From: rchoi@thylacine.cs.wisc.edu (Ron Choi)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.korean
Subject: Re: A korean living in the U.S.
Date: 8 Oct 92 15:45:34 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin, Madison -- Computer Sciences Dept.

In article <1992Oct5.032345.20431@news.acns.nwu.edu> phantom@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (James Choi) writes:
>
>This could be my remarkable insensitivity.  Or it could be my un-awareness
>of the situation around me.  But, somehow, I never felt any kind of racism
>living in the U.S. (or in Brazil for that matter).  I have always felt I
>have been treated fairly, and when I lose, I have always felt I deserved
>it.

excuse me?  are you being facetious?  look, just the other day when i was 
playing tennis outside, a caucasian drove by and yelled racial slurs at me. 
it didn't bother me that much since i'm used to it by now.  don't tell me 
you've never experienced stuff like this before.  do you really feel that
everyone treats you the same way dispite your color?  not one day in my life
have i ever not been aware of my race.  even if i want to forget, others will
remind you by the way they look at you, talk to you, on and on and on...

>I am not high up enough to meet the glass ceiling yet, but so far, I never
>felt any barrier.  It could be the field that I am in (science and
>engineering, what else?).  Or it could be that I am rather adapted to the
>life here to the point that I do not give this "foriegn" or "outsider" air
>to the people around me.

i think you're living in a fantasy world.  asian americans will *never* be
accepted as main stream, just as african-americans and latinos will never be
accepted.  according to you we never had a racial problems to begin with.
remember l.a. riot?

>On the other hand, there are Koreans that I would not promote if I were
>their superior.  They are the ones who have language problems.  Everyone
>has language problem in a foreign country.  But some refuse to improve over
>time.  Sticking to their favorite Korean home drama video in their spare
>time, they seem to put no effort in improving their communication skill in
>the main language spoken on the land they live in.

remember english and korean are linguistically quite different.  just as 
americans have extraordinarily difficult time learning an asian language,
it is the same way for asians.  my dad never master the language, and it
wasn't for lack of trying.

>Tough project are hard enough even when you have perfect communication.
>Humor and pun are what make hard times a little softer.  When you can
>barely communicate what needs to be done, there is no room for any kind of
>humor, or social grease.

i don't know how fluent you are, but that doesn't give you the right to
criticize others who aren't.  some people are just not gifted in learning 
foreign languages.

>Not being able to speak proficiently also poses many problems in
>representing the company they are working for.  So, it is natural that they
>are not promoted.  I do not see it as a racism.  I see it as an
>incompetence problem.  Language inability is a kind of incompetence.

i guess white females lack the communication skills to be managers
since we see so little of them in companies.  

>To summarize this babble, It is not fair to be left out from promotion
>because of your national origin.  But is it logical to be left out for the
>lack of a vital skill in business.

to sum up, i think you're telling us that we asians do not need to try harder
than whites in order to succeed.  i can't help feeling a sense of disbelief;
forgive me.

>James Choi

ron choi
-- 
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ron choi 				\\  #include <disclaimer.h>
university of wisconsin, madison	\\
	"when i was your age, i walked ten miles to school, unarmed."