‘Thinking More About the We Than the Me’

If winter comes, can spring be far behind?

One of the first things I tell people when they ask what living in Seoul is like is how . . . Korean it is. Although of similar size to my last two addresses, London and New York, it is far less diverse. Cursory research suggests Seoul’s non-native population is (much) less than 10 percent, whereas the percentage in the other two cities is pushing 40.

I consider diversity a strength, but there are advantages to living somewhere that is less so. (To be very clear, there are also disadvantages.) East Asia is famously safe and clean, which I think owes to the fact that an overwhelming majority of people here approach life with a shared understanding, i.e. it is a “high-context” society, a term I have recently learned.

As someone who writes headlines for a living, I appreciated how succinctly that sentiment was captured in a recent episode of the Korean. American. podcast, which I’ve listened to since moving to Seoul a little more than two years ago. The guest was also an American transplant to Korea, if much more recently, who described the difference between Korea and the U.S.:

“I think that there is something good to be said for thinking of people outside of yourself, for thinking more about the we than the me . . . My country . . . there’s such a lack of grace or understanding. And I think a lot of it comes because people are like, I'm right, or this is my thought and my opinion, without thinking about how even just you sharing that affects other people in your circle that you claim to love.”

A Defense of Woke

Tyler Cowen: Some commentators have suggested that the current woke movement, say from the progressive left, that it’s intellectually and ideologically an outgrowth of an earlier American Protestantism, that it has roots, in a sense, in the 17th century. Do you agree with that? . . .

Marilynn Robinson: Having lived among the American Protestants for 80 years, I would not necessarily say that that is a phenomenon that is in any way especially peculiar to us. Insofar as any social movement wishes to alleviate injustice, unhappiness, pointless cruelty — the way so many discriminations do — insofar as the point is to reduce that kind of criminal misery, really, I’m perfectly happy to adopt it as a Protestant and say, “Yes, we did that.” But I think, in fact, it is just the generous evolution of a democratic society.

Read the full transcript. Cowen’s podcast, “Conversations With Tyler,” is one of my favorites.

Podcast listening

I’ve recently returned from a week of vacation in the U.S., which involved 10 hours of free time on a roundtrip trans-Atlantic flight. I won’t say I “caught up” on podcasts, but I made a very small dent in my backlog. My current rotation, which, as ever, features a heavy dose of tech, self-improvement and pop culture:

• Art of Manliness: A goofy title but some useful advice. Specifically, I recommend this episode about decluttering your digital life.

• Automators: As someone who spends a fair amount of time at a computer, I’m interested in off-loading repetitive tasks to the machine. Nevertheless, I’m a novice, and this podcast offers a good introduction with practical tips.

• Conversations With Tyler: I’ve been a fan of Tyler Cowen’s since discovering his guide to ethnic restaurants in the D.C. area years ago. He’s an economist with wide-ranging interests whose interviews with similarly smart people rarely disappoint.

• The Ezra Klein Show: Another podcast in the category of “smart people discuss the things they know about.” I’ve admired Ezra since his time at the Washington Post, where we overlapped but didn’t meet.

• The Incomparable: I’m a nerd/geek who enjoys pop culture, and this is a podcast by nerds/geeks who enjoy pop culture.

• Literary Friction: Book talk and recommendations. Good for getting me out of my comfort zone and introducing me to the unfamiliar.

• Reply All: The popular celebration of all that’s wacky, weird and wonderful on the internet, with a human heart.