The singer in the most prestigious categories “Best Male Vocalist” and “Best Female Vocalist” were a Gyopo and the daughter of immigrants from Cameroon respectively. And what was even more, these two so very different contestants got married in the couse of the contest (which was drawn out over a period of about half a year). They did, however, get divorced again about 3 moths later so that many viewers suspected a mere marketing gag, aimed at the increase of their chances of winning the contest which they duly did…

So far, so good / bad. But what I really want to tell here that not a single German paper, nor indeed a single German television anchor made any passing remark whatsoever, even cursorily, to the fact that the man was Asian and the woman was Black. Because, if they had done so, they might easily have ended up in prison. And that was something they did not want to risk…

It would have been different though, if the man had actually held a Korean passport, or if the woman had held a Cameroonian passport. But they were both Germans full stop. And nothing more need to be said about them…

“So let’s not get on our high horses and say that whites had advantages over kyopos in Korea….only in terms of the English-teaching industry. In almost EVERY field that I am aware of in Korea…kyopos were required to speak proficient, if not fluent, Korean. Whites usually were not required to speak as fluent Korean, and if they WERE fluent in Korean, they were treated like gold, ala Dr. John Linton.”

As you are an American you here once again fall into the typical American trap of putting all distictions down to issues of race when actually race has got pretty little to do with it.

It is natural, all over the world, that those whose ancestors once came from a certain country or area (or those who are suspected to have ancestors who came from that particular country or area) are invariably supposed to be more knowledgeable as to the language and culture of the region in question than those for whom no such connection is being suspected. This is quite independent of whether factors of “race” come into play.

JK, you know that I am a Caucasian, but of such a darkish variety that I do not think that I would be regarded as “white” by American standards. You know that I was adopted into a German Family at the tender age of 1. I also have told you my real name which I got in the course of the adoption process (which does not mean that I would wish to see it posted in the internet).

If you googled that real name of mine you would find absolutely nothing about me or about other Germans, but you would get a lot of hits from Scandinavian sources. This is because my adopted father (although he was resident in Germany at the time of my adoption and was married to my adoptive mother, a German citizen of Dutch origin) placed importance on passing on his Danish family name to me, and gave me a Danish first name at that.

This had somewhat unpleasant consequences when I actually went to Denmark as a teenager with my parents in order to visit my extended family.

The Danish people realised, due to my darkish looks, that I was not of Danish origin but believed, on account of my Danish name, that I had been adopted by a Danish family in DENMARK - and thus were deeply disappointed to find out that I could only speak as much Danish as the average German tourist can - that means nothing beyond “good morning”, “good bye”, and “thank you”. Some people openly scoulded me for my lack of Danish skills, and occasionally I had to call my father to my rescue, so that he could explain the situation.

It invariably causes resentment if someone is, at first impression, mistakenly regarded as a member of an in-group, but then turns out not to be one such. The reason why you are regarded as an in-goup member may be the fact that you belong to a certain race, but more often it comes down to other criteria.

It is this typical American fixation of race as the primary cause of discrimination which really drives me mad, and, which, although I am posting under a US flag, would make me most reluctant ever to take up permanent residence in the US.

You see, in Germany really nobody ever cares whether I am white or not. It is only in the context of the US-dominated Korean blogosphere that I even have to think about this kind of classification. And, believe it or not, I still have not come to any conclusion whether I am (or should describe myself as) white or not, nor do I need to do so, as in Germany where I live now race is an entirely meaningless category…

It is a criminal offence for any German private person, company, institution, or authority to demand, for whatever reason, from someone that they classify themselves according to race or ethnic group.

Racial classifications are the breeding-ground for racism - they should be avoided at all cost.

It speaks for itself that they cannot profit from the “English Native Speaker Privilege”. Being unhappy about not being accorded this privilege for reasons which are perfectly sound, they erroneously put their disadvantage down to their not being “white”.

Arghaeri hits the nail on the head…

“There were English-editing jobs at finance securities companies, and I know for a fact that the bar was lowered a lot for white people applying for the job…”

JK, you permanently tend to forget that the majority of “Whites” worldwide (myself included) are not native speakers of English. We would never be given the chance to secure an English-editing job at a finance securities company, neither in Seoul nor elsewhere.

So, let us rather talk of the “Native English Speaker Privilege” (which does exist, and rightly so), instead of the “White Privilege” (the existence of which I continue to doubt, taking into account my own experience in Korea as a person “of a certain whiteness”, as well as the experiences of my full-blooded “white” friends at that time).

JK, I am sorry that you were screwed by the KOREAN AUTHORITIES, I honestly am, no kidding.

BTW, I myself was drafted for German military service in the 1980s. I did, however, manage to avert the thread of actually having to turn up at the barracks. Instead I was provided with the opportunity to work in France (my place of residence at that time) for an internationally operating charity for almost 2 years.

This was a very interesting experience for me, as the work was challenging and the position came with a considerable amount of responsibility. However, unavoidably my remuneration did not match the responsibility conferred upon my shoulders, as my pay came from German, not French, sources and had, for reasons of fairness, been fixed with reference to what a draftee in Germany would receive. That is not much, I can assure you…