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Surprised we don't already have a thread about this.

http://theweek.com/article/index/237538/controversy-gangnam-style-singer-psysnbspanti-american-past

So much for that video reaching 1 billion views by the 21st…

From what I've gathered, it seems to be yet another dumb distraction from the past being used as politcal fuel. And after checking on other areas, the majority of the people simply don't care about the incident (whether or not they like Gangnam Style is a different question).

Also, I should remind you that the incidents took place at a time where the majority of the world despised the U.S. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people were making similar statements like this.

Everyone hates the US, even the US.

@Tardises
Well, the viewcount isn't going DOWN…

So if I'm getting this right, PSY performed a song originally from another group that dissed American soldiers because of a very "feelsy" tragedy in Korea eight years ago.

Opinions ahead.

>Foreign Policy 2004
>2012

Foreign relations are tricky. PSY is not American, and should not be hated for bashing Americans when things get messy. Maybe the lyrics were over-the-top, but HE DIDN'T WRITE THEM. He could commiserate with the writers, but I think his apology is fair and honest. I regret things I said eight years ago.

I read the article, and I must say: why should anyone be mad at him for that?

"[…]reportedly smashing a miniature "American tank" to condemn the death of two Korean school girls run over by U.S. forces."

I'm Canadian, and I'd be pissed if an American tank ran over a few school kids. Seriously, any country's tank, really. So to wrap it up, in my opinion PSY did not do anything wrong, because it's entirely okay to protest against a military that is intruding one's country, especially if they are responsible for the death of innocents.

EDIT: Also, the lyrics involving "killing Yankees" are referring to the individuals who tortured and killed people, not America or the US Army as a whole.

Actually, people tend to forget a big part of what happened. Psy and some American soldiers I think were driving (while drunk), and the soldiers ran over some girls, but since the law stated that the soldiers couldn't be punished at the time, they just drove away.

Can you provide a link to that story please?

Yeah, I was going to make a thread on this about 6 hours ago, but didn't bother.

I remember when the accident happened. There was a huge burst of anger against the US even before the soldiers were acquitted. There was talk of Seoul kicking US forces out of the country in retaliation, and polls showed that South Koreans had a higher opinion of North Korea than of the US. Psy's anti-American rapping was in line with general public opinion of the time. He's not doing it now and he apologised, so I consider it a non-issue.

Someone asked for links, so here you go:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangju_highway_incident
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-12-05-skorea-protests_x.htm
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2010/10/201_26181.html

Truth.

Another interesting bit…

Most of the people who are forcing this propaganda seem to be the same people responsible for shoving the Benghazi "cover-up" bullshit down my throat. My advice, disregard them and ignore them.

@Mapines

Your karma is warranted. During 2002-2004 the US had absolutely no friends indeed. The Iraq war gave every citizen on earth the exact same attitude that PSY had.

But very little of the international community still carries such extreme grievances (Kicking Bush out of the office helped a lot). Chances are PSY is among those who stopped caring.

If he still held those views, would he have been so receptive of the US's acceptance of his music?

To those trying to flag PSY; I say just put the past in the past (8 years in the past to be precise), move on and allow PSY to embrace his newfound western appreciation. He's obviously not a terrorist.

Another reason I stay out of politics. It's just an endless shitfest of people trying to get what they want by messing with others whilst the others mess with the people messing with them in an attempt to get what they want.
Seriously, this happened over a decade ago, why the fuck are we fighting over it? I say just ignore them. :/