Across the globe, every major news outlet is burning up with a story of tremendous social, political, and historical importance. Meanwhile, Korea is picking up its collective remote and flipping back to that channel where a bunch of dudes play Starcraft.
Unless you've been living under an especially large and sound-proof rock, you've heard the news that Osama Bin Laden was killed yesterday. The event held a lot of significance for many Westerners living in Korea. We remember where we were when the planes hit the World Trade Center, we remember the countless hours of CNN footage, we remember the awful conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan that ensued.
Osama Bin Laden has been, in many ways, a central figure in the lives of young Westerners. We've been living in a world he helped create, for better or worse. The laws of society changed overnight. The economy took a hit. Thousands of men and women (not much older or younger than ourselves) shipped off around the world for the ostensible purpose of catching the bastard.
Obligingly, we chose sides. Our positions made perfect sense to ourselves and simultaneously sounded like naive bullshit to our opponents.
After 10 years, every viewpoint imaginable has been discussed ad nauseum on one cable network or another. It's hard to imagine a fresh perspective on Osama Bin Laden, Iraq, the War on Terror, etc. Or at least, such a thing is hard to conceive in the West. Here in Korea, nobody seems to give a fuck.
My girlfriend lived in Canada for two years and China for three. She studies international business. If any Korean has a global perspective (i.e. cares about the same things Americans care about), it should be her, right? Nope. She could not have been less enthusiastic when I brought up the subject of Bin Laden's death last night.
"I don't really care one way or another," she said.
I was persistent, though - mainly because I had little else to talk about. Korea is one of the few countries where America is still seen as a "cool" place and a strong ally. Shouldn't this event have some impact on average Koreans? After all, the world is a safer place now...
"This is boring. I don't care. People can be happy or sad or whatever. It's not a big deal in Korea."
When I spoke with a Korean co-teacher this morning, I got the same response. She muttered a few words about hearing about it on the news, and went back to grading papers. None of my kids seemed especially interested in talking about it either - even the older ones, who would normally pull out their own fingernails if it got them out of writing essays.
Korea is an incredibly insular society. 9/11 did not cause the backlash of social problems that it did in the West. They've never dealt with Islamophobia for the simple reason that there are about 50 Muslims living here. Korean airports don't have strip searches and high-powered X-rays to deter nail-clipper wielding hijackers. Terrorist bogeymen don't have much hold on the national psyche because there are much more practical foes to fear, such as the wildly unstable totalitarian dictatorship to the north or the ravenous behemoth that is China.
America had been searching for Bin Laden for a decade. Thousands of people have died in the process, trillions of dollars have been (or will be) expended, and the course of Western history has been shifted onto a strange new course. Supposedly, we have now accomplished one of the primary goals of the war against terrorism.
Korea's reaction is that of a distant aunt who is informed of her nephew's success in a piano competition. She nods politely, offers a few congratulatory words, and returns her attention to matters that are closer and more interesting.
I can't help but feel an odd sense of perspective living here. Korean textbooks will probably never mention May 2, 2011. Bin Laden will cease to be news as soon as the next episode of Superstar K hits the airwaves. And yet back home, people who don't do too many drugs will remember that day for the rest of their lives. Completely divergent narratives, even in a globalized world.
Sometimes even world history isn't that historical.
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