Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ruffie]

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=72929

What a load of crap. Canadian taxpayer's money is being spent to investigate "subtle", "hard to pin down" forms of racism against Koreans?
How's pointing, staring, open insults to your face and TV specials demonizing an entire group for subtle?
I'm so disgusted with Canada tonight.
Anyway, let's discuss.

[merkurix]

It's interesting to observe that there are medical studies being conducted out there, but from a sociological point of view, there is a relatively old but still unheard of concept called white privilege, where there are certain hidden privileges and social and cultural cues white people are oblivious to while in contrast non-white folks are painfully aware of and cannot enjoy. If you can read the full article by Peggy McIntosh, it is a great read on the topic.

[storysinger81]

Good article by McIntosh. Since my sister is an adopted African-American, I have been interested in these issues as long as I can remember.

It is interesting how many of these items I have been made aware of by living in an affluent area that is over 80% African-American (thus the power structure is actually comprised of majority African-Americans, unlike a lot of minority-majority areas that remain dominated by the white minority). However, I can still easily drive to an area (a county over) where "white privileged" applies.

Some of my white colleagues have trouble adjusting to losing the inherent sense of privileged and power. Often, they have given it no real thought or reflection, just "resent" the loss without realizing what they are upset about. Mostly, I have found it a curious experience. My students help me adjust a lot. It's funny--after a couple unfortunate, very awkward-feeling run-ins, I now ask hairdressers if they can handle "white hair," which makes most of them look at me like I'm insane. The bias is frightening when you think about it a lot.

Now, I'm not over there yet, but given what I've seen in my colleagues here, maybe some of the anger/resentment that whites experience in Korea comes from the reversal of privileged to which they have become accustomed. It's hard to "give up" things that we grow up believing we are entitled to, especially if we have always considered ourselves sensitive and unbiased. Not that it excuses Korean racism, but perhaps it would be wise to question ourselves and our sense of entitlement before dismissing Koreans as hopelessly backwards on the racial sensitivity issue.

[ruffie]

White privilege or white anything certainly hasn't held back the author of this research, Korean immigrant Samuel Noh, professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto. I wonder why he chose his own ethnic group (one famously xenophobic and paranoid in its own right) as the sample population when he could have chosen from any one of the many ethnic groups residing in Toronto - often #2 on lists of the world's most multicultural cities.

If we are to talk sociology, then let's consider spurious relationships and lurking variables. Koreans are the last group I would consider for such research.

Let's ask a group that, as a rule, doesn't like to associate outside of their ethnic group how it feels about the perception of being excluded.


I know what you're saying, but given my experience in Korea(super huge variable), I have little sympathy for a Korean in Toronto who didn't get asked out for drinks after work. He/she can still rise to the top (as Samuel Noh has done), get elected to city council , as Koreans in Toronto and other Canadian cities have already done, and his kid may very well be Prime Minister someday.
When I see a turban in the Korean National assembly, as I have seen in Canada's parliament, I'll worry about the effects of white privilege on Korean immigrants in Canada.

[swetepete]

No doubt there are real, negative effects from subtle racism against groups like Dr. Noh's in Canada, but it seems a little self-obsessed and frivolous to spend taxpayers' money on researching it when there are so many concrete and at-the-very-least-equally-heavy social issues with which we must yet deal.
How many Korean-Canadians are in Canadian jails? How many Korean-Canadians are born with FAS? How many (hereafter referred to as KCs) are huffing gas, selling ass, and totally hated by the people in their town?
Less, I think we'd all agree, than certain other more visible Canadian ethnicities.
Dunno how much govt. money will help any of these various shat on groups tho...in a sense, that government money might well be the root of the problem in and of itself.
Government money--a possibly carcinogenic bandaid slapped hap-dash on a rotting cancer?
Let's discuss.

[Ozabout7or8]

You'll find that on average poor people are less healthy than their rich counterparts. In the same vein, people who are discriminated against for any reasons could also be seen as at a higher risk for health problems, when such discrimination takes the form of racist denial of priviledge.

Money would be better spend reducing poverty and they would have far better return on their money than focussing on issues of race or ethnicity.

That is not to say that specific programmes and studies that target genetic or cultural factors that influence health are not warranted, they are, but first things first.

The damaging effects of relative poverty, even lower middle-class poverty, on health is enormous.

[Adventurer]

[jajdude]

Quote: "Let's ask a group that, as a rule, doesn't like to associate outside of their ethnic group how it feels about the perception of being excluded."

I guess that's it right there. Whatever people feel, perceive, or think, that is their own very personal reality. It's hard to change the way you experience things, it has become an old habit, like the same thoughts you have over and over, the same way you act and feel day after day. It's different for everyone. I don't imagine it is so easy for most people to live in a foreign country. A lot of us focus on the negative too much. I'm not sure of the wisdom of comparing the way one person experiences, to another.