Well, I just hope no white man... 
ever shoots and kills anybody!
Posted on 04/17/2007 4:19:44 PM PDT by keats5
Copyrighted. Please refer to link.
I had a guy call me today about a job who is a Korean National. He sheepishly asked me if I had been watching the news (I am in VA) and was concerned that what happened would impact my thinking about his job prospects with us.
No joke.
Yeah, I don’t think there will be any backlash against Koreans because of this one psycho.
Come to think of it, I don’t know why South Korea really had to apologize - the whole country can’t be blamed for this, the shooter wasn’t a spokesman for South Korea by any means.
That's right! They think we will behave that way because that's how they behave. Too sad.
These things take a little time to understand.
I would have expected this out of Korea as a group, as a government statement, within at least one day, and sure enough, it came.
Generally, on a personal level, many Americans will not even apologize for something when they are clearly wrong...it is usually followed by a stammering, "but, but, but" as an added on excuse. That translates to a national level. In Asia, on the other hand, people apologize all over the place even if they are remotely connected. Gone to extremes, self remorse over one's actions can end up as suicide.
My, a whole book could be written on the contrasts of Occidental vs. Oriental "apologies".
These things take a little time to understand.
I would have expected this out of Korea as a group, as a government statement, within at least one day, and sure enough, it came.
Generally, on a personal level, many Americans will not even apologize for something when they are clearly wrong...it is usually followed by a stammering, "but, but, but" as an added on excuse. That translates to a national level. In Asia, on the other hand, people apologize all over the place even if they are remotely connected. Gone to extremes, self remorse over one's actions can end up as suicide.
My, a whole book could be written on the contrasts of Occidental vs. Oriental "apologies".
sorry, slow server
I don’t think it’s fair to blame ‘public schools’ for this massacre.
Well, I just hope no white man... ever shoots and kills anybody!
Your post could be taken as offensive to many. Do the Japanese even acknowledge WWII atrocities?
I didn't read the article, but the headline sounds like a preemptive accusation of retribution rather than an apology. Hopefully, you are correct and it was simply an apology which was misinterpreted.
Would there be talk about a backlash if it had been a Christian male?
Nearly all Koreans in the entire nation are "shamed" and have lost "national face".
This is something clearly culturally impossible in our US society, steeped in individualism, where just about every man and woman, in a sense, is an island, disconnected from the larger.
Every August ;-)
I don’t think there will be a backlash but this incident makes me wonder about the pressure that is put on Asians to perform in school.
Most of the news I’ve read said the shooter had been in America since 1992. If he was 23, that would have made him eight at the time his family left South Korea. I guess his family, both here and there, are really shamed by this if his native country is.
I don’t have any problem with Koreans, but I still don’t trust whitey any further than I can throw him.
Americans are "Irish, Polish, Hungarian and German. My husband was Irish, German, Cherokee and French. On top of that we adopted three kids from Korea, Kazakhstan and and Vietnam" and so much more.
We simply can't wrap our heads around an entire country that speaks with one voice (a universally common language and dialect), has one race, is one ethnic group, and has one uniform culture and assumptions about the world.
You and I don't feel like we are the same as people living in Alaska or Arkansas. What they do doesn't reflect on us because we are different.
Koreans don't necessarily have the same luxury...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.