In our country, we really ignore the individual.
I agree.
Welcome,
this is Foreigner Talks.
Yoo Shi Min claims that Korean society ignores the individual.
But in fact I think it would be better in modern society if we ignored the individual a bit MORE.
Let's watch a bit more.
People think nothing of disturbing other people's peace and solitude.
But if someone really seems like they want to be on their own,
there might be a reason for that...
Personally, I think people also don't know about 'individuality'.
It's annoying,
having so many relationships to deal with.
We have too many communities.
Clubs for people from the same town, from the same school...
Whenever people do something they have to create a club or association around it.
To be honest, I just want to organize my own life, and do what I want to do.
When I look at the networks of relationships we have,
in our country we really ignore the 'individual'.
That's right.
And that culture is so strong
that I think a lot of people want to escape from it.
In the clip, Yoo Shi Min and Kim Yeong Ha are talking about the culture of individualism and collectivism,
but I have to disagree with the two of them.
I plan to make two videos explaining why I disagree.
The first one will be about the danger of elites in society criticizing the value of community.
Also why Koreans should be wary of unthinkingly adopting American ways of thinking.
The second one will look at the concept of the 'individual' itself,
and the effects that concept has on society and people's relationships.
So if we look at what these two men say,
that Korean people are part of too many communities,
I think we can see here some evidence of class differences in society.
According to the 2019 Korean Social Index report,
last year 20.5% of people said they felt lonely,
and the percentage of people claiming that 'nobody really knows me' was 16.7%.
Women were more likely to report loneliness than men,
and broken down by age, those in their 60s and those in their 40s reported the highest levels of loneliness.
People are part of too many communities??
Of course someone rich and famous like Yoo Shi Min, and people like him who belong to the elite class,
they have a lot of friends, they lead busy lives, there are lots of people who want to meet with them.
The elites who appear on TV must lead busy lives.
They appear on some programs, do interviews, give speeches, go to parties...
But what about the average person?
What about people like this man?
I think it is dangerous to talk so lightly about the importance of community if you're not aware of its importance,
and I think this way of thinking comes out of the Americanization of Korean culture
Talking so breezily about individuals and communities is dangerous
because of this.
Elites and the people on TV don't really need 'society'.
Specifically speaking, they are not in a position of being dependent on government benefits or neighbours
or charity organizations.
And if those people choose to break off their social connections,
they can easily pick them up again,
but normal people rely so much more on society and their close relationships.
As an example, let's look at the institution of marriage.
Marriage, the nuclear family, multi-generational households,
if we think of these as the bedrock of the community,
then the decline in the number of people getting married is a problem for the community.
In America, from the 60s, there has been a widening gap in marriage rates between different classes in society.
These days, the higher the income bracket, the more likely people are to be married,
and conversely those in the lower classes are least likely to be married.
Why is this a problem?
"On average, married–couple families experience the most stability,
and for children, a stable family environment provides a solid foundation,
while instability is linked to negative child outcomes
including problematic behavior, poorer social development, lower educational attainment,
poorer cognitive development, and a wealth penalty in adulthood.”
As a society puts more emphasis on the individual and marriage rates fall,
the people who are most negatively affected are those at the bottom.
As protection against the negative effects of dysfunction,
stable communities and a sense of community are the best things.
Yoo Shi Min says that many people want to escape.
Here I think we can see the effects of Liberalism from the West.
I'm now going to quote from several books and interviews.
First, we have Deneen's Why Liberalism Failed, which I'm going to refer to.
Those of you who have watched my videos before will already be familiar with this book.
In previous videos I've talked about how Liberalism devalues the importance of one's place of birth
and emphasises the importance of individual choice in every aspect of life.
Deneen writes
This way of viewing the world is not native to Korea,
and originates from history, culture, and philosophy of the US
and Northern Europe, countries like the UK, France, and Germany.
In fact, more and more people in the Anglopshere are starting to point out the negative effects of this ideology.
In 2003, the great American writer David Foster Wallace explained it like this:
We don't know what we've got until we've lost it.
We won't know how important the networks and communities of Korean society are
until they're gone.
People say they want to get away.
Escape Korea?
Get away from 'Hell Korea'?
People want to get away...
A question comes up for me.
What are you going to do once you escape?
If you manage to escape and make it to the individualist heaven that is the US,
what are you going to do there?
Gratify your own desires, as David Foster Wallace said?
And after that?
Without your family, no community, no Korean food, no Korean culture
in a different country with a different language and a different history,
for what reason did you make yourself homeless?
If there is a good answer then please let me know.
What I've said might be a bit crude, but if I'm wrong please correct me.
Once you are enjoying your silence and peace, what are you going to do for the rest of your life?
I might be speaking too harshly.
Alright, the direction of society is not so binary
and the big picture is not so black and white.
But people like Yoo Shi Min and Kim Yeong Ha, who are smart and talented,
they can write books and use their skills to make a new life anywhere they go.
But many people are not that smart,
and they don't know as much about philosophy or human life,
so if you drop them on a desert island they won't do that well.
Communities impose limits on everybody, and at the same time
they provide stability and guidance,
and really smart and creative people might not like those limitations.
But this world was not made just for one person.
If we look at what David Foster Wallace says, the way of thinking:
my space, my choice, my happiness, my freedom
most people across the world don't think or live their lives this way.
Outside the Anglosphere it's not easy to find people like this.
And so accepting American ways of thinking in this way
could be viewed as a kind of self-orientalism.
This is because it seems that many people accept this ideas uncritically.
Me and what I want are the most important things...
But as a person who grew up in that kind of extremely individualistic culture,
I have to agree with what David Foster Wallace says.
There are some important parts of myself that were not developed
and those parts have withered.
While satisfying your own desires it's easy to lose your way,
because this world is big and complicated.
Especially when I was young, it wasn't easy to know which was the best route to take.
At that age you don't much experience or insight.
"No man is an island."
In order to live well, I think there needs to be rules and limitations.
Of course while living in a community
there are things that one has to sacrifice, and a certain amount of personal freedom.
But I think the benefits one receives are greater.
Here Deneen talks about the American writer Wendell Berry
who argued strongly for the importance of community.
 
 
 
 
In my opinion most people benefit from having other people to give advice,
and getting guidance from them.
Sometimes following what other people have done produces the best results for the individual and the community.
Of course there are pros and cons of living in a community.
In her 2011 book Alone Together, the anthropologist Sherry Turkle
writes about the effects that technology is having on human relationships.
"Communities are constituted by physical proximity, shared concerns, real consequences, and common responsibilities.
Its members help each other in the most practical ways.
On the lower east side of Manhattan,
my great grandparents belonged to a block association rife with deep antagonisms.
I grew up hearing stories about those times.
There was envy, concern that one family was doing better than another;
there was suspicion, fear that one family was stealing from another.
And yet these families took care of each other,
helping each other when money was tight,
when there was illness,
when someone died.
If one family was evicted, it boarded with a neighboring one.
They buried each other."
They buried each other.
If you escape from Korea, who is going to bury you?
You might answer that it doesn't matter.
But that is my main point.
Communities create bonds between people.
There is a line that links the past, the present, and the future,
and even if you live totally as an individual, you are part of that line.
All I'm saying is that recognize this fact, and I think you will be able to live a happier life.
Please share your views in the comments.
Thanks for watching.
