<p>Ugghh…so I decided to just sleep with the damn thing on last night, and I got woken up by my roommate and he was ****ED that I didn’t listen to him. So I showed him the Wikipedia article and tried to explain how it’s a Korean superstition, but it just made things worse - now he thinks that I called all Korean people stupid/gullible! He then showed me some articles about deaths to prove he was right, but they weren’t in English so they were just gibberish to me.</p>
<p>I just can’t believe he’s still arguing about this! After all, I survived the whole damn night without any problems!</p>
<p>Maybe you can get a exception and be allowed an air conditioer :). </p>
<p>You will not convince him that he won’t die.To him it is a fact and you are nuts. After all, he has slept without a fan for 18 years and he is alive because of it What more proof does he need?</p>
<p>I have not read every post, sorry. But do you know the exact objection he has? Is it to any air moving, or just to the blades of a fan moving? Of just the blades, could you get one of the dyson fans without blades? </p>
<p>Not sure it cures the problem, but just a thought. </p>
<p>It would be interesting to know if it is the very nature of moving air that is the issue or the blades or even being in the vicinity of a fan at night. I vote for something logged with the RA, though, especially if roomie is going to jump to the prejudice angle right away. You shouldn’t have to go w/o fan or to extra expense of a high end fan to placate the crazies.</p>
<p>As for getting an air conditioner or a blade-less fan, my roommate might be OK with that, but I’d like to conserve money if possible.</p>
<p>@saintfan: Yeah, I decided to email the RA, hopefully there was something in his training about how to handle foreign students with crazy superstitions. He’ll probably know how to defuse this situation before it blows up in my face. I won’t see my roommate again until this evening, so hopefully the 3 of us can have a meeting then and hash it out.</p>
<p>I’m honestly pretty ticked off though - when in Rome, do as the Romans do. If he wanted to be afraid of fans killing him in his sleep, my roommate should have stayed in his own country.</p>
<p>I understand your frustration. However, he probably had no idea that Americans did not have this same fear. So he did not know to request a room where a fan or AC unit was not used. </p>
<p>Can you ask him what would make him feel better about using a fan? I read that it is OK if a window is open even in South Korea. So is there any way that he knows of that makes it safe to use a fan (like an open window)? What if a doctor, or other scientist type person helped him to understand that this is not a danger? </p>
<p>I know that it sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through, and not what you need. But maybe an understanding discussion with him will help him to see yu are not ignoring his concerns, but want to work with him. And you do respect his beliefs. </p>
<p>Of course a flat no from him is going to be hard to deal with.</p>
<p>Edit: sorry, did not read your post until after I finished this one. a meeting with your RA is a good idea. Maybe they can figure out a way to make both of you feel comfortable.</p>
<p>Who says he’s paying for electricity? I assumed he just didn’t want to buy a special fan. Honestly, a personal fan costs about $30 (or less). An AC waiver seems extreme; assuming there’s a reason the school is not allowing them in the first place why would they make an exception for this ridiculous and solvable problem? Buy yourself a little fan that only blows on you and be done with it!</p>
<p>Okay, so now I’ve read about “fan death” and see that a personal electric fan would not solve the problem. Oh, well. The RA will have to work his magic. You learn something new and frightening about human stupidity every day.</p>
<p>Having read up on this fan death idea, maybe the suggestion of window cracked while fan is running would work. It would demonstrate that you’re being sensitive even though the concern is pretty irrational. Maybe he will take it as an olive branch.</p>
<p>Many, many people in Europe also sincerely believe that a draft is harmful and can lead to disease, particularly pneumonia. My German tutor often asked me to close the windows in my apartment for this reason (despite the fact that there was no a/c). I closed them, and then opened them back up as soon as she left.</p>
<p>I am concerned that an attitude on the part of either the OP or the RA that the roommate’s sincerely-held belief (shared by millions of people) is stupid will make it harder to resolve the conflict. Ridicule never works.</p>
<p>I thought of one more idea. Can you find out if there is a professor on campus that is from Korea who may be able to 1) provide you with insight and education about fan death, and 2) possibly speak with your roommate about it? Maybe convince him it is not a problem? Make sure that is how the prof feels first- so that he does not reinforce the superstition. </p>
<p>This appears to be a black and white issue. One or the other room mate is going to be unhappy. No one should budge here.</p>
<p>Rooms can be stiffling hot and uncomfortable. No airflow can lead to stuffy air. Heaven forbid one of them gets sick and is coughing all their germs all over a hot stuffy room The constant heat might even mess with your computer. (?)</p>
<p>The roommate seriously fears for his life. Not changing this. He won’t be able to sleep for fear of death.</p>
<p>The guy needs a single or another roommate that will be happy with no fan.</p>
<p>OP - could you nicely point out that it’s called “Korean Fan Death” because it only happens (allegedly) in Korea? Would he believe that fans are totally different here?!</p>
<p>Ask him to explain exactly how people die of it. Maybe a joint discussion with a campus science professor
could help relieve his fears. For that, you’d need to contact the Prof in advance to warn Prof your roomie is deadly serious about this so there shouldn’t be any jokes made, just ‘real science’ discussion on it.</p>
<p>^ I do not agree with this post at all. It is virtually impossible to talk someone out of their fears … rational or not. You should be able to use a fan in your room … it a very reasonable request. Your roommate should not be forced to live with this fear if there is reasonable way to alleviate the situation.</p>
<p>OK, I got a response from my RA saying that he’s never heard of anything like this before, but he set up a meeting with myself, my roommate, and him so that we can figure out a solution this evening. Hopefully we can come to some sort of understanding.</p>
<p>As for getting a Korean/science professor to explain this to my roommate, that seems like overkill. You shouldn’t need a PhD to explain something that’s common sense. Anyway, I’ll keep it in mind in case it comes to that. My roommate is probably having trouble adjusting to life in America anyway, so having someone from his homeland explain that he’s wrong might help.</p>
<p>I don’t see why I should have to respect his “beliefs” though. This isn’t like a religious belief or something - it’s just stupid superstition, and it’s affecting my ability to sleep! I definitely see how antagonizing him won’t work though.</p>
<p>ABS, my thought about a professor was because this is someone in a country that he does not know/understand. I was hoping that a Korean professor may offer a connection to his country and beliefs, someone he may feel he can trust, and an authority figure. </p>
What more proof does he need?</p>