Bill Gates Is Dead, Foreigners Are Mad Maxing in Hongdae, says YTN

Bill Gates dead!

Or so reported YTN, paragon of journalistic virtue and credibility, where high standards and ethnical reporting are the rule.

That was back in 2003.

Wow. It's 2007, and it's heatin' up 'round here, what with all the media's race-baiting "news" on how Korea is being overrun by the foreign, barbarian hordes. More racist tripe about "lawless" bands of renegade foreigners tearing up Seoul, ready to rape hapless Korean women. What is this, Montgomery, Alabama circa 1953?

Let me conduct another "thought experiment" and see if this makes any sense. I'll just replace "Korean" for "foreigner" in the first part of the YTN report (this translation and excerpt comes from this post on The Marmot's Hole).

It’s Saturday night in front Hongik University

A group of three or four Koreans with short hair ogle a passing girl.

They yell and point…

The girl, who was talking on the phone, flees the area as if she were startled.

In the alleyways, you can easily find Koreans making comments to passing women.

[Interview: local resident]

“Simply put, it’s at a point that you could take it as harassment.”

“Is this a normal scene?”

“Yes.”

It’s common to find Koreans drinking anywhere.

You can even find Koreans drinking by fires they’ve set on the street.

Drunken, some urinate on the sidewalk, while others are making out even on the street.

Outrageous behavior such as this continues straight till dawn.

If this reporter actually had actually been to Hongdae on a social basis, he'd see that yes, there are a few foreigner idiots walking around drunk off their ass, making trouble. But he'd also see that there are "roving bands" of Koreans doing the exact same shit.

The Barbarian hordes are at the Hongdae front gate.
Gives a whole new meaning to "홍대정문 앞."

Wait, that reporter probably does occasionally come to Hongdae, but yet filed that report anyway, which totally goes against even his own experience there.

And in the big picture, I don't even see very much of this kind of behavior, and I have had a long and changing relationship (see here and here) with the place.

I have hung out there, danced there, and most importantly, explored its darkest alleyways, nooks, and crannies with my camera.

Neither Shinchon nor Hongdae is overrun with lawless foreigners, and if they wanna see some static, they should hang around Shinchon at 3 AM to see bands of Korean men walking around making rude and lewd comments to passersby.

And the Korean fuzz say they can't "handle it!?" What are they? Crisis counselors? Bible camp leaders? Dormitory proctors?

Aren't they cops? With big batons, uniforms, and the ability to gather in large numbers?

Wait, wait.

Let me get this straight.

THE KOREAN POLICE, WHICH PUTS DOWN RIOTS AND PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS WITH HELICOPTERS AND TEAR GAS, AND JUST NOT TOO LONG AGO BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF A DRUNK SOLDIER, CAN'T HANDLE A COUPLE LOUDMOUTHED ENGLISH TEACHERS?

Give me a big, fat, Nell motherfucking Carter break.

The absolute most I've ever seen some dumbass foreigners do is be loud and rowdy there. And if the shit goes down, then you call the police. And if the goddamn po-po can't handle it, then you call for more, who will bring bigger sticks.

It's not Mad fuckin' Max Beyond Thunderdome out there, with the cops running around on foot from the mad foreign bikers and their mutant offspring.

I would call YTN more names, but why waste breath on a network whose fact-checking powers resulted in them reporting that Microsoft chairman Bill Gates was dead back in 2003, resulting in a 1.5% drop in the Korean stock market?

Irresponsible idiots, all.

Of course, though, since most Koreans are more than eager to believe anything said about foreigners in the press, but keep a skeptical eye about everything else, it's just more grist for the racist mill.

Nice.

Comments

[Nathan B.]

"Of course, though, since most Koreans are more than eager to believe anything said about foreigners in the press, but keep a skeptical eye about everything else, it's just more grist for the racist mill."

Hello Michael. I'm curious: do you have anything other than anecdotal evidence to support each of these two claims? I'm sure that some Koreans are as you've described, but "most"? It's a bit harsh, don't you think? I've had a very positive experience here, not one that jives with the idea that "most" Koreans are racists with an axe to grind. (That's not to say that my experience is universal, of course, but it is my experience.)

[The Metropolitician]

You're right, I guess there's no "evidence," as it were.

I guess my experience has been that people keep asking me all these silly questions, or acting on stereotypes – especially when anything comes up in conversations from the newspapers – that I can barely keep from pulling my hair out.

I speak with a lot of people in Korean, and it seems that the further I get past the language barrier, the more irritated I get with the level of ignorant statements. "Chinese are dirty," or "well, you know Russian women," or "well, Western people are cold and lack jung." The list goes on, and I often find myself staring in awe of the ignorance of the things that come out of the mouth of even people who know me well and are highly educated.

So, you're right, I think I was making generalizations kinda half-cocked, but I wonder if the difference in our experiences might have to do with the self-selecting process of people who speak English with foreigners (and I am making a groundless assumption, which you can correct on your end – I'm just making it here to save time)>

In the end, it's all kinda anectdotal. But the things I hear these days seem to be going up in ignorance as these ridiculous stories continue popping up again and again in the media.

Which is what inspires me to put on the good face in the video podcast and try to address them, while entering more of attack mode on the blog.

Grr. You make a good point. Perhaps this will engender a productive disccussion?

[The Metropolitician]

Ah, and to clarify what I meant by that statement, what I hear most Koreans saying about the newspapers are that they're full of crap when they're talking about issues, people have their favorite papers, they tend to take the Chosun Ilbo with grain of salt if they're a Hangreoreh person, and dismiss it altogether if they're an OhMyNews kinda person. There's at least a sense of heavy skepticism.

But anything that comes out about foriegners, even that idiot one of the networks got to come on TV and say he'd slept with 1,000 Korean women, those same people are shaking their heads and tsk-tsking away the acts of the GI"s on a rampage, or the spectre of ex-convict English teachers ready to molest yougn children.

It's just very frustrating to even talk about my life as a foreigner with Korean folks these days, and it marks a noticeable shift from when even a couple of years ago, and definitely from 12 years before.

And I wonder if the foreigners who deal with say, English-speaking co-workers, relatives, and friends, or maybe people who have more experience overseas and dealing with foreigners, might not automatically be exposed to a self-selecting group of people who, by the very nature of who they are, know the deal with foreigners in a way that the stereotypical depictions on the media might not much affect.

That's a real question, by the way, as much as it is a backhanded response.

[seouldout]

Golly, why would the KOSPI drop 1.5% on reports of Bill Gates's death? Were there rumors that his successor would have them actually pay for the software?

Michael, a good read yet again. Did you consider using Honam or Chonam rather than Korean to replace foreigner?

On to NathanB's question. Some, many, most. It's a tough one to answer, ain't it? Can't pull up a Gallup Poll lickety splitty. Yet, we repeatedly see "credible" news organizations run this type of tripe and no one bats an eyelid. C'mon take a look at the slant. Foreigner misdeeds here. Foreigner misdeeds there. We're 1% of the population (and that includes the ethnic Koreans foreigners) yet we certainly garner disproportionate attention for many acts that are no different from those committed by the locals. Drunk non-Korean foreigners. Wow, this certainly deserves valuable print space/air time. If the public ain't buyin', where's the value in sellin'?

Do misbehaving people deserve a pass from scrutiny? Absolutely not. No complaints here about a story of public drunkenness that includes acts by both locals and foreigners, i.e. people. Fair enough. Our behavior isn't unique, yet the press coverage is. Why is that?

Some, many, most. Gotta go with your gut on that one.

BTW, I'm no longer buying the you're-a-guest-in-the-country admonishment. Foreigners pay rent & taxes and they don't sign any better-behavior-than-the-locals pledge. A guest they ain't. That being said, everyone (me too) would be better off minding the Golden Rule.

[seouldout]

Failed give you my congrats on your fine selection of the Keystone Cops photo. The others fit in quite well too.

[Nathan B.]

Thanks for your responses, Michael. I'm glad you feel I have a good point. It was an interesting question you posed, too.
--
Regarding "some," "many" and "most"--they're all words with four letters, but there is a big difference between "most" and "many" or "some." It seems to me that to target "most" Koreans as being racists with an axe to grind is in itself a kind of racist utterance, or at least potentially so (not to say that Michael is one, of course--we all make comments in haste that should not be taken totally literally, myself included). As a general statement, I think that for many (I don't say "most"!) foreigners who comment and write on blogs to say "Koreans [grumble grumble grumble]" is to lower themselves to the level of the YTN reporting, which Michael has already torn apart, and justifiably so. Perhaps there is a fine line between unloading stress and being unfair to an entire group of people.
--
My own story: I live within a ten minute walk from Hongdae, and have spent at least half the days of each month on the subway or walking around with my wife, who is Korean. Now we have a baby, so it's totally different from when we were single, but even when we were single, we only ever experienced harrassment from Koreans once. Ironically enough, it was within the temple grounds at Hwagyesa! On the other hand, I have--and again, only a few times--felt intimidated by drunk American GI's in the Hongdae and Sinchon areas (they were angry with each other, though, not with me). Hmm, I guess once we were not served after entering a seafood restaurant. Others who came after us were served. That sort of thing is somewhat humiliating, but I can't think of any other similar occurrences. That's why I always kind of cringe when I hear people making these blanket condemning statements about Koreans as a group--I've had mostly positive experiences with everyone during my two and a half years here.
--
As for sensational reporting on TV, my subjective impression is that if any story can be sensationalized, it will.

Cheers, N.