State of Mind

Well written, and well decribed. Yes, it's really ashame that young foreigners, mostly straight out of university, come to Korea and act like total fools, spurred on by alcohol, which they can't handle. They have a total lack of respect for other peolpe, and probably don't think for a second that they are in another country, and what they do back home, isn't always accepted here in Korea. They are foreigners, and in a way, represent all foreigners. You can only shake your head and think, grow up.

Hang on. drunk behaviour is not exclusively a young expatriate thing. its bad behaviour to be sure, but it doesn't dominate in western countries or for that matter among young college aged people. i could recount 12 years worth of endless tales of similar behaviour within the korean nightlife scene. its NOT exclusive to foreigners. plain and simple. its just douches being douches. 

Of course, Travis, bad behavior isn't exclusive to Koreans OR expats, and is a case-by-case thing. I realize that I make a very sweeping generalization in my article, but based purely on my personal experiences many instances of destructive, insensitive, or violent behavior have stemmed from other expats. I could attribute this to my being a foreigner, and thus only being exposed to other foreigner behavior, but I'm being honest when I say that I am more afraid of other foreigners than Koreans when it comes to situations like the one I dealt with. 

What bothers me is that many foreigners lack the respect or care about the consequences of their actions. After a night like that, no one is walking home with regrets about the mess they made - they're waking up from a blackout state with no recollection or second thought about what they've done. According to them, it's not their country, not their responsibility.

"As long as it was fun," they say, justifying the times that they jumped into random cars, scaring innocent people inside. 

"It was a good night," they say, forgetting that they had to rely on a good-hearted taxi driver to deal with their drunk incoherent self. 

It's a damned shame. Many of these people would not go home and do half the things that they feel entitled to do here. It's a "we teach your kids English, deal with me" kind of mentality. Not all foreigners act this way, but the ones that do truly give other foreigners a bad name. And all any of us can do is watch them burn a place that we have learned to call home.