I have a question for those of you who are native English teachers in Korea. How does this media bias affect your daily life? Obviously it’s upsetting to read. But do people mention it to you or ask you about it often? Co-workers? I’m just wondering how much (if any) of this angst could be ameliorated by not reading this junk from the media.
I know that was asked in an earlier post, but I couldn't find it on Friday when I was piecing the column together. I concluded the piece with another quotation from Kyle, which was edited a little in the article:
I've never asked my coworkers about their suspicions or preconceptions of my character. They've never probed. Maybe I'm just lucky. If they do harbor negatve suspicions, which may well be the case, there's nothing I can do about that other than be the best techer I can be and show a positive, enthusiastic attitude. They'll know they're wrong. Kill 'em with kindness, as someone once said.
The Soju Sonsangnim had some thoughts on the issue.
It seems to me that a lot of expats become embittered when they involve themselves in South Korean issues. Why not avoid the stress and anger that empathy causes by focusing on the things that matter in your life? I can see becoming involved in Korean politics as a way to avoid the cabin fever that often arises when you’ve exhausted all other avenues of entertainment, but it doesn’t seem worth the trouble to me.
I've often asked myself how my life in Korea would be different if I just never paid attention to the newspapers, blogs, and messageboards. It's tough to really answer the question "How does this media bias affect your daily life?" Except for that one time, I've never really dealt with morons who were openly affected by it. Certainly some parents, students, and colleagues are influenced by what they see and hear in the news, especially when it comes from sources they ought to trust, but it's pure speculation how the barrage of negative portrayals have affected the audience. And I'm talking here about day-to-day life, among the people we work with and otherwise encounter during the day, not about the legislation that Gusts of Popular Feeling has shown, and the so-called "Wagner Report" has claimed, has been influenced by media portrayals of native speaker English teachers.
8 comments:
Brian wrote:
I know that was asked in an earlier post, but I couldn't find it on Friday when I was piecing the column together.
Are you referring to the comments in this post?
Ah, yeah, that's it. Thanks. I would have included that too if I could have remembered where it was.
I think media plays a huge role in shaping peoples' perceptions.
Even if a foreign teacher ignores the blogs, K-media, K-TV, K-movies, etc, they're still not going to escape the exposure to the influence of media on the general population and its cultural imaginary.
Anyone who thinks media doesn't play a powerful role in influencing Korean peoples' thoughts and ACTIONS should read through the news articles and blogs about Mad Cow . . .
J
Brian wrote:
Ah, yeah, that's it. Thanks. I would have included that too if I could have remembered where it was.
I was actually thinking of turning that into a full-blown blog post, actually. Maybe I'll include Kyle's comments as well.
Jason wrote:
I think media plays a huge role in shaping peoples' perceptions.
In general, it does. But the problem is that the K-blogs and even the English-language media present a very different picture than what an average Korean typically sees.
Even if a foreign teacher ignores the blogs, K-media, K-TV, K-movies, etc, they're still not going to escape the exposure to the influence of media on the general population and its cultural imaginary.
But realistically, what is that influence? The English teacher-related stories are front row-center in the K-blogs, and that gives the impression that they are front page news, the first thing Koreans read every day. The reality is that they are one of hundreds of stories in the media that day, and most people miss them.
And even when they read them, do they agree with the sentiment? Perhaps many do, but perhaps many don't.
If a story about pot-smoking teachers being arrested hits the papers, are you so sure that the average reader is going to assume that you are also a pot smoker? I'm sure some would, but is it most or all? Do you assume that most Koreans will generalize about English teachers because you yourself generalize Koreans?
(And I don't mean you, Jason, but general person "you.")
Anyone who thinks media doesn't play a powerful role in influencing Korean peoples' thoughts and ACTIONS should read through the news articles and blogs about Mad Cow . . .
It does play a powerful role, but the media message that's out there is different from the way it's depicted in the K-blogs.
Yeah, Mad Cow had a lot of crazy people supporting it, but it had a far larger group of people who were angry and annoyed by it. The Mad Cow protesters were motivated more by a fifth-column activist network than by the media itself.
There is something to be said for simply trying to ignore biased news or negative stereotypes regarding native-speaker English teachers. I've actually been following your blog far more often, since I left Korea, than I did while I actually lived and worked there. The reason being, while I was in Korea, I found that keeping up with such events tended to amplify any cultural frustration I was already feeling.
But, on the other hand, being aware of commonly held misconceptions or negative stereotypes of waygukin can allow you to anticipate problems you might experience in Korea, either socially or in the workplace. I, for one, have been put in the position of having to defend myself against such misconceptions several times (usually in a fairly casual context), with bosses, co-workers, even friends. If you can anticipate such remarks or misunderstandings, then hopefully you can be a little more patient and understanding, rather than being surprised and responding in anger.
I wouldn't want to be one of those embittered foreigners who takes everything personally, and thinks the entire population of Korea is out to screw him over. But neither would I want to be blissfully ignorant.
There ia fascinating piece in Vanity Fair (via a link at Salon) by Liar's Poker author Michael Lewis about AIG and the Wall Street meltdown. I came across this quote from an ex-AIG trader regarding the invisible yet very real effects of ongoing media vilification, and instantly thought of this discussion in Brian's blog:
" 'You go to church and you go to soccer practice and people look at you funny,' said DeSantis. 'This is changing people’s views on who I am as a person.' ”
No shit. It's hard to quantify, but every Korean who might have become a friend or a client but who now instead turns away in disgust and anger upon seeing me on the street, in the market, or at work, is a very real victim of media propaganda just as much as I am. And that's not good for anybody.
Diffism has some thoughts on this, too.
http://www.diffism.com/2009/07/07/what-if-we-didnt-watch-the-news/
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