<p>oh yeah one more thing…
perhaps it was b/c every korean i knew keep saying it, that i took their assumption into facts. I maybe be blowing it out of porportion and also i apologize in advance if i offened anyone with my assumption…but!
that donut shop i mentioned isn’t false statement…
and someone clarified the president’s issue…
i will make sure next time i bring up a post, i have a good data to back it up.
but plz understand why i would post such thread as well… thank you</p>
<p>You’re welcome and no need to apologize. I think we can all understand why you would have these questions. Much better to post and get clarification. (This thread is now in “Parent’s Cafe.”)</p>
<p>“1. My barber is korean and she told me her friends shops been thrown bricks at NY”</p>
<p>I live in New York and I think that’s nonsense. Nothing going on here AT ALL. Maybe someone just didn’t like her “friend.”</p>
<p>“Your second post is very different from your first, I can understand the anger, but facts would be useful”</p>
<p>Exactly!!! Thank you CGM.</p>
<p>Another New Yorker here–
We have not heard of one single word, let alone action, taken against Koreans because of the gunman’s background.</p>
<p>I think you should double check your source of information…</p>
<p>“Now, i’m not saying americans are racist or anything…i’m just saying, certain event leads ppl into stereotypicalizing(?) certain race and ethnicity…”
Which is exactly what you’re doing here.</p>
<p><a href=“K&s%20wrote:”>quote</a> And what about immigrants from China, Taiwan, Japan, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, etc. and Caribbean and African nations where parents also place a lot of emphasis on academic achievment?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If you read more carefully the post you reply to, you will see that this point has already been addressed. Notice also that it was not claimed in that posting that the killer’s nationality is or is not relevant — only that it is premature to rule it out (and you appear to be trying to rule it out pre-emptively) before the full story is known.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That depends on what type of pressure you refer to. There is no alienation from being an immigrant or a minority for those living in Korea, for example.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Mass shootings are also rare in the Caribbean, but we know that the race (black) of the Jamaican assassin on the Long Island Railroad was an important factor, including in the killer’s own opinion. There is no basis at this stage of investigation to say that it is different in the case of the Virginia Tech murders — it is simply unknown whether the killer’s Korean background is irrelevant to the case, mildly relevant, or one of the most important factors. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I wouldn’t take too seriously reports from Korea (and to a lesser extent, from the US as well) until the dust settles, as there is too much incentive to provide reassuring explanations, and not enough facts confirmed. As to the killer’s American acculturation, yes, that was my impression as well from the material posted at The Smoking Gun — but it is wishful thinking to seize on that as proof that this has nothing to do with anything Korean. It may turn out not to be related, but we don’t know that yet. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>No “analysis” was claimed. If you mean that we need to jump on the PC bandwagon and selectively parse the information coming in so as to ensure no disturbing Korean associations are made, that would certainly count as “superficial and insipid”. It’s either relevant or not or some mixture, and you certainly don’t know from the available facts which is the case.</p>
<p>(1) The Korean foreign minister making a formal statement of regret and condolence to the U.S. and the victims’ families was featured on several newscasts I saw Tuesday evening.</p>
<p>(2) I have not seen/heard a single story about violence against Koreans (or anyone else) in the wake of this. I agree with others that the media would be all over anything remotely like that. (Probably not isolated instances of prank phone calls, but absolutely bricks through windows.)</p>
<p>(3) I think it’s unavoidable in a situation like this that people will speculate on Cho’s family life, and that stereotypes about Koreans will come into play there. But I think just about everyone understands that this psychotic, sick kid is not representative of anything except psychotic, sick kids. That may not stop the parents from being flayed alive by a million speculations; I can’t imagine what their lives will be like.</p>
<p>There is also option (3.1) which is to wait and see what information develops about his personal life, family, national affiliation, videogame preferences, astrological sign, soft drink preference, etc, and leave for later analysis the question of which factors were causative.</p>
<p>siserune -
</p>
<p>Uhh, I totally got that other point and I had no problem understanding what you were trying to say - what you stated is still totally illogical and vapid.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If the “pressure-cooker environment” was a root cause for the shootings - then we should have already seen previous mass shootings by Korean immigrants or Korean-Americans at schools here, but we haven’t.</p>
<p>And since the “pressure-cooker environment” is significantly greater in Korea - where it is much more difficult to get into a top university, there should be, according to your hypothesis, examples of previous mass shooting on campus in Korea, but there hasn’t.</p>
<p>And what about other parents, immigrant or not (Russian, Chinese, American, etc.), who put heavy pressure on their kids to succeed academically? What if the killer had been Chinese, Russian or white American?</p>
<p>The “argument” of nationality as a possible causation basically becomes nonsensical - since in these cases, it would simply be a kid snapping from parental pressure.</p>
<p>So basically - “nationality” has nothing to do with it and thus, it is not pre-mature to rule it out (just as it wasn’t premature in calling out your insipid post).</p>
<p>And as I had already stated previously…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>unless showing signs of mental illness/autism, listening to Led Zeppelin, etc. and being influenced by the Columbine killers is national trait of all Koreans - your post is basically total bs.</p>
<p>And btw, it’s hardly being “PC” - but rather using one’s ability to reason (something that you seem to have trouble doing).</p>
<p><em>Ahem</em></p>
<p>Led Zeppelin isn’t “American” music. It’s timeless and borderless. But really, they were from England.</p>
<p>So there.</p>
<p>Oh, and sialoproject,</p>
<p>I think that this demonstrates how word-of-mouth can be very dangerous and very likely to end up on <a href=“http://www.snopes.com%5B/url%5D”>www.snopes.com</a>.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I find this statement very offensive …not all of us (Americans) have been living on easy street.</p>
<p>TutuTaxi,</p>
<p>Compared to Koreans, who have seen their country ravaged by an extremely violent war of occupation AND civil war, and continue to have the thread of war from the north, Americans have it pretty darn easy.</p>
<p>UCLAri
</p>
<p>LOL!!! You got me there.</p>
<p>I apologize for offending you Tutu, but I believe economic and historic facts support my statement as it pertains to the majority of American citizens.</p>
<p>My middle class, Seoul University graduate friends say they were only able to afford a movie without saving for it in 1982. Poverty in Korea was extremely dire for many decades following the Korean War. Most Americans have no awareness of that fact–nor do they realize what suffering the Koreans endured as captives, essentially slaves, of the Japanese. I say these things as a white American.</p>
<p>Though not every American has enjoyed the historic prosperity of the last 50 years, many have enjoyed the benefits of that prosperity.</p>
<p>Also, Americans have not endured an occupation by foreign troops. That horror is a real memory for all living elderly Koreans–and a horrific story heard by all living boomer aged Koreans.</p>
<p>This is all so sad, people. Asian-Americans, our own people, are feeling the pinch for something some Korean ex-pat has done, and we are here talking all this total nonsense. In truth, not even Koreans should be feeling shame for what this guy did. But certainly no American should be feeling it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It was not claimed that “pressure cooker” is the only relevant aspect of Korean immigrant culture, or that such pressure cooking must in and of itself be the sole root cause. What has been pointed out is that Korean culture is an outlier among the Asian and the overall immigrant cultures in the US, and that it is quite legitimate to analyze this aspect of the VT shootings, as the example (which you failed to answer) of the Colin Ferguson LIRR shootings illustrates.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It was specifically stated that university admissions results were just one, and not the only, measure of the pressure cooking. What is more, the admissions results in the USA were cited as an effect and not a cause of the pressure, so pointing to admissions competition in Korea is doubly irrelevant. It is also not at all clear that pressure in general (not university-specific) is higher for Koreans in Korea, or that all things being equal, it would be as easy for a mass murder to reach fruition in Korea than in the US. Gun access and privacy and many other relevant factors differ greatly between the countries, as do the ambient culture and environment against which any individual or national pathologies play out. All of which make it nonsensical to take the absence of Korea-internal school shootings as an important data point.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t think or claim that VT shooting necessarily has to do with the pressure to succeed academically. However, the extreme-outlier level of pressure among Koreans relative to Chinese, Russians, white Americans, and all others, is a manifestation of a larger picture. Elements of the latter may be much more relevant. I think it’s a good idea to wait and let the facts decide rather than declare in advance, as you are doing, that cultural factors other than those native to the USA must be irrelevant.</p>