Football fever!
The entire country of Korea has gone ballistic over football (got the pun, quite clever, huh?). Everything revolves around the World Cup. The streets are filled with red and white banners with catchy slogans like "Reds go together", "Korea Fighting" and "Again 2002". Those readers of this blog who know me at least a little might be familiar with the low interest level that I generally have for group sports. But this time I’ve sort of been drawn into the frenzy. Korea played Togo last night and Lauri, Otto, Brian (, some Korean chicks) and myself headed to Seoul City Hall Plaza to watch the game. It started at 10 pm, but Lauri and Brian came already at 2 pm to get us a good sitting spot. The ambience was amazing! At one point I got on Brian’s shoulders and …wow. There were 150 000 strong crowd who all wore red shirts. Before the game started there was pre-show of popular Korean bands. At one point the host came into the crowd to interview people. Of course he spotted us. I didn’t understand what he was saying, but we just shouted and were all supportive of Korea. It was pretty amazing to see your face on these huge-ass screens and have thousands of people scream with you. Soon after, this woman came to talk to us, wanting to do a live interview for TV. First we were to scream and shout like maniacs. Then a reporter would ask us a question, to which we were to reply “KOREAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!” Then she’d ask another question to which we had to reply: “Dae-han-min-guk!” and clap. We practiced a few times and then we were live. I think it went quite well. It was a lot of fun anyway. And of course Korea won the game, so the feeling was quite exhilarating. Here’s a news story of the happening: http://cbs.sportsline.com/worldcup/story/9495570.
I also participated in another big event, but a slightly different one. The Korean Queer Culture Festival was held last week. It culminated with a Street Parade on Saturday. Korea Times staff reporter Juho Tuovinen was on the job. I had real press card and everything. I interviewed a lot people, took tons of pictures and of course walked the walk. I’d never been to a pride before, so I really didn’t know what to expect. It rained all day and I was in really bad mood at first. Korea is a really conservative country and homosexuality is not well-accepted here. About 1000 people participated, which was a lot, but still it was really small for a pride. But the atmosphere was amazing. There was a true sense of unity between the people. Everyone seemed sincerely proud to be there. I ended up hanging out with the foreign crowd. I’m really happy I had the assignment because otherwise I would have never gone. It was truly a great experience. You can read a watered-down version of the article from http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/special/200606/kt2006061316313367670.htm. See how they changed my title from Korea Times Intern to Contributing Writer :)? If you want to read more of my texts, here’s another article that I wrote: http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/special/200606/kt2006061316360567670.htm. It’s about an expat website that got shut down because Koreans were offended by some of its content.
Annina and Pete left for China, but on their last day we took a trip to Everland, a really big amusement Park. I love rollercoaster’s and all the wild rides and in Everland there were plenty. We had a great day! Ted gave me this discount card (like Plussa-kortti or a JC Penney card) to use. The ticket saleswoman didn’t exactly get my drift and I ended up accidentally paying everyone’s entrance with the card. Apparently it had a credit card in it as well. Ups. We’ll of course we gave Ted the cash later, but it’s not that often that you commit credit card fraud. And since when has it been possible to mistake me for a Yoo Wan Sik?
posted by Juho Tuovinen @ 12:36 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
I'm a supporter for korea too even though I'm from Singapore. Good that Korea won the game! Do update your blog often. It is quite interesting to read.
Mihin asti sa majailitkaan siella? Oisin ehka elokuussa Seoulissa..
By the way, onks toi yks jatka noissa kuvissa Lauri nimeltaan ja Jyvaskylasta..
http://expatjane.blogspot.com/2006/08/ugly-americans-young-white-men-korea.html
http://metropolitician.blogs.com/scribblings_of_the_metrop/2006/04/the_vicissitude.html
to be fair, we ALL have privilege. everyone of us. this is another point that must be addressed. too often, so-called "victims" or "the oppressed" like to scream like a martyr at "the oppressor" while absolving themselves, consciously or unconsciously, of any responsibility. this is why power is so damn hard to define, reform, and change. what almost always ends up happening is the "oppressed" often gets power just to repeat the same shit all over again. it's like when i came here: i realized that oppression exists everywhere; the colors and contexts just change. i.e. it's koreans who scream about the evil japanese, while exploiting the memory of the korean war to justify their own hyper-capitalistic, materialistic, screw other "developing countries," embrace all that is american--including the invasion of iraq--crap racist ideology. north korea is guilty of this. zionists are guilty of this. in fact, everyone is guilty of this... but on different levels.
it's like the korean americans i see here who so often put on an air of power--cuz they have so little REAL power in the states--pretending to be rich, successful, and attractive in seoul. they buy into the "seoul is a playground for rich 'americans' like me" bullshit and act as as bad as ignorant white, "western" people (almost always guys) who really believe they've earned their enormous privilege getting paid 50 bucks an hour, getting laid by "easy oriental pussy," while generally looking down on the asian hand that feeds them. by the same token, many koreans do this, too, when they go prancing around south east asia acting like their the shit when they really aren't. it's a cycle. it's a hierarchy that we're all a part of. still, the reality places white, western, males on the top and no one should deny this. koreans can do this in s.e. asia, yes. korean americans can do this in korea and most of asia, yes. (i could if i wanted to in korea; i coudn't, however, even if i wanted to in rome). whites, though, can do this basically anywhere in the world, and that's the difference.
to "blame all white people" is obviously a myopic and silly position. we need to confront our own hypocrisies and take personal responsibility for our actions and the actions of our "race." if korean men want to complain about u.s. imperialism and how white men are stealing their women, it would behoove them to address their own privilege as men in a sexist korean society. so yes, personal responsibility, integrity, and an understanding of your own place in the "problem" is the FIRST step.
i'm always aware--perhaps too much so--of my place as a korean american male with certain privileges. what do i do about this? well, i try not to wallow in guilt and inactivity. that's another danger people fall into, think "white man's burden," "white man's guilt." i try to understand the issue first. one of my professor's said the problem with "activists" is that they assume they already understand the "problem" (race, class, etc.), so they just act. it never occurs to them that our understandings of race and power are still so unsophisticated and shallow as to render any action the same. at the same time, let's not think ourselves into a corner. a balance of action with critical thinking is the goal.
the real problem is how everyone is in denial about the subject. that's the worst thing. that's why you have color-blind, multiculturalists arguing we should get "beyond race" and learn to love each other. or worse--what i often hear by whites AND some koreans here--we should just fuck each other till race isn't a problem (interestingly, this was actually a theory pushed by "progressives" in the 60s that ultimately failed). or they say, to be multicultural, tolerant, and global is to make a lot of international friends, party with them, and eat their food. this is "fighting racism" in the 21st century.
that's like me, a male with privilege, arguing that i'm not a sexist cuz i have many female friends, i like porn, and i have a girlfriend. and yet, sexism is not a thing of the past or something still perpetuated only because we talk about it. let's not talk about it and then it'll dissapear. there is no such thing as men and women. we already had the women's rights movement, so let's get "beyond that." the weakness of this argument is clear and almost no one would deny it. and yet, liberals and conversatives alike continue to talk like this when it comes to race.
liberals like to say it's "class" and not "race." i agree that the extent to which i believed in identity politics (asian power, black power, etc.) has changed. i've always considered myself more of a humanist than a nationalist. in other words, i'm not one of those folks raving about bringing all whites down or having a worker's revolution. i'm coming to believe these extremes are the first symptoms of that same hypocrisy i was talking about. of course, where to draw the line is always the hardest question.
while i'm hesitant to just POINT THE FINGER, i do think it's imperative to address the realities of the situation. and the reality is that so much of the world is still governed by whiteness. case in point, south korea, where militarily, politically, and culturally, the u.s. still rules. you could say this about most of the world. but what about the "people of color" in those countries who are the ones doing the dirty work? they aren't white?
it's important to realize that whiteness doesn't operate like that. it's far more subtle. it has everything to do with those people who buy into that "ethnic myth" but who aren't actually white (so-called whitewashed people) as it does the ones who actually are white, benefit from it, ignore it it, or worse, deny it. it's why in asia "whiteness" is still revered, even though asians deny it. everyone worships lighter skin, bigger eyes, and american "style" here, but they say it's not racism. i read an interesting article about the plastic surgery epidemic in asia and how asians like to defend it by saying they just want prettier "asian eyes." it has nothing to do with whiteness, in other words. but these are the same people who talk about "mixed babies" (white father/asian mother) so positively: "wow... he's so handsome, she's so beautiful with that high nose, small face," while saying shit about black and brown people. ironically, the article mentions how blacks have the same "big eyes and eyelids," but you don't see asians talking about them as standards of beauty. http://web.mit.edu/cultureshock/fa2006/www/essays/koreanbeauty.html
course... you could say this more about imperialism than it is about race. after all, koreans tend to envy the japanese, too--almost as much as they purport to hate them.
but to argue this is to be ignorant of what race really is... it's about power. along with sex and class, it's one of the most salient categories to define, categorize, and exclude.
before asians even had interactions with "the west," they're undoubtably was still a "racial" hierarchy. perhaps the big eyes, wide nose standard was there as well, and you could argue this is separate from the influence of the west. but i disagree. you'd be hardpressed to prove that the rise in plastic surgery in asia didn't happen side by side with the rise of u.s. culture in asia.
another example: the union that screwed me had mostly black leadership, including the president. they were incredibly corrupt. so can i blame white people? maybe to an extent, but i'd be more critical of the racist system that elevated whites into management positions instead of people of color, which in turn, created a environment of intense competition and corruption for the few people of color who "made it" into the higher ranks. it's an issue of resources and how if you have power and you divy some out to those who historically have not had power, you inadvertently create a tense situation where people will kill each other to get a piece of the pie. i saw "hotel rwanda" recently and it reminded me of how colonial powers always divide first, conquer later. of course, with my union situation, you couldn't deny that personal responsibililty and integrity were important, as well. the few blacks that rose to power were obviously bad apples and should've been more introspective. but i'm more critical system that helped foster such inequality.
if you're in denial, you can't even BEGIN to start the process of change.
george lipsitz said how to be against whiteness is to not necessarily be against white people. for one thing, some of the most effective agents of whiteness are not even white themselves: think ward connerly, michelle malkin, condaleeza rice, dinesh d'souza. "white supremacy is an equal opportunity employer; nonwhite people can become active agents of white supremacy as well as passive participants in its hierarchies and rewards. we do not choose our color, but we do choose our commitments. we do not choose our parents, but we do choose our politics. yet we do not make these decisions in a vacuum; they occur within a social strucutre that gives value to whiteness and offeres rewards for racism."
moreover, racism like sexism, is about structures and systems as much as it is about individuals. it's like people saying, "i'm not racist" because they're nice to other people. if only things were so simple. it's the same thing when i see "westerners" here belittling koreans for being so "raw," "provincial," or "racist." it reminded me that if you're the king in the castle, you can afford to think you're prim and proper, morally superior when you you screw people over. that's exactly what washington does when it ransacks the world from its fancy west wing offices. it's a matter of slickness v. crudeness, but it's all systematic. the fact that whites can claim they aren't racist speaks to the incredible power they have: they benefit from a system that renders their privilege invisible.
one of the hardest things about thinking like this, talking about these issues, is the issue of legitimacy. i went to a conference here recently and the speaker, walden bellow, mentioned how the path to legitimacy is the path to domination. whenever you talk about race in america, you're usually branded an extremist, racist, or a just a hater. it's that whole debate about the social sciences fighting to be taken seriously. you say something about chemistry or science and people tend to believe in your authority on the subject. i say something and i'm branded a post-modern, race-baiting, demogogue/dilletante.
to be honest, i'm often confused these days. walking around korea and seeing how their has always been an oppressive class and an oppressed class whose faces aren't necessarily white--the category i always associated with having the most power--challenges my old assumptions. i could even imagine if japan actually one the war and asians ran the war, would everyone be scrambling to fight "asianness?" perhaps, but that, again isn't my point. another racial hierarchy would have been created, one where asians were on top and benefitted the most. japan didn't win and the u.s. came on top, which is why you have whites on top. this is the reality we must face. and even though i'm in asia, i still see how much power the "white west" has. whereas in the states things privilege isn't as cut-and-dry, perhaps because we're so used to living with diversity, here it really is if you're white and speak english, you're given major preferential treatment. the asians who perpetutate this are just as guilty, but you can't blame them for being so brainwashed. on the flip side, a non-white, non-westerner could only imagine going to "the west" and receiving the same privileges (get an easy job that pays bank for speaking a language you were born with, be considered "elite" or "attractive" with all its perks: easy and even encouraged access to women--another form of unearned dominance, and even eventual inclusion into the society you "adopted"). this is privilege i've seen up front and probably the main reason i've become even more militant on the subject.
just the same, when i realize how much power whites have here (especially in comparison to "korean americans" like me), i wonder if it's more cuz koreans project that power and give it to them or because whites passively accept it. ultimately, that's what power is though: whether or not you accept or deny it, it'll be there in the end. if you wonder WHY koreans project so much power on them, you need look no further than how much hollywood has saturated most world media--a space still dominated by white faces and western settings.
alas, i'm no where as articulate as my "mentors" on this subject. but to answer your question, i think what you CAN DO is to stay curious, critical, and active in the discussion. i think it's about questioning some of your long-standing beliefs and really seeing if they still hold up to different criticism. (i've done this myself and it hasn't always been pleasant; but it's still crucial). i also think it's important to listen to others, without belittling or dismissing their position (you've never done this... just a good principle for everyone). i think everyone has a legitimate reason to believe what they do. it's up to us to keep the discussion alive and keep talking. after all, what kills everything is apathy and inaction.
not to put too fine a point on it, but you do have the unique position of being white american. you admitted this, and i give you props for this. it be nice if i got more props from my own fellow "korean americans" for admitting my own privilege. most of them could give a shit about anything i've written in this email!
even i didn't realize just how powerful whiteness was until i came here. it doesn't define you as a person, obviously, but it is still very significant in that it has shaped--perhaps more powerfully than any of your other "identities--who you are today. that's how i feel about my "korean american"-ness. like it or not, i have certain privileges and disadvantages for being asian, american, male, straight, etc. if it starts to feel like i'm saying white people have ONLY privilege and no disadvantages... i'm not saying that. but i do think many white people have a tendency to not realize just how much they have in the global scheme of things.
after thinking, i encourage taking action, whether it's getting involved with some of the many activist groups in san diego (pick your issue), writing a blog, writing an article, or most importantly, educating people, your friends--especially those who were "unaware" like you--about the subject (particularly those dating an asian girlfriend but honestly believing "love is color-blind." ;) i have particular beef with this issue now ;)
talk about these issues. argue about them. disagree. it's all good. we need more people like you. i need more people like you ;) ultimately, as you're more than aware of, i never get tired of this subject.
all of this advice, by the way, i myself am trying to follow--though not always successfully.
if you have time, look into the following:
good article:
http://www.colorlines.com/article.php?ID=169
tim wise
excellent speech:
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=5023&nav =& (powerful)
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php?op=program-info&program_id=3877&nav =&
george lipsitz (my old mentor):
http://www.amazon.com/Possessive-Investment-Whiteness-Identity-Politics/dp/1592134947/sr=1-1/qid=1172725316/ref=sr_1_1/102-6025216-1925755?ie=UTF8&s=books
steven steinberg:
http://www.amazon.com/Ethnic-Myth-Ethnicity-Class-America/dp/080704153X/sr=1-1/qid=1172725417/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6025216-1925755?ie=UTF8&s=books
david roediger:
http://www.amazon.com/Wages-Whiteness-American-Haymarket-Paperback/dp/1859842402/sr=1-1/qid=1172725458/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6025216-1925755?ie=UTF8&s=books
http://www.amazon.com/Working-Toward-Whiteness-Americas-Immigrants/dp/B000MKYKYA/sr=1-2/qid=1172725458/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/102-6025216-1925755?ie=UTF8&s=books
no pplz now looking at korea for fosahon n all tat cuz i kno alot of people here in uk hu r korean wanna be n trust me there lods of them,
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