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Are Koreans racists? - Part II
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Apr 9, 2006 9:57 pm
1893 Views
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Lately, I have been having discussions with Koreans and Korean-Americans about our Korean heritage, especially related to our racist attitudes. Almost unanimously, when asked the question “Are Koreans racists?”, their reply was a “Yes. Absolutely.” Some even replied that Koreans are the most racist people on earth. Hmm.
The usual litany of reasons cited include the “hermit country’s” desire for “pure bloodlines”, its resistance to any foreign influence and thus the further inward aggregation of the peoples, and the “us” versus “everyone else is an enemy” mentality. I understand this as well as the closed-minded and narrow-minded nature of many Koreans. Even within Korea, there is strife between the Chollado vs. Kyungsangdo people. I know this all too well.
When I thought about the racism against Caucasians, however, I could not think of any situation where it would negatively impact Caucasians. In fact, there were countless times when I cringed because a Caucasian acquaintance or friend was being given unduly favorable treatment over other Koreans ‒ above and beyond good Korean hospitality.
What I did not know was that Koreans treated people from third world countries or dark skinned people very poorly, some of my discussion group members said Koreans treat them like “animals.”
If anyone reading this blog is a Caucasian (other than Indian) and you feel you have encountered negative racist attitudes in Korea, I would be most interested to hear your personal anecdotes. Although it pains me a great deal, if you are a third-world person, and you have been subject to discrimination in Korea, I would like to hear your personal anecdotes as well.
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Races What could have been?
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Apr 3, 2006 9:15 pm
2063 Views
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I wonder sometimes whether this color preference thing is genetic. As it stands right now, it seems to me that fair skinned European type folks can wear anything they want and they look good. They don’t have to resort to the expensive designer this or designer that. This goes for guys and gals.
If you put those same clothing on an Asian man or woman, the effect is not the same. They do not flatter Asians. Asians must choose their own style ‒ which often entails wearing designer this or designer that, which the Koreans have discovered and are in the full throes of designer mania. And I must confess, I wear Armani, Banana Republic, Brooks Brother, and certain pants I got in France. I simply cannot wear your Walmart or LandsEnd type clothing anymore. It just does not flatter me at all.
I think the consensus in this world is that as of this moment, Western technology and Western culture prevails and has prevailed for quite a long time. Some will take great exception to this and point to the proud history of China, India, Africa, even Korea, and so forth. Not to diminish these cultures at all - but I think we agree that Western thought is the greatest influence and has been for awhile.
Given this, is our perception of beauty and proportion colored by the dominating culture such that the tastes and aesthetics are dictated by them and therefore, our sensibilities are affected by it? White people say such and such is beautiful, therefore this must be the standard for beauty. And we have succumbed to the brainwashing?
Supposing that Africans are the purveyors of the political, financial, educational, cultural influence. In other words, if African influence replaced Western influence of today, would the a Korean person consideration of what is beautiful or flattering to him or her change? Would color coordination take on a new sensibility and what of the standard in design?
Or, would our basic ideal of beauty and a sense of what flatters me or does not remain the same, as if genetically imprinted regardless of who is in power?
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Are Koreans really racists?
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Apr 3, 2006 5:46 pm
1926 Views
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Are Koreans racists? Are they more racist than other cultures? Is there such a thing as harmless racism? Recently, someone on the blogs commented that Koreans are the most racist people on the face of this earth or something to this effect. I agreed with the statement that in some ways, Koreans can be very racist. After all, they have lived in this one corner of the world and have over the years strongly resisted foreign influence. Resisting foreign influence by inference is racism. This tradition of protecting ourselves and our family from harm and our women from capture by foreigners (comfort women?) is I think a subtle foundation that lies in the unconsciousness of many Koreans today.
Am I a racist? I don’t know if I am, actually. The borders of my psyche are not open to all individuals of all races, creed and color. In my office, no doubt I would I hire a black person over a Korean person if I thought she would help my bottom line and make the office run more smoothly and thereby make my life more pleasant. That’s easy. Money is always at the core of questions such as racism. If it helps my bottom line, then all of a sudden I love my black brother. However, would I willingly hang out with them? I would but only if they make me feel comfortable and accept me, which is not always easy, the uneasiness goes both ways.
There is a natural tendency for Koreans in Korea (especially among adults) to call people ethnic slurs. I have been in America a long time, so I am not as in touch with contemporary Korea as I would like, but in my early days in Korea, I remember some people mostly kids really hounding some Chinese people as “ddae nom”, which translated means “dirty person”. I used to join in, just playing, had no idea what I was doing. And people used to refer to them black people as “ggum doong ee”, which means “blackie”. I heard my own father call blacks “ggum doong ee”, even though we never had any negative interaction with blacks.
Koreans generally have an aversion to black people. This is strange because in some ways, we are much more like the black people in temperament ‒ warm and highly spirited. Koreans are less like Americans in that Americans are too logical (if there can be such a thing) and cold, clinical and individualistic (dutch pay ‒ an unheard of concept in Korea, which young people now practice more and more). There is a brotherhood among Koreans. Koreans are very spiritual people. Blacks would understand.
Koreans may have racist views of half Korean children, especially where the other half is black. But I think that the reason for the animosity may have more to do with the circumstances which led to the mixed marriage. If, for instance, the Korean person had married a black or white person who was in an upper echelon of society, I think there would tend to be less racism and actual acceptance and some pride ‒ favorite son done good. If on the other hand, if the Korean person married a person in the lower echelon of society, then people wonder how that happened and automatically assume that whoring was involved. Or, if they understood the individual story more fully, and they actually met the parents and saw that the father was actually a caring gentleman and is serious-minded and respectful of them and the Korean culture, then their racist opinion melts and is replaced with acceptance.
But the big point I want to make is that Koreans in general are gentle people, soft-hearted, easily forgiving and easily forgetting. They value life deeply. Even though they make slurs and appear to be racist because of the slurs, if you take each person individually, they will attempt to accommodate you. They will feed you. Because they have been kicked at and maligned by enemies across borders for so many years, they tend to be protective, which involves name-calling others who are different, but on the other hand, because they have been oppressed for so long, they feel others’ pain acutely and therefore, the cancerous type of racism, such as institutional racism, eugenics, or lynching would be unthinkable to a Korean, I believe.
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Brain trauma
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Apr 2, 2006 11:50 pm
1777 Views
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A month ago, my usually healthy mother in law was struck with burst aneurysm in the brain. Blood in the brain. Not good. She was in the intensive care unit for 3 weeks. Last week she was moved to a regular patient room. She is still in out of consciousness. I went to visit her last Friday, and laying in the next room is my friend Roger. I am shocked! What are you doing here, Roger? Well, I was having coffee yesterday morning, and I got this sudden unbearable pain and I vomited and passed out ‒ (this is exactly what happened to my mother-in-law). They did CAT scan, they saw some blood and checked me in.
Fortunately, he was discharged today with a clean bill of health. But, it is still unclear what caused the sudden headache, vomiting and passing out. Yesterday, I was at Taco Bell waiting for my order. And I hear a sickening thud of a skull hitting a solid object. I look over and a teenager boy is passed out on the floor, his head jerking and arms slightly flailing. Must have been a seizure. I just felt such an overwhelmingly powerful sense of foreboding and compassion for that boy. We helped him up and walked him outside where his unwitting father was waiting in his car. I hoped for all the world that he would alright.
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Speaking of design
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Apr 2, 2006 9:00 am
1738 Views
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Speaking of designs, I have long thought that Korean sensibilities are not in tune with American tastes. I hesitate to use Western tastes because American tastes do not represent European tastes. It is interesting that Koreans have somehow taken on the cultures of both European and American and meshing them. But, Koreans have presented some tacky design choices and design insensitivity.
Some of my pet peeves regarding tacky things:
Korean made dress socks. Why do they have these designer marks on the side of the foot? I much prefer just a straight black sock, not a sock with a symbol marked right at foot level. It looks strange.
Many Koreans don’t take the UPS mark or the price sticker off the merchandise that they buy and use.
Koreans love commemorative stuff. So, if you go to any Korean person’s homes, you see towels that have some kind of a business or church lettering on them, or a clock that advertises some insurance agency on the clock face. Tacky.
Korean buildings and signs. Need I say more? Buildings with signs covering the windows. Hugh uncoordinated signs ‒ one brighter and gaudier than the next. At night, they light up and look shiny and there is excitement. But, alas, just like Las Vegas, when it is morning, the empty neon lights looks tired, the buildings look drab. The people look hung over, and the expectation of the night is palpable. Is this the way a city should be?
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Koreans and quality workmanship
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Mar 30, 2006 11:26 pm
2003 Views
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It is late. I am mellowing as the translucence of the Beethoven piano sonatas especially the “Moonlight” and “Pathetique”, my favorites waft through and soothe my body. I am gradually transported to a place where there is no pain, no worries and no obligations. The world seems like a better place to be in.
Today was a blur. Having had no sleep due to a deadline, I finished it on time, and slugged myself over to Lowe’s to pick out some lighting for my office. I wanted to pick out my own lighting because last Saturday, we had a contractor come in to install ceiling lighting fixtures, but he did not do the job to meet our satisfaction. He insisted that no one would notice all the unsightly wires on the ceiling and the less than aesthetically pleasing design of the light fixtures. We had chosen a model name of the lighting fixture, read it to him over the phone, which he was to buy for us and install. He picked out the wrong one and without asking, installed it. When we complained, he told us that it looked just as good as our originally intended lighting design and we should be happy with it, and presented me with a bill for $1,000.
I did not like the fact that this guy was trying to smooth mouth this mistake. He did not try to fix the problem or listen to our concerns. He just wanted to get the money and get out of there. I only gave him $600. Told him the rest of the money will be given to him after the correct lighting has been installed. So, this is why I was sleep walking through Lowe’s. I did not trust him anymore to do anything right. I was going to buy the lighting myself and personally hand it to him.
The contractor was a Korean. My experience with buildings and contracting and so forth is that this area is generally filled with incompetence. If someone steps up and does a professional job at reasonable prices, he would be in high demand. In my case, the quality was clearly what I was after. But the contractor seemed to focus only on trying to do this on the cheap, and he got something so fundamentally wrong. He could have asked me to confirm that this is the lighting I wanted. He just did whatever he felt like doing.
Is this the Korean mentality? In America, generally contractors are overly cautious because they don’t want to get in trouble, so they ask before they do anything ‒ “Is this the color you wanted?” “Do you want this furniture where?’ especially where design and aesthetics are at issue. But in Los Angeles, which is not America by the way, the Korean businesspeople don’t seem to care about customer satisfaction at all. Reasonable customer satisfaction for cheap, seems to be the rule here and I feel like a second class citizen living within a second class culture. The quality of workmanship of a group of people is a window into a segment of that culture. Clearly, Koreans lack some of the finishing touches, are rough on the edges - decent function and to hell with design at a lower price. I just wish Koreans would be more quality conscious. Koreans could learn a few things from the Japanese in this area.
Koreans and design is going to be the subject of another blog. Just for my notes: socks, home decoration, towels, price sticker, Korean buildings and signs.
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Another pondering.
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Mar 30, 2006 12:38 am
1643 Views
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Does anyone know of any website other than KFF where Korean American professionals can gather - not necessarily for dating but for making friends and networking? I find that Korean-Americans are just the toughest bunch of people in unifying. Korean-Americans like the idea of networking and solidarity and talk about it alot, but they fail each and every time to take the initiative and to continuously nurture it. I am a prime example of such a sluggard. Is this a uniquely Korean trait? Why are we not unifying? Why are we depriving ourselves of a political voice? Who taught us to be this passive about living? I hate myself for it.
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Late night ponderings
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Mar 30, 2006 12:14 am
1671 Views
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It is late. I am in the office, purportedly to finish this project, which is due tomorrow. But I sit here, pondering the details of today. A business trip to San Diego to see a client, discussions with a potential business partner. Had a lot of time to reflect during the 4 hour drive.
I was at a RiteAid drug store today to pick up medicine. I saw a dilapidated old Korean couple -he in dirtied white jacket, and she seeming to be ill. The slight man goes to the counter to pick up medicine or to ask a question. She is sitting down at a bench. He goes up to the counter and attempts to communicate using his hands and feet, all the while with this faky, goofy smile, the I-just-got-off the boat smile, partly Uncle Tom-like behaviour. It fairly nauseated me to see it. This person has no self-respect, acting like a fool? I don't see any other ethnic group that would act this goofy, bowing, and so forth to a clerk at RiteAid, for heaven's sake! (Not that RiteAid clerks don't deserve respect - but certainly, the consensus would be that it is not in the highest echelon of the most celebrated occupations.) He then goes off to sit by his wife after many bows and self-deprecating smiles to the clerk, and his demeanor changes 180 degrees, the goofy smile is now gone, and he treats his woman harshly like a servant woman.
I tell ya'. I hated to see it. And I felt embarassed for him and myself.
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Inaugural blog
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Mar 27, 2006 11:33 pm
1550 Views
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I cannot believe it. I am blogging. I am sure the excitement will wear out soon. Soon enough. Ah, get this over with. Off to the next blog. This is easier than I thought.
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