any given situation in Korea, an elderly person talks to a younger person ``to teach him/her the ways of life cause he/she doesn't know any better.''
In Korean schools teachers talk to students in a condescending manner while implicitly telling them ``you're ignorant and I'm not, so you better listen to every word I say.''
Under this environment it's no wonder that imported products, which cater to the needs of the individual consumer, end up being more popular than Korean products, most of which were designed without really taking into consideration the consumers' needs.
Korean companies are arrogantly saying to the consumers ``you don't know what you want so we'll show you what you should buy.''
Koreans wonder why foreign cars, Starbucks coffee, U.S. beef, and a whole slew of imported brand name products are popular and the answer is simple. Korean companies do not come up with products that completely reflect the values that consumers look for.
There is absolutely no need for politicians or any organizations to tell us what to eat, drink, or wear. If I, as an individual, was petrified of mad cow disease, the solution to my paranoia is ultra simple.
I wouldn't buy U.S. beef. The demonstrators in the streets of Seoul can shout and scream all they want. But the final decision will always rest with me, and in a democratic society, that is the way it should be.
If you don't like the policies that a politician comes up with, there's another simple answer to that. Don't ever vote for him/her again.
The writer is a Korean-American residing in South Korea. He can be reached at bogartyankee@yahoo.com.