⌛ Best Posts in Thread: Why are some people racists here?

Well written Tim!

Also, good job Dane and I certainly DO APPRECIATE your forum and the work that you have put into it.

It is important to have freedom of speech but not if it infringes on others rights. I do believe that each person should be judged according to who they are and how they behave. It isn't fair to prejudge a person based on other encounters with someone from a similar race/culture/country. Each person should be dealt with on their own merit. I have faced racism first hand within my own country and in other countries even though I did not deserve it. It is so typical that the person who is abused goes out and abuses OTHERS rather than to abuse BACK the one who caused such abuse.

I do understand that observations made and discussed on this forum interest all of us especially when we can discuss and analyze why it is that way and get to the real ROOT of the problem.

 

Not everything is what it appears to be

Yabs,
1) There is a fine line between generalization about a particular race and racism. If someone has decided to live in a foreign country, they should and must clearly understand this difference. It is was not ok for Imus to say “nappy headed hos” but it's apparently ok for snoop dogg to say the “N” word. Both are Americans. Do you understand the fine line here? If you are white, say all you want about the whites being this and that. It’s free. But if you say blacks are this, the Asians are that, you are being a racist. You can’t justify making racist remarks about Koreans just because you say bad things about the British. It’s just not the same from Koreans’ perspective. Whether something constitutes racism is, after all, determined by how its viewed by the people being attacked, not the attacker. I just don’t understand why this forum would continue to let people make racist remarks without intervention of some kind.
2) Scuba. I read that you are angry that the Koreans are destroying the coral reefs. Let me give you another perspective. Scuba is not popular at all in Korea. Virtually no one dives in Korea. Water is very cold, and not clear. With strong currents. Virtually no coral reef. Never was. But when Koreans come to Philippines, they want to try diving. Who can blame them? It’s so beautiful. And as I said, Koreans love beauty. So they try scuba diving. As divers know, the most difficult thing to master is buoyancy for beginner divers. So they struggle to maintain neutral buoyancy, while trying not to die. During this death struggle, they tend to get vertical, not horizontal. Because vertical is more comfortable for beginners, and during this circus, they are wildly flipping their fins. What happens is that their fins are damaging the corals. This is really bad. I agree. But do you really think the Koreans are out to destroy the lovely Philippine corals because they are jealous that they don’t have any in Korea? Or they are curious if the coral would break or not, so they would test it by snapping it? Give Koreans a break. They may be many things, but they are not malicious and crazy. It is unfortunate that many inexperienced divers damage some corals. But again, this is not intentional. On the flipside, their continued business helps places like Apo to maintain a marine sanctuary from the fees charged. What is the net result? Net benefit or net loss? I don’t know. But I do know that Koreans do not destroy corals intentionally. You say you have a Korean friend. Ask him to browse many scuba forums for Koreans (in Korean language of course). And you will find in there that Koreans are very concerned about preserving Philippine coral reefs. They are in fact THE MOST ACTIVE members cleaning up underwater trash in Boracay. Please don’t say they do this because it is the Koreans who are throwing trash in the water!
3) Rowdy Koreans. Koreans. Loud and obnoxious? Perhaps, sometimes. But again, you are only thinking from your personal perspective. For you, you traveled halfway around the world to find your peaceful tropical paradise. What do you find? Loud, partying Koreans. Well, that’s too bad, because Koreans come to Philippines in just 4 hours to have a great time partying for a few days under the tropical sun. They are not traveling halfway around the world like you. Their PURPOSE is different. In America, when people generally travel to mexico or caribbean, like for springbreak, they, too, have a purpose. It’s to PARTY! Why not? Its just nearby. But if Americans travel halfway around the world for a special purpose, like a peaceful tropical eden, they want the tranquility. So I understand your frustration. Similarly, when Koreans travel halfway around the world, they too have a different purpose. For example, when they visit Paris, or Rome, their purpose is to admire the cultural legacy. Not party. You will not find loud party crowds there. Along the same line, if you go to Seychelles, or even Maldives, Koreans go there to find peace and tranquility. Again, no loud Koreans. So you see, what you are complaining about lies in different needs and wants of different people in different locations. It is NOT about Koreans. By the way, I don’t think Koreans smoke pot and have drunken orgies on the Philippine beaches, unlike the party scene in some Mexican and Caribbean beaches. And as a footnote, people always sound louder and more obnoxious to you if you don’t understand their language. So if Koreans and a group of Americans are talking and partying at same decibels, you will find Koreans much louder and obnoxious because you don’t know what they are saying, and it irritates your ears. That’s a scientific fact.
4) Mingling. You say Koreans tend to stay within their community and not mingle with the locals, as if this is a racial defect or something. Again, you speak without understanding the real underworkings. There is a key fundamental difference between the Koreans and Westerners living in Philippines. Koreans don’t generally marry Filipinos. They already have their Korean spouses, and in most cases, they bring their children with them. As they are busy with the school, job/business/etc., they don’t really have time to mingle. Compare this with a typical Westerner. They tend to marry a filipina. This is really one of the most important reasons why Westerners choose to live in Philippines. By default, the westerner is immediately plugged into the Philippine local scene, because the filipina wife and her extended family is a small town by itself. You are almost forced to mingle with the locals. Language is another. Most westerners choose Philippines because the locals speak English. Most Koreans are not good at English, so it’s difficult for them to communicate. Thus contributing to less mingling. If you look at these two reasons, can you really say that Koreans don’t like to mingle because they have a superiority complex or some other bad reasons? I think not. If you are going to live in Africa where the locals don’t speak English, and you don’t understand their language, who are you going to mingle with? Yes, the expat community who can speak English. Does this make you a bad or defective person? I think not.
5) Filipinos hating Koreans. Actually, to certain degree, this is true. Even Koreans are talking among themselves about this particular issue. Koreans say that they are spending the most amount of money among all tourists, and yet they get the worst treatment by both the Philippine government and the locals. They ask themselves, why? No, it’s not because they treat their employees badly. If fact, they really go out of their way to make the employees feel like part of the family. This is a deeprooted Korean tradition. One possibility that Koreans think is the cause is that Filipinos are jealous. I don’t know if jealous is a correct word to use, but for the lack of better word, jealous. During Korean War, Korea was nothing, and Philippine was the richest nation in Asia, far richer than Korea. Philippines even sent troops to Korea to fight the communists alongside America and South Korean Army. Then, in a span of few decades, Korea has become 13th largest global economy, while Philippines is swimming near the bottom. Now the Koreans come to Philippines with their money, and employing Filipinos as maids. Why don’t Filipinos have the similar attitude against the Westerners and Japanese? Koreans think that that’s perhaps because “Westerners” and Japanese have been the occupiers in the past, and that Filipinos accepted that fact. The Koreans behaving badly in the news? Well, there are 600,000 Koreans in Philippines at any given moment. That means there are effectively 600,000 Koreans living in Philippines. This is different from the number of visitors from a particular country per year. If you were to calculate the number of Americans living in Philippines using this calculation, it would be far, far less than the 600,000. Perhaps not even 1/20th. I don’t know of any other nationalities that comes even close. Thus, it makes sense to see more Koreans in the news. And anytime a foreigner is involved, it makes news because its newsworthy. And it just reinforces the view that Koreans have something to do with it. Like where there is smoke, there is fire. But Filipinos are also crazy about Korean novellas on TV. The most popular TV dramas on prime time are all Korean novellas. If you don’t like Korean culture or people, you can’t possibly like Korean novellas, because it is ALL about its culture and people… So, I am not sure why there seems to be this animosity towards Koreans. I don’t know why. It really doesn’t make sense. But to say that because Filipinos don’t like Koreans, so therefore Koreans must be bad is just not logical. You would get that logic question wrong on your IQ test.
6) I can’t believe I am spending so much time justifying Koreans. But your racist voice is so loud, that I feel compelled to stop it.

 

Sirenna, et al.,
Why is there so much hostility against the Koreans? Are you in hotel business in competition with the Koreans in Boracay? I just do not understand why you are so focused on Koreans. You add "Chinese" and "Filipinos" as to make it appear you are not targeting the Koreans, but looking at your posts, it's very clear you are fixated on Koreans. I am a Korean. I find your posts offensive.
I don't think there are too many Koreans using this forum, so I feel bad that Koreans are getting bashed by your posts as well as by some other posters without being able to defend themselves. I just come by now and then to this forum, but after seeing so much Korean bashing to the point of being racists, I am posting this.
You say ugly hotels belong to Korean developers. That's very very rude, calling something ugly that they worked so hard to achieve. Do you know how much money and effort it takes to build even a small hotel in a province, let alone in Boracay? Do you? Do you realize how much risk people take when constructing and operating a hotel? And to generalize that ugly hotels belong to Koreans...is just so amazingly crude and rude and uneducated, that I am at loss for words.
You say you will post some pictures. Please do. I am attaching a few here also. They are from Korean resorts in El Nido, town similar to Boracay in that its is very small, and in danger of over development if not careful. Would you consider them ugly too because they are owned by Korean management? (I am not related in any way with these hotels, and I am not promoting them in any way.)

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Further, Koreans represent the largest tourist market to Philippines. Do you think these Korean tourists lack taste also because they are Koreans? If they did, they will only be going to the "ugly" Korean hotels because their concept of "ugly" is actually "beautiful" from their perspective. Am I right? No, Sirena. They PREFER to go to the beautiful hotels. Fridays is (actually was) the number 1 hotel destination for Korean tourists to Boracay. Korean tourists has single handedly made Fridays what it is today. I believe Fridays is managed by Belgians, not Koreans. Now, Koreans are going to Boracay Tropics, the newest, most beautiful boutique hotel in Boracay. Again, it is the Koreans that will make Boracay Tropics generate profits. Same goes for Shangri-La Hotel in Boracay, and Cebu. The Hilton in Cebu, etc. So, in essence, it is the Koreans who are encouraging the development of newer, more beautiful hotels. It is not the other way around. By the way, there is a hotel in Dauin which is owned and operated by Koreans called PeopleDive. Do you think it’s ugly?

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Yes, Koreans prefer beautiful hotels, because they like beautiful, and, yes, they do have artistic sense. It IS after all a culture going back thousands of years. If you really, really think Koreans just love to build ugly hotels, why don’t you go look at expedia.com and look at hotels in Korea itself? I am sure if Koreans love to build ugly hotels, the hotels in expedia will feature very ugly ones in the Republic of Korea, the place full of Koreans. Please do try.
It is true that some Korean managed hotels in Philippines are indeed ugly. But that’s true with hotels owned and managed by other countries here in Philippines, isn’t it? I am sure you know the answer. I can also supply many sample photos of such ugly, non-Korean hotels in Philippines, and PM you if you want until your mailbox is full.
You are living in Boracay because you like the beach of course, but also the nice restaurants like Aria and other, cosmopolitan places, right? Sirenna, these upscale establishments, with highly qualified and paid chefs from all over the world, can exist because Koreans are the bread and butter of their business.
I guess my point is, why are you making this a racial issue? Just say you saw this and that hotel in Boracay that’s ugly. But don’t go from that to making a racist generalization that it is the Korean hotels that are ugly.
That is rude and unjustified, Sirenna, and as an educated person, you should know better. If you don’t like the fact that there are Koreans on Boracay, then move out! Just don’t sit there and make racists rants. Thanks in advance for your kind understanding and perhaps change in attitude.