Korean Job Discussion Forums

[GJoeM]

Metalhead, how long did you live in Korea, and where did you move to and is it better? I am curious, because Korea is taking its toll on nearly everyone I speak with these days.

Newcomers buzz on the place for a year or two, maybe five years...but then it's tough to deal with the abrasiveness, chilly and cold vibes and the crassness....

That is the question...

[GJoeM]

"Lack of law against racial discrimination leaves foreigners vulnerable"

By Kim Rahn

An ethnic Uzbekistan woman has filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission after she was denied entrance to a sauna here.

A sauna employee refused to admit to the woman, a naturalized Korean, saying she was still a “foreigner” by appearance and foreign users may “make water in bathtub dirty” ...

Such an action was possible because there is no law on discrimination by race, according to a support center for immigrants.

“Many foreigners face such discrimination often but mostly they remain silent because they don’t speak Korean well and don’t know where they can appeal,” said Ku Su-jin

http://www.debito.org/?p=9529

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2011/10/117_96613.html

And it goes on and on...

Talking about racism in Korea (Seoul)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQk4QDjnNPA

RACISM in South Korea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5IYM2-3oRU

[edwardcatflap]

[cj1976]

I just wish Koreans could learn how to relax and not be so concerned about status and wealth. It's not that bad a place but the hive mind mentality can get to you sometimes. It's like living inside a giant cult. All the ridiculous rules of interaction and behaviour drive me up the wall.
Plus, I really detest soju and sitting on the floor. There's too much of both in Korea.

[Brooks]

Why do some people prefer Japan?
Japan has discrimination and racism but people mask it with their "politeness".
I guess I prefer Japan since in Korea I was reminded that I was foreign.
Japanese don't follow me around in stores.
Japan can be cold but at least you are left alone.


Let's see about Korea -

Korea has a suicide problem, alcoholics, passive-aggressive people.
Bizarre cosmetic surgery, lots of vapid people addicted to shopping.
People move to Seoul, looking for work.
Do people dislike Korea or is it Seoul?
Does Seoul seem to be a city with no soul?
It is an old country with a hierarchy. So where does the foreigner fit in?

Do you want to fit in? If not, that is understandable.

[Chaparrastique]

[GJoeM]

Chappa is right -- and that is because everything is quantified by personal gain and monetary worth in Korea -- you can't buy or sell the beauty of snow, so it's worthless.

You can't buy or sell the beauty of a river -- so smash up the surrounding land, tear up the river banks, turn it into a hideous trash heap so you can use it for money -- the beauty of the river itself is meaningless here.

You can't buy, or sell the scent of flowers and the smell of grass -- so tear up the land, build a soul detroyingly ugly convenience store and a drinks machine on it, leaving the grass a shriveled dead stub and the earth barren and hostile, so flowers will never grow there again -- then the land is 'worth it' -- the beauty of the scent of grass, and the beauty of the feel of it as you rest on it, is meangingless.

How did it ever get to this stage in Korea? How?

And Koreans wonder why they are so depressed and hostile.

[GJoeM]

Actually, Koreans DON'T wonder why they are depressed and hostile -- that level of self reflection and looking for a solution hasn't occurred to Koreans yet, for some reason.

Perhaps as a hive mind group culture with intense right wing 'state worship' leanings, they rely on the state for everything and therefore, it's axiomatic here that 'the state must be right' -- so it doesn't occur that contentment is something that people should reflect on within themselves and then the next step is to initiate action based on decisions they worked out for themselves.

That doesn't exist here.

[SHGator428]

Yes, it is.

Should make this a poll. You could even give time in experience choices to appease that hyper sensitive guy pattycakes.

[Chaparrastique]

[GJoeM]

Agreed Chappa -- and if you draw attention to faults here, Koreans will simply get very angry with you, and want to take spiteful revenge on you, because the state in Korea is synonymous with nation which is intertwined with concepts of 'blood' and 'purity' and 'supremacy', much like the Teutonic 'blood and soil' volk-ish concept.

And nationalism, ‘pure blood’, Korean ‘specialness’ and ‘uniqueness’ are all sacred tenets of the state religion. Therefore, when outsiders question nation and nationalism in Korea, it is seen as a sin resembling heresy, and it rouses intense and hateful reactions from Koreans, and demands vengeance : pretty much -- on the psychological level at least -- like theocratic states consider those who dare to question the Quran or dare to questions aspects of the Talmud

Yet is goes further than that -- Koreans will never allow themselves to self reflect either, because that would equal treachery in the Korean consciousness.

You could get into serious trouble for criticizing the Quran in Saudi -- It’s a pretty sad reflection then, to think that you could also get into serious trouble in Korea for criticizing ‘Korean-ness’ too openly.

I don't want to overplay the comparison -- for obvious reasons it's silly to do so -- but on the level of the psyche, there is some comparison to be made.

[GJoeM]

Ernest Gellner ( the famed scholar who devoted his life to understanding nationalism and fascism ) wrote that intense nationalism in tribal rural agrarian societies is a step on from shamanistic totemism, and is really thinly veiled SELF WORSHIP.

In the case of Korea, he's right.

[happyinhenan]

That is right what you are saying Joe, if you asked a 1000 Brits if the Falkland Islands should go back to Argentina then you will get a thousand different answers though there might be a flow towards a majority of people saying that they should belong to the UK - though, if you asked a thousand Koreans about Dokdo, you are going to get the same 1000 answers.

If anyone thinks this is untrue, try and laugh at 'fan death' or say Korean food is shit, that got me canned from my public school job in Korea.

[Chaparrastique]

[GJoeM]

Ernest Gellner goes over all these things in great detail, and he should be required reading for Korean college and uni students in my view --

Here's a good paper on him --

http://www.polisci.upenn.edu/ppec/PPEC%20People/Brendan%20O'Leary/Brendan%20O'Leary%20Publications/Journal%20Articles/Oleary_BJPS_Appraisal_Gellner.pdf

The paper on Gellner says, "Whereas tribal societies worship themselves indirectly (as spirits), agrarian societies worship their rulers directly or indirectly (in monotheistic religions), while in industrial societies the participants directly worship themselves (nationalism). Nationalism is the functional equivalent for industrial societies of the world-religions of agroliterate polities, and of the animistic cults of pre-agrarian bands, nomads and tribes."

That says a lot about modern day Koreans and Korean society.