Korean Job Discussion Forums

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[jaganath69]

[Gwangjuboy]

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[jay-shi]

[PGF]

I found this thread facinating.

I've lived in San Diego, NYC and the "south". I've found intolerance/racism toward "foreigners" in each city. NYC being the most tolerant.

In southern California, there is great racism toward Hispanics by the majority. In northern California there is extreme racism toward Asians by the majority. In the south, well, you can imagine. I was in a grocery store in North Carolina a month ago and two hispanics were chatting in their native tongue and a black lady flipped out on them yelling and telling them to speak English! I could not believe it.

NYC was great because there really is not a majority/minority thing. The "salad bowl" is incredible in NY; I miss NY.

Anyway, back in your home country/city/town can you remember how people refered to "that Asian guy" or "that Mexican guy" or even "that black guy" with a tone that said, 'he's not American'?

I'm sure some people in your town were more enlightened and did not refer to foreigners in any negative way. But, in my experience, most people are ignorant in their actions when it comes to race/differences.

I don't think it's limited to Koreans.

I've seen it in Germans, French, Yugoslavians (back when there was a Yugoslavia).........etc.

I think the only difference is that an American/Canoodian, etc in Korea is the minority. I think everyone should experience being the "alien, "foreigner", "outsider" at least once in their lives. Hopefully, it builds character. In the unstable I guess it could make a racist.

[Pak Yu Man]

[nautilus]

[Hosub]

What ;[

"I guess that if caucasians lived in korea for several more thousand years, they would begin to resemble Koreans physically. Even if there was no interbreeding involved.

Its an intriguing concept."

Are you kidding me? By your logic everyone in North America would turn in to Native Americans after "several more thousand years". What the hell. How did you even formulate your idea this way and end up with this conclusion.

[uberscheisse]

i like it best when i'm called "foreigner" in vancouver. the "holding-your-hand-through-the-difficult-and-scary-parts" lesson that follows is also fun.

[Hater Depot]

[Mack]

In some cases it must be more convenient to indicate who is being spoken about by the fact that they are the only foreigner present.
But although I think all this stuff about us being outsiders etc is true enough, I don't think it is acceptable. The fact that many Koreans can not be bothered to do better than that is what makes it offensive. That is the point!!!! They cannot be bothered because we are just some "outsider". That is boorish behaviour in any culture.

[mack the knife]

[Mr. Friday]

This is a fascinating thread. My $0.02:

I suspect it boils down to how different the cultural history of Korea is to the crowd here (99% citizens of the Commonwealth or the US).

We've, culturally, learned a way of thinking about racism. In our case, our native lands are dominated by peoples that came from somewhere else. And, in the US, even imported yet another group against their will. The truth that 'racism is bad' is a foreground feature/lesson of our culture.

Korea, though, has always been Korean by massive majority. And, more power to them, they've held onto that despite the aggressive efforts in the past of China and Japan. For them, the insider/outsider distinction is much more relevant than racism per se.

Personally, I expect I'd react to _how_ Koreans refer to me and in what context.

My high school in SoCal was about 50% Asian, and most of that Korean, (I'm white); I expect to be bemused at first by being around so many Korean-acting Koreans when I get there.

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