Korean Job Discussion Forums

[pelican]

I've travelled around East Asia, Europe and North Africa quite a bit over the past ten years, and, I'd have to say, without question, that it's the people from England, specifically, White people from England, who are the most unpleasant people to be around......any ideas on this? I do not mean this in an ethnic sense: i've known tons of white people of English stock from Canada, the U.S., Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand and would say that generally, like most people anywhere, they're fine....but what is it about English culture/manners (or lack of same)/behaviour/history which makes English people so unpleasant to be around? I've also known a number of non-white people from England, and they're pretty cool generally i'd say; but then, why are so many Whites of England such a drag?

[PeteJB]

Where are you from then?

[Kuros]

English, on average, have a different sense of humor. They are acerbic, sarcastic, and can be extremely mischeivous. I am an American with thick skin, so I find educated English quite fascinating. They can be really in-your-face when it comes to the whole politics-religion thing, which many Americans find off-putting.

I'm guessing the OP is from North America.

[sojourner1]

You mean where they act so egotistical and superior to all others with a high and mighty energized overly proud mindset? Maybe this can get annoying if you don't feel the same way. I haven't known any English people in Korea, but did in America and Europe. I don't know why more don't come teach English in Korea as they're saying the job market stinks in England these days.

I like how they seem to have a free and open mind with no constraints, but you're not going to be close friends with them. Ian Wright on Globe trekker is fine example of an English man. Cool dude, but I couldn't ever be friends or fit in with these people as I'm not English. I thought the Europeans were really well cultured and a very cool bunch, but there was a time when Europe was a police state and they were not so outgoing.

[bassexpander]

The only English person I've gotten to know well in Korea was a woman who slept with almost everything that moved (I didn't bite, although the opportunity would certainly have been there). She used to tell us about sleeping with Korean guys, and feeling so disappointed that she didn't enjoy it because they felt such a need to "perform" for the white girl. At least, that's how she put it.

She was sort of a hoot to be around, although she had a tendency to wig out when she didn't get her medicine from the Int'l clinic. No joke.

[shantaram]

I met an English guy in Switzerland who asked me if all Australians (I have an Australian accent) were racists. He then mocked me for wanting to watch a Bollywood movie on my partner's lap-top, saying that was like 'sympathising with blacks' (right in front of my partner, who is Indian-born). He then said in a loud stage-whisper that he couldn't stand German people (so everyone could hear). He then expressed surprise when two Brazilian girls who were chatting with us said out of all the people they'd met on their trip, there was only one guy they didn't like, and he'd come from England (maybe they meant him). He was totally shocked by the idea, and couldn't come to terms with it- he just sat there saying 'From England? Are you sure?' It made me want to take England off my travel itinerary. But then after going to England I just realised this guy was making a strong case for the virtues of abortion and that the rest of England by and large isn't like that.

[pelican]

You mean where they act so egotistical and superior to all others with a high and mighty energized overly proud mindset? Maybe this can get annoying if you don't feel the same way. I haven't known any English people in Korea, but did in America and Europe. I don't know why more don't come teach English in Korea as they're saying the job market stinks in England these days.

I like how they seem to have a free and open mind with no constraints, but you're not going to be close friends with them. Ian Wright on Globe trekker is fine example of an English man. Cool dude, but I couldn't ever be friends or fit in with these people as I'm not English. I thought the Europeans were really well cultured and a very cool bunch, but there was a time when Europe was a police state and they were not so outgoing.


Kuros Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:50 pm Post subject:

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English, on average, have a different sense of humor. They are acerbic, sarcastic, and can be extremely mischeivous. I am an American with thick skin, so I find educated English quite fascinating. They can be really in-your-face when it comes to the whole politics-religion thing, which many Americans find off-putting.

I'm guessing the OP is from North America.


PeteJB Posted: Sun Aug 03, 2008 5:39 pm Post subject:

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Where are you from then?


Canada.

It�s the lack of manners, most likely, which makes me avoid them: when in public spaces, it doesn�t matter which continent it seems, so many talk so loudly, boorishly, and they tend to bicker (once again, very loudly) usually about the most inconsequential tripe�..so much overt or underlying anger as well. And I rarely or never am able to detect any sense of self-deprecation in it all�.rather, an endlessly competitive series of one-up-man-ship�� and always judging this and that and everything....a stunning lack of public grace and modesty, I find, especially when one considers the many fine writers and musicians etc. who have come from England down through the ages. Perhaps, in their public boorishness and viciousness towards each other, we are witnessing the slow decline of a once great civilization�..after all, as George Eliot, a superb White English writer (in my estimation), once observed, and I paraphrase: domination itself is a form of subjection.

[bejarano-korea]

[Stevie_B]

I think it's because English people generally have quite a sophisticated sense of irony, and this confuses simpled-minded North Americans.

[Captain Corea]

[pelican]

thanks for that, shantaram, i've been on the receiving end of it, and i've also seen English people doing it to each other....in many other cultures (including many Canadian cultures), if you talk that way to other people, they just want to be away from you, or you have a physical fight on your hands....Also, in my experience, white English people are really bad for mocking other people's cultures....one would think that any awareness of all the damage they've caused in the world would shame more of them into a healthier modesty, even a willingless to try and learn from other cultures, but i've seen little first-hand evidence of that....I have hung out with a few English people while abroad, and I want to avoid that now, because i too easily get drawn into that empirialist/Western response of, "we're the best, fxxx the rest" And of course it's not only English people who are like this, but i've known many Americans, Canadians, Australians, Irish who seem to have a healthier awareness that there are other cultures and traditions out there, each with a lot of inherent value....I haven't met a single White from England, however, who seems to have that sort of healthier awareness; rather, it's way too often the endless putdowns of other peoples and cultures.
Thanks for sharing, bejarano-korea, i guess i don't have an understanding of English self-deprecation; I know what you're saying about Itaewon.....what an interesting place it is!! A few years ago I recall talking with this English guy from the north of England; i was telling him a little about the history of the Reservation System (the method by which the English and later, the Canadians settled the First Nation Peoples) in Canada. It's a profoundly sad and also heroic story by the way, and it is still with us today...most everybody agrees, First Nations and non-First Nations people, that radical changes must be made, but it's such a difficult problem to rectify. Positive things are happening, on a community by community and Nation by Nation basis, but it's a long long road....Anyways, i was telling him about this, and he claimed that my description of the Reservation system in Canada reminded him of his experiences in northern England, where, according to him, whole communities of impoverished, chronically unemployed English people live on very poor and unattractive areas of land..... quite a while back, I also read an excellent book, The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi, in which the author describes the experiences of the English populace during the rapid industrialisation process of the nineteenth century....what a time of social dislocation that would have been.

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

[jiyull]

bollocks

[tiger fancini]

[pelican]

Captain Corea, you are quite right, that calling out a group of people based on race and nationality is indeed rude. And i have been a little rude, a tad sloppy, and perhaps even a mite racist. I have seen your postings on racism on another thread, and i agree with many perhaps most of your points, but let's stick to the thread title: "Why are so many Whites from England so unpleasant to be around?".............this has been my experience; i do apologize if i have hurt or offended anybody here.....I do believe however that the vast majority of English Whites who have seen this thread will suffer no ill consequences; and i find that already there has been much fruitful discussion on this thread......so, i would say, "mission accomplished, Captain!"