Korea, America -- Same, same

I’ve been back now for over three months, and I believe the reverse culture shock is settling down. I’m not even sure that there is such a thing as “reverse culture shock”. Real or not, it’s the only way I can understand the occasional, furious outbursts at Americanisms, like stark individualism, rampant narcissism, constant fear and anxiety, an absurd media, a broken health care system, and a legal system which suffocates its citizens. There’s a thick atmosphere of mistrust and fear among people. One example will have to suffice: after spending eight hours interviewing for an entry level position at my current job, and after having three professional references checked, background checked, credit checked, this checked, and that checked, I was still, after all that checking, required to have my employment contract notarized, because, apparently, my employer doesn’t trust me enough to sign my own contract.

While in Korea I had come under the mistaken impression that the Koreans were somehow uniquely irrational. As a daily mantra –OM THEYRE IRRATIONAL SVAHA -- it provided a lens through which I could dismiss rather than make sense of a culture that proves opaque to even the most astute cultural epicureans. Where they were emotional, we were cool, calm, and logical – a whole nation of Dr. Spocks, deciding from their brains rather than their bellies.

What an irrational and mistaken notion! One need look no further than the still, ongoing coverage of Michael Jackson and the nutjobs now disrupting town hall discussions about health care with middle school tactics, tantrums, and empty slogans: What? We’re going to be like Russia if we all have health care?! Why is government involvement ALWAYS bad? I heard many of Spock’s offspring proudly trumpet that they would no longer be buying GM cars because they were government owned now! The ghost of communism still haunts these here corridors.

So, no, Americans are not more rational. We’re the same. We reveal our ignorance and emotion in different ways, clearly attributable to conditional factors, such as, history, geography, and all the of the minute, learned behaviors that comprise a culture. As the Buddha said: because of this, there is that; when this arises, that arises.

And finally, one thing we can all agree on: all people just want to be happy. And most of us do our damndest to prevent that from happening.