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Old Gil
Joined: 26 Sep 2009
Location: Got out! olleh!
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 Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 4:29 pm Post subject: More bad PR for Korea |
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This time from Foreign Policy:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/11/17/the_president_the_professor_and_the_wide_receiver
Mostly a rehash of the NY times article but I did like this line:
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| The South Korean media -- which constantly trolls for news of any successful ethnic Koreans abroad -- heralded him as a victor and one of Korea's own. |
and from Ward's mother (an old quote):
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| "What do you think would have become of us if I had kept living here with Hines? He would probably never have been able to be anything but a beggar. Do you think I would even have been able to get work cleaning houses?" |
The more articles like this the better (about any country really).
This stat was interesting too:
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| This year, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries found that half of children born in rural Korea will be biracial. |
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reactionary
Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Location: korreia
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 4:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Biracial, really? Do vietnamese and filipinos (right, "pacific islanders") count as a separate race? |
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redaxe
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:01 pm Post subject: |
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| reactionary wrote: |
| Biracial, really? Do vietnamese and filipinos (right, "pacific islanders") count as a separate race? |
Yes, sort of. Koreans seem to consider themselves to be racially distinct from other Asians. Race is basically an arbitrary social construct anyway, with very little biological basis. So if Koreans decide to consider these people biracial, then they are.
But I think the word they use in Korean is "minjok" which means more like "ethnic group" rather than "race." Perhaps multiethnic is a better term, but that sort of depends on whether they retain any of their mothers' language and culture or whether they fully assimilate into Korean culture. |
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crossmr
Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Location: Hwayangdong, Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:10 pm Post subject: |
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| The South Korean media -- which constantly trolls for news of any successful ethnic Koreans abroad -- heralded him as a victor and one of Korea's own. |
Canada does the same thing. Every time something happens in the US, every Canadian TV news station leads with the headline and tacks on "And we'll tell you about the Canadian connection at 6" The government has stupid restrictions on certain content needing to be a % canadian (TV broadcasts and music on the radio) that the media has become obsessed with trying to find any canadian doing anything, anywhere.
its pretty sad. |
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blackjack
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: anyang
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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| reactionary wrote: |
| Biracial, really? Do vietnamese and filipinos (right, "pacific islanders") count as a separate race? |
God I hate it when people agree semantics. There is no set definition of race. Just common usage. Koreans are often clumped together into an arbitrary grouping often referred to as a "race". So under the common usage of the word race in Korea, those children can be classified as "biracial". Does that make you feel better?
People that argue that "I'm not being racist because blah blah blah is not a race"  (so that wasn't aimed at the statement you made here, it is just a pet annoyance of mine) |
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Old Gil
Joined: 26 Sep 2009
Location: Got out! olleh!
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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| The article is about Korean's perception of race in their own country, so in this particular case, the kids are bi-racial according to Korea's retrograde conception of 'race/tribe' (민족) |
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reactionary
Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Location: korreia
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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| blackjack wrote: |
| reactionary wrote: |
| Biracial, really? Do vietnamese and filipinos (right, "pacific islanders") count as a separate race? |
God I hate it when people agree semantics. There is no set definition of race. Just common usage. Koreans are often clumped together into an arbitrary grouping often referred to as a "race". So under the common usage of the word race in Korea, those children can be classified as "biracial". Does that make you feel better?
People that argue that "I'm not being racist because blah blah blah is not a race" (so that wasn't aimed at the statement you made here, it is just a pet annoyance of mine) |
Sorry, I'm not arguing semantics. The idea that a South Korean-Vietnamese child is "biracial" makes about as much sense as calling a person with British and Russian parents biracial.
I myself have never referred to the Koreans as a "race," (nor even heard them referred to as a race by anyone except themselves) so I'm not really sure it's common usage...
I understand that South Koreans have their own concept of "race" but that article seemingly wasn't written by and for a Korean audience. I'm a bit surprised that the writer didn't clarify this more.
Most of these "biracial" children are going to look Korean enough, unless they are really dark, and speak fluent Korean. There aren't going to be a bunch of Hines Wards running around. They will just be considered Korean as long as they don't say anything. Hell, just like now how Koreans won't admit that they have any Mongolian/Japanese/what -have-you blood in them now. |
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Old Gil
Joined: 26 Sep 2009
Location: Got out! olleh!
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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| reactionary wrote: |
Most of these "biracial" children are going to look Korean enough, unless they are really dark, and speak fluent Korean. There aren't going to be a bunch of Hines Wards running around. They will just be considered Korean as long as they don't say anything. Hell, just like now how Koreans won't admit that they have any Mongolian/Japanese/what -have-you blood in them now. |
That's true. |
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fermentation
Joined: 22 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:18 pm Post subject: |
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| reactionary wrote: |
Sorry, I'm not arguing semantics. The idea that a South Korean-Vietnamese child is "biracial" makes about as much sense as calling a person with British and Russian parents biracial.
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well some people might actually make that argument since Brits are usually Anglo-Saxons and Russians are Slavs. The Nazis saw the Slavs as an inferior race and tried to exterminate them. I don't believe in such shite since I don't believe in the existence of race anyway.
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Most of these "biracial" children are going to look Korean enough, unless they are really dark, and speak fluent Korean. There aren't going to be a bunch of Hines Wards running around.
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Not necessarily. There are some physical distinctions between South East Asians and Koreans, and Koreans can tell some Vietnamese apart from some Koreans. I think a Vietnamese or Filipino with great Korean can pass off as a Korean since some Koreans are little more tanned.
Whether or not Koreans see SE Asians as the "same race" depends on the situation. If SE Asian (like Manny Pacquiao) does something great, then Koreans will feel good about their "Asian Pride" and because a fellow asian acheived something, they can hope that a Korean can one day do the same. But most of the time, SE Asians are not seen in the same regard because they don't share the same blood. A great example of this is my own mother, who complains to me that the Vietnamese girls marrying Korean farmers are "polluting" our blood. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 6:23 pm Post subject: |
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Our school (thanks to a local cult) has a bunch of half-Japanese Half-Korean children (gasp! the horror!). What's even more stunning (at least to the Korea=19th Cent. crowd) is that these children are not ostracized, bullied, or wangtas. They are the same as everyone else- Some are popular, some are normal, some are shy. But they are normal. Same with the half-philippina kids.
We're out in the boonies too.
I do wonder if we're somehow oddly progressive out here. Our English Center gets the most money out of any department in the school, real top notch stuff.
Maybe these -읍s out in the country side have a complex or something that makes them want to latch onto the most modern and liberal trends in an effort to compete with the big boys in the -시s. They're big enough that they get decent funding and have big enough schools, yet they're still small enough to be anonymous. |
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beercanman
Joined: 16 May 2009
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:25 pm Post subject: |
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http://alllooksame.com/
On the linked site there is a "quiz" with photos of 18 faces that were taken in New York City. You have to register but it takes no time at all. You are asked to guess if the person is Chinese, Japanese or Korean. The average score is 7/18. I did this quiz with a few Korean middle school students once. They got about 6 to 8 correct. I remember my brother, who is a smart guy, once commented, "I bet Koreans can tell" (who is Korean and who is not). I doubt it, just based on a photo of a face at least. Though there is one or two that you just know are "ajeosshi". There are some other interesting quizzes there too. |
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Countrygirl
Joined: 19 Nov 2007
Location: in the classroom
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:43 pm Post subject: |
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| beercanman wrote: |
http://alllooksame.com/
On the linked site there is a "quiz" with photos of 18 faces that were taken in New York City. You have to register but it takes no time at all. You are asked to guess if the person is Chinese, Japanese or Korean. The average score is 7/18. I did this quiz with a few Korean middle school students once. They got about 6 to 8 correct. I remember my brother, who is a smart guy, once commented, "I bet Koreans can tell" (who is Korean and who is not). I doubt it, just based on a photo of a face at least. Though there is one or two that you just know are "ajeosshi". There are some other interesting quizzes there too. |
That was hard. I think I can guess better based on style of dressing than just on faces. In New York, everyone dresses their own way.
I did better on the food quiz.
Interesting! |
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blurgalurgalurga
Joined: 18 Oct 2007
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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| Cool quizzes! I got ten on the faces and thirteen on the foods. |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:04 pm Post subject: |
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| fermentation wrote: |
| A great example of this is my own mother, who complains to me that the Vietnamese girls marrying Korean farmers are "polluting" our blood. |
Does she tell you that you have to marry a Korean as well? |
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mc_jc
Joined: 13 Aug 2009
Location: C4B- Cp Red Cloud, Area-I
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| Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Koreans seem to consider themselves to be racially distinct from other Asians. |
This really made me laugh-A LOT!!!
Koreans ARE NOT and NEVER WERE a racially pure ethnic group.
Many Koreans could easily trace their lineage to the Chinese, Mongolians and even Japanese- all of whom had a foot hold in Korea over the centuries until 1953. However, many chose to erase those links for fear of being labelled as "impure" or "mixed", somthing that until now was considered taboo in Korean society. |
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