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Korean Job Discussion Forums "The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
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Steelrails

Joined: 12 Mar 2009 Location: Earth, Solar System
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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British culture is special, please try to understand.
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In any case, I'm starting to see a major trend....
Anytime Korean media derails into the lunacy zone, Steelrails and PatrickBusan come to the rescue with fallacious explanations/excuses. |
That's because we see another major trend- People don't bother to think if such things happen back home or mistakenly believe they don't before posting about how Koreans are stupid because they engage in behavior X.
Have you ever noticed that if a poster is complaining about something in Korea and they compare it to a situation back home as being analogous, the apologists usually don't have an issue with it and perhaps even agree?
If they just used turns of phrase such as "Much like Britain's recent problems with X, Korea is facing difficulties dealing with Y." |
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cj1976
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
British culture is special, please try to understand.
| Quote: |
In any case, I'm starting to see a major trend....
Anytime Korean media derails into the lunacy zone, Steelrails and PatrickBusan come to the rescue with fallacious explanations/excuses. |
That's because we see another major trend- People don't bother to think if such things happen back home or mistakenly believe they don't before posting about how Koreans are stupid because they engage in behavior X.
Have you ever noticed that if a poster is complaining about something in Korea and they compare it to a situation back home as being analogous, the apologists usually don't have an issue with it and perhaps even agree?
If they just used turns of phrase such as "Much like Britain's recent problems with X, Korea is facing difficulties dealing with Y." |
Not every statement about Korea needs to be analyzed that way. It is just that you chose to go on the defensive and skirt around the issue. Not everything is an attack on Korea. eg:
"Korea has experienced a 300% increase in child obesity"
"Why are Korean men the most prolific sex offenders in SE Asia?"
Neither of those statements require comparison to other countries, as they are issues related directly to the problems within Korean society. I think that the apologists do not want to admit and analyze the problems, because they are afraid what they might find out. |
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atwood
Joined: 26 Dec 2009
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Posted: Wed May 15, 2013 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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| cj1976 wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
British culture is special, please try to understand.
| Quote: |
In any case, I'm starting to see a major trend....
Anytime Korean media derails into the lunacy zone, Steelrails and PatrickBusan come to the rescue with fallacious explanations/excuses. |
That's because we see another major trend- People don't bother to think if such things happen back home or mistakenly believe they don't before posting about how Koreans are stupid because they engage in behavior X.
Have you ever noticed that if a poster is complaining about something in Korea and they compare it to a situation back home as being analogous, the apologists usually don't have an issue with it and perhaps even agree?
If they just used turns of phrase such as "Much like Britain's recent problems with X, Korea is facing difficulties dealing with Y." |
Not every statement about Korea needs to be analyzed that way. It is just that you chose to go on the defensive and skirt around the issue. Not everything is an attack on Korea. eg:
"Korea has experienced a 300% increase in child obesity"
"Why are Korean men the most prolific sex offenders in SE Asia?"
Neither of those statements require comparison to other countries, as they are issues related directly to the problems within Korean society. I think that the apologists do not want to admit and analyze the problems, because they are afraid what they might find out. |
Exactly. Well put. |
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maximmm
Joined: 01 Feb 2008
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Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 2:59 am Post subject: |
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| Steelrails wrote: |
That's because we see another major trend- People don't bother to think if such things happen back home or mistakenly believe they don't before posting about how Koreans are stupid because they engage in behavior X.
Have you ever noticed that if a poster is complaining about something in Korea and they compare it to a situation back home as being analogous, the apologists usually don't have an issue with it and perhaps even agree?
If they just used turns of phrase such as "Much like Britain's recent problems with X, Korea is facing difficulties dealing with Y." |
Whoever said that everything has to be compared to the way it is home?
I've already explained that racism at home is still racism elsewhere. The existence of the crappiest western media in the form of fox news does not excuse Korean media from being equally vile.
You brought up an example --- People don't bother to think if such things happen back home or mistakenly believe they don't before posting about how Koreans are stupid because they engage in behavior X----
A stupid action is a stupid action - regardless of whether it has been conducted back home or in Korea. If someone actually criticizes Korea for the said action while ignorantly saying that things are better back home when they are actually not, then you have every right to criticize them for it
Yet, in your case, you are constantly bringing up problems in the west when no such comparison has been made. In that sense, you are not acknowledging the issue being discussed as being significant (after all, how bad is it really when there is racism/fox news in USA?), and defer the discussion by focusing on issues elsewhere. |
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Steelrails

Joined: 12 Mar 2009 Location: Earth, Solar System
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Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 3:02 pm Post subject: |
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| cj1976 wrote: |
| Steelrails wrote: |
British culture is special, please try to understand.
| Quote: |
In any case, I'm starting to see a major trend....
Anytime Korean media derails into the lunacy zone, Steelrails and PatrickBusan come to the rescue with fallacious explanations/excuses. |
That's because we see another major trend- People don't bother to think if such things happen back home or mistakenly believe they don't before posting about how Koreans are stupid because they engage in behavior X.
Have you ever noticed that if a poster is complaining about something in Korea and they compare it to a situation back home as being analogous, the apologists usually don't have an issue with it and perhaps even agree?
If they just used turns of phrase such as "Much like Britain's recent problems with X, Korea is facing difficulties dealing with Y." |
Not every statement about Korea needs to be analyzed that way. It is just that you chose to go on the defensive and skirt around the issue. Not everything is an attack on Korea. eg:
"Korea has experienced a 300% increase in child obesity"
"Why are Korean men the most prolific sex offenders in SE Asia?"
Neither of those statements require comparison to other countries, as they are issues related directly to the problems within Korean society. I think that the apologists do not want to admit and analyze the problems, because they are afraid what they might find out. |
And neither of those statements would cause a problem. It's typically the comments that contain offensive statements.
If you can't recognize that, then you aren't reading carefully. If Koreans said some of the things that posters say about them, they'd slam them as racist.
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| Koreans can be so stupid sometimes. |
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| This is typical Korea. Take umbrage at something a foreigner has done and make a big deal of it. |
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| If I met the Korean Pres, I'd have one hand down my pants and I'd fart. To embrace true Korean customs. |
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So when did Koreans become experts on handshakes? Isn't this a custom learned from the West? Koreans can keep their limp dead fish handshakes to themselves and stay with bowing. |
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I have as little to do with Koreans as humanly possible. Honestly, sometimes it feels like I'm living on a different planet, not just another country.
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| Gates has been shaking hands the same way for many years..and I don't see or hear other countries crying like babies! |
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Koreans lecturing others about their 'bad manners' always makes me cringe. Are they so unaware of how primitive and vulgar their manners appear to others?
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| Koreans are just insecure about a foreign / white guy around a Korean woman, as per usual. |
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| Anyway, I honestly don't think anyone would care if a Korean shook the Queens hand in a way perceived as rude. In the UK the majority of people don't know where Korea is. Honestly, Korea is such a minor player in their lives they wouldn't care. |
Some of these posts involved comparisons, fair game for a Korea vs. the West response.
Other posts clearly had a bigoted sentiment behind them.
If people don't want me to compare Korea to back home, don't bring it up and refrain from insulting comments. |
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byrddogs

Joined: 19 Jun 2009 Location: Shanghai
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Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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| atwood wrote: |
| cj1976 wrote: |
Not every statement about Korea needs to be analyzed that way. It is just that you chose to go on the defensive and skirt around the issue. Not everything is an attack on Korea. eg:
"Korea has experienced a 300% increase in child obesity"
"Why are Korean men the most prolific sex offenders in SE Asia?"
Neither of those statements require comparison to other countries, as they are issues related directly to the problems within Korean society. I think that the apologists do not want to admit and analyze the problems, because they are afraid what they might find out. |
Exactly. Well put. |
Everyone that reads these boards knows what the schtick is for a handful of posters. The common theme with each is that those things that people complain about never/have never happened to them, so they must be fabricated or there is something wrong with that poster personally. Said posters also generally like to compare things to the "west"; usually ad nauseam. That has always baffled me, as this is a board for things related to Korea. |
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cj1976
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
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Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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I have to side with Steelrails on the issue of racism. Some of the comments on here by the bashers are basically racial slurs or narrow-minded sweeping statements. I know that Korea has various problems and Korean people aren't always easy to get along with, but some posters appear to be very immature and unable to adapt to the challenge of living here.
I had a period of absolutely hating this country which I now realize was a form of culture shock - and it made me a bitter and negative person for quite a while.
7 years in, I wouldn't say I love Korea but I have learned how to tolerate and ignore the BS around me, because if I didn't I would go nuts. As long as I can escape Korea a couple of times a year and get away from Korean culture and Korean people, I can cope with it. That might sound racist to the apologists, but my wife is Korean and she feels the same way. |
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maximmm
Joined: 01 Feb 2008
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Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 11:57 pm Post subject: |
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| cj1976 wrote: |
I have to side with Steelrails on the issue of racism. Some of the comments on here by the bashers are basically racial slurs or narrow-minded sweeping statements. I know that Korea has various problems and Korean people aren't always easy to get along with, but some posters appear to be very immature and unable to adapt to the challenge of living here.
I had a period of absolutely hating this country which I now realize was a form of culture shock - and it made me a bitter and negative person for quite a while.
7 years in, I wouldn't say I love Korea but I have learned how to tolerate and ignore the BS around me, because if I didn't I would go nuts. As long as I can escape Korea a couple of times a year and get away from Korean culture and Korean people, I can cope with it. That might sound racist to the apologists, but my wife is Korean and she feels the same way. |
Learning to ignore BS does not make BS disappear.
My bigger beef is with the Korean media. Then again, if I were an Asian migrant worker, I would have other issues which would be more related to the unfair work conditions/treatment. |
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cj1976
Joined: 26 Oct 2005
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Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 12:12 am Post subject: |
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| The Korean media seem to have a poor moral compass sometimes, and I think it is fair to accuse them of promoting xenophobia and tacky stereotypes. That is definitely a legitimate complaint about Korean culture. |
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