Anti-American Sentiment

This post is a response to Stuart Smallwood's March 31st post on speakingkorea.com. The direct link to his post is http://speakingkorea.com/?p=1418 .

Anti-American sentiment is widespread on this planet. I most often understand the feelings and agree. I do not resent these thoughts from Europeans, Mexicans, Asians, or any other people on Earth save one nation. A country whose national anthem I adore singing. A country which has much in common with my American homeland. When I hear a Canadian give me or my country any flack my ire goes through the roof. I am not proud of much of American history but I consider myself a patriot. America upon its inception set upon the table a series of ideals. I believe they can be attained and still hold great hope for the U.S. and the world. Although the U.S. has many internal problems it is the only place on Earth where all races, creeds, sects, colors, and idiots interact on a mass level. If America can survive there just may be hope for Earth.

My personal rant quite possibly could have something to do with a man named Crosby scoring an overtime goal in an Olympic gold medal game.
Then again, there may be merit in the words which follow. I must now address Mr. Smallwood's belief and examples of anti-americanism in Korea. First, I would like to state that he is very brave to post his words. I must point out that Canada's peaceful existence and economic prosperity is almost completely due to the U.S.A. Alaska kindly buffered Canada from the Soviet expansion post WWII. Canada doesn't need a large army. Its neighbor to the south deters any would be trouble makers. The main lack of 'Americanness' Canadians posess is their name isn't number one on the list of western allies who fight wars. Canadian forces were subjects of the French and English and fought with them until the early 1900's. Canadian troops representing Canada fought in WWI, WWII, and the KOREAN WAR. Currently Canadian soldiers and volunteers serve NATO. You were and are there too. The only difference is your numbers are small and the U.S.A. takes the heat of opinion.

Mr. Smallwood's claim that the U.S. occupies Korea is ludicrous. To the best of my knowledge the U.S. is paid to have military bases in South Korea. As for U.S. support of Syngman Rhee, Canada also supported the conference which put him in power. I think we can all agree that WWII benefited Korea by eliminating the Japanese occupation. I think we can all agree that South Korea (defended by the U.S. and Canada in the Korean war) is better off than its northern neighbor. Mr. Smallwood's words in the section Things Learned on Hikes in the Mountain include that the U.S. "seems to have given support" in regard to a Korean government crackdown. Oh Canada, you are simply little brother in all of this.

Mr. Smallwood must be careful of the demographic he chooses to make his claims of sentiment. The age group 45-60 certainly does not represent any cross section. In my opinion those older than sixty are very much thankful to America (and little brother) for the efforts made in WWII and the Korean war. I firmly believe that the older generation in Korea loves America much more than most places in the world do. The youth seems to embrace American popular culture quite vehemently and ignorantly adores the United States. I too believe that America behaves like an "evil empire". How can you conveniently forget that Canada is along for the pillage?

I leave you with one final thought. Koreans obviously enjoy baseball much more than hockey. This in and of itself proves without doubt that Koreans prefer Americans.