hey-ai.com

Interesting Article (sort of previously discussed):

www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/wor...ed=1&_r=2&em

Couple of things that really stood out to me:

Their children were shunned as “twigi,” a term once reserved for animal hybrids, said Bae Gee-cheol, 53, whose mother was expelled from her family after she gave birth to him following her rape by an American soldier.

Ms. Hahn said that after the incident in the bus last July, her family was “turned upside down.” Her father and other relatives grilled her as to whether she was dating Mr. Hussain. But when a cousin recently married a German, “all my relatives envied her, as if her marriage was a boon to our family,” she said.

I'm pretty glad the guy who hurled insults at Ms. Hahn & Mr. Hussain is getting charged. Maybe this will force those with oldfashioned thoughts to change the way they think.

Yeah, it's sad sometimes...Korea is still an ultra-conservative, close-minded country for the most part, unfortunately. (At least on the outside it is...) It's very homogeneous, so anything from the outside is looked upon with suspicion, fear or hate. It's good that the 검사 actually did something about it this time though.

You know, though, I always used to speak English to my friends in the subways and no one would ever do anything about it. Probably because I'm male...I've heard the same things happen to my female friends that happened to "Tammy Chu" in that article.

I'll try to shed some personal knowledge/experience on this issue

Koreans in general have a us vs them mentallity similar to the Japanese. powerful ethnic nationalism. This was promoted by the government when korea started becoming industralized during the 60's. the word 우리 meaning "Our" was emphasized heavily . Our pure blood, our country, our people, which sounds a lot like Nazism is what drove Korea into a fervor and rapidly industralize in less then 5 decades. It was taught in education system, by parents and the culture. Its strongly a part of what made Korea as it is today. In the Korean 호주 "family registry" system, One was only considered Korean if the father is Korean (yeh wtf?). This policy was abolished, but the mentallity still carries on among some today. Until recently even people of mixed decent were barred from serving in the korean military.

In respective to the Wests individuality celebrated culture. Korea has a huge group based mentallity. The Japanese phrase "The Nail that sticks up gets hammered down" applies strongly there. The word "정" partly explains this. Whether its real or not is up to debate, but it means "strong feeling of kinship/interpersonal trust, ethnic responsibility and emotional bonding amongst Koreans". It's suppose to be the reason why Koreans in general only seek out other Koreans even in foreign countries and form cliques. Why if one Korean screws up, In Korea or anywhere else in the world, his shame is then shared amongst all Koreans. If he is successful then celebrated, regardless if he has no korean identity or culture. Just the fact his blood is korean makes him representive of all koreans.

Today, although there is evidence of discrimination still. There is a huge gap amongst the youth and the older generation in terms of beliefs. In modern Korean society, because the increase of foreigners and international marriages, to an extent the mindset is slowly changing towards "if you act korean, speak korean, practice Korean culture" You are one of us. There are numerous amounts of tv shows involving foreigners. documentaries, game shows, talk shows (where bad spoken korean kills me a little inside..) and even dramas. The culture I use to remember a decade ago before leaving korea, changed immensely and became almost unrecognizable when I went back. This is evidence of progress.

Interesting story:
I have older 형(hyung) who immigrated to the U.S at 16 and entered highschool. He told me how much he couldn't stand American culture, Values, and the women. He finished highschool/college in the U.S and headed to Korea to find a wife. did he succeed? Well partly.........
He comes back with a Polish American ESL teacher. LOL. Turns out he became so Americanized during his life in the U.S that he couldn't relate with current Korean women.

I fear this might also be my fate in the nearby future, as sometimes I feel neither Korean or American. I Love korean culture and hate it, I love Western culture and hate it. Hate Korean women and love Korean women, hate non Korean women and love non Korean women. All have characteristics I Like and dislike. Trouble is finding a compromise in between

I feel dirty and cringe at words such as 우리 나라, 우리민족, 우리etc. I become conflicted when im around Koreans who go around saying "Our". Especially our country and blood. I try to avoid saying "Our" as I feel sometimes, dont have the right to refer to it. "Our" to Koreans is exclusive to only referring to all things korean, but when said from my mouth, I dont know what country or thing im referring to from the heart. I absolutely hate the word minjok. as im only 75% Korean. The irony is nearly all of them dont know my feelings about the certain words/phrases and see me as another korean. They cant tell physically tell im mixed by looking at me. I also overshadow it by acting like a native Korean.

Im writing this drunk, and dont feel like typing anymore, jesus chrit this was a waste of 15 mins.

Wow, this totally applies to Japan too, afaIk^^

Yeah, once one has lived in a foreign country too long, one can neither really relate to ones own country's people any more, nor to the people in the foreign country ... One somehow drifts in between ...