Korea's Race Suicide
These stories bode ill for Korea's already abyssmal birthrate:One of the most entertaining group presentations I've ever heard from my Korean university students was one they themselves entitled "Pandas - The Lazy Bastards." The group said that they had originally chosen the topic of panda conservation for the persuassive speech I had assigned, but upon further research, they came to the conclusion that pandas were not worthy of human conservation efforts, as the animals showed almost no interest in reproduction.
Korea is, of course, not alone in sharing this pathetic trait in common with pandas. Japan and every nation of Europe save Muslim Albania has a birthrate below replacement level. [Yes, I read Patrick J. Buchanan's The Death of the West.] The United States continues to grow solely due to immigration, one of the issues on which I part company with PJB.
The situation is dire even among Korean Catholics, who should know better. I cannot think of one family at my parish with more than two children. Middle-aged women at church have even commented that my wife and I had our two kids too close together (20 months). I say this not to be judgmental, because there are valid reasons to space or even limit a family's number of children, using Natural Family Planning methods, of course. Still, one would expect a wealthy parish like mine to have at least some families with three or four kids. Child-rearing is expensive in Korea due to the excessively competitive education market, but one would expect more Catholics to reject such non-Catholic social competitiveness.
These stories bode ill for Korea's already abyssmal birthrate:One of the most entertaining group presentations I've ever heard from my Korean university students was one they themselves entitled "Pandas - The Lazy Bastards." The group said that they had originally chosen the topic of panda conservation for the persuassive speech I had assigned, but upon further research, they came to the conclusion that pandas were not worthy of human conservation efforts, as the animals showed almost no interest in reproduction.
Korea is, of course, not alone in sharing this pathetic trait in common with pandas. Japan and every nation of Europe save Muslim Albania has a birthrate below replacement level. [Yes, I read Patrick J. Buchanan's The Death of the West.] The United States continues to grow solely due to immigration, one of the issues on which I part company with PJB.
The situation is dire even among Korean Catholics, who should know better. I cannot think of one family at my parish with more than two children. Middle-aged women at church have even commented that my wife and I had our two kids too close together (20 months). I say this not to be judgmental, because there are valid reasons to space or even limit a family's number of children, using Natural Family Planning methods, of course. Still, one would expect a wealthy parish like mine to have at least some families with three or four kids. Child-rearing is expensive in Korea due to the excessively competitive education market, but one would expect more Catholics to reject such non-Catholic social competitiveness.
Redeemed by Our Savior, I work out my salvation with fear and trembling in Pohang, South Korea, where I live with my wife, daughter, and son and teach English at a science and technology university. Baptized a Methodist and raised a Missouri Synod Lutheran in Buffalo, NY, I spent six years as a guest of the Anglican Communion before being received by the Grace of God into the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church on the Feast of Saint Andrew, my patron, anno domini 2002.
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