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swinewho
Joined: 17 Aug 2009
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 Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 10:56 pm Post subject: Racism Does Not Exist Here - By Dr Dave |
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http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2011/01/162_52626.html
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The Oxford Dictionary defines the word as ``the unfair treatment of people who belong to another race" or ``violent behavior towards them."
But this definition leaves us with a problem. It is too general and too broad to definitively set any boundaries and leaves the definition open to subjectivism. What people decide racism is ― that is what it will be, regardless if they are correct or not. Thus, in reality, even the shaking of a fist at someone with a different color could be considered racism.
That is just incorrect because then there is no real standard to apply to determine what is or isn't a racist act and no judge could punish people for being racist since the standard is as changeable as the people who define it. So we turn to the Bible for an answer and within its pages we read, ``all men have descended from Adam," which tells us that there are not four races as proposed by some, but only one.
With this information, we know that there is no such thing as racism because everyone is part of the same human race |
So I guess we are all related to this guy then.
Incest is best  |
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SeoulNate
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Location: Hyehwa
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| Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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| lol. So is he arguing that racism does not exist in korea? OR is he challenging the dictionary? |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 1:16 am Post subject: |
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| SeoulNate wrote: |
| lol. So is he arguing that racism does not exist in korea? OR is he challenging the dictionary? |
He is making a specious argument. He is stating that since people who are Caucasian, black African, East Asians etc... are all human, then there are no races. We don't say there isn't one humanity. We say because of certain features attributed to certain groupings of human beings we have what we call races. There are genetic differences.
A person who made a comment, who doesn't appear, to be a native speaker of English didn't like Thiessen's comments. I can't tell from the writing where the person is from. I would imagine the South Asian who was a victim of prejudice, racism wouldn't be pleased with the article.
There is a problem with the term race, I'll grant that as there are grey areas. For example, you have the terms Caucasian and Caucasoid.
And when is a person really black? How black is Colin Powell? He is of mixed race. People in the U.S. increasingly mark more than one category. Dave Thiessen should visit the United States because race is quite important in the U.S., and it's on the census. However, since he's not familiar with the US, I guess he wouldn't know that. It's the same case in Canada, but I guess he isn't a Canadian, either. Where is Dave from?
Even when wants to argue that the concept of race can be problematic and imprecise, it exists because clear genetic differences do exist between certain general groupings of people. At any rate, instead of showing some empathy for the South Asian, Indian gentlemen who was a victim of prejudice, he focuses on trying to say racism doesn't exist in South Korea. I should remind him that many Koreans do believe in the concept of race.
D.T. would make a good propaganda minister in some dictatorship. The way I understand racism is that someone feels that he or she is superior to another person who is genetically different than him based on the genetic difference. |
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travel zen
Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Location: Good old Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:24 am Post subject: |
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The idea of race is 18th century Darwinian nonsense that the Victorian English dabbled in to explain the differences in their subject peoples.
It's been nonsense for centuries and will eventually fall out of favour soon. Why? Because it makes no sense to call entire cultures as crayola colours.
Red and Yellow, Black and White..... pure idiocy.
Overdue for an overhaul. |
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Captain Corea
Joined: 28 Feb 2005
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 2:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Substitute the word 'prejudice' instead of racism and the article's issue is solved. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 5:31 pm Post subject: |
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| travel zen wrote: |
The idea of race is 18th century Darwinian nonsense that the Victorian English dabbled in to explain the differences in their subject peoples.
It's been nonsense for centuries and will eventually fall out of favour soon. Why? Because it makes no sense to call entire cultures as crayola colours.
Red and Yellow, Black and White..... pure idiocy.
Overdue for an overhaul. |
I disagree that it's simply 18th century Darwinism nonsense because the concept exist a long time before that. For example, Said Al Andalusi thought that the mostly dark haired Arabs were superior to the blondes, for example, and this was many centuries ago. At that time, the Arabs were more advanced. Thus, it's not a new concept. Is it an outdated idea in many ways, perhaps. It focuses on human differences based on some general DNA differences and there are so many grey areas.
Dave Thiessen, at any rate, seems to want to ignore the word prejudice which one can substitute for racism. However, Thiessen doesn't seem to care what the South Asian went through. He's simply interested in saving face for a certain group of humanity while he has been hired because he speaks a certain language and comes from one of the English-speaking countries, but he has nothing positive to say about where he comes from. |
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CentralCali
Joined: 17 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:31 am Post subject: |
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| Korea Times just made it much harder for Thiessen to post there under a bunch of sock-puppets. It seems that one must now log in using various social media sites to post a comment on those so-called articles. So, archaeologist, notopri, and calendar will be outed immediately as Thiessen. |
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Pangit
Joined: 02 Sep 2004
Location: Puet mo.
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 2:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Too bad all the old comments were deleted in the change. |
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joelove
Joined: 12 May 2011
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| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 9:10 pm Post subject: |
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What is this about? Didn't we all descend from somewhere in Africa?
Man, the cry of racist has sure become popular since we all have the Internet now. It's nonsense. What is wrong with us? And are we any more or less different than our elders? I doubt it. You cannot change thinking that easily. |
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cj1976
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
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| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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I'm not sure if racism as we know it exists in Korea. They don't really single out any one race, nationality or religion and target it for the visceral hatred that exists in other countries. Look at the European countries where black footballers are still subjected to monkey noises.
The xenophobia here is more an 'us and them' mentality, where everyone who is not Korean is different and should be treated differently. This uninformed, poorly educated worldview and lack of international maturity has left Korea ill equipped to deal with other cultures. |
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some waygug-in
Joined: 25 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:29 pm Post subject: |
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I tend to agree with the above post. It's not so much racism in Korea as
it's an acute nationalism. Not saying there aren't racial prejudices involved,
but it has more to do with not being vs being Korean than anything. |
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louisfx
Joined: 28 Oct 2011
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| Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 6:30 am Post subject: |
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I'd have to agree. Racism does not exist in the West either. We are all too PC.  |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:40 am Post subject: |
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| cj1976 wrote: |
I'm not sure if racism as we know it exists in Korea. They don't really single out any one race, nationality or religion and target it for the visceral hatred that exists in other countries. Look at the European countries where black footballers are still subjected to monkey noises.
The xenophobia here is more an 'us and them' mentality, where everyone who is not Korean is different and should be treated differently. This uninformed, poorly educated worldview and lack of international maturity has left Korea ill equipped to deal with other cultures. |
Recently in England there have been accusations that Chelsea fans were chanting some racist chant. What you described about Koreans isn't better per se. How is the story of the Korean confronting a South Asian gentlemen and humiliating him for whatever reason? And there is the concept of people of being from higher status groups. You could find all kinds of excuses to excuse some of those Chelsea fans if you want, too, just as you're excusing some Koreans who behave inappropriately. Why is it not okay when people back home do it, but you excuse locals who do it.
It doesn't matter if the prejudice is somewhat different. Many Russians tend to dislike all foreigners, too. Does that make it okay? |
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chrisinkorea2011
Joined: 16 Jan 2011
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| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 4:17 pm Post subject: |
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| cj1976 wrote: |
I'm not sure if racism as we know it exists in Korea. They don't really single out any one race, nationality or religion and target it for the visceral hatred that exists in other countries. Look at the European countries where black footballers are still subjected to monkey noises.
The xenophobia here is more an 'us and them' mentality, where everyone who is not Korean is different and should be treated differently. This uninformed, poorly educated worldview and lack of international maturity has left Korea ill equipped to deal with other cultures. |
Id have to disagree with you on this in some parts. While i do believe that some koreans have the "us and them" mentality, there is a different scaling in a lot of korean eyes. For instance African americans/people of black descent and darker complexion foreigners are much more looked down upon that say a white or spanish person. Ive actually heard koreans talk about skin color and how its a boon to them. (if you think this is false, read up on how koreans cherish lighter skin which denoted in the older days they had money and didnt have to work outside/different levels wealth etc) of course you see koreans date non koreans but it also can depend on the region too. |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:29 pm Post subject: |
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| chrisinkorea2011 wrote: |
| cj1976 wrote: |
I'm not sure if racism as we know it exists in Korea. They don't really single out any one race, nationality or religion and target it for the visceral hatred that exists in other countries. Look at the European countries where black footballers are still subjected to monkey noises.
The xenophobia here is more an 'us and them' mentality, where everyone who is not Korean is different and should be treated differently. This uninformed, poorly educated worldview and lack of international maturity has left Korea ill equipped to deal with other cultures. |
Id have to disagree with you on this in some parts. While i do believe that some koreans have the "us and them" mentality, there is a different scaling in a lot of korean eyes. For instance African americans/people of black descent and darker complexion foreigners are much more looked down upon that say a white or spanish person. Ive actually heard koreans talk about skin color and how its a boon to them. (if you think this is false, read up on how koreans cherish lighter skin which denoted in the older days they had money and didnt have to work outside/different levels wealth etc) of course you see koreans date non koreans but it also can depend on the region too. |
This is true. I have one student who is called in a joking way, "The Cambodian" because he's darker than some of his other classmates. The student who makes that joke is a very nice kid, and they're friends, and I like them both, but I find such a comment troubling somehow.
Also, one of my friends had a bi-racial child who was half black, and the Korean kids would say things like "Koreans are like egg shells, black people are like dirt". I can't remember the exact wording, to be honest, but it was something like that. So I agree with you that Koreans have the idea of race differentiation on some level. If Dave doesn't believe racism exists, well, Koreans mostly believe in the idea of race and some discriminate on that basis. I am not saying that to say people from England are better. I don't think they are. |
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