I will say
this early on, I will not give up on K-Drama, K-Pop, K-Variety just because of
this shit.
It all
probably started when a Filipino tiktoker, Bella Poarch, who is not even living
here, posted on tiktok, it’s not clear whether she has that tattoo or her
father, a tattoo of the rising sun flag of Japan. To those who not know, that
flag was the flag of the Imperial Japan. The time when Japan conquered a fourth
of China, the whole of Korea, and almost the entire South East Asia, along with
it, our own country the Philippines. With that imperialism, atrocities follow.
And with all the countries that fall under their rule, Korea, or then Joseon,
suffer the most of it. Girls were kidnapped, and force to have sex with the
troops, in brothels. Man were force to served in the Japanese army, as frontline
troops, and the others are emigrated also to do force labor. They are treated
as second class citizens in their own land. So you would imagine, how deep is
the hatred between South Korea and Japan. I dont know if South Korea, and also
the North, had not fully forgiven, or not really forgiven Japan for it.
So seeing the
rising sun flag, is offensive for Koreans. Had Bella Poarch just post it, their
would not have been any problem. But she tagged the word Korea, along with the
words I Love Korea, with the tattoo of the rising sun. If you’re a Korean, how
would you feel seeing that? Knowing all the history behind the flag. I will
feel insulted if I am one.
But the excuse
was, she doesn’t know anything about the history of it, and apologized. And the
series of insults and counter insults began. And Cancel Korea was born. Asking
to boycott K-dramas, and kpop idols. As I have said early on, I wont give it up
for this shit.
Its not that I
am defending racism. Racism is evil, not just bad. But we Filipinos, are also
guilty of it. In fact all nations, are guilty of it. And our racism are much
worse. Just look, why many from Luzon, hates Duterte even if they have not
known him personally. Some of have even edited the picture of Duterte, paying
respects to the fallen of Jolo blast, making him look like eating dog food. Why
is that? Because of the mere fact, that Duterte is from Mindanao, a Bisaya, and
they that hate him, are Tagalogs.
So before we
called Cancel Korea, we must cancel racism first, in our own ranks. We cant
counter hate, with hate. It will just produce more hate. And Yoda said, hate
leads to suffering. If they are down at that level, we should up the level, not
go down with them. We should be the better person. If they are generalizing, we
should not. Share love instead of hate.
