Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kwangjuchicken]

[Kwangjuchicken]

[Kwangjuchicken]

[friendoken]

By no means do I consider myself a racist. After all, I left my democratic, capitalistic, anglophone, lili white Judeo Christian world and relocated to a brown Buddhist quasi communist single party state and completely integrated myself into the culture with no plans to ever return from whence I came. I am a minority of precisely one, in the village I live in.

Having said that, I do have certain prejudices. I believe, if we are at all truthful to ourselves, we all have them.

[Koveras]

^In that online test about 'automatic preference' it turned out I have a strong preference for whites over blacks.

[alphakennyone]

Your Result
Your data suggest a slight automatic preference for African American compared to European American.

[phoneboothface]

[friendoken]

[shostahoosier]

Regarding that school teacher's article on black students....I'd say his "observations" were drenched in biased and prejudice.

I spent some time at a predominantly black school and the kids were fine...no one spoke like that, no one acted like that..things were pretty "normal" by US standards.

I have friends who teach all over the US and I have heard stories equally as bad involving white and hispanic students (in addition to black students).

I'm sure everyone's heard a story from someone...

I take what I hear as anecdotal rather than use it as evidence to support painting people with one broad brushstroke.


I agree with the original poster that Stormfront is fascinating....like watching a train about to wreck.

I cant believe some of the things that are said on that site (and Ive only spent about 5 minutes on it).

Sadly I notice some similarities to Daves...

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

About the teacher in the 'black' schools:

Even though his article was actually quite fascinating and provided a lot of insight into how a teacher, who is charged with the responsibility of teaching some extremely disadvantaged kids, can find himself so frustrated that he resorts to racist lines of thought.

It's obvious even from what he wrote that these kids were very disadvantaged... socially and economically... and they also seemed to have succumbed to a really sad cycle of self-defeating behavior. It was actually painful to read-- and I can't say for sure what my own reaction would have been if I had been the teacher. I believe I would have tried to communicate with them better... instead of trying to force them to learn what they were 'supposed' to... I would have tried to understand why they thought everything was so 'racist'... but then, I suppose that's easy for me to say, not having been placed in the situation.

I suppose such an experience could easily harden one's preconceptions, or even create new preconceptions of race. But anyone with a brain in their heads would eventually be able to heal their psychic and emotional wounds, evade notions of this being a racial problem, and accept that it has everything to do with some very nasty social problems that have been going on for decades within these neighborhoods, and have largely been left unanswered, unaddressed, and swept under the rug.

But I can say for certain that I really don't think most of the Dave's posters are 'racists', even if they do get frustrated and resort to the occasional racist statement. I don't think anyone would travel all the way around the world to experience another culture if they were convinced beforehand that white people were above all the others. I think most of the 'racism' on here is the result of mild to severe culture shock, combined with daily frustrations, combined with constantly standing out, and the obvious rifts between the foreigners and the locals-- whether cosmetic, cultural, linguistic, or behavioral. Racism is always a product of ignorance... and there are a lot of things in Korea that can cloud your brain, and make it hard to take into account everything you must take into account if you are trying to achieve a fair, balanced viewpoint.

Admittedly, I for one have let my frustrations build up in the past, and then have released them on this site-- only to feel extremely embarrassed and regretful later about the way I was expressing them. But of course, there's always the matter of pride that makes apologizing almost impossible. But the way I see it-- it's better off in here than at work, or on the street, or somewhere else that might make it seem more real. Even though I suppose this site is real enough.

What's truly important is that everyone realize that people are allowed to change their minds... and that in a situation like this, it can be a real struggle to identify with the people around them. It takes a lot of effort to stay focused and to not let your brain slip into the easy answers that racism seems to provide, but one or two lapses shouldn't be a reason for yourself or anyone else to label you a racist.

It is so easy to just dismiss the whole culture as rotten because you've had a bad day, or someone said something stupid and it hurt you, or because of some other behavior that you took as an insult... but ultimately I think most of the people on this board are capable of calming themselves down and admitting that such judgments are wrong... which is much easier to do if they don't feel like the second they admit they're wrong, someone else is going to jump on them and gloat about it.

This isn't to say that people should stop jumping on everyone else when they post 'racist' comments... just that it's important to keep in mind that this sort of reaction is probably natural when you're forced into the position of being a minority in a country (or being a minority in any other situation, for that matter) where the predominant mindset is vastly different from your own. Everyone has lapses into 'racist' lines of thought... mostly when it becomes impossible or at least extremely difficult to identify with those around you-- and you stop recognizing them as people, and start thinking of them as something entirely different.

However the only time it becomes a problem is when someone indulges that line of thought, becomes preoccupied with it, and allows it to warp their thinking until they're incapable of seeing things how they really are. It's a problem when it gets to the point that one is incapable of living or even recognizing the existence of their own lives-- and is fully dedicated to extinguishing the 'threats' posed by other races, or 'foreign elements'. Anti-English Spectrum seems to be a classic example of this.

I'm not saying anyone should empathize or sympathize with racist sentiments, just recognize that reactions such as disgust, judgment and condemnation do little to encourage the person out of their frustrated mindset and do more to harden the divisions.

The only intelligent approach to the problem of racism is calm, empathetic, articulate reason.