Is Korea a racist society?
This is probably one of the largest debatable questions among visitors to Korea.
What is racism anyway?
Is it the hatred of another race or is it the ignorance of another race?
When I worked in Perth, Australia I kept the money rolling in by working at a bar and getting my dollars ‘under the table’ I loved it. I wasn’t an impressive barmaid and I certainly could not throw together a cocktail and blow up a sambuca but I was able to pour a pint of beer and flash the older male customers a flirtatious smile to keep them happily desiring more alcohol. I worked for a South Korean, his name was Dan and he was gorgeous!
| | Yellow fever |
Although seemingly a politically incorrect term, people use, ‘yellow fever’ today to describe the attraction many foreigners have towards those of asian decent. Foreign men adore Korean women.
It is not hard to understand why, they are beautiful, have fabulous shiny hair (put down to the lack of need to continually color) slim and because of the confucian ideals that never seem to completely disappear, they are far more submissive and seemingly dependent than western women! (more on this later)
Dan was the first Korean I had ever spent time with and I liked him immediately. Every night, when the bar got quiet and being a bar that attracted more old, widowed men than Thursday night student parties we had a lot of down time, we would sit down on a table and talk. He was married and had a baby son living with him in Australia and so my chances of a Korean marriage were out of the window (blast) but nevertheless we talked and I enjoyed learning about a place I knew much too little about.
“May I ask you a question Ruth?”
“Of course Dan” (All too eager to please the handsome boss)
“Why don’t western people know the differences between Korean, Chinese and Japanese people?”
In Australia it was hard for me to spread my cultural wings, I had come from a predominantly white country to another and although I would say I am neither racist nor ignorant of other races I had never immersed myself in anything but white and this question took me by surprise. I was suddenly, for the first time, being faced with how the world is, a patch work quilt of numerous shapes and colors and it is no longer acceptable to have a blanket of one tone stitching.
I was not equipped to answer the question and explained in my inadequate vocabulary that it is ignorance NOT arrogance that has people confused. This, although a pretty accurate explanation if I do say so myself, had no evidential backing, I had absolutely no reason for making this statement and thanked the Lord that Dan nodded his head and dismissed me instead of continuing to probe.
I was just out of University when I made my big trip to Australia and it seems school does not teach you much more than how to get a job. It teaches you about work not about life, nothing you need to understand, appreciate or know about the big, bad world will be learnt in a classroom. I enrolled to be a student of life when I turned 27, I will probably be studying forever!
Dan, by posing this question, seemed to be suggesting that a westerners inability to determine the nationality of an asian, merely by appearance, is nothing less than a derogatory slur on another culture. I do not believe this is the case. What is the difference between this and a Korean unable to identify a European from a Canadian?
The difference is the reaction.
White people have never known discriminated against because they/we are the powerful elite (according to history and according to them/ourselves)
Racism is the result of power trips and minority groups do not have the numbers to achieve this, it is only through time and [somewhat] civilized morals that the powerful have loosened their grip on the elite positions (although not entirely)
White people have no issues with the ‘mistaken’ identity of themselves with another white race because their confidence is unrivaled, especially in comparison to those races that have faced and still do face discrimination.
Dan had a pretty successful position. He was manager of a bar and run a bottle shop, which was located in a side room within the bar. He wore a suit every day and I have no doubt led a relatively comfortable lifestyle. With his expertise in ‘taekwon Do’ the Korean martial art that all children, especially boys, practice regularly as they grow up, Dan was the guy to call if there was any trouble in the bar. There was only one bar maid on duty at a time and this could be rather intimidating even if the regulars were over 60! When a person drinks there is no telling what the result can be. I had the power to ‘cut people off’ but some people just didn’t want to get ‘cut off.’ I remember a time when a male Aborigine came in, he was a hard worker and came in for well deserved pint every so often, this one time he had quite a few, well deserved pints. He became obnoxious and I called Dan for assistance. The topic became racist and my comfort zone was well and truly blown apart. Dan was receiving a lot of unfair abuse about coming to Australia and not belonging but luckily this guy was no match for ‘Taekwan Do’ Dan who removed his abusive ass onto the streets of Perth.
A minority attacking a minority, does this happen? Why does this happen? I should be the one attacked, I was working for cash, I was spending my spare time drinking at bars and getting up to wild and wonderful things with other like-minded backpackers. I was definitely not thinking about how I could contribute to Australia, let alone the world. I do forgive myself, I was having a ‘time’ and now I have packed away my party shoes and put on some slippers, but why was Dan being attacked?
He was the hard worker, paying his Australian taxes, legally working and not at all deserving to be abused.
Racism is a topic, I am more than happy to say, I do not understand!
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