Korean Job Discussion Forums

some waygug-in · Joined: 25 Jan 2003

Wow, check this out:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/29/opinion/obeidallah-muslim-backlash-us-uk/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

No_hite_pls · Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 10:45 pm Post subject:

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 5:01 am Post subject:

some waygug-in · Joined: 25 Jan 2003

There are some blogs that talk about that stuff.

I remember one guy who worked at a university who posted that they

tried to get him canned because he had written a book about Korea.

I'll see if I can find it again...

http://briandeutsch.blogspot.ca/2010/01/anti-english-spectrum-head-to-la-times.html

from the comments section:

King Baeksu said...

"...as long as he keeps his distance why should any responsible English teacher really care about his activities?"

Browse the AES site and you will find at least two threads from 2007 in which Yie himself urged his cafe members to call up my former employer, Hongik Univesity, and demand that I be fired for the "crime" of publishing a critical, but nonetheless bestselling and well-reviewed, book about Korea -- despite the fact that at the time I was a certified ESL instructor with some ten years' experience in the field. He was even so thoughtful as to include the phone number of Hongik's office of academic affairs. No mention of my actual teaching ability -- or lack thereof -- was mentioned in either thread, I might add.

An equivalent analogy would be neo-Nazis in the US trying to get a Korean-American university instructor fired for writing a critical book about the US.

The difference is that such a scenario would probably make the news in the US ("freedom of speech" and all that jazz), and certainly become an "issue" in the Korean news media, whereas when a local hate group tries to get a non-Korean instructor here fired basically because he's white, then it's business as usual and no one here seems to care or find it "newsworthy."

But in answer to the above question, I for one care about Yie's activities, and think he is a sad, pathetic and potentially dangerous embarrassment to his nation.
January 31, 2010 at 11:53 PM

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Thu May 30, 2013 9:26 am Post subject:

I was aware of that event thanks. It was disgusting.

Still and no offense, but this does not translate into AES hounding teachers on the streets of (insert Korean city of your choice).

AES is an ugly organization to be sure, it is in fact a band of angry bigoted scumbags. It should by all accounts be removed but sadly it exists.

When you read the links in that blog post you see that a lot of the things that happened may not even have been the result of AES but rather the result of events.

Still, this debate is and will remain highly charged and for good reason. However, I do not think that there is a large scale harrassment campaign by this group and stand on the point that had this group been as influential as some claim it is, there is absolutely NO WAY that the number of FTs in Korea would have continued to grow and to even double under their "watch". In fact, that makes no sense at all! For one thing, the bulk of FTs are likely employed by Hakwons and PS. Those employers are highly sensitive to public opinion, namely that of the parents of their students. Do you think for one second that schools would have continued to hired FTs and to do so in ever greater numbers if AES was actually influential? Parents would have made this impossible as they would have threatened schools with legal action or simply with removing their kids.

The math does not support the allegations, sorry.

some waygug-in · Joined: 25 Jan 2003

Keep reading:

Stuart said...

I did consider this my home. I've lived in Korea for 6 years now but after my own principal of the school I've worked at for 4 years, openly started harboring suspicions of me being a drug addicted criminal, then I figured it was time to pack this country in.

I've been harassed by these guys more than once.

I was at a party in Sincheon when some mofos came in with a video camera and tried to set me up as a drug abuser and a womanizer.

My friend was in a bar in Hongdae last year when he saw 2 Korean guys sitting in the corner of the bar, taking pictures of the younger teachers whilst they were drinking.

He went over to him and made him delete all the pictures.

When that SOB outside my apartment came to me and asked me if I had any drugs I was physically shaking with rage. I would have smacked the guy if he had said one thing to provoke me any further.

I can get my F visa now. I could apply for a Korean passport but why would you want to call a place your home when you will never be accepted and always looked on with suspicion.

This idiot, Lee Ung Eun complains that foreigners are not qualified enough. If I had any more qualifications I probably wouldn't work here.
February 2, 2010 at 10:49 AM

maximmm · Joined: 01 Feb 2008

hiamnotcool · Joined: 06 Feb 2012

Steelrails · Joined: 12 Mar 2009 Location: Earth, Solar System

9/10 NETs and Koreans have no idea who AES is.

And they haven't done crap. Look at how their "claims" are written. They're indirect links. It's the same language as someone who hasn't done anything uses on their resume to puff themselves up.

If you really believe the AES is the agent of some massive and successful campaign against foreigners, you need to polish your tin hat.

It's like claiming some group of high school boys is a "gang" simply because they got in a fight once with another group of boys and a few of them were found with weed. If you want to read things in the most alarmist fashion possible, then yeah.