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Why the Korean media hates us
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Axl Rose

Joined: 16 Feb 2006

Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 3:58 pm Post subject:

freethought wrote:

Seriously, 4 mega threads on evolution being false, multiple new threads on global warming being fake every day. I wouldn't want these crazies teaching my kids (mind you I would never send my kid to a hagwon... and I don't have any...).

I SOOOO can't be bothered reading all the long crappy responses in this thread, but I skimmed through and couldn't find this, so I'll say it......the only thing that needs to be said here is that it doesn't matter what teachers' stupid opinions on evolution, global warming are. It is their ability to teach English that matters in an English teaching and learning environment. So long as someone has a sufficient grasp of English and motivation for their job, they can support Hitler privately if they are so inclined and the view otherwise is political correctness gone totally insane and overdosed on its medication and died. Not a serious position.

flakfizer

Joined: 12 Nov 2004
Location: scaling the Cliffs of Insanity with a frayed rope.

Posted: Sun Feb 25, 2007 11:41 pm Post subject:

freethought wrote:

I really give up with you people.

Maybe you're right, maybe I'm not a thinker. The fact I have an IQ above 170, an MA, work history working for two prime ministers etc certainly doesn't indicate any thought whatsoever.

Personally, I would be more embarrassed to make a post like this than the types of posts the OP referred to. I also find the underlying spirit of it more disturbing. But it's really a sign of the times. Everything is being reduced to facts, statistics and all things quantifiable. Measurable knowledge is valued over Wisdom and facts over Truth. The "logic" here is scary: We can know whom we should listen to by how smart they are. We can know how smart people are by their IQ's and degrees. It's really just a kind of ad hominem, only in this case the "to the man" aspect is used to support rather than attack an idea. "His ideas must be right, just look at his IQ!" People who know their IQs, care about IQs, and boast about their IQs demonstrate that they know nothing whatsoever of wisdom. They realize this, and thus rely on the "impressive" numerical value of their intelligence to convince the naive that they speak from wisdom. The wise often do not know they are wise and the intelligent are known by their carefully chosen words and intelligently-lived lives.

nautilus

Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!

Posted: Mon Feb 26, 2007 2:53 am Post subject:

[quote="jhaelin"]

Quote:

there is a real disconnect between what the koreans want and what their government wants.

the years the US military was asked to "defend" korea by its undemocratically appointed leaders (i.e. 1950's-1990's) does not necessarily reflect the wishes of the general population.

i'm all for a referendum to let the people decide. I'd prefer it if the USFK did in fact leave anyway.
I also wish koreans would realise that US forces do not necesarilly represent a cross-section of western society, and that not all foreigners with short hair are soldiers, or american. I also wish many more koreans had the experience of living alone in a foreign country where they're not surrounded by other koreans. Oh well... Rolling Eyes

SPINOZA

Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul

Posted: Wed Feb 28, 2007 10:03 pm Post subject:

Satori wrote:

First up, behaviour on a message board is inherently NOT an indication of a person's behaviour in public. You are trying to draw a connection between two things that don't even exist on the same conceptual plane.

What the hell are you on about? What the hell is a "conceptual plane" exactly? Laughing

Someone who feels no shame in using a phrase as daft as that in such a context is obviously not schooled in analytic metaphysics. You were doing fine until you said that.

I think what you mean to say is "it's natural and inevitable that people behave differently when sounding off on a message board compared to real life, face-to-face situations" and your point can follow from that. There is no justification whatsoever for asserting an ontology of behaviour-statements and the existence of abstract entities like "conceptual planes".

caniff

Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Location: All over the map

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 5:31 pm Post subject:

SPINOZA wrote:

Satori wrote:

Someone who feels no shame in using a phrase as daft as that in such a context is obviously not schooled in analytic metaphysics.

You need to be schooled with a slap to the back of the head and relegated to a chair in the corner.

Xerxes

Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Location: Down a certain (rabbit) hole, apparently

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:01 am Post subject:

flakfizer wrote:

freethought wrote:

I laughed my ass off reading this. I don't think flakfizer had any intention for his/her post to be funny, but oh, man, did that beat any four-letter put down ever. I would post this in Quotable Quotes, but I don't think many would find it funny.

Satori

Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Location: Above it all

Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:39 am Post subject:

jhaelin wrote:

Quote:

there is variety, but that doesn't excuse the consistantly xenophobic tone of most publications.

i would like actual concrete examples of what you mean by xenophobic tone of publication.
please paste a link, just one, so i can see what you mean exactly.
this is not some challenge...i genuinely want to know what you mean.

btw - regarding how foreign teachers are always portrayed in a generalized and stereotypically negative fashion in korea,
i had a thought that i would like to share with you all.
i think i can put this issue into better perspective, particular for foreign teachers who are caucasian, and likely to come from a background where they were part of the majority(ethnically/culturally) in their community.

first, i agree it's a terrible and totally unfair thing to be profiled, especially ethnically, and particularly if it's in a negative way.
but i suspect for some of you this is the first and likely only place, where you have been able to experience this first hand from the perspective of the victim rather than as the unknowing perpetrator of racial profiling.

that's what this foreign teacher profiling in korea really is about. it's racial profiling. most of us are not asian and likely to be white and some black (p.s i apologize for any use of non-politically correct racial terms).

so what's my point?

although this issue is a negative one, we should not think that it proves korea to be exeptionally backward or racist.
becasue if we do, what does that say about our own cultures.
as a non-white american, i can tell you with authority and experience that racial profiling exists in america and continues to go on strong as ever.
for some of you white americans, please go have a nice conversation with any asian or black american you may know, and maybe for the first time some of you may be able to truly emphasize with the subtle daily injustices many americans feel everyday. i mean we're not even foreign workers, we're citizens for crying out loud!
so when i see on tv the dorky grocery/laundry owner who's good at math, terrible at driving, and speaks with horrible pronunciation, i get this not so good feeling, which i hope many of you can now more clearly understand.
similarly, another beating of a black suspect on cops is almost cliche now.
i won't even try to imagine what arab/muslim americans must be going through these days...

i'm sure, canada, england, australia, new zealand, also have their share of racial profiling.

so can we really hold korea to standards that we can't maintain ourselves?

this phenomenon must be fixed,
but how about we take back what we learn in our travels abroad,
and just make a little change in our own personal lives and perhaps in summation,
we can improve our own cultures, rather than worrying too much about korean culture.
because, as much as we want koreans to be more "global citizens",
we have issues of our own to fix, unless we want to be seen as "global hypocrites".

What you're trying to do here is the old cultural relativist shuffle, ie we're just as bad as they are but we don't realise it. This is incorrect. There is an element of xenophobia in every country, but not in equal proportion. Korea has significantly more than the USA. We can't measure what is in people's hearts, but we can measure what they allow into the public forum through media, and that's as good an indication as we're gonna get about the collective value system. The type of stuff that goes on in Korea media simply is not allowed in the US, it would be considered an outrageous breach of journalistic code and get people fired or cause public outcry.

You want specific examples, sorry I haven't lived in Korea for two years and no longer read the Korean English media. The two examples given by another poster were classic cases, but I read so many in my fives years and the tone was so consistant of that period that there was no question. The idea that Korea and the US are equally nationalistic and xenophobic is just untenable, no matter how appealing it may be to certain types of people. They are 50 years behind the west on these issues. This attitude is government sanctioned, promoted in the media, taught in the schools, expressed in the legal and immigration systems, and vividly apparant to any expat with thier eyes open. Not to say we are inherently morally superior to them, there are reasons why they are this way. But this is just the facts, just how it is. I don't see much good in trying to excuse it, explain it away, dilute it or deflect from, or otherwise dance around it with the old cultural relativist shuffle. They are good at other things that we are not good at, but on this issue we're way ahead of them.

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