Giving Westerners a Bad Name

I was saddened/angered to see this video of a westerner in Korea on a bus acting like an absolute gorilla. Since the video gets taken off of facebook repeatedly I'll do a brief description. It's a black, American male essentially threatening to beat an older Korean woman, yelling stuff like "I'll bring these hooks, they'll shut you up" (obviously a witty individual) and then punching her husband (both of whom were 60 if they're a day). It's a bit sickening to watch and the pride this thug shows as he intimidates these people, and I wonder how much arrogance he is showing when surrounded by Korean police and locked up in a cell. He is being deported, and I think we should all toast the Korean government for that decision.

Now I know that many a westerner complains about the way in which older Koreans behave. For example in western culture ramming someone with your shopping cart will get you sent to the old folks home, not moved up in line at the checkstand. However here people seem to just accept it as a form of respect to their elders. I'm sure some such misunderstanding set this off. We've all been there and it does make many of us hot under the collar. However, no one else feels the need to put on this sickening display of primitive intimidation and violence. There is also one thing that this individual forgot. HE IS IN KOREA. If you can't handle the differences go home.

Now there is more. We don't actually know what they said/did to set him off, the filming began after he explodes, but no matter what she said/did you don't threaten to deck an old lady. Period. Also, while videos of GI's doing this is almost the norm (I have lots of respect for Koreans who say they'd be better off without US troops in Korea) this is sad because it is an esl teacher. Someone who is supposed to be educated and has come to Korea to have a real cultural exchange. Now thankfully, westerners have come out to call for his deportation and most Koreans are smart enough to see this one idiot for what he is, but like every country, there are xenophobic biggots who will use this as an example of why foreigners are bad. Personally, I'd call for Koreans and expats to join together over a kettle of makkeoli to celebrate one less idiot in Korea rather than get angry and defensive.

Finally, and I know the PC crowd will get angry about this but it's true, the general perception of black people in Korea is NOT good. I have students (educated, worldly ones at that) who will insult each other by calling each other African. Many think black Americans are all criminals, because all the ones on TV are (seriously, not making that up). When Obama was elected I had many a Korean student and even friends who were surprised because he didn't "look like" a president. Now I don't believe that you are a representative for your country/gender/race but I do think that black people in Korea face obsticles that white people in Korea do not and that this individual has done nothing but further hurt the image of black people in Korea as a whole by reinforcing all of those negative stereotypes.

Overall I'm just glad he's gone.

UPDATE - a great blog that is more researched than mine:

http://www.rjkoehler.com/2011/08/29/to-foreigners-in-korea-please-learn-a-little-korean/