NationStates Jolt Archive

http://www.xanga.com/crazeemichi/585114924/sorely-disappointed.html?nextdate=last&direction=n#viewcomments

the "The media calling him 'South Korean' is racist!" arguments.

Thoughts?

EDIT: You apparently have to scroll up to read the OP. New linky on the way.

that bitch should know he IS SOUTH KOREAN! He immigrated here in 1992 I think from...wait for it...SOUTH KOREA....HOLY NUCKING FHIT!! There was nothing racist about it, it was accurate.

that bitch should know he IS SOUTH KOREAN! He immigrated here in 1992 I think from...wait for it...SOUTH KOREA....HOLY NUCKING FHIT!! There was nothing racist about it, it was accurate.

And that is EXACTLY how I responded. :D

http://www.xanga.com/crazeemichi/585114924/sorely-disappointed.html?nextdate=last&direction=n#viewcomments

the "The media calling him 'South Korean' is racist!" arguments.

Thoughts?


They may (may) have had a point if he was a naturalised American. But wasn't he an overseas student? :confused:

There's nothing wrong with saying that he's Korean. Now if they use racial slurs than yea. I mean comon, let's be realistic, if this was white kids, or black kids, then they would still use white or black.

My Argument:
Oh, I apologize for the white-chauvanistic racist bastard media men making an ethnic comment about the BACKGROUND of the shooter.

Would you rather NBC call him Asian? Pacific Islander? Korean? Of course, we'll just leave it to the majority of the working class in America to come up with the assumption of where he came from. That will end just beautifully.

Saying that media reports of Cho being South Korean is as racist as the very same media calling an African American a black. It's not, and it's similar to the very same sensationalism that you've pointed out is ruining the whole story.

THEIR Argument (or a summation of it):
It is really a shame to focus on the suspect's race. There was more going on in this than the fact that he was Asian. This was a troubled individual, who felt he didn't belong, and unfortunately felt that murder was the only way to deal with his problems. I believe you are right, we need to focus on the WHY and HOW this happened, and how to prevent such an event from happening again, no matter what race is involved. Just because one person made a mistake, does allow for people to start antagonizing an entire ethnic group.

It's the amount of stress being put on it that's the problem.
It's used in such a way as to imply that him being South Korean was the reason why he did what he did.

How many times have you read "and then the white Charles Whitman climbed to the top of a clock tower..."?

that bitch should know he IS SOUTH KOREAN! He immigrated here in 1992 I think from...wait for it...SOUTH KOREA....HOLY NUCKING FHIT!! There was nothing racist about it, it was accurate.

well he not from the North is he now
so what are they on

How many times have you read "and then the white Charles Whitman climbed to the top of a clock tower..."?

I usually assume most serial killers and mass murderers are white by default.

It's the amount of stress being put on it that's the problem.
It's used in such a way as to imply that him being South Korean was the reason why he did what he did.

How many times have you read "and then the white Charles Whitman climbed to the top of a clock tower..."?

I'm sure the media is using it as a ploy to make America think that race was involved in this. :rolleyes:

er no as Korea not one Country as it was long ago, so calling him South Korean is not racist as he came from South Korea

I understand. I was responding to an argument that the OP of the xanga page had made. She mentioned Korean instead of South Korean and I hoped that someone might make light of how different Korean and South Korean are.

My Argument:


THEIR Argument (or a summation of it):

er no as Korea not one Country as it was long ago, so calling him South Korean is not racist as he came from South Korea

I usually assume most serial killers and mass murderers are white by default.

I think that implicit assumption is a significant part of why the media keeps mentioning Cho's nation of origin. This could very reasonably be called ethnocentric, but I don't believe it's intentionally racist. However, it's not hard to imagine how someone without the "mass murderers = white guys" assumption hardwired into their brain might find the degree of emphasis placed on the fact that this killer was not a white guy rather odd.

I understand. I was responding to an argument that the OP of the xanga page had made. She mentioned Korean instead of South Korean and I hoped that someone might make light of how different Korean and South Korean are.

send me to have a talk to her :D

really she needs to learn whats what

I think that implicit assumption is a significant part of why the media keeps mentioning Cho's nation of origin. This could very reasonably be called ethnocentric, but I don't believe it's intentionally racist. However, it's not hard to imagine how someone without the "mass murderers = white guys" assumption hardwired into their brain might find the degree of emphasis placed on the fact that this killer was not a white guy rather odd.

Funny you mention it because, if you noticed, there were a lot of people on the comments page I linked here saying that this wouldn't be the media circus it is now "if he was white"

Like I said, I don't find it to be racism... just a type of "racial profiling," one could say. And racial profiling isn't necessarily evil or unjust but sometimes necessary (although the word has been given a negative connotation).

Yous all lacist. I bang you rong time! :mp5:


... I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.

Yous all lacist. I bang you rong time! :mp5:


I'm sorry, I couldn't help it.

I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but I couldn't help but laugh at this at first.

You know your priorities are screwed up when the thing you're most concerned about after a tragedy like this, is the fact that news outlet are calling the shooter Korean or South Koreans. :rolleyes:

You know your priorities are screwed up when the thing you're most concerned about after a tragedy like this, is the fact that news outlet are calling the shooter Korean or South Koreans. :rolleyes:No shit. Perhaps it'd be a tad more useful to discuss what sort of social safety-net can identify and cope with the really disturbed ones among us (no LG, not you).

It's not like it's a great surprise that some people just aren't right in the head, and it's likewise no surprise to our societies that messed up people do messed up shit. We know it, and probably always have known it. Arguably we're just as messed up if we don't make a community effort to anticipate and deal with the problem before people get hurt. I mean.. We were bright enough to invent the seat belt. This isn't any different really.

My browser doesn't like when I click the OP link, who loves me enough to quote it?

Here is what I've come to realize about society, everyone is messed up. It's just how they are messed up and to what degree they are messed up. People like me are reclusive, interact with few people in real life, but usually are harmless, all we ask is to be left alone. Other people, like LG are fun loving goofballs who might send your little ones (kids) nude pictures from his recent trip of the Philippines, and then we have people like the shooter. Like I said, everyone is messed up, it's just how and to what degree.

My browser doesn't like when I click the OP link, who loves me enough to quote it?There's a hell of a lot more, but this is the article:Thursday, April 19, 2007

Sorely Disappointed with the media.

The bordering-ignorance coverage of "Cho Seung-Hui", and sensationalism of the VTech tragedy is really starting to get to me.

What's worse is that it's giving people an excuse to be racist... when what is REALLY important is the actual tragedy, the victims, their families, the future... everything else. But no, the media chooses to ethnicize and foreign-ize a Korean American who went by "Seung Cho," by not only writing is name in an ethnic way but continually referring to him as "South Korean student Cho Seung-Hui."

The only news organization that I feel has had legitimate coverage of the issue is TIME. Not only have they taken the time out to do their research, but they are also fully aware of what ethnicizing Cho will do.

Did people start hurling white racial epithets when Columbine happened?

What is more disturbing to me is that I had a phone conversation with a girlfriend of mine in LA this evening... she told me that people in Ktown are getting their cars egged.
And today, she was in WESTWOOD, mind you this is an educated college community, and someone pulled up next to her car and asked if she was going to try to "kill [him] too"... This was not a joke.

I've heard of people being told to "Go home to Asia." I've read, all over the web, the bigotry and hatred that is leaving Asian Americans wondering what this means for them in normal public sphere.

How is it ok, and more importantly, how is it helpful to turn this situation into a catalyst for hate?

And all of this after just a week ago a national radio host was fired for being racist.

What is even more nonsensical is that those people who are most bigoted are the ones who didnt even know anyone at VTech, victim or mourner. Those who were close to those victims, the students and faculty on campus trying to unite, anyone in Blacksburg right now is trying to remove all the hatred and negativity. That's so far from what they need.

As a nation, as a people, why aren't we trying to look at this as a tragedy that people need to heal from and eventually a way to bring good... if all it does is spur more hate, those students and those professors were really victimized in vain.Here is what I've come to realize about society, everyone is messed up.But not everyone presents a physical danger to their peers. Indetifying them and trying to help them live peacefully with their peers (because they can't really opt not to, unless they don't mind getting shot off into space or something), seem like a good idea - just like seat belts do.

I'm surprised I haven't seen anyone bring this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woo_Bum-kon) up yet. Maybe shooting sprees are a South Korean thing? :rolleyes:

NOT A SERIOUS POST

If it had been a white dude killing 32 people, it would have barely made the local paper.

Who got hot spurs about it anyway?

I don't know if it's the same in America concerning South Koreans, but in Belgium, we have a lot of Turkish immigrants. If you drop the word 'Turkish' on a bus here and a Turkish person hears it, they will brand you a racist like that. I mean, that's over the top, right? He WAS South Korean. Taking that as an insult is like taking 'Swedish' as an insult. No?

It's the amount of stress being put on it that's the problem.
It's used in such a way as to imply that him being South Korean was the reason why he did what he did.

How many times have you read "and then the white Charles Whitman climbed to the top of a clock tower..."?Exactly.

Here is what I've come to realize about society, everyone is messed up. It's just how they are messed up and to what degree they are messed up. People like me are reclusive, interact with few people in real life, but usually are harmless, all we ask is to be left alone. Other people, like LG are fun loving goofballs who might send your little ones (kids) nude pictures from his recent trip of the Philippines, and then we have people like the shooter. Like I said, everyone is messed up, it's just how and to what degree.

:eek:

Who got hot spurs about it anyway?

I don't know if it's the same in America concerning South Koreans, but in Belgium, we have a lot of Turkish immigrants. If you drop the word 'Turkish' on a bus here and a Turkish person hears it, they will brand you a racist like that. I mean, that's over the top, right? He WAS South Korean. Taking that as an insult is like taking 'Swedish' as an insult. No?It's because you've created an atmosphere of racism. Works both ways though, but fortunately for most of you ethnic natives, you don't speak Turkish so it's less obvious.

I don't know that it's the same with South Koreans in the US, but seriously doubt it. Seems unlikely there'd be enough lower class/welfare dependent South Koreans in the US.

Belgium's integration policies have failed. Non-whites, especially Turks since there's comparatively many of them, have been failed by the labour market and education system. They've effectively become a new & lower lower class. And in the process, they've inherited all the usual social problems associated with that situation, as well as a bunch of new ones created because they get marginalized and singled out for not being natives and lacking the means, opportunities and frequently desire, to attempt to integrate on their own.

It's an "us vs. them" mechanic. Nothing new or surprising about it. And you brought it on yourselves (I live relatively close by and we've done the same).

The more the social problems escalate, the more the "us vs. them" thing kicks in, and the more the inequality and isolation is increased. Denmark is a prime example, and Belgium's not significantly different.

It's sad, really. But don't fool yourself. The more socially and politically acceptable it becomes to differentiate between them and us, the more socially acceptable it becomes for them to do the same. That's how you suddenly find every last white person (immigrants included) labeled racist by a minority. That's how you suddenly find insanely orthodox, racist religious/political organisations in your society, openly advertising to and indoctrinating little schoolkids. It's a vicious fucking circle. And you have to be the ones that break it, because you're the only one who can. And by you, I mean you the majority of the actual citizens, whatever your colour & ethnicity is.