So one of my students was away all last week. She comes back to class on Monday and it turns out she was in the Philippines. Today we've found out she got swine flu and I taught her on Monday so the health department fucks have told me not to go to work until the 13th, that is, if I don't come down with swine flu in the mean time.
I know foreigners who are coming from overseas have been told not to go to work for one week after they come to/get back to Korea but what about the Koreans going overseas? This obviously doesn't apply to them (Koreans) or at least this student's parents thinks so. Now I don't mind a week off work but I'll probably lose some money because of it but my big worry is my young son getting it from me or from being at the hagwon yesterday for a visit. I feel fine now so hopefully I didn't get it from her .
STUPIDMORONIC FUCKING PARENTS for sending her to our hagwon the day after she got back from the Philippines but oh no those dirty foreigners have to be quarantined if they've been overseas but the pure Han race are immune with their kimchi .
I also have to now cancel, and lose money because of it, our trip to Chejudo this weekend. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR for fuck sake!!!!!
. . .
As for the health department DICKS, I'm the only teacher who's been told no to go to work for a week. Not one of the Korean teachers or my wife (Korean) who's wangjang have been told not to go to work for a week . I guess us 'dirty' foreigners are more susceptible to get swine flu. MY FUCKING ARSE WE ARE! Koreans with their almost nonexistent hygine standards definitely are, and worse just don't give a fuck so spread it around to everyone else without a care in the world.
Go ahead and read the rest. The Herald says yesterday the Ministry of Health confirmed an additional ten Koreans had swine flu, nine of whom recently returned from overseas trips.
26 comments:
why didn't i start a blog about teaching in korea... kinda too late now that i'm leaving in less than 2 months haha. i'm sure mine would be more hate filled that yours XD
i'm gonna be going to hong kong and tokyo in august for 2 weeks then i gotta teach 1 week at my school for summer camp...i wonder if i'll have to quarantine myself when i get back so i can skip that one week puhahaha
So I read the entire post on the forum:
"This whole fucking country should be quarantined permanently until logic, common sense, and common courtesy prevail. Should take 'em about 10,000 years or so unless they piss someone off enough in the mean time to wipe them the fuck off the face of the Earth, which in all likely hood they will .
I AM SO FUCKING PISSED AT THESE FUCKING CUNTS!!!!!"
"FUCK I HATE KOREA MORE AND MORE THESE DAYS!"
I must say the situation sucks, and I'd feel bad for the guy, but his terrible and presumptuous attitude (as well as his colorful choice of words) is keeping me from giving him any sympathy.
Well South Korea is one of those places that you either love or hate. And usually the decision happens in the first three months or so. Either you see the good points and learn to deal with the BS, or you only see the BS and want to leave ASAP.
For myself... I fell in love with it six years ago and "just deal" with some of the Korea BS. I feel the good vastly outweighs the bad.
I have the same opinion as P. The choice of words of the poster in that forum is totally unacceptable.
Yeah, the language is a bit much, though I agree with his frustration.
I've always wondered why teachers coming from foreign countries were/are being automatically quarantined, but tourists aren't. I know from reading other blogs that they're calling tourists to check up on them and to make sure they're not sick, but still, why would teachers be any more of a risk than others? And again, why target foreigners when Koreans are just as susceptible, just as at risk, and just as likely to spread the disease?
So, he is upset and venting so you decide to be unsympathetic towards him? You are children. Put yourself in this guy's shoes. Why is he being told not to come to school for a week and no one else? It is totally unfair, but hey, English teachers have been taken through the mud this year by the unqualified press. We are the scapegoats. Too bad they couldn't blame the ex-president's swan dive on English teachers.
Koreans are like rednecks. They know that they are the lowest of the low, so they have to hate someone and talk bad about them, discriminate against them and treat them poorly. That would be the blacks.
Unfortunately, English teachers are the niggers of Korea.
I both love this place and hate it I think in equal measures.
“Discrimination” is against the law in Korea, problem is most don’t know exactly what the word means, even the judges and lawyers.
The legal concept of "unreasonable discrimination" is not as well-defined as it should be. There are many statements by the ROK to the international community, specifically the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) committee, acknowledging this. The government has charged the NHRCK with clarifying the standard.
After being asked just exactly what Korea meant by the phrase “unreasonable discrimination”, the ROK explained in its most recent CERD report (2006), that "unreasonable discrimination," can be understood as discrimination "without reasonable cause". After being asked what would be a “reasonable cause” for discrimination, the ROK explained that it had asked the NHRCK to examine "case precedents, regulations, and practices in other countries . . . when determining the existence of a 'reasonable cause'."
In other words, they aren’t really sure. And the NHRCK has become an R&D lab of sorts instructed to come up with a clearer articulation of the standard.
Korean legal scholars often express their frustration with the lack of a clear standard for discrimination. In fact Korean scholar Ahn Kyung Whan, who just retired as head of the NHRCK, has written: "In many opinions the reasoning is based on a foregone conclusion. Atypical ending may go something like this: 'The discrimination year is not unconstitutional because it is not unreasonable.'"
This approach is very reminiscent of the U.S. Supreme Court’s old approach to defining obscenity. The best that Justice Stewart could come up with in 1964 was: “I know it when I see it.”
The ROK has said it would study up on “case precedents, regulations, and practices in other countries.”
But Korea does not need to turn to other countries for assistance in clarifying the Korean standard for "discrimination without reasonable cause" when dealing with noncitizens because there is binding Korean law on the subject which provides a very clear standard.
The CERD (which Korea has ratified and promulgated as domestic law) requires that “once a non-citizen has established a prima facie case that he or she has been a victim of . . . discrimination, it shall be for the respondent [i.e. the Korean government] to provide evidence of an objective and reasonable justification for the differential treatment.” (CERD, Gen. Rec. 30).
Both the ICCPR (art. 26) and the CERD explain that "not all distinctions made by a State party’s law are [discrimination], if they are justified on reasonable and objective grounds.”
We faced precisely this issue with the Swine flu epidemic. Korean authorities reacted differently when faced with the identical risk, depending whether it came from citizens and noncitizens. Koreans who showed flulike symptoms were told to go home and stay home. However, noncitizen residents were required to be under state quarantine. The underlying assumption is that noncitizens are likely to be less responsible than Koreans in taking care of the public health. Moreover, some foreigners who did not have symptoms at all but were just in the vicinity were sent to quarantine facilities. At the same time, the authorities explained that it would not be necessary for Koreans in the vicinity to be quarantined as it would infringe on their rights and that infection was unlikely. They were simply told to stay home if they felt sick.
On the other hand, when it came to foreigners, without a touch of bad conscience or malicious intent, Korean authorities were prepared to apply special measures. They were foreigners, so it's acceptable.
This is a recurring theme. The CERD provides the binding guideline as to when or whether this may be allowable at law. Korean desperately need to me made aware of this.
For example the testing of only foreign teachers for illegal drugs. Preemployment tests for illegal drugs can be legitimate, but where the practice is applied to only noncitizen teachers it presents a prima facie case of discrimination.
And “once a non-citizen has established a prima facie case that he or she has been a victim of . . . discrimination, it shall be for the respondent [i.e. the Korean government] to provide evidence of an objective and reasonable justification for the differential treatment.” (CERD, Gen. Rec. 30).
What Korea seems to want to know is: when can legitimate precautionary measures be applied to noncitizens only?
Or, phrased in the alternative, when can Koreans be excluded from legitimate precautionary measures?
The answer is: much less often than Korea realizes.
While it’s clear that “not all distinctions made by a State party’s law are [discrimination],” it is equally clear that some distinctions are discriminatory.
if you DONT want to be generalized as a race or as a group, then STOP generalizing as well. If you dont want to be DISCRIMINATED, then do the same! If your life is fucked up, and you want to vent, then DO it in a DECENT way. If you want to be respected, then EARN it!
I think this is fair rule.
Brian asks, "I've always wondered why teachers coming from foreign countries were/are being automatically quarantined, but tourists [as well as Koreans]aren't."
The straight answer would seem to be that the quarantine program is entirely aimed at calming the (ahem) irrational fears of the parents of students of native speakers. However, the more fun answer (and thus the one I'll go with) is that keeping low-quality foreigner teachers isolated even for one week is one less week they'll be dating Our Women.
P
so swearing bothers you. Are you an altar boy?
arving:
"unacceptable..." unacceptable to who? His language is spot on. It doesn't bother me in the least.
NB
Once again you tell it like it is. It is refreshing when someone doesn't pull any punches, and calls a spade a spade.
Whoa, did I read what I thought I read from NB??? And Samuel agreed with it? And Brian let it through?
I'm from Alabama, and even we don't let that language fly.
The fascism/racism here is really getting to me lately. I asked my students to give me a defining characteristic of the Chinese and they said 'dirty'. I won't even tell you what they said about the Japanese.
I love you too, Sammy.
ZenKimchi,
I didn't know you were moderating Brian's blog. Using the word nigger in an analogy is not the same as calling an african-american a nigger. The word is not verbotten anymore (see Patty Smith's Rock and Roll Nigger, any gangster rap song, Michael Richard's comedy....ok, maybe not the last one). To rephrase: English teachers are treated like negroes in the Jim Crow South. "Hey boy. What you doing with that KOrean woman?"
And you know that y'all down in Alabama probably first coined the word, ain't that right, Forrest?
Seriously...are we PG13, Brian? Is it cartoon hour for ZenKimchi?
I'll allow it, I'm intersted in keeping the conversation going.
ZenKimchi, I don't think Alabama is the example you want to use when talking about political correctness or racial sensitivity.
Especially in the context of all the other words in this thread.
Anyway, take a look at page 2 of the thread:
http://www.expatkorea.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=17905&page=2
Samuel:
Arvinsign's bothered by the language EVEN THOUGH it's spot on SIMPLY BECAUSE it's possible to criticize or vent anger without using the F or C words.
... as for me.
the most heartbreaking part would be him separating himself from his son because he's scared. he "might" infect the boy... hat's off to you. i know how that feels.
it's sad. his business is going to suffer because of parents who refused to give their kid a good rest because she's sick EVEN after a trip. i assume she had the typical signs, so she could have just stayed home and infected her mother and father but NO...
goes to show that parents here pay more attention to their children's schooling than their health. no wonder these kids kill themselves over little things...
"STUPIDMORONIC FUCKING PARENTS for sending her to our hagwon the day after she got back from the Philippines but oh no those dirty foreigners have to be quarantined if they've been overseas but the pure Han race are immune with their kimchi ."
Han race is immune with their kimchi! i swear to god i burst out laughing.
"if you DONT want to be generalized as a race or as a group, then STOP generalizing as well.
How does my stopping generalizing about other races/groups stop them from doing the same about me?
Hint: It doesn't.
"If you dont want to be DISCRIMINATED, then do the same!"
Seems a mite simplistic and naive. At best.
The way to stop my schools, the banks, the telecom companies, Immigration, etc etc from discriminating against me is to stop discriminating against them first? Excellent! Now if I could only figure out how *I* discriminate against *them*, I'd be set.
@ ROK Hound
What made you think it was for you?
Hint: Its not for you, so stop occupying the center stage. READ, THINK then POST...............
"Hint: Its not for you, so stop occupying the center stage."
This is a PUBLIC forum. Anyone and everyone can address any post they wish (I didn't see yours addressed to anyone in particular, maybe you forgot?)
If you have PRIVATE correspondence, that's what email is for. Or you can direct your comments to a particular person, as you just did with your last comment directed at me.
If you don't want the public to respond to your comments, take it offline and correspond directly with whomever you wish.
Public forum, all comments are fair game. That's the dynamic of PUBLIC forums you have to tolerate.
(btw, how about addressing the comments made next time, rather than attack the person who made them?)
@ RH
I appreciate your advice. However, that comment is also not intended for a particular person so dont assume anything, which also means what you have said is not applicable to me and that im fully aware of everything you have written (who doesnt?)
""Anyone and everyone can address any post they wish ""
-- Of course. But it would be better to add some wit and responsibility, because these posts will stay here (quite long) for generations to see.
If you want me to explain more about this, ill be happy to do so...thru e-mail as you wish.
My point is this. We all have our complains about Korea as a country, and to Korean people in general. Maybe its normal for an expat, maybe its not. People here always talk about being discriminated, generalized and all sort of things. But the same people always generalized these Koreans as a whole as if all of them are dirt, their whole system as crap and the whole country as a mess and failure, basing their judgments from their personal experiences. Its not fair. This also applies to expats in other countries. Nobody here came from utopia, so there's no point acting as if anyone is a master of the universe and the society where he came from is perfect. Now im venting my anger....without cussing.
Arvinsign is Korean, so don't expect him to come up with a logical stream of thought. And if you argue with an idiot, you become an idiot.
"if you DONT want to be generalized as a race or as a group, then STOP generalizing as well. If you dont want to be DISCRIMINATED, then do the same!"
This seems like the idea of a small child, irrational and a fantasy.
"If you want to be respected, then EARN it!"
A typical Korean thing to say. But there is nothing English teachers can do to earn respect from Koreans, now more than ever.
Koreans are like dogs, the smell the alpha male. If I wear a $700 suit in Seoul, I am treated like someone special everywhere I go. When I am in shorts and a t-shirt on the weekends, I am treated like shit everywhere I go. It is not the way I act, but the way Kreans view us. If you look like an English teacher, you will be treated poorly by a large % of the Koreans. "Korean people are so kind."
Arvinsign,
This forum is not for you; please stop posting comments. No one reading Brian's posts and commenting wants to hear your excuses for Korea. I can say with certainty that all us "other countries' people", as it were, who live here, know all about Koreans: the wierd little quirks, bad behaviors, pedophilia-rewarding judiciary, logic-defying protests and hatred of other countries' peoples, and the way the Korean men's chain smoking (and inside buildings), spitting, alcoholism, wife beating, illogical, xenophobic (...I could go on all morning) is ruining this country and especially its image abroad...the point is that you, as a Korean man, are part of what is wrong with this country. Korean men are incapable of logic thought, so dont post your retarded ideas. Look, we dont want you here. Read silently if you wish, but dont post. We will never agree with your shallow thinking.
knock off the personal attacks. arvinsign isn't Korean, I've met him before. And even if he were Korean, he'd still be welcome to post comments here.
Moreover it's not for you or anyone else except for me to dictate what's welcome here and what isn't.
First and last warning before this thread is closed. I won't have this turn into a flame war. If you have personal problems with commenters, email them, don't bring it here.
"If you want me to explain more about this, ill be happy to do so..."
No need. I've been on the Internet long before there was a WWW or even before the word Internet** came into the English lexicon, so I think I have a handle on it. Thanks, though.
**It was ARPAnet (plus other names, such as BITNET and Usenet) long ago... all pre-Mosaic. A text/ASCII-based "inter"net? How quaint.
Post a Comment