[KS] Re: 'Memoir' defames Korean culture

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ji-yeon  wrote: 
> virtually any word can be used in derogatory ways. that does not mean that
> virtually any word is a derogatory term. to use the examples you give, the
> terms colored and negro are considered outdated and indicative of a lack of
> proper dignity and pride, but they are not considered to be racially
> derogatory.

For the record, I never used the term "racially derogatory." Rather, I
suggested that these examples could be "a *vehicle* for racial insult" that
depended on the context and the delivery, and that the insulting tone can
stick when they become automatically connected to the context in which they
were used. My point is that, although the word may not be taken by the
general public as an epithet, it can be used as a vehicle for one.

And, as we all know, the speaker and the listener are not always on the same
page, and so it is conceivable that a certain speaker may use a word
with no ill intent or ill will, yet the listener -- already agitated by
attitudes and/or actions of some members of the speaker's group -- may infer
insult that was not necessarily implied.

I have not read this book, and know little about its contents beyond what
has been said on this list and in the Korea Herald. All I am saying is that,
given the clearly bad treatment that some children of mixed ethnicity
receive here in Korea (both from other children and even adults), it may
well be that someone could start to assume the same words used by his/her
antagonizers and non-antagonizers alike carried the same negative
implication, thereby turning an innocuous word into one that seems replete
with negative connotation.

Similarly, adults of mixed ethnicity (particularly young adults) who go back
to Korea or Japan or Okinawa for the first time, having heard horror stories
about attitudes and treatment toward others of mixed heritage, may be seeing
such antagonism against them in places where it is not.

>From how the book was described, it does sound like the author took a great
deal of license in her description of Korea. She may well have simply made
things up, and those parts of the book should be criticized. [As an aside, I
am a strong opponent of exaggerating "bad" things (e.g., East Asian
misogyny, conditions in Korea during the Japanese Occupation Era, etc.) just
in order to drive home a point; if an exaggeration or falsehood is made, it
may eventually be "discovered," which will in turn cast a shadow over the
credibility of even the accurate accounts of what happened.] Instead, I'm
simply defending the perception among some of mixed ethnicity who have
received bad treatment in Korea, of these purportedly innocuous clinical
terms as being something delivered to them or said about them in an
insulting, belittling way.

> that designation is reserved for terms like coon and nigger. likewise,
> oriental is not generally seen as a racial insult -- that is reserved for
> terms like gook, jap, slant, chink and the like -- but asian americans rightly
> object to that term on numerous grounds. as someone famously said, "don't call
> me oriental. i'm a person, not a vase."

I agree with you, with qualification. As I have said, context, delivery, and
intention all play a role in whether or not the word or phrase is a racial
insult. As an example, my former professor of Asian American Culture at UCI
would refer to a situation back in the 1980s in which a very old man at the
time referred to Chinese in the area using the word "Chinaman." Realizing
the elderly man had learned the word close to the turn of the last century,
my professor let it slide. But had someone in his 20s said the same thing,
he would have taken it differently. Same word, completely different delivery
and context. Similarly, the example I gave in my previous post, was of
someone using the word "Oriental" in such a way and in such a tone as to
express derogatoriness and disparagement.

Similarly, as a 20-something substitute teacher at Seoul American High
School in the mid-1990s, I observed a great deal of 1990s-style teenage
behavior, some of which I hope isn't typical. Some White students had turned
the word Leroy (seen by them as a stereotypical African-American name) into
a racially-charged insult. And when they discovered the word "niggardly" (as
part of the SAT-prep curriculum, I suppose) they liberally threw it in to
myriad situations, with a strong emphasis on the part that is homophonous
with the N-word, in situations in which they were talking to or about fellow
students who were Black. The intent was clearly to razz and rile.

> in the korean context, honhyol, honhyola and honhyolin are considered neutral
> terms, even politically correct terms, not insults.

In a classroom or polite discussion, yes. On a playground or while pointing
at a small child, maybe not. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned, I haven't
read the book, so I am only speculating on the kind of context referred to
in the book.

> that they are imbued with negative connotations and can be used in derogatory
> ways (i.e., "oh, he's a just a honhyolin.")  has to do with the fact that
> being of mixed race heritage is still considered inferior, even outcaste, in
> general korean society. likewise, the fact that terms like oriental, colored
> and negro can be used in derogatory ways has to do with the fact that asians
> and asian americans, black africans and african americans are still viewed as
> not only different, but somehow inferior to whites and not quite in the
> "all-american" mold.
> 
I agree. But the delivery and intent still make a huge difference.

> to reiterate, the honhyol terms would not be hurled as insults,

In general, you're probably right. But it might have been the label used by
those who were intent on expressing disparagement.

> and certainly not in rural farming villages of the 1950s and 1960s (honhyol
> would have been unknown to their residents).

I'll have to take your word for that; we're talking about a time that
predates me and probably a few other people on this list, so I have no
first-hand knowledge of it.

> and especially not when such juicy and satisfying (to the prejudiced speaker)
> terms such as twigi were available. even today, when someone wants to insult
> and hurt, the terms of choice are twigi and japjong.
> 
I am of mixed ethnicity, but most definitely am one of those who passes for
White (a lot of people assume my siblings and I are Jewish or light-skinned
Hispanic), so I have limited experience with this in California or Korea,
although my 
"friends" would use the word jamppong whenever the topic came up. From them,
it sounded like good-natured fun, but then again, it all depended on the
delivery. From someone else, I might have taken offense at it.

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