Racism is a hot mess
Look at me playing devil's advocate by wearing a Yuri icon in this post!
I figured I'd rant about this subject as news reported by various South Korean news outlets and online American communities alike have been bringing it up and discussing it, bringing to light some interesting points of view regarding the topic of various 'isms' in South Korea. This time I won't discuss sexism and hurling abuse at fangirls, that's a subject for another day, but of actions that can be taken as racist and what it means when idols perpetrate certain stereotypes and what the consequences are.
So the talk of the town recently is about a post made in the infamous community ohnotheydidnt, by a user named ifuaskedmeto called " K-POP or KKK-POP?". Now ifuaskedmeto, I have to admit that the post was pretty witty, never mind some of the stupid comments I've seen that you've made around lj. Anyway, I'm kind of jealous that South Korean news talked about her and her article. That's internet notoriety right there. I wish I was as dedicated. See here.
Anyway, there was a general discussion about how it's all fucked up and how some people were so disappointed blabla and expressed wanting to take all SNSD songs off of their iPods. Right now I'll just focus on the Yuri issue. Which, funnily enough, has been the first thing singled out in the post and I don't know why the news chooses to bring that up over a week late since the aforementioned post. Oh, could it be because SNSD's popularity is at a new height right now? Well, yes!
First of all, I do think it's funny that there's been such heated discussion over a 2 year-old clip. And there's nothing wrong with discussing things that are problematic because this way people know not to do wrong in the future. When I first saw the clip before having actually watched the show, I thought her attempt at acting 'gangsta' was hilarious. Then I watched the whole show and when that scene came up I was feeling that it was kind of awkward and thinking 'tsk, their Korean humor'. They do this kind of shit a lot. I've seen them make fun of Pakistanis and Chinese people too with dumb impersonations.
I'm obviously not African American nor Asian of any ethnicity so the things I say probably don't have to be considered at all. But in my Western mentality I do find a lot of humor on these TV shows to be juvenile. Even the show 100% Entertainment co-hosted by Show Luo can be juvenile too. Is Japanese humor juvenile too? I think a lot of it is. I think it all gets worse when it enters racist territory.
Right, context. I think Asian Junkie made a good point about defending the right of people to do imitations, because then after all there would be no satire comedy to do if everyone was walking on eggshells. I don't really think satire comedy is all that though. If you are part of a race or ethnicity and are in on the joke or stereotype, I think it is less offensive then, because you are part of that group. I do disagree a bit in that if I see a lot of people commenting that they find it offensive that she and a lot of other entertainers associate black people with killing, that there is not a lot to defend with these stereotypes and imitations. I can see their point and I can empathize with their feelings, because I wouldn't want anyone thinking that way of me. It's a stereotype that has been pushed by the Hollywood industry in general, which as we all know, is not too kind to minorities. Maybe it's blaxsploitation films that contributed to this kind of image, I don't know, but it should not be overlooked, necessarily, because the entertainment industry has got to be American's biggest export to the rest of the world.
Yuri should not be vilified or be put on a pedestal either as she is human and there are shades of gray to everything. I am not excusing her actions themselves as they definitely carry racist undertones, even though she was caught up in a TV moment, and she happens to be quite the comedian herself. I just wish commentors could get a little bit of the back story on why they would make her do such an impersonation in the first place. One of the things she usually plays up is the fact that she has dark skin, the darkest in SNSD. Now to most people her skin color should not be a big deal but she plays it up as being the brunt of certain jokes, especially on Invincible Youth. Everyone in that scene was in on the "joke", and the people laughing around her should be just as at fault for laughing. Guilt by association.
Go to 5:00 on the mark to watch Yuri recall a nickname that they used to call her in school. While it may seem like harmless fun, that's the sort of stuff you're dealing with here. In Korea and a lot of Asian countries, there tends to be this classist view that white skin is more 'pure' and that dark skin is dirty and poor, because of farmers who used to do most of the manual labor would stay outside in the sun for so long that they'd get dark, and those who had money would stay inside and avoid the sun. So the lighter the skin = higher the status for them.
Since K-pop stars are traveling the world nowadays, people hope that they somehow mature and that their minds will open up to things like this not being okay. Right, because traveling to Paris or America for a few days and eating at restaurants and staying at high-class hotels is really going to change your perception of race and stereotypes. These things take time to change folks, and most of all it takes someone willing to educate themselves about the history of things. Most countries outside of the U.S. have no idea what the hell black face is or how it is offensive even. Hell, even lots of Americans don't see how painting your face black in this day and age is offensive, even though it's part of the country's history. It's never covered in history books and I certainly didn't find it in any of mine.
Even Westerners that claim to be so multicultural and open-minded can be racist too, so being a world traveler is not going to stop someone from being a racist, especially when millions of people think the same way so why should they change the status quo. Most people think that their country and people are the best, especially those from first-world countries. Now ironically their TV humor gives off the impression that South Korea is a very isolated country... yet they have the fastest internet connection in the world. And where did I mosty educate myself off the 'isms' of the world? Not in school. Not in a class, but through the internet, where talking about things like this is a regular occurrence. In that sense we shouldn't coddle South Koreans like babies and think that they can't search for this information themselves, but then again with how their society is is anyone really reinforcing them to examine their beliefs? This is a really good blog post about the way their country views and treats foreigners.
I reiterate: I am not excusing Yuri's actions, but I think people should not be surprised when they see things like this come up. When you have seen the way numerous K-pop stars act, you start to think: "I'm sure most of them believe this.", because that's what a society is, especially a collectivist one. Sure we're all individuals but it's harder for someone in a place like that to speak up about something they think is wrong, if they think it wrong at all. The great Korean wave seeks to make money break down social barriers between Korea and the rest of the world, but things like this are just a turn-off to everyone else. Whoever deserves it will get theirs, and I'm not talking about "get theirs" as in recieveing racism back because that only makes the problem worse. Maybe... oh, I don't know, delay the sucess of K-pop in the U.S. until more progress has been made to actually look a little more foreigner-friendly. Don't just talk the talk but walk the walk. Being more tolerant and understanding is not stripping away Asian culture.
You really can't use the "cultural relativism" excuse when a bunch of people apart from one group are offended, yet you seek to appeal to every other group with your media in attempt for more international recognition.
I honestly would not defend Namie's if she made some shady racist statement. I'm glad I won't have to worry about that since she has long shown her pride for being a black woman.
Really though.
I figured I'd rant about this subject as news reported by various South Korean news outlets and online American communities alike have been bringing it up and discussing it, bringing to light some interesting points of view regarding the topic of various 'isms' in South Korea. This time I won't discuss sexism and hurling abuse at fangirls, that's a subject for another day, but of actions that can be taken as racist and what it means when idols perpetrate certain stereotypes and what the consequences are.
So the talk of the town recently is about a post made in the infamous community ohnotheydidnt, by a user named ifuaskedmeto called " K-POP or KKK-POP?". Now ifuaskedmeto, I have to admit that the post was pretty witty, never mind some of the stupid comments I've seen that you've made around lj. Anyway, I'm kind of jealous that South Korean news talked about her and her article. That's internet notoriety right there. I wish I was as dedicated. See here.
Anyway, there was a general discussion about how it's all fucked up and how some people were so disappointed blabla and expressed wanting to take all SNSD songs off of their iPods. Right now I'll just focus on the Yuri issue. Which, funnily enough, has been the first thing singled out in the post and I don't know why the news chooses to bring that up over a week late since the aforementioned post. Oh, could it be because SNSD's popularity is at a new height right now? Well, yes!
First of all, I do think it's funny that there's been such heated discussion over a 2 year-old clip. And there's nothing wrong with discussing things that are problematic because this way people know not to do wrong in the future. When I first saw the clip before having actually watched the show, I thought her attempt at acting 'gangsta' was hilarious. Then I watched the whole show and when that scene came up I was feeling that it was kind of awkward and thinking 'tsk, their Korean humor'. They do this kind of shit a lot. I've seen them make fun of Pakistanis and Chinese people too with dumb impersonations.
I'm obviously not African American nor Asian of any ethnicity so the things I say probably don't have to be considered at all. But in my Western mentality I do find a lot of humor on these TV shows to be juvenile. Even the show 100% Entertainment co-hosted by Show Luo can be juvenile too. Is Japanese humor juvenile too? I think a lot of it is. I think it all gets worse when it enters racist territory.
Right, context. I think Asian Junkie made a good point about defending the right of people to do imitations, because then after all there would be no satire comedy to do if everyone was walking on eggshells. I don't really think satire comedy is all that though. If you are part of a race or ethnicity and are in on the joke or stereotype, I think it is less offensive then, because you are part of that group. I do disagree a bit in that if I see a lot of people commenting that they find it offensive that she and a lot of other entertainers associate black people with killing, that there is not a lot to defend with these stereotypes and imitations. I can see their point and I can empathize with their feelings, because I wouldn't want anyone thinking that way of me. It's a stereotype that has been pushed by the Hollywood industry in general, which as we all know, is not too kind to minorities. Maybe it's blaxsploitation films that contributed to this kind of image, I don't know, but it should not be overlooked, necessarily, because the entertainment industry has got to be American's biggest export to the rest of the world.
Yuri should not be vilified or be put on a pedestal either as she is human and there are shades of gray to everything. I am not excusing her actions themselves as they definitely carry racist undertones, even though she was caught up in a TV moment, and she happens to be quite the comedian herself. I just wish commentors could get a little bit of the back story on why they would make her do such an impersonation in the first place. One of the things she usually plays up is the fact that she has dark skin, the darkest in SNSD. Now to most people her skin color should not be a big deal but she plays it up as being the brunt of certain jokes, especially on Invincible Youth. Everyone in that scene was in on the "joke", and the people laughing around her should be just as at fault for laughing. Guilt by association.
Click to viewGo to 5:00 on the mark to watch Yuri recall a nickname that they used to call her in school. While it may seem like harmless fun, that's the sort of stuff you're dealing with here. In Korea and a lot of Asian countries, there tends to be this classist view that white skin is more 'pure' and that dark skin is dirty and poor, because of farmers who used to do most of the manual labor would stay outside in the sun for so long that they'd get dark, and those who had money would stay inside and avoid the sun. So the lighter the skin = higher the status for them.
Since K-pop stars are traveling the world nowadays, people hope that they somehow mature and that their minds will open up to things like this not being okay. Right, because traveling to Paris or America for a few days and eating at restaurants and staying at high-class hotels is really going to change your perception of race and stereotypes. These things take time to change folks, and most of all it takes someone willing to educate themselves about the history of things. Most countries outside of the U.S. have no idea what the hell black face is or how it is offensive even. Hell, even lots of Americans don't see how painting your face black in this day and age is offensive, even though it's part of the country's history. It's never covered in history books and I certainly didn't find it in any of mine.
Even Westerners that claim to be so multicultural and open-minded can be racist too, so being a world traveler is not going to stop someone from being a racist, especially when millions of people think the same way so why should they change the status quo. Most people think that their country and people are the best, especially those from first-world countries. Now ironically their TV humor gives off the impression that South Korea is a very isolated country... yet they have the fastest internet connection in the world. And where did I mosty educate myself off the 'isms' of the world? Not in school. Not in a class, but through the internet, where talking about things like this is a regular occurrence. In that sense we shouldn't coddle South Koreans like babies and think that they can't search for this information themselves, but then again with how their society is is anyone really reinforcing them to examine their beliefs? This is a really good blog post about the way their country views and treats foreigners.
I reiterate: I am not excusing Yuri's actions, but I think people should not be surprised when they see things like this come up. When you have seen the way numerous K-pop stars act, you start to think: "I'm sure most of them believe this.", because that's what a society is, especially a collectivist one. Sure we're all individuals but it's harder for someone in a place like that to speak up about something they think is wrong, if they think it wrong at all. The great Korean wave seeks to make money break down social barriers between Korea and the rest of the world, but things like this are just a turn-off to everyone else. Whoever deserves it will get theirs, and I'm not talking about "get theirs" as in recieveing racism back because that only makes the problem worse. Maybe... oh, I don't know, delay the sucess of K-pop in the U.S. until more progress has been made to actually look a little more foreigner-friendly. Don't just talk the talk but walk the walk. Being more tolerant and understanding is not stripping away Asian culture.
You really can't use the "cultural relativism" excuse when a bunch of people apart from one group are offended, yet you seek to appeal to every other group with your media in attempt for more international recognition.
I honestly would not defend Namie's if she made some shady racist statement. I'm glad I won't have to worry about that since she has long shown her pride for being a black woman.
Really though.