“It’s a cultural thing!”

TW for talk of domestic abuse, racism, Western exceptionalism, culture, traditionalism 

Whenever I hear people, POC or otherwise, say things like “Oh hey this is how we/they do it where we/they come from, *insert hokey traditional cultural jargon and talk here*!” in support of gendered domestic abuse, regressive patriarchal norms in intimate or family relationships, spanking (which often has such a fine blurred line between actual positive parenting & abuse and oppressive parent-children relationships that I don’t even see the good in it at all), and other forms of negative oppressive inter-cultural gendered relationship dynamics, my BLOOD boils.

Do you know how many girls from non-Western cultural or traditional homes get discriminated against, maligned, abused, mistreated, slut-shamed, victim-blamed, and killed all under the name of “this is how we do it here”?

Do you know how that alienates us within our own cultures, usually the only place of respite we truly know, especially for those of us who are from immigrant families?

Do you know how the various powerful and all-encompassing institutions in those lands will ignore or pardon the abuse that happens to us because “LOL brown/yellow/black folks doing what they do, let them be, it’s a cultural thing”?

Do you know how we struggle to try to bridge the gap between culture and progress, between taking care of ourselves and keeping our identity?

Do you know how hard we fight to keep off Western assimilationist forces that appropriate our struggles in faux concern so as to spit on and destroy our cultures and use our suffering as fodder to come in and force “democracy” and white “feminism” down our throats, cold and slick like the barrel of a gun, because we obviously are too tribal, too animal, too ignorant to do any better for ourselves, “it’s a cultural thing!” ?

Think about that shit for a second before you say “it’s a cultural thing” again.

:D

People of Color Organized accepted one of my ranty things as a featured guest contributor opinion!

*does little dance*

someone needs to design ITSNOTYOBUSINESS.COM

moonsdaughter:

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

peecharrific:

Things that are NOT YO BINNESS:

1. someone’s gender
2. someone’s genitalia
3. someone’s sexual orientation
4. someone’s sexual partners
5. another person’s weight
6. someone else’s eating habits
7. how other people spend their money
8. who other people date (as long as it’s legal)
9. who other people bang (as long as it’s legal)
10. other people’s fashion choices

feel free to add. seriously someone please to be creating ITSNOTYOBINNESS.COM thx

word to number 2

1. someone’s racial background. quit walking up to people you don’t know talking about, “what’re you mixed with?” or “where are you from—no, where are your parents from?” 
2. what someone does with their foodstamps [here’s looking at you posts that keep showing up] 

(via trublionne)

Let’s say, hypothetically, that racism towards white people is possible.

lebanesepoppyseed:

Let’s also operate on the idea that racism is oppressive based on historical and cultural contexts that show large-scale, hierarchical, bad/aggravated/deadly interactions between racial groups, since this gives said racism its power.

Given that, how is this alleged racism towards whites, however it manifests itself, harmful? Name instances that show oppressive interactions between white people and POC in which POC were causing white people harm on a large, systemic level.*

Name times when POC manipulated the culture that they were dominant of to be biased towards them, used their platform of power in said culture to espouse their inherent racial superiority and the inherent inferiority of white people. Name times when this manipulation became prevalent and reflective in everything-government, the sciences, the media, religion, the medical field, education, the work force, all aspects of culture. Name times when said bias was deadly to white folk.

Name a time when POC conquested, ruled, and dominated over most of the countries of the world, or if not, had a very strong influence in a country’s culture?

Name a time when the dominant culture of the world (like Western culture) was POC.

.

..

…

Now, if we are operating on the idea that racism is any time you say something demeaning, derogatory, or generalize about another race with the point being to show your superiority over said race and to point out their inherent inferiority, POC STILL aren’t guilty of that. 

Yes, POC generalize-when we talk about racism and privilege and cultural things, for example. At it’s simplest, topical comments like “White people sure love casserole” or “Why don’t they take off their shoes when they enter the house?” while painting a broad brush, are hardly even rude, let alone are oppressive statements that mischaracterize white people, let alone have brought them wide-scale systemic harm. At its worse, our racialized language is that of a people turned bitter from being sick of being oppressed by another group that thinks themselves higher than us, or of wanting to destroy a dominant culture so it is NO LONGER TREADING ON OUR BACKS. Nowhere does our language include wanting to become the oppressors, but rather to stop being oppressed.

On the other hand, the racialized language of white people is that of a people who think themselves and their culture better or superior to others, who hear proof of said superiority reflected in their culture, or who see other cultures as exotic/strange/unpalatable/animalistic, etc. They also have the power and control to make that reflected in the cultures they inhabit and to cause mass harm and mischaracterization of POC. Many times they are fine with becoming or eager in being oppressors, since it is a means by which to control, subjugate, or even wipe out the peoples they think themselves above.

POC racial sentiments come from fear of erasure, of loss of identity and culture, more pain, oppression, and subjugation. White racial sentiments come from fear of loss of dominance and power, and thoughts of superiority and entitlement.

Because of this, POC racialized language is in no way, shape, or form on par in harm, voracity, or maliciousness with the kind of generalized racialized talk you hear from white people. These differences have to be taken into account and can’t merely be ignored in favor of reductionist, supremacist culture-favoring definitions of racism.

Another thing to note-negative racial generalizations come from simply existing in a negatively racialized culture. You internalize the shitty generalizations of the people the culture deems inferior. You don’t internalize any shitty generalizations of the dominant group, of course. Given that, there really isn’t such a thing as these mass dangerous & harmful generalizations POC have about white folk. Why would the supremacist culture inure us with negative generalizations about themselves?

*No, small or isolated instances of POC prejudice and affirmative action do not count. That includes the time that Latina girl called you a “gringo” or even people saying “Kill Whitey”. If anything, since those are types of reactions to or results of white supremacy, they are in fact the fruits of white racism’s labour.

**I’d also like to note in general that this whole piece is operating on the current definitions of privilege and oppression, of whiteness and POC. Yes, if you go back far enough in history, all humans have oppressed other humans and it doesn’t follow neatly under the POC or WHITE box, let alone any current discussions or dissections of racial interactions, at all. That doesn’t erase white privilege or white supremacy as we’ve seen in the past 600 or so years of human history or mean that POC in the current day can be oppressive because once a long time ago they were. Again, this is operating on current definitions & current ways in which people are racialized and what privilege or powers they do or don’t have based on history and current manifestations of culture and racial attitudes.

When Will We Start Seeing Black Chicks In K-pop Culture?

TRUTH

lycheequeso:

savagekpoplove:

wanna-b:

skai-high:

misswindupbird:

Morir Soñando: Okay, my opinion of Simon and Martina

todiedreaming:

Okay, let me begin by stating that I emailed them once asking them about African Americans and KPOP. They responded by saying that Korean just plain ol’ do not like black people.

After that I watched a video they made about interracial marriages in South Korea, and again they emphasized how…

I used to find them very entertaining (and maybe they still are, I just haven’t watched their videos in awhile), but never really gave much thought to them.  But yeah, now that you bring this stuff up, I can see it.  

And I always did find it odd that they’ve lived in Korea for - how long? over a year? - and still can’t speak much Korean?  Or at least that’s how they represent themselves.  Which is just really strange.

^ All of that. I think they’ve been there about three years and they have, according to them, a kindergartener’s grasp of Korean.

People who want to live in another country and make no effort to learn the local language deserve no respect in my opinion.

I always found it weird that they hadn’t picked up more Korean after living there for years. To address the rest of this post, this really opens my eyes to things I overlooked. Thank you for bringing this to light.

When talking about language, it’s quite normal for English teachers to live abroad without having to learn the local language. Many foreigners in Korea don’t necessarily feel the need to learn Korean because well…they tend to hang out with other foreigners and form their own little communities. In that case, it’s not necessary to be 100% fluent in the language. However if you want to live and work in a country long term, it is best to learn the language. Right now, it seems they’re learning it a bit and they’re beginning to understand why language is important. I’m pretty sure they’re aware by now that they can’t just speak English to everyone on the streets.

Ideally after 3 years in a foreign country, one should be fluent enough but it depends on the effort being put in and the opportunities one takes to speak. Lack of confidence in learning or speaking another language may lead many to form their own communities and refuse to speak the hegemonic language. We see this in America with ethnic groups forming their own communities where they speak their own language and many can’t speak English much if at all. 

As for their commentary, sometimes it can definitely sound ethnocentric - well it is ethnocentric. Getting rid of ethnocentric bias is actually rather difficult for many. While some of what they may be saying is true based on their own experiences, they don’t really provide an explanation as to why this is so. I find a lot of people living abroad and vlogging tend to over-generalize and base their opinions of the cultural norms they’re used to. This is a problem that I see mostly with people being brought to a country to teach English who have majored in English. Majoring in English is great…being a TESOL major is great…but what I see often is a lack of sociocultural/sociolinguistic knowledge. This is why I believe it is important for these majors to take cultural courses before going off to teach. 

Of course they’re giving their account of their time in Korea from their own perspective. However their bias is too obvious. For us Anthropologists talking about the cultures we encounter, we are encouraged to tell our audience what our bias specifically is - our ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, etc. Then we try to distance ourselves from that bias in order to provide accurate information. Of course, we can’t expect to have a full emic or “insider” perspective but we have to try. 

I don’t think they necessarily act like Koreans have to accommodate to them but I do think they need to become more sensitive to cultural norms and do some research outside their personal experience. They really only tell you what such and such is like from what they’ve seen without being able to answer the ‘whys.’ Most of their comments on cultural things are bold and blunt and heavily opinionated. They can be taking something that may be based in truth and expand on it solely using their perspective. However this leaves them sounding ethnocentric and does not give us the answers we’re necessarily looking for. 

^^^^^^

Racial discourse from an anthropological point of view, on nom non nom.

If anything, this is probably the only place (in all of reality ever ever) where I’d see whiteness actually gives you a (insy tinsy weensy) bit of a disadvantage in a funny way.

HEAR ME OUT-The normal experiences and hardships any person can and will experience in a new country (trouble learning a new language, acclimating to the food and culture, etc) for white people simply get chalked up as “OH YOU’RE A XENOPHOBE YOU’RE RACIST YOU THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN EVERYONE HUH HUH HUH”.

Obviously there’s a fucking precedent for that, white people being ignorant, self-absorbed, convinced of their culture’s superiority, clueless and xenophobic, coming into POC countries thinking they’re hot shit and needed to be accommodated to-it’s a thing, it’s is the story of my fucking life, don’t think I don’t realize and acknowledge and have LIVED and am a direct result of that history.

BUT honestly, for white people too, just like anyone else, learning a new language is hard. Getting acclimated to a new country is hard. Realizing your ethnic bias AND your racial privilege AND trying to communicate what you see for a larger audience is going to be fucking difficult to do, I feel like they didn’t realize any of that before they unwittingly undertook the task.

I’ve experienced racism and xenophobia and “EWW U EAT THAT REALLY EWW EWW EWW” and “WHY DOES YOUR MOM HAVE AN ACCENT” and all that other fun gushy stuff from people who WEREN’T white. When we talk about privilege, we talk about who it benefits, but not always who internalizes it and who it hurts. Anyways, even operating outside of the “privilege” context, plain ol’ xenophobia and not understanding cultures different from you is not new. Obviously white folk benefit, but we all internalize it and racism and ignorance about my identity hurts coming from anyone. I would probably in my head know and understand it comes from a different place and context and be a bit less offended, but I wouldn’t be less hurt or feel unwelcomed if a Korean was xenophobic or racist to me, or if a black person was making bigoted comments about my culture. I don’t feel I get a free pass on knowing shit about other cultures because I come from an immigrant family of Latinos. I can and have said fucked up shit. I do have a bias. 

Okay, my opinion of Simon and Martina

todiedreaming:

Okay, let me begin by stating that I emailed them once asking them about African Americans and KPOP. They responded by saying that Korean just plain ol’ do not like black people. 

After that I watched a video they made about interracial marriages in South Korea, and again they emphasized how opposed Koreans were to other races. Then there was a video about South Korea’s ideal of beauty and they again, in my opinion, put A LOT of emphasis of how ugly dark skin is there, but how beautiful white (Caucasian) are considered….

Now I follow blogs of people of all walks of life to try to get at least a minimal understanding of how life in South Korea is; and for the most part I believe that there IS racism in Korea but it is often overgeneralized and overstated, I think it’s something you have to see for yourself.

Simon and Martina always talk or “joke” about how people will point at them in the street and yell “foreigner” or how rude ajummas can be; and for two people who have lived in Korea for a considerable amount of time they don’t know Korean, and they always dismiss it because people adjust to them not knowing conversational Korean.

So, I finally figured out what bothered me and seemed off to me about Simon and Martina: They are giving their account of living in a foreign country from a white, privileged stand-point, and tend to over-amplify and sometimes over-simplify a lot about life in South Korea. And what bothers me the most is that I can sometimes weed through their off-the-wall humor and ignorant comments, but what about these “koreaboos” who take everything they say to heart? 

They act like it’s okay to dismiss certain things in Korea, like I said the language… I’m sitting here like how do you expect people to work around YOU; You guys are TWO to 48+ million. -___-.

My father has lived abroad in Okinawa and other places and encourages me to travel, but he always reminds that traveling is about RESPECT; that’s what Simon and Martina lack to me; basic respect of other culture. The act like people SHOULD accommodate to them.

I think they are awesome hilarious people, but deep down I think everyone can mildly agree with what I am saying. That’s why whenever I ask about them people have a dismissive attitude like “they’re okay, whatever…” Because we don’t want to be mean, but the truth of it is I take everything they say with LESS than a grain of salt.

Not that I at all like Simon & Martina’s discourse on race and obviously they come from a place of extreme privilege, but uhhh, I knew about the anti-black sentiments that exist in East Asian culture before I got in K-pop. Of course, we can’t and shouldn’t generalize about a whole group of people, but the fact of the matter it is exists. Simon & Martina are just shitty at explaining an already old-news, pre-existing phenomena, and even if they weren’t, it’s not like they’re going to break down and give racial discourses in 6 minute videos anyways?

I have a lot of problems with them, I’ve ranted about it before, but I really don’t see this attitude that you’re describing. They seem more than willing to get to know the culture and don’t have the attitude that they need to be accommodated to. They just don’t know how to speak about racial and cultural shit as well. Also, they have this kind of condescending, Western exceptionalist “What lol this racism these wild Koreans have is so WEIRD for us WE come from CANADA lol”. But I repeat, my main problem with them is that they can’t properly speak about racial issues given that they’re white. They never say anything glaringly purposely horrible (other than the “GET A WHITE PERSON TO TEACH YOU ENGLISH” what the fu-) so much as they make really clueless, ignorant comments because, you know, they’re fucking white.

Back to point-Anti-blackness exists in East Asian culture. I’ve experienced it personally, I’ve seen in the various aspects of culture and pop culture which I’ve been avidly appreciating and consuming in many different forms since I was 4. Even if a lot of the anti-black sentiment is more innocent in the sense that given how homogeneous some of the societies can be, (they will be mystified by a certain person’s race if they haven’t seen those people around before), but it is what it is.

There was a survey taken among SK students and though they were likely to exclude/be judgemental or prejudiced towards all races that weren’t their own, weirdly enough they felt above South Asians/Black folk but inferior to western White folk? The lighter the skin, the better. Also, they’ve internalized a lot of the really bad stereotypes and tropes of African Americans from the West. The image of “Western” people is of White folk. By the way, notice how this discourse is around just three races-Koreans, Whites, and Blacks? Where do those of us who don’t fit neatly in those categories fit?

I’ve read tons of articles that argue both points. I’ve read a blog written by a black queer American man living in South Korea and he both acknowledges the hardships but definitely puts it out as them being exaggerated and assuring people you can be perfectly OK so long as you’re open to the experience and the culture. I’ve read from white people going “WHAT WHAT RACISM WHAT IS THIS”. I’ve also read articles that talk about hate crimes and racism in the culture.

I think we shouldn’t fall into the xenophobic, West-Is-Best (not that I was ever deluded by the lie of the Western as being this progressive multicultural paradise like a lot of people, mostly white cis straight folk, like to believe it is) idea that SKs are all these evil backwards racists, we also shouldn’t think the culture isn’t without its qualms that can and do manifest itself in many ways. I think in k-pop fandom we tend to see things with rose-tinted glasses (maybe not so much because we’re Koreeaboos but because we don’t want to come off as xenophobes) and we need to mind not to do that.

PS-being a fat Afro-Latina, I have to explain my existence to shit fuck everyone, including most Latinos and Black folk, so sue me if I don’t’ happen to be incredibly optimistic about these things. *shrugs*

(via todiedreaming-deactivated201203)