Thoughts on Minjok and The Matrix

What do we mean by "race?"

As I teach my students, both at the high school and the university level, "race" – along with other concepts such as "gender" and "nation" – are all socially constructed categories that are not real. By this, I mean to say that such a "social construction" does not empirically exist outside of the social system that made it. Much as in The Matrix, the system and all of the meanings inside don't have any real meaning; but what I think makes that film – and the inherent social critiques it provides – work is the fact that despite the system having been constructed, it and everything within it becomes real because everyone within the system agrees on its reality. And if you die in the Matrix, you die in real life. I like that, because, as I explain to students, just because race is constructed as a social category doesn't mean it hurts any less when a cop is beating you with his billy club. Rodney King couldn't have stopped and said, "Please stop, good sirs! Remember that race and my very blackness is a social construction no more real than your constructed whiteness!" POW, POW.

But at the same time, we can't forget that the very social categories we are trained to use are never constructed outside of the context of maintaining social hierarchy, control, and the interests of the greater power structure. The Matrix takes this literally, as human beings are represented as being the source of the system's power, yet that system is also the source of the individual's enslavement. "Sweet," I thought when I first laid eyes on this spectacular film back in 1999. "Now I finally have an easy and cool way to explain ideology and social constructions."

The complete control of the Matrix works only and precisely because it essentially hides its very existence. In Gramscian and Chomskyian terms, I can now more easily explain to students that overt, forced coercion and control don't work; people inevitable resist, dictatorships eventually destroyed. Like a Lucasfilm ending, the Death Star always gets blown up in the end. But when you create a system of complete hegemony – a term overused and hardly understood by most undergraduates who use it to sound cool – you really got something.

"Hegemony" is something I define to my high school history students as "control not through coercion, but consent." If you fool people into desiring certain things, into believing that they actually made a choice about their present situation within a system of choices, people generally tend to accept their fate, their social position. That's why Chomsky talks about the need to "manufacture consent" in liberal democracies; indeed, he says, it is within such systems that it is so difficult to resist and challenge the power structure. The media sets the terms of the debate, people protest through socially acceptable channels, voters decide between two candidates from two political parties that are essentially the same, and the show just goes on. So, as the Oracle says in the second Matrix film, everything is about choice. This is obvious from even the first film, when Neo is given the blue and red pills with which to make the symbolic choice to wake himself up from the Matrix – you have to choose to see the light; it can't be simply shown to you.

If you want to get deeper and talk about our ability to choose – what is known in critical theory as agency – the fact that Smith is the key factor that sets the whole Matrix off course and into the hands of Neo is a brilliant expression of this idea within the plot: Neo having accidentally overwritten part of his resistant nature onto Smith at the end of the first movie, when Neo apparently "destroyed" him, made Smith into a literal "free agent," able to operate and make choices – self-interested ones – outside of the system. As it stated in the third film, Neo and Smith are Alpha and Omega, the flip-sides of the same coin. The only question is that of whether Smith's viral form of "free will" will eventually spread and take away that of humanity's, or whether the consequences of Neo's choice – as obvious Christ-figure and inevitable sacrificial lamb when he uploads himself as the code that will destroy Smith – will give humanity back its freedom, it's agency.

See, as we found out in the conversation with the very Freudian Architect in the second film, the role of "The One" is actually as a function of the system's full knowledge that some people – a very small fraction – will reject the program (ideology, social constructs) and resist. "This is about Zion," Neo realizes. The system plans for this eventuality by making the Matrix as real as possible – full of pain and pleasure, joy and pain – and the element of choice. The Oracle was "the intuitive program" who figured that shit out. But there's still that niggardly (and oh, yes, I do assign a lot of meaning to the fact that there were indeed a lot of niggas in the Matrix films, a series about resistance to enslavement) problem of the people who don't accept the program and will unplug, organize, and fight. "The One" is the control key that will take the best resisters and restart Zion as the Machines hit restart on the Matrix. Smart – "keep your friends close and your enemies closer." Better to have a group of resistance fighters whom you created and controlled and can eventually destroy when the time comes, rather than a real group of rabble-rousers outside of the system that is more difficult to co-opt and control.

In the end, everything ends as the Machines would want, with the one new caveat that those who choose to live in the fantasy world are now actually doing so by real, albeit passive choice, as defined by the fact that if you want to wake up and unplug from the Matrix, you can do so and live truly free. Mankind gets its freedom - its agency – back because of Neo's original choice and ultimate sacrifice.

"Shit gets deeper."

Let's come back to Earth and the matter of our "matrix" of the social construct. Now, some Korean folks might say that such concepts are "Western" and don't apply to Korea. Well, that might be a good argument were it not for the fact that the very notions of "race" and "nation" and "history" itself were all first invented in the West and had great influence on the East. Does that mean that these concepts are inherently Western and that the East exists in a western mode? No. What I mean to say is that like any idea that spreads far beyond the borders of its origin point – this being the intellectual equivalent of the gene, the "meme" – such ideas continue spreading because of their own inherent merit, regardless of the place where they originated. And the further away it runs and evolves away from its original creation point, the less it is tinged with the specifics of the culture that produced it. So such memes such as "democracy" or "inalienable rights" may have started with the American constitution, but that doesn't mean such ideas remain uniquely American anymore.

Such is the case with Korean academia, which, for people academics and intellectuals who know something about the origins of the ideas in places such as history and anthropology, owes a great deal of its intellectual origins with Japan, China, the United States, and Europe – in that order of degree. The very idea of the use of a "nationalist historiography" to overtly create pride in the nation and a sense of national identity itself – one that Koreans trace back to Shin Chae Ho – goes back to its original Japanese architects, who were greatly influenced by Prussian ideas of "History" all the way back in Europe.

The fact that most Koreans really don't know much about Shin – except for what they read in tertiary sources (textbooks), which were themselves compiled by companies outsourced by the Korean Educational Development Institute, a government body directly supported by the Ministry of Education – illustrates this point.

Even if the general Korean wanted to wade through the Chinese characters Shin heavily utilized to write his works and knew about the great intellectual debts he had to Chinese and Japanese scholars, it would be still nearly impossible to get direct access to his collected works; they recently went out of print and I am desperately trying to find a copy of one of the three key volumes in the series. Such is the importance Korean society gives to its most vaunted historiographical founder; the collected works of the architect of Korean history itself is something that most Koreans can't read without assistance, and can't even buy.

Here's my point: most of the intellectual concepts with which anyone in the world uses as the bases of their national identity – in the Korean case minjok is the key organizing concept – is in itself little more than 100 years old. The myth of Korean history and people going back to 5,000 years depends on a self-defining concept of "us" that must be inherently de-historicized in order to work. Think back on Korean history; it is fraught with fighting kingdoms, battling "nations." They inherently thought of themselves as different from one another to fight with each other, and whatever identity one had was surely defined as different from that of the others. And yes, Korean "culture" has links to them all. But historical links do not a national identity make. Ask Shin Chae Ho or any other nationalist who has helped construct a national history – you need to actively build a national identity through myths and heroes, stories and fables. There must be central organizing concepts chosen to organize the others – the notion of minjok so close to Shin's heart was not naturally understood to be "real" before the 1900's – the construction of the modern notion of minjok and the nation is Shin's legacy. If it had existed before, why would historians remember him?

In the scan below, taken directly from the same stash of textbooks I lifted from my school and put in my bags before departing Korean in 1996, I have presented a section of the "Morals" textbook in the course of the same name that first-year middle school students are required to take.  And by the way, for the people complaining that the previous dictionary excerpts I presented were too "old" – my whole point in talking about these things is that is partially from such books and materials such as these that my former students – who are now in their early and mid-20's – form not only their own self-images, but images of others (non-Koreans) as well.

In this excerpt, the book asks why "we" would feel embarrassed to see a Korean behave recklessly in front of a foreigner, "our" face turning bright red in shame. Why would we feel like that? Because we all share the same "bloodline" and the same "consciousness" flows through that blood. I'll translate directly the paragraph I made a red star next to:

The minjok can be defined as having been passed down the same bloodline, using a common language, and that which has lived on between a common history and culture that is the basis of a consciousness of a community of 'us' that constitutes the group. Therefore – just like how we are constituted from the same blood as that of our ancestors – the minjok is made up of the concepts of family, ethnic group, or tribe, we sometimes point to the race and call it a large family. Just because a member of a large family lives far away doesn't mean that they stop being called family. In the same way, as a person born as a member of our race living in a foreign country, even if they have acquired another nationality, that person cannot come to the conclusion that they are not a part of our race.

Click the pic to enlarge.

So it's not difficult to see why Koreans tend to be so essentialist about "race" and "nation" and "people" as they are conflated into the concept of minjok. When your school textbooks are busy defining the limits of the nation in such strict and blood-based ways, it is difficult to even try to imagine something else as being true; in fact, since so many people talk and think about minjok in this way that supports what the textbook says, where in everyday Korean culture could one find an alternative model of identity, a different way of imagining being Korean? Is it any surprise, then, that the news announcers actually talked about the "crisis" in the national blood supply? It's not that there's missing a certain rare type of blood, but it was a minor scandal in the early 1990's that "foreign" blood was "diluting" the "pure" Korean blood that would be given to transfusion patients. It sounds ridiculous to Western sensibilities, which are used to thinking about race in mostly genetic terms; but in a country obsessed with consanguinity, family lineage, and a Korean "blood quantum" (to borrow a term from Indian country), it makes a perverse sort of sense. Especially when your textbooks have been saying so for years.

It's a difficult thing to wrap one's mind around – since we were all born, raised, and educated to not only think of such concepts as "race" and "blood" as real; but remember that we were also trained to not question the origins of such notions. If we did that, then the whole fantasy would come tumbling down, like being unjacked from The Matrix; for this reason, no matter how much importance middle school textbooks place on the importance of the minjok, they will never, ever discuss the origins of the term itself. I don't think it's even a grand conspiracy theory – the textbook authors, as writers of a tertiary source, probably never even thought of this issue as they compiled information from the available secondary sources (books), and they almost certainly did not do original historical research themselves, consulting primary sources from the times. No one ever thinks to ask the questions:

"How old is the present concept of the minjok?"

"When did the modern notion of Korean identity itself begin?"

"What were earlier versions of identity that existed on this land we now call Korea?"

If such questions were asked – in any country – the results would be surprising. They would also reveal what most national propagandists are loathe to reveal – that the structure (albeit not the content) of national identity itself across all the nations in the world is more similar than it is different; in fact, it is almost the same. We all have different myths, symbols, and rationalizing ideologies, but the way in which we use them is exactly the same. If you want to check out Benedict Anderson's foundational work in the field of nationalism studies, you'll see that while it is somewhat centered on many European examples, the mechanics work, even in the cases of Asian nations, and especially in the case of Korea.

How dissimilar is Korea, really, from Anderson's explanation? Like most other nations in the world, what was required to create the present, modern notion of "Korea" was a national language, the spread of literacy, forms of mass media such as newspapers, the creations of "invented traditions" that perhaps pre-existed the nation but surely found new authority once the state gave them official sanction, etc. The list could go on, and there are always historically specific reasons parts of the Korean case doesn't fit into the Western model written in the 1980's. But when you look at modern Korean nationalism's founding moments from the 1880's and the colonial nightmare that gave them real power, or the appearance of Commodore Perry's black ships in the 1850's and the resultant "choice" of the Japanese to abandon their old ways and modernize from 1868, or the case of what is now France, Germany, the United States, or any other modern nation – the details and individual contenst differ, but the vessel is exactly the same.

In this way, one can't find any such thing as a "natural" national identity that isn't enforced by unnatural concepts instilled by unnatural institutions such as schools, national media, and invented traditions. People who live in what is now the "United States of America" still considered themselves English citizens up even until early 1776, even after the shooting war already started. How many times has the basic conception of "German" changed even in a single century? Germans alive in 1942 had a completely different notion of who was and wasn't a citizen – a true German – and the basis for inclusion within the group was based on notions of racialized pseudo-science which created concepts that the state wanted. Before that, there was a previous republic and before that "German" identity was centered around villages and provinces organized around the whims of royalty.

Look at the present notions of identity between even the two Koreas. What streak of historical continuity do the two Korea's really have in common between them? Yes, the two modern nations are "cultural cognates" of one another, but they are far more different than they are similar to one another. Historians always think in terms of the two competing concepts of historical "continuity and change" and try to trace historical connections to the past against historical breaks that mark the introduction of something new. One of the arrogant fantasies of South Koreans is that they share a lot in common with their "brethren" in north by these constructed notions of "blood" and consanguinuity; but I think it will come as a huge shock if and when the two Koreas come together to see that the differences of even a little more than half a century make for two really different peoples. Notions of social responsibility, the government's role in the life of the individual, and the fact of two hugely different economic/social ideologies of blind capitalism vs. authoritorian communism is going to make for two very different peoples coming together. Next to that, the rosy notion of minjok doesn't stand a chance.

Don't believe me? Let history play out – wait and see. See if the following doesn't come true:

– In the South Korean economy and society, North Korean men will become the most desired unskilled laborers, as they replace the undesirable foreign workers (because they are a threat to the "purity" of the Korean race) and will become available at whatever price the South Korean economy wants to pay them. They will be mostly based in the North, where the majority of South Korean factories will be, and on a limited basis as the result of special work visas that will be issued to them if they work in the South. These North Korean males will be shunned as marriage partners for South Korean women, and most South Korean families will 반대 the marriage of their daughters to North Korean men.

– North Korean women, however, will be the #1 hot commodity for South Korean men, as the recent disgusting media display of public (male) salivation over "North Korean beauties" and the re-popularization of the old saying of "남남북녀" (southern men for northern girls) indicate. Considering the fact that advertisements for "Marrying Vietnamese Virgins" are a common sight all over any Korean city – because of the ever-present problem of the male-tilted gender disparity caused by pre-natal screening that leads to the increasingly higher rate of abortions of girls as a couple without a son heads towards 2nd, 3rd, and 4th children – who better to marry than someone within "our" own minjok? I wonder which will win out – the dropping birth rate and the increasing expense of raising kids leading to less children overall and increased use of pre-natal screening to exterminate would-be daughters, or the inevitable (and positive) decreasing importance of gender itself in South Korean society. Hopefully the latter factor will grow such as to decrease the power of the former one, but only time will tell. But considering the myriad ways that women's bodies are already commodified as objects of consumption in South Korean society, North Korean women, with their lack of economic and social power, don't have much bright to look forward to in South Korea.

A movie with the popular saying as the title.

Yes, there will be famous examples of prominent and successful former North Koreans on formerly South Korean televisions, and in movies, newspapers, and other places in the public eye. But mark my words, the Korean notion of "minjok" will be utilized – as it has for a little more than 100 years – to accomplish the goals of the state and the elite that is largely in control of it. Images of reunited families and touching stories will abound on Korean televisions after any big national reunification. But that is, ladies and gentlemen, will be simply the beginning of another sad story, even as it will seem like the ending to one previous. Ideologies of nationalism shift and change with the times, but their utility to the group in power does not. I know many people won't agree, but see if this little chart of social hierarchy doesn't seem like it won't make sense, even before the fact:

– South Korean man
– South Korean woman
– North Korean woman
– North Korean man

Who would you want to be 10 years from now? Who do you think will have the most soci0-economic options? The least? How much will the power of the concept of minjok have once North and South are reunited? Who do you think will have the power to dominate the way North Korean history will be written and taught in the schools if North Korea ceases to exist?

And ya'll thought Ethnic Studies wasn't useful. Homework responses can be submitted in the comments sections.

Comments

[Hater Depot]

Michael,

I think you're bang on right. The only thing I'm left really wanting to know -- and this is true of every discussion I've read or participated in about the social construction of ideas useful to elites -- is, what is the mechanism by which the constructions are put together? I mean, the one part of the Matrix analogy that really fails is that in human society there isn't a group of nefarious, non-human programmers standing outside of the society and shaping it to their needs.

I don't doubt that some people have consciously tried to construct notions of identity, whether of race, class, or anything else, that would benefit their group. But surely those who consciously realize what they are doing must be the tiniest of minorities, right?

I'm not sure if I'm being clear, but what I'm trying to say is that I don't like the conspiracy-theory implications of the usual way of presenting this argument. I would like it much better if it were acknowledged, perhaps, that the vast majority of people buy into the Matrix and reinforce its constructions without consciously intending to do that. The American media might construct Asian men as sexless wimps, for example, but I don't believe that the writers, producers, etc., are thinking to themselves "If we keep the Asian men down, we can steal their women!", even if that might accurately be described as the ultimate effect. There has to be some subtler machinery working in their heads.

[The Metropolitician]

I feel ya on the issue of the "who" constructs the "matrix" of ideology in society. It's the key question I'm always asked by sharper students.

You're right – that is where the film and reality break down. In the film Matrix of control and power, there is a clear enemy and process by which humans are enslaved. In the real world, as is always the case, the mechanisms are not so clean-cut and made for easy utilization in a plot designed to have a conclusive, exciting climax; but this doesn't mean the process is difficult to describe. So who constructs the matrices of ideology that keeps in control? We all do, to differing extents. Therein lies the irony.

In the end, the group who benefits from ideologies and social control are those who lie within concentric circles of power as many kinds of dominant groups. Men over women, whites over blacks, straights over gays, rich over poor, educated over non, etc. – IN THE AGGREGATE. I am not saying that each and every person occupying a place in the dominant groups in society is the culprit; but in the big picture, if you look at who has the most power in society, the pattern becomes clear. Americans don't like to admit this, but it's always hard to look your own Matrix in the eye. So you take examples: look at the President of the United States, arguably the most powerful position in America. Has there ever been a president who was not white, male, straight, educated, and affluent – at least in the public eye and by the time he became president? Look at the lowest rungs of society. You won't see many who fit that bill there.

But that's not the explanative part, dear blog trolls waiting for an excuse to flame me. Who gets what insociety is decided by many processes, all of which we assign legitimacy. For example, the SAT has been shown from its inception to be a poor predictor of performance in college. In fact, there is a 1:1 correlation between socio-economic status and test scores that speaks to other concrete causes: inequalities in education vis a vis school funding, the economics of test-prep services, and the minor factor of cultural bias in the testing. Yet, even though most experts agree that the test is simply a reflection of present inequalities rather than an objective test of real ability and potential, we all still stress out over and place stock in our SAT scores. And we then factor that number into an overall profile of "merit" and convince ourselves that we deserve the social positions we later acquire. The tests are designed to keep the group in power REMAINING in power; that's how it works, right? Too contemporary an example? Too complex to sum up into a paragraph? Let's get more concrete.

Take the example of the racial cateogry "black." It was clearly created with the idea in mind to keep slaves in a permanent status, as slaves became more valuable than indentured servants, more secure than said servants (they were never expected to be paid dues and given lands upon completion of their indentures), and had the added bonus of producing more slaves for essentially free, since the status was made hereditary. Moreover, even slavemasters who slept with slaves and made babies cut off any claims to their property and rights by making the status passed on through the mother, and then went the step further to equivocate "slave" to "black" and then define blackness in terms of the "one-drop" rule; in most states, this meant that if you were 1/16 or eve 1/32 black, you were black; which meant you were a slave. Convenient. You enjoy sexual license with female slaves, and if you slip up and make a baby – it's an addition to your labor force! Sweet!

Well, that definition of the category "black" stuck and became so entrenched that even after the structure that had included it had changed, i.e. slavery as an institution ceased to exist, the social category had hardened into accepted social practice – it had become a social instutution unto itself.

But always remember, in the cases I'm talking about, concrete structure is what creates the categories, and the motor that keeps this stuff running is one of interest; by this I mean interest in keeping one's apparent "race" in power, as well as maximizing that power in terms of the interests of the individual. So that's why poor whites benefit from "white" being included as a category; you can interpret that in pure materialist terms such as ensuring that they dominate the labor market, or you can talk in pure psychological terms, as whites at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder at least have someone else below them.

But we all participate in this system. Those towards the top manipulate by supporting the social/legal/economic/political practices that benefit them, while those towards the bottom try to resist this process as best as possible, even while often falling victim to its pervasive logic. That's the true irony – but we all then come to occupy the same matrix. For example, even the poor in America grumble about and certainly don't like being poor; but most people don't rise up against the system of capitalism itself, as many died-in-the-wool Marxists would like them to do. Again, speaking in Marx's words – many ideologies define the "false consciousness" that blocks certain classes and groups from seeing the "real" source of their oppression.

Hence, the beauty and trick of the Matrix is that it actually keeps its very existence out of view, leaving us to fight against shadows, fantasies, and mental constructs. In the concrete, it pits poor "whites" against "blacks" against "invading" Chinese immigrants against "dirty Irish Papists." But in fact, these groups share a common socio-economic space and keeps our eyes off the real problem. No one looks at the system and says, "Hey! Does it have to be like this? Why are there poor people?" or even ask the question, "When is someone too poor? Where does basic social responsibility begin for government?" America has a strong allergy to so-called "socialism" – even when it's obvious that we're the only developed democracy in the world that doesn't take basic care of its citizens and that it's actually a huge burden on our economy. But tell that to the right-wing that calls Hilary – for better or worse – a "Communist."

[Alex]

What mechanism...

Nice. I like seeing the Matricies applied to social critiques. The movies cover a lot of ground and can be read into a bunch of critical theory with the added benefit that the moves are cooler to watch than critical theory is to read. In university I never got to choose whether to spend 6 course-hours with cranky grad students or 6 movie-hours with bullet cams and scary robots, but I would have taken the latter in a heartbeat...

The question of social controls, what the "heart" of the mechanism that produces concepts of race, of religion, of leaders: Of *Power* is, in a word, us. It's the interaction of self-interest and society. It's people being what they are: Both individuals and social animals.

In seventh grade, during social studies class, we were all introduced to Maslow's heirarchy of needs. The lowest tier, the needs that must be fulfilled for people to survive and as individuals were (are), primary physiological needs. They're the things we've got to do to live and reproduce: They're the things that, primarily, drive self-interest. Obviously, the more power you have within a society than you're going to have more access to them.

*Sex,* is the a priori most forceful need down there (among access to food, water and the internet). It drives distinctions between cultures and, in the case of some, nations. Whether you're unknowing bending to the social norms that justify poverty, racism or first-born sons inheriting everything, it's important is that people *do* benefit somehow not just from perpetuating them but by taking advantage of those norms to define themselves as a "select" from hoi polloi. If there was no tangable benefit to the idea of minjok, it would go away without people ever being disabused of the notion.

Cypher goes back into the Matrix on his own accord, his agency to do so as well as the fact that he becomes the late president Regan attest to the appeal that social norms have for us.
People are psychologically "built" to socialize, to discriminate and to stereotype. We just *do* it, behaviors beyond recrimination. When we can use those mental weaknesses to our advantage to secure more power, regardless of the conduit (religion, racism, violence, etc.) we will. When those notions become at most an institution or at the least commonly-held beliefs the result is just what is being discussed: Social assumptions that hurt or vaunt one group of people within a larger, more diverse, group.

[Anti-Lin/Anti-Confucious]

Impressive argument. I agree that Naion is constructed. But, it is difficult to agree with your explicit and implict notion that 'nation should be de-historicized.' Your interpretation of Gramscian hegemony does not entirely refute 'essentialism.' Hegemony not only rules by 'consent' but produces 'facts' and 'factuality'(suggested readings: comaroff and comaroff; michael herzfeld). Then, the question is whether we have 'essential truths and facts' beyond the realms of hegemonic control. If you think hegemonic notions of nation should be de-constructed and de-historicized because it is a deception through false consent, you need to suggest, then, what we are going to face after that. (here, I am following Chris Lorenz's criticism on hayden white). Perhaps, completion of neo-liberal projects of commodification/marketization/atomization? Or making all societies look like America? - I can sense it from many Andersonean writings.
Think carefully about why post-modernists are so easily and frequently recruited by right wing liberalists - especially in Korea, as shown in the sensational publication of 'the re-interpretation of the history of liberation.'
Finally, if you think true agency can be achieved through complete escape from hegemony, that idea is too romantic. Many koreans are gaining their agency by participating the grand narratives of nationalism; whether ugly or not. Perhaps they are doing that because it is the surest way of gaining agency. I am not saying it is desirable or good. That is just one reality; just as Muslim women achieve their agency through politics of piety (Saba Mahmood).

One more. Your lecture reminds me westerners criticisms on 'barbarious korean life, customs, habits' in the late 19th century and on 'lazy, dirty, stupid Korean work ethic and culture in the 1950s. I do not ridicule or condemn american kids or youngsters who yell 'chinks!' behind me. I just think what kinds of life they had to get through. Those kids are not the possessor of hegemony; they are victims. When you lecture on the stupidity of korean nationalism, think carefully about the power relations and your position in that power relation.

[Aaron]

Anti, I totally disagree with your assertion of the similarity between Michael's arguments and late 19th-century Western critiques of Korea. Any comprehensive reading of this website will reveal him as someone who sinceretly respects Korean culture. As for his position in power relations, he has repeatedly acknowledged his privileged status as an American in Korea.

I think Michael is actually arguing that modern Korea has internalized these racist Western critiques of the late 19th century. It has appropriated the hierarchical and social-Darwinist concepts of race it learned from the West (mostly through Japan), turning them on its own marginal groups.

[jindo]

"The American media might construct Asian men as sexless wimps, for example, but I don't believe that the writers, producers, etc., are thinking to themselves "If we keep the Asian men down, we can steal their women!", even if that might accurately be described as the ultimate effect. There has to be some subtler machinery working in their heads."

Naturally. Michael, do you find it interesting to note that Jews, themselves a minority, have dominated the media?

[Hater Depot]

Oh, Lord. Please don't turn out to be another Jew-bashing gyopo.

[Aaron]

Please. The "Jews dominate the media" canard is just another way to turn minority groups against each other.

[jindo]

Wait a moment. I don't hate Jews - I have tremendous respect for them. What I'm saying is that I hear a lot of ranting from Korean American males (myself excluded) about how the media is out to castrate Asian males. But since none of them manages to back it with any hard evidence, I think the misunderstanding may be cultural - they may just not know a bris from a bi-lateral oophorectomy.

[jindo]

By the way Aaron, the role that Jews have played in American society, including the media has been far and above their numerical representation and, in my view, something worthy of the utmost respect. I don't see it as either a canard or and insult to note that Jewish people have been among the most visionary in all fields of human endeavor and that they are one of the great influences that has made America great.

I was simply wondering how a person can blame Hollywood for an anti Asian bias when it has also managed to reflect the humanist values of secular Jewish Americans.

I feel that as Asian Americans, we should think twice before thowing around wild accusations of racism. Isn't there is an inherent contradiction in disrespecting others while demanding their respect?

[Aaron]

Jindo, I may have misunderstood you, but I was responding to your comment, "do you find it interesting to note that Jews, themselves a minority, have dominated the media?" You said that immediately after referring to Michael's comment about constructions of Asian men. That implied to me that you felt Jews were somehow responsible for poor representations of Asian men in the media (a view I've certainly seen before). It appears now that you didn't mean that, but I'm still not sure what exactly you were trying to argue. What are the "humanist values of secular Jewish Americans" that Hollywood has "managed to reflect"?

One should be careful about constructing Jews as wildly successful or overrepresented, because such ideas have more than a little in common with the "model minority" stereotype of Asian Americans.

On the question of Jews and Hollywood, I'd refer you to an excellent write-up by the ADL here. (I do this not because I think you or anyone else on this site is anti-Semitic or believes in a vast Jewish conspiracy to control the media, but just in case you find it useful.)

Most relevant quote from that report:

"Generally, Jews involve themselves in non-religious and non-political activity as individuals, not as Jews. ADL takes the position that the number of Jews involved in a particular field bears no relationship to 'Jewish power' or 'Jewish control' of that industry. ADL does not accept the notion that Jews in any field act in concert with other Jews similarly situated simply because they happen to be Jewish."

[Hater Depot]

I would say that Hollywood reflects whatever is the conventional morality of the day. To do otherwise would be risky and Hollywood studios are very risk-allergic.

[islay]

Thank you for writing this post and writing so plainly and passionately. More importantly, thank you for posting it on the Internet. You and I and obviously many others who have replied to this post have access to “J-store” and other academic heavens (where we can find most of your basic points but, unfortunately, in much more difficult to understand language), but many 'Koreans' and 'Others' checking out blogs do not have access. So your post is, well, worthwhile.

[ghgfh]

get some fukin' girlfreinds you cocksuckin' queers.

[A Reader]

Who let him out of the zoo...hey, ghgfh, go back to your cage.

[David]

Cute post but really rather pointless. First, I would love for someone to explain to me how gender is a social construct. Either you have a penis or you have a vagina and this exists inside or outside of any society.

Second, your comment that "Neo having accidentally overwritten part of his resistant nature onto Smith at the end of the first movie, when Neo apparently "destroyed" him, made Smith into a literal "free agent," able to operate and make choices – self-interested ones – outside of the system." clearly indicates your either inability to understand a very simple concept or you are just reading way to far into the story.

When Neo beat Smith, Smith was removed from the system. Smith was proven to be ineffective and without purpose and anything without a purpose is deleted. Neo transfered nothing to Smith. Smith's later evolution beyond even his programming was nothing more that the system attempting to balance the equation. Smith was the negative to Neo's positive. Just the fact that even think Smith was able to make choices compeltely negates the entire fight at the end of the last movie.

"Why do you persist Mr. Anderson? Why! Why!"

"BECAUSE I CHOOSE TO" is Neo's answer. Even though Neo knew he could not win, even though he knew he was going to die he still chose to fight and this was something that Smith could never understand.

So in that aspect, you are dead wrong. Next, came this comment "Well, that might be a good argument were it not for the fact that the very notions of "race" and "nation" and "history" itself were all first invented in the West and had great influence on the East." and is one that I take significant umbrage with.

See, I may be just some dumb Westerner but I know for damn sure that it was not just the west that came up with the concept of race, nation or even history. In all honesty I'm not really sure what insanity you are talking about to insinuate that "history" was invented by the west. That's just....dumb.

Anyway, I would love for you to explain to me how the West had anything to do with the rise and fall of Ghengis Khan and his attempt to unite the Mongolian Hordes. I would love for you to explain how the West had anything to do with the formations of the various Chinese provinces. I would especially love for you to explain to me how anyone from the West had anything what so ever to do with the formation of the Three Kingdoms and their subsequent years of economic and military competition.

The fact remains that you have constantly and continuously put the carriage before the horse throughout this entire joke of an argument.

Gender and ethnic differences existed long before the creation of any manner of classification.

The Japanese Samurai, after finally uniting Japan established 4 distinct classes, that is true. But those classes were not simply created arbitrarily. They were created from groups that already existed. All the Samurai did was codify them. Yes, this codification was done with the explicit purpose of controlling the people but again, do not place the carriage before the horse. The classes existed, perhaps covertly, but they still existed.

If anything the need for these classeshas been proven time and again as they provide a bar for individuals and groups to set for themselves so they can measure their progress.

Lastly, your comment "One of the arrogant fantasies of South Koreans is that they share a lot in common with their "brethren" in north by these constructed notions of "blood" and consanguinuity; but I think it will come as a huge shock if and when the two Koreas come together to see that the differences of even a little more than half a century make for two really different peoples. Notions of social responsibility, the government's role in the life of the individual, and the fact of two hugely different economic/social ideologies of blind capitalism vs. authoritorian communism is going to make for two very different peoples coming together." is an amazingly naive comment and one needs look no further than the re-unification of East and West Germany to see that you are completely off the mark here.

All in all I happen this entire argument of yours to be built on false claims or misrepresentations of fact. As an educator you should hold yourself to the highest standard of intellectual reliability.

[quius]

Hey,

How's it going? I've been wondering about a certain statistic. Since you seem to know a lot of korea, how many mixed koreans do you think are living in korea? I'm not talking about biracial koreans such as yourself who have grown up abroad. How many are living in orphanages and w/ their parent or parent? Have you ever met a biracial korean born and raised in korea? And I wonder how I could help out?

[The Metropolitician]

As for statistics, perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me can bring those up, as a lot of the links to Korean news stories quoting them left and right on Marmot's Hole have gone totally dead.

As for helping out, I don't know the lay of the land, but I dropped a chunk of change on the Amerasian Christian Academy last year, in lieu of volunteering myself. Give them a call or email to ask whether you might volunteer/give there, or any other organizations.

If anyone else has good suggestions, please drop a line in comments.

[nunchi]

fascinating and yet utterly depressing. good luck talking logic and sense to any nationalist. as i'm sure you're aware, s. korea has a ton of them, and they even breed it into the gyopos. what you write about minjok makes a lot of sense to me, just seeing what my parents do and say about being korean. i think your prediction of social levels should the country unite makes a lot of sense. it seems to me that s. korea is arrogant in that it prides itself on being 100% korean and their reality is the true korea, and i hope that the unification would challenge that assumption.

the thing about nationalism... i think love for one's country gets confused for blind loyalty. to me, s. korea is similar to an adult who had a dysfunctional or abusive family life when he/she was younger. granted, this is coming from someone who has only a little grasp of korean history, but i think korea got really fucked up when japan colonized it and all this minjok and nationalism are coping/defense mechanisms for the country's ego. it's not about reality, it's about saving face.