tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post1919890545664690439..comments2024-03-26T03:31:06.199-04:00Comments on Ask a Korean!: The Strange Events of Notes and BowlingT.K. (Ask a Korean!)http://www.blogger.com/profile/07663422474464557214noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post-36713602056149760752008-10-16T11:28:00.000-04:002008-10-16T11:28:00.000-04:00Calvin, Nuna's contemplated a lot between various ...Calvin, Nuna's contemplated a lot between various options of getting her opinion across to you with as little damage to, as you put it, Nuna's beloved boss.<BR/><BR/>If you were laughing at the jokes in the post, you weren't laughing at racist jokes. You were laughing at sexist jokes Nuna made at her own expense. <BR/><BR/>No, Nuna isn't entitled to make sexist jokes just for the hell of it. What Nuna is entitled to do, however, is give an entirely absurd answer to an entirely absurd question stripped of its context. Nuna is guessing the others found it funny because the whole premise, starting from having to arbitarily assign a gender to the group, was absurd.<BR/><BR/>This also throws an insight into your sensibilities. Nuna is guessing the sexism behind the jokes were not picked up because it wasn't phrased directly as "Girls are ____."<BR/><BR/>Surely you have realised by now what a huge mistake you have made in the entire premise of your argument. It has gotten to the point from you merely accusing Nuna of being a racist gossipmonger to being selectively blind and hypocritical in your quest to portray Nuna's words in the worst possible light. Do you honestly believe Nuna's disappearance will cause the entirety of the blog to be cleansed of what you accuse Nuna of doing?<BR/><BR/>Nuna suspects you are denigrating Nuna's words and opinions because you have already decided Nuna doesn't form part of whoever you feel defines "us" in this blog. You are so set on this, you petition Nuna to hand in her resignation.<BR/><BR/>Nuna invites you to contact Nuna directly about any further issues you have, using whatever resources that take your fancy. The most obvious way, as you pointed out, is the email right there.<BR/><BR/>Incidentally, it is sad that in your hunt for all the trees, you missed the proverbial forest: Nuna's post was about group mentality.Nunahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473265681637486700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post-35823675857289923392008-10-14T04:30:00.000-04:002008-10-14T04:30:00.000-04:00No need to shuffle through the internet; we had a ...No need to shuffle through the internet; we had a discussion right on this blog on whether the word "racism" includes racially insensitive actions/remarks which is not motivated by racial hatred.<BR/><BR/>In that discussion, The Korean, your boss, sided with "Yes, Racist" camp, stating, <I>The Korean’s belief is that the distinction between "racism" and "racial insensitivity" or "racially inclined actions/thoughts" is illusory.</I> <BR/><BR/>Through statements like <I>"the average Korean believes that people who smile a lot is inferior"</I>, you are pulling on a tight string that's looked down upon by your own boss. That would be misrepresenting his view which also misrepresents the theme of the blog.<BR/><BR/>Even if you believe that your posts are not bound to The Korean's opinions, you should at the very least recognize that making a racially inclined statements regardless of the intents is a controversial area (hence the heated discussion) which you should be sensitive about, especially when it's put on a spotlight.<BR/><BR/>You initially failed to see that your statements are potentially racist(especially on this blog where we had that discussion), and failed again to see that someone actually found your statements racist, even when it was blatantly pointed out.<BR/><BR/>Your defense is that you didn't mean the whole Koreans and it is benign in nature. This is a clear example of why I think you're just not getting it. Regardless of whether those two reasons exclude you from being a racist, the big idea is that <B>you should not categorize people by their race, period</B>. It doesn't matter even if you meant to compliment them. Remember "Afro-American kids can run very, very well"? That was one of the controversial issues that was deemed sensitive.<BR/><BR/>Let me give you some examples:<BR/>Romanians are the hottest! Possibly racist.<BR/>Jews are the smartest! Possibly racist.<BR/>Russians are the tallest! Possibly racist unless proven by statistics.<BR/><BR/>Disagree? Ask A Korean! if those are racist or not. (hint: see the discussion that I mentioned)<BR/><BR/><BR/>You are missing the fundamental theme of the blog, turning this space into a place of stereotypical gossips. You are oblivious to the damages you're doing. Please stop.<BR/><BR/>Note: Regardless of why I think you should stop writing, I still think that your post was funny. Racial jokes are the best!Calvinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11110001668421860209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post-76288076564560032292008-10-10T11:24:00.000-04:002008-10-10T11:24:00.000-04:00Calvin, Nuna was frankly surprised at your comment...Calvin, Nuna was frankly surprised at your comments, and looked up the definition of the word "racism". Nuna's copy of the Australian Oxford Paperback Dictionary (2nd Edition, printed in 1996) defined it as:<BR/>1. belief in the superiority of a particular race; prejudice based on this. <BR/>2. antagonism towards people of other races.<BR/><BR/>Wikipedia states "Racism, by its simplest definition, is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race." <BR/><BR/>Nuna doesn't have a Webster to check whether the entry for racism has a purist definition that separates Wikipedia's conjoined definition, but it appears (here we go with generalisations again) that assigning superiority/inferiority is an inseparable part of the definition of racism.<BR/><BR/>In a purely literary point of view, it appears you are confusing Orientalism with racism. You are stating that Nuna is presenting the Koreans in this frankly bizarre incident as the incomprehensible "other" who cannot escape from their "otherness" and only explained by their "otherness" - the central thesis of Orientalism, as butchered by Nuna because nobody should be subjected to the entirety of Edward Said's writings on it.<BR/><BR/>Yes, Nuna is aware that presenting a defence of an Orientalist viewpoint instead of a Racist viewpoint is like saying it's manslaughter instead of murder in terms of political correctness. Which comes to this point: the statements are not sweeping definitive generalisations made about the race as a whole, nor do they state that the causation of these generalisations necessarily define the race/all individuals identifiable under that race.<BR/><BR/>The trends mentioned within are also benign in nature, and do not assign any merit, fault or even strangeness in any particular race. They can be all easily construed as purely incidental, and do not contain any symbolism or imagery that provoke racist or orientalist sentiments unless one is already racist and views the world in that manner.<BR/><BR/>Nuna also notes that you did not try to dispute the generalisations themselves. If they were such sweeping generalisations that also happened to be damaging, perhaps you would have tried to refute them.<BR/><BR/>Nuna welcomes any number of anthropological explanations supporting or refuting the tendencies Nuna mentioned. However, Nuna has read hundereds of critiques and theories about other subjects which devolved into "just because", and wouldn't be surprised if the reasoning behind these trends was the same. <BR/><BR/>Why do most people's favourite colours lie in the blue spectrum? Why is white associated with good and black with evil? Why is Nuna so prone to getting headaches?<BR/><BR/>All that matters is that Nuna has a headache from the trauma of her high school English classes. Nuna still completed English Extension 2 for her HSC (which is comparable to matriculating with Honours first class), so Nuna will remain vaguely satisfied with sticking it to The Man. <BR/><BR/>Finally, Nuna refuses to wonder why a governing body is invariably referred to as The Man while a country is generally referred to as a woman. Some things just are, and Nuna is glad to leave it at that because Nuna isn't a bloody ankle-biter set out to annoy adults during State of Origin.Nunahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473265681637486700noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post-18367462025607959682008-10-09T02:34:00.000-04:002008-10-09T02:34:00.000-04:00I thought Nuna's response was hilarious. Will you ...I thought Nuna's response was hilarious. Will you be my unni?<BR/><BR/>I think I just realized why my coworkers keep saying I smile a lot...they think I'm dumb as hell!t-HYPEhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12754869629100022097noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post-75599167762168810532008-10-08T20:01:00.000-04:002008-10-08T20:01:00.000-04:00One question that might shed some light on this--d...One question that might shed some light on this--did they girls go to the bowling without John, or was the event cancelled altogether? Perhaps something came up and they all decided not to go. Telling John "we don't want to go bowling with you" may have just been thier clumsy way of telling him the plans were cancelled.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05416966233716140900noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post-79186234103846373042008-10-08T16:27:00.000-04:002008-10-08T16:27:00.000-04:00Maybe they wanted you to make a similar note and p...Maybe they wanted you to make a similar note and put it on their desks? And when you didn't, they decided you are unspeakably rude or a flake, so they dis-invited you?Wandahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02920116687183692937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36405856.post-31917619084411321942008-10-08T13:39:00.000-04:002008-10-08T13:39:00.000-04:00Nuna, I think you're missing the fundemantal theme...Nuna, I think you're missing the fundemantal theme of the blog, turning this space into a place of stereotypical gossips.<BR/><BR/>To my understanding(TK, correct me if I'm mistaken), the theme of this blog is that<BR/>1. Koreans are not special creatures<BR/>2. If Koreans are behaving in a characterizable pattern, here are the social/economic/historic reasons for it<BR/>3. Racism is bad<BR/><BR/>In this post, you said things like:<BR/><I>"the average Korean believes that people who smile a lot is inferior"<BR/>"Koreans favour dark eyes where the pupils are indistinguishable from the iris"<BR/>"A lot of Koreans tend to arrange trips and whatnot "for the experience", and they already know to a certain degree they may not enjoy it"</I><BR/><BR/>Above statements are not only very generalizing and stereotypical(which is against theme 1), you do not provide any social/economic/historic reasons for why you believe so(which is against theme 2). In other words, you generalized behaviours of Koreans without any reasons other than the fact that they're Koreans. That's racist and is against theme 3.<BR/><BR/>While your posts bring a new tone to the blog which is refreshening (as well as entertaining to read), I feel that your posts are not only off topic but also completely in the opposite direction of where this blog was going.Calvinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11110001668421860209noreply@blogger.com