proud to be Korean

Since this is rant week, another peeve: people who think all Asians are Chinese.

We're sitting at our weekly progress meeting yesterday. So contrary to the rest of my company (ie. white old men), my office is fairly diverse. Even in our tunnel team we have: 2 white guys, a Filipino guy, an Iranian girl, a black girl, a Chinese girl, a Korean girl, a big black Jamaican guy, a little old Russian guy (who is like, best friends with the big black Jamaican guy). Pretty diverse for engineering, though characteristic of Queens, I suppose.

So we're just chatting:

Pat: "So...are you going to go beat up any minorities anytime soon?"

me: "minorities?"

Anthony: "You know, like when you went to Mexico and beat up some Mexicans"

me: "Yeah, except when I'm in Mexico, I'M the minority"

Arkady: "But if you make up one-third of the world, doesn't that mean you'll never be a minority?"

me: "How can I make up one-third of the world?"

Arkady: "With such a big nation and billions of people, that's one third, no?"

(Pause)

me: "I'M NOT CHINESE!!! My country is small and oppressed and has only begun to emerge from economic devastation in the last 50 years because everyone tries to think they own us!"

Anthony: "Everyone being...Japan?"

me: "Well, whatever. The point is. I'm not Chinese!"

Pat: "Well, you do make good cell phones."

And people wonder why Koreans are so high-identity. When you're persecuted and people try to assimilate you into their culture for that long, of course you're going to hang onto who you are. I'M KOREAN. I eat food that requires two separate refrigerators, I play games that involve violent physical punishment, I crumble to benevolent authority and respond positively to abuse (only if administered by another Korean), I bark with authority and dish out abuse (most effective towards other Koreans), I like melodramatic tv series with sappy music in the background, and I listen to music that's basically all about the same stuff just with a different techno beat in the background.

We're NOT all Chinese.