“Having been in Germany now, is also quite odd, because being in Leipzig, I can certainly say that not only was I verbally assaulted a number of times (first time I was called a gypsy too), but that it included being shoved into a wall, punched, and the guy ran off…in broad daylight! People just looked and walked by, did nothing…this was on a date too.”

Arthjourneyman,

we seem to be pretty similar - you’ve been called a “gypsy” - and I am actually genetically (though not culturally) a “gypsy”, so in that sense we are really in quite a similar position.

As you probably know I am a German citizen and do, indeed, identify with Germany, although I did not spent much time there, having left the country at age 9 and having permanently returned there only at age 39. I have not encountered much aversion on racial grounds in this country, but then, of course, I did not spend much time here - and, additionally, during the time I’ve been here I invariably found myself in a privileged upper-middle class environment, in which violence does not usually play a part and in which White stock-brokers, Asian CEOs, Caucasians of Colour working as art directors, and even the occasional black surgeon or fashion designer live side by side without major problems and with cordial relations. I myself am definitely not rich nor particularly successful but, for reasons upon which I do not wish to elaborate here, I can afford living in this environment.

I do, however, recognise, more from press coverage and from television reports than from actual experience, that aggression against outsiders (also in the violent form) does, indeed, exist in Germany, more in the East than in the West but to some extent in all areas of the country.

I may, however, point out that that I do not really see this as a “race” issue but rather as a class issue. The problem in Germany nowadays seems to be the existence and the continuing growth of something that even the government refers to as “the underclass”, i.e. a group of Germans of various ethnicities who are in no way interested in working for a living - and are even more strongly opposed to any form of education. The vast majority of them cannot even read or write, not because they are stupid but because they do not feel that learning it would be worth the bother. These people live off the (pretty generous) benefits handed out by the state - and occasionally also of petty crime. The government estimates the size of this group to stand at about 8% of the overall population.

And it is the members of this group who also resort to attacks on racial minorities, handicapped citizens, homosexuals, or simply on all those who are, in whatever way, somehow “different”.

The average German citizen, as well as the government, are literally horrified about the existence of this group, but simply do not know how to keep them at bay. In order to understand the problem better you should also know that Germany (as well as most of the rest of Europe) is pretty “liberal” (no reference to WJK intended), i.e. it is extremely difficult to lock someone up unless they have committed really horrendous crimes. Thus, there is hardly a possibility of effectively combatting this kind of thuggery.

What really shocked me about Korea is not the fact that there is (real or anticipated) violence against foreigners or racial minorities but that those with whom I, as a non-white foreigner, were not some kind of sub-human vermin (as in the German case) but members of the intellectual élite of the country.

BADUK IS BACK !

# 46:

“Crazy violent dangerous Josenjins. …they’re going to attack you and rape you then laugh. That’s the violent nature of the “chon” race.”

Please, CM, are you not a tad bit hard on them here ? If you had grown up on the other side of the Pacific you’d be one of them, after all. Just a thought…

# 67:

“And I’m an albino Negro.”

Finally we managed to get hold of a valuable piece of information about Dogbertt, the great mysterious commenter who reads and writes (and presumably also speaks) fluent, almost native, Korean, German and Dutch but about whom we know very little else… Except that he doesn’t like Gyopo.

When I started to write that comment, there were no between me and the one I was referencing, however once I hit the submit button, two more had already been posted. Never the less, it should have been obvious to anyone who actually read what I wrote.

As for questions about this character being YoungRocco, I think that is insulting to YoungRocco. He at least used faulty logic as opposed to no logic at all

Hardly.

That leads to two possible explainatin.
1) The people are not as clean as she believes.
2) What she saw or what she imagines she saw are not roaches at all.

I think it is (2). She needs some psychoanalysis.

No roaches have hair that long and that many of them. And, of such light color.

This woman’s biggest sin is not being funny while thinking she is.

Juxtapose my mom’s kimchi (100% Chulla kimchi with two types of fish “broth” (oil?), crapload of seasoning, and cabbages that are drained water of by being heavily sprinkled with salt) with my paternal grandmother’s kimchi (100% Pyungyang kimchi with VERY mild seasoning, no fish oils, but for some unknown reason, includes preserved beltfish…) and it becomes quite clear.

But yes, not only is kimchi an acquired taste for people who haven’t had them since they could kinda chew, it also varies between people (some people just love it at the first smell, some people ga-vomit)

What these ‘netizens’ don’t get is that to the untrained nose, kimchi does smell like, well, rotten cabbage. It took me a good year before it stopped making me gag, two before I actually tried eating it. Now, several years later, I’m a bit of a connoisseur. Kimchi has to be just right to impress me.
I can’t stand kimchi that’s too salty (unless it’s used for the soup), sweet (don’t eat the kimchi if you eat a restaurant that caters to university students) or fishy (the worst kind). I also prefer kimchi when it has the just the right amount of ginger (just enough to be noticeable so that it doesn’t overwhelm the other flavours).

“Seriously, I eat it like crazy out in restaurants, but the crap my Jeon Buk wife’s family makes tastes and smells like ass. But they love it, and I’ll never get in their way.”

The reason kimchi from Cholla province tastes and smells different is because they tend to us a lot of fish oils and anchovies in the making of their kimchi and once that stuff ferments, I agree, it smells like ass. I won’t go near it either. The stuff you get in restaurants is what they call summer or instant kimchi. It’s not really fermented except that they put alot of salt in it to wilt the cabbage.