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American rejected for job teaching English in South Korea because he's black

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Pretty much this.

Sorry can't find the gif.

***Edit, found it!

1415385536_how_to_scare_korean_women_in_korea.gif
That black guy is pretty famous in Korea.
 
South Korea is the most racially homogeneous country IN THE WORLD. Add a cultural psychology of being historically oppressed/invaded/ravaged, and you get a psyche that is quite resistant to unfamiliarity.

Kids are always okay with it.

Maybe one day the adults will take some behavioral queues from their children. Before they fuck them up too. Then again, even in the most diverse of Western nations we have these same issues. The scumbags are simply less straight-forward about it.
 

chualie

Member
Given that Korea, and most parts of Asia, is homogenous, it makes sense that there is so much rampant discrimination there.

I don't see this mindset changing for a long time. As more of the younger generation spend time outside of their home country and experience life outside of Asia, I believe there will be change. Hopefully it doesn't take generations.

There have been more foreigners on national TV and the increased exposure should help.

As a Korean-American, I still see this sort of racism and discrimination in the older generation that live in America. Can't imagine how it is in Korea.
 

Slayven

Member
As someone who taught there years ago, I worked with both a black gigantic male teacher who was adored by his students and who spent the final years of his life there and was subsequently buried there, and a black lesbian teacher who loved her time there and was the subject of adoration despite looking like, in her own words, 'a female Urkel', I'll say this:

1. This article is pretty old
2. This isn't all of Korea
3. East Asia isn't used to multiculturalism like they are in the West. These aren't universal truths or understandings from a group of people who mostly interact with their own race.

That good enough for you?

They question is why those excuse are good enough for you?

But I am just going to enjoy this delicious tea.
 
Grimløck;170631707 said:
fuck those fobs lmao

Lol yep.

It's crazy how ingrained this is to them. Many of the Chinese and Japanese transfer students we have are the total opposite. Of course they initially think it's weird if you're into their pop culture but if you're serious about it, then they don't give a rats ass about it. Meanwhile if you try to talk to the Korean fobs about Girls Generation or Yoo Jae-suk, they think you're some crazy batshit insane person for liking their pop culture.
 
South Korea is the most racially homogeneous country IN THE WORLD. Add a cultural psychology of being historically oppressed/invaded/ravaged, and you get a psyche that is quite resistant to unfamiliarity.

This has allowed their gene pool to get so shallow that fans allowed to run all night can kill them.
 
Lol yep.

It's crazy how ingrained this is to them. Many of the Chinese and Japanese transfer students we have are the total opposite. Of course they initially think it's weird if you're into their pop culture but if you're serious about it, then they don't give a rats ass about it. Meanwhile if you try to talk to the Korean fobs about Girls Generation or Yoo Jae-suk, they think you're some crazy batshit insane person for liking their pop culture.

Jessica sabotaging Korean/American relations smh
 

craker

Member
This happens all the time in Japan as well. It's not just for black people though. If you're Asian it can be hard to get a job teaching English. Several times I've seen Asian applicants apply for jobs and be turned down because "they look too Japanese". They think it's bad for the image of the school, because people will think they're non-native speakers. So even if they're actually Canadian, American, or etc. and their first language is English, they still won't be considered for a position. Really terrible!
 

sandy1297

Member
yeah, as a South-East Asian that have been to Korea/Japan quite a few time I can attest that they are still a bit racist. Even more so towards non East-Asian Asian, so much that some the older people will move seat on the train if you sit next to them.

but considering how homogen their culture is, I guess that's unavoidable.
 
I wonder why White people get the red carpet rolled out for them in Asian countries while blacks get treated completely different. It's almost as if the worldwide media exported from a racist industry has shaped views and opinions over decades to favor one group of people and constantly reinforce negative imagery of another.

But hey, media representation doesn't matter right?
 
I wonder if there is any kind of appreciable difference made due to the presence of foreign teachers in East Asia. Japan has the JET Program and Korea has Epik right? I know at least one goal of JET is to increase cultural understanding in Japan, is Epik the same? I'd be curious to know if either program has helped make things better in some measurable way. Were things even worse 20 years ago? Of course, I have no idea how that could be measured.
 
I wonder why White people get the red carpet rolled out for them in Asian countries while blacks get treated completely different. It's almost as if the worldwide media exported from a racist industry has shaped views and opinions over decades to favor one group of people and constantly reinforce negative imagery of another.

But hey, media representation doesn't matter right?
I don't think it's as simple as blameing the west for shaping their very wrong impression of non Caucasian people. This a fundamental issue with their history, culture, and willingness to allow an us vs them mentality due to a extremely homogenized society. Racism isn't exclusively a western system/ concept.
 

GorillaJu

Member
I worked at a school in Korea that sent out an email asking us to recommend some more teachers to them. They asked for Ivy League graduates, not fat, and not black or Mexican.

The situation between Japan and Korea are not even remotely the same in this sense. A few of my friends here in Japan who are black are having the time of their lives.
 

Makoto

Member
I worked at a school in Korea that sent out an email asking us to recommend some more teachers to them. They asked for Ivy League graduates, not fat, and not black or Mexican.

The situation between Japan and Korea are not even remotely the same in this sense. A few of my friends here in Japan who are black are having the time of their lives.
From what I've read of the accounts of non-white foreigners teaching in Japan, the experience there is generally described as occasional moments of insensitivity and ignorance but nothing to get in the way of enjoying the job, the country and the people. Overall, nothing as outright racist as what South Korea is doing regarding current and prospective foreign teachers.
 

GorillaJu

Member
From what I've read of the accounts of non-white foreigners teaching in Japan, the experience there is generally described as occasional moments of insensitivity and ignorance but nothing as outright racist as what South Korea is doing regarding current and prospective foreign teachers.

Yes. And white people don't have the red carpet rolled out for them in Japan necessarily either. Just last week I heard an older woman say “I wish foreigners would just get out of Japan” to who I presume was her daughter while standing directly next to me (and my white friends) on the train. Incidents of racism happen but they're very rare and you kind of have to go looking for them. By and large it's a very pleasant and welcoming place to live as a foreigner. Very, very different from South Korea.
 

Nesotenso

Member
I wonder why White people get the red carpet rolled out for them in Asian countries while blacks get treated completely different. It's almost as if the worldwide media exported from a racist industry has shaped views and opinions over decades to favor one group of people and constantly reinforce negative imagery of another.

But hey, media representation doesn't matter right?

well lots of Asian countries, including South Asia, have an issue with dark skin in general
 
Yes. And white people don't have the red carpet rolled out for them in Japan necessarily either. Just last week I heard an older woman say “I wish foreigners would just get out of Japan” to who I presume was her daughter while standing directly next to me (and my white friends) on the train. Incidents of racism happen but they're very rare and you kind of have to go looking for them. By and large it's a very pleasant and welcoming place to live as a foreigner. Very, very different from South Korea.
Yeah and I didn't really have a red carpet rolled out for me when looking for an apartment and got turned down several times for being a foreigner.
 

Makoto

Member
I encountered this as well in China. The EF school I was hired at, the guy running the place asked me to help find more teachers for the school. His stipulation was that I only find "people of quality". Which I initially took as just meaning teachers who weren't there to just screw off. However, when my initial find was turned down I had this stressed to me again, "people of quality". So, upon asking for clarification on just what he meant, I was told, "No black people."

The fear seems to be that a person of color would scare the kids, and that would make parents upset and pull the kids out of the school. The fear of upsetting kids and parents was a main deciding factor on how we did things. Basically boiled down to anything different might be bad, therefore it is bad.
Coming from a culture where some businessmen go as far as to hire white male models to pose as business partners to prop their own image up, it's depressing and not surprising.
 

entremet

Member
I wonder why White people get the red carpet rolled out for them in Asian countries while blacks get treated completely different. It's almost as if the worldwide media exported from a racist industry has shaped views and opinions over decades to favor one group of people and constantly reinforce negative imagery of another.

But hey, media representation doesn't matter right?

Helps when you control mass media.

Plus, European nation states were the first to start seafaring en masse, establishing trading relationships with more insular cultures--Marco Polo, etc.
 
I wonder why White people get the red carpet rolled out for them in Asian countries while blacks get treated completely different.

I can't speak for other Asian countries but I can speak for the Philippines and you can thank the American military who came to the country, did their thing, fncked the locals raw and went back to America not giving a shit if they impregnated the locals or not. The sad thing is, a lot of these women live in the provinces where it's almost impossible to succeed as a single mother, moreso if you've got a kid who doesn't exactly look Filipino with his darker skin and curly hair.

It's getting a little bit better thanks to Apl.de.ap's(Black Eyed Peas member) efforts in turning this tide around but that sentiment is still there.

This isn't limited to blacks though. Used to be white people were cool and all but the recent trend of white dudes finding a Filipina in a catalog and all that mess is starting to portray them in a negative light.

Jessica sabotaging Korean/American relations smh

Uhhhh... hate to break it to you but uh... Jessica got kicked out of the group last year.
 

zeemumu

Member
I used to get mistaken for being Asian before people met me because of my last name. When I went to take my SAT's the test instructor was taking role and did a double take at me and said "You're Zeemumu?"
 

Usobuko

Banned
I wonder why White people get the red carpet rolled out for them in Asian countries while blacks get treated completely different. It's almost as if the worldwide media exported from a racist industry has shaped views and opinions over decades to favor one group of people and constantly reinforce negative imagery of another.

But hey, media representation doesn't matter right?

Xenophobia certainly exist in Asia, even for my country which celebrates multiculturalism between all races ( namely Malays, Indians, Chinese and Eurasian ). Still, there is a very clear biased for white people than black people from Western countries. This is way more prominent in other Asia countries that are homogeneous in nature.

You are not going to see changes in these because it seems the mainstream audience are still pretty insular and resistant. Why changes when Asia countries and other PoC folks in western countries would still eat up Hollywood drivel regardless. But then same sex marriage happened so I am more hopeful now.
 

Rooth

Member
I wonder why White people get the red carpet rolled out for them in Asian countries while blacks get treated completely different. It's almost as if the worldwide media exported from a racist industry has shaped views and opinions over decades to favor one group of people and constantly reinforce negative imagery of another.

But hey, media representation doesn't matter right?

I agree with this but it's not solely the fault of American media either. It's not like the US invented racism, humans are just stupid. It's only that western media has skewed it in favor of one demographic at the expense of another. Certainly better minority representation in American films would help.

Here in Thailand there's a history of Thai-Chinese families not wanting their kids to marry native Thais. It's something that was prevalent during my parents' generation but younger people are much more conscious of these stereotypes. At least from my perspective. Bangkok is becoming more cosmopolitan. It's still predominantly white men that move here but I'm starting to see more women and some black people as well. The more exposure the better.

Anyway, no matter what your race I encourage people to travel abroad. If you're black go check out Asia. At the very least, you're much safer there than in the US. You'll see the good, you'll see the bad but more importantly you'll see it for yourself.
 
I wonder why White people get the red carpet rolled out for them in Asian countries while blacks get treated completely different. It's almost as if the worldwide media exported from a racist industry has shaped views and opinions over decades to favor one group of people and constantly reinforce negative imagery of another.

But hey, media representation doesn't matter right?

Asians hold each other in contempt. Koreans and Chinese, dislike the Japanese as untrustworthy and the Japanese' view on immigration is well known. All three basically look down on the poorer and generally darker skinned southern nations like Thailand, Vietnam, etc though some of it has to do with those nations being traditional vassal states.

Also light skin has been preferred by these cultures for thousands of years.
 

Rooth

Member
Damn, I was just thinking about how it might be fun to move to South Korea for a bit. :(

Do it.

You know people keep saying that whenever that gif is brought up, but the reactions of the guy and lady don't really line up with that. They have pure fear on their faces.

I saw the youtube version of this. Seems like the Korean guy is in on the prank? And he screams on the reveal so maybe she's reacting to that. Hard to say. I wish there was a longer version with some subtitles. The lady is clearly still smiling though. More shock than fear.
 
I'm not surprised tbh. My university had a lot of transfer students from Korea and even those people discriminated against Korean-Americans for various reasons. And no, I'm not kidding. It didn't matter to them that you could speak the language at the same level and that you understand the honor system, if people knew you as John Kim instead of Kim Jo-han you're immediately outcasted out of their "social circle."

Hell, the Korean Student Association was one of the most secretive groups on campus. Their posters were all in Korean when the poster "laws" specifically state that it has to relay the same message in English or it won't be accepted. Funny thing was, none of the Korean-American's I knew were part of the KSA. They were in the Asian, Vietnamese or Filipino student group coz none of those groups cared what color you are and what country you came from.

That said, this isn't really limited to Korea... all of Asia seems to hate each other for various reasons.
01-racist-restaurant.jpg
 

Apt101

Member
Try being half Filipino and dealing with other East Asians professionally. They've treated me like a dog in the past (when I worked for a Japanese company and worked with Korean and Chinese companies by proxy and directly). Racism is as casual as a handshake over there (edit: in certain circles dominated by "the old guard"). Glad to work only in the US now.
 
I saw the youtube version of this. Seems like the Korean guy is in on the prank? And he screams on the reveal so maybe she's reacting to that. Hard to say. I wish there was a longer version with some subtitles. The lady is clearly still smiling though. More shock than fear.

Maybe. It's just that keeps being brought up(Oh he's famous in Korea! That's why she's shocked!) and it's like......it sounds like an excuse to me @_@
 

Usobuko

Banned
Give me some good vibes, then. I'm white so I figure I'd only be, like, second class instead of third or fourth, but this thread is not making me feel good about the idea!

I bet you'll be treated maybe even better than American Koreans!

2nd class essentially, notbadgif.
 

Lunar15

Member
I wonder why White people get the red carpet rolled out for them in Asian countries while blacks get treated completely different. It's almost as if the worldwide media exported from a racist industry has shaped views and opinions over decades to favor one group of people and constantly reinforce negative imagery of another.

But hey, media representation doesn't matter right?

As a white guy who went to Korea, I can't quite say that the red carpet was rolled out for me. There's still tons of weird looks and talking behind your back. It's an extremely homogenous nation, pretty much any kind of foreigner gets some kind of strange treatment.

Of course, it was a wonderful place and I met tons of wonderful people, but yeah, there's also that side of it.
 

BobLoblaw

Banned
Doubt anyone will throw away the long ass time it took them to get a gaf account just to say something they believe in. Just not worth it.
This. There's a defense force for everything on gaf. Sometimes a golden, racist post makes it through, but a lot of the true blue racists have learned to pick their battle.
 
Doubt anyone will throw away the long ass time it took them to get a gaf account just to say something they believe in. Just not worth it.
You'd be surprised how often this actually happens here. But we're getting close to the end of page 2 without any one trying to go out of their way to justify what happened so either it's really late or you are right and all the careless posters have already been culled long ago.
 
I wonder why White people get the red carpet rolled out for them in Asian countries while blacks get treated completely different. It's almost as if the worldwide media exported from a racist industry has shaped views and opinions over decades to favor one group of people and constantly reinforce negative imagery of another.

But hey, media representation doesn't matter right?

It's not just today's media though. European colonizers back in the day perpetuated that they were the superior culture, especially on their colonial subjects. Couple this with the whole 'whiter skin = wealthier meaning you didn't spend the whole day under the sun farming, this goes way way back.

I can't speak for other Asian countries but I can speak for the Philippines and you can thank the American military who came to the country, did their thing, fncked the locals raw and went back to America not giving a shit if they impregnated the locals or not. The sad thing is, a lot of these women live in the provinces where it's almost impossible to succeed as a single mother, moreso if you've got a kid who doesn't exactly look Filipino with his darker skin and curly hair.

It's getting a little bit better thanks to Apl.de.ap's(Black Eyed Peas member) efforts in turning this tide around but that sentiment is still there.

This isn't limited to blacks though. Used to be white people were cool and all but the recent trend of white dudes finding a Filipina in a catalog and all that mess is starting to portray them in a negative light.



Uhhhh... hate to break it to you but uh... Jessica got kicked out of the group last year.

This Philippines is actually a little better in this respect when it comes to accepting other cultures. You will be treated like royalty if you are a foreigner, doesn't matter if you are white or black, so long as you are American or European. Lots of great exposure from NBA (Basketball is huge in the Philippines) so if you are tall and black, everyone thinks you're a basketball star. They also have some experience with the native Aetas, which were the aboriginals of some islands and they all have darker skin and curlier hair. Not to mention the diversity of Filipino groups themselves with completely different languages and cultures like the Ilokanos of the north, the highland mountain Igorots, the lowland Tagalogs, peninsular Bikolanos, the Visayan Islanders and the Islamic Moros down south. Many Filipinos also trace their ancestry, or part of their ancestry to China.

There are some racism here and there and white people and fair skin mestizos still get favorable treatment, especially on TV and the media but the situation is a lot better compared to East Asia. Filipinos in general are exposed to more cultures other than their own and are more tolerant as a result.
 

Estellex

Member
As a white guy who went to Korea, I can't quite say that the red carpet was rolled out for me. There's still tons of weird looks and talking behind your back. It's an extremely homogenous nation, pretty much any kind of foreigner gets some kind of strange treatment.

Of course, it was a wonderful place and I met tons of wonderful people, but yeah, there's also that side of it.

Did you get a lot of "positive" attention from the girls? :D
 
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