Where No Koreans Have Gone Before . . . Kind of

#47

t-song, the notion that there is a stronger sense of community and natural belonging within the insular enclaves of shared ethnicity (what I denote as the “fish-tank”) is largely a mirage. Let us examine a specific and widely recognized case within our own Korean-American community. Take, for instance, the typical Korean-American church. Now here is an insular enclave of not only shared ethnicity but religion too. But I have witnessed too often generational and cultural schism even within the church, which common sense would assume should be a stronghold of ethnic cohesiveness. In many ways, it is. But nevertheless, generational and cultural schisms happen anyway and often within the church. So we dabble with the KM-EM model for a while and realize that doesn’t work because the stubborn parent generation is too overbearing. So the EM component splinters off from the parent church and forms independent 2nd generational congregations. So…instead of 19th century hymnals during praise we have Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin lyrics, rock bands instead of traditional choir, and cool looking posters to advertise the church. If I had to pinpoint a singular defining feature of 2G US gyopo churches, it’s the damn posters because many young KAs are talented at graphical art. But as the commentator Arghaeri shrewdly noted once, the church acts to bring into a common setting wildly divergent individuals who would otherwise have no reason to mingle. This is also true of 2G congregations as well. In fact, I would submit that the problem is worse than 1G congregations. The identity confusion/void is a common condition of young KAs growing up in America. Many are uncomfortable in their own skins. Many have been indoctrinated in the “virtues” of the pursuit of Mammon by our parents (go to a good university and get a well-paying job as doctors, lawyers, etc) as well as by American society (America can be a very work/career-oriented place compared to other societies such as Europe). This is what fills that identity void; substance of character is lacking. As a result, a vast majority of 2G congregations is imbued with a suffocating milieu of smug, self-satisfied, middle-class complacency – the very thing that church is supposed to avoid. There are hidden sources of division: instances of class snobbery (which big-name school one graduated from is apparently a big deal even amongst 2G gyopos), petty cliques, singles versus newly married couples, and even gender divide. I have noticed that 2G gyopos have a noticeable tendency to self-segregate along gender lines during fellowship, an echo of our parents generation, which itself is a residual effect of centuries of neo-Confucianism. Almost every 2nd gyopo church also makes some ridiculous lip-service claim to being a “multi-racial” community in their mission statements, which elicits a horse laugh. The true definition of “multi-racial” in the KA church sense according to actual reality is that of 99% Korean-Americans and perhaps a handful of obligatory token White guys. White females within KA congregation are like unicorn sightings and Black people, they might as well be an extinct species.

The biggest indictment of the 2G gyopo church is that it has largely failed to figure out what the role of the KA church should be within the larger context of the American society beyond “just another church but with a bunch of yellow faces”. It has failed to identify and to be lead by a compelling set of ideals and principles that can override and transcend class and gender division. There is a distinct lack of leadership in the 2G KA church community; the few that are are emasculated twats with a thwarted understanding of “humility”. This is an unfortunate consequence of having a bunch of confused, no-identity having, smug, self-satisfied poseurs, whose parents sacrificed mightily to put them through mostly glorified trade schools, who insist on getting together and playing “church”.

#47

The evidence is damning, as laid out in the book “Bowling Alone”, written by a Harvard political scientist, that Americans are a country of non-joiners. While Bowling Alone has its critics, I wonder how the lack of a “natural” community, one based on ethnicity or a shared “homeland,” sort of gave people natural communities to lean on.

One of the major factors that has contributed to this is the predominance of the suburbia in American life. The suburbs are very isolating places; you can’t even go out to buy milk without having to get into a car. The traditional Main Street, the town square, common areas where locals can intermingle has been long supplanted by parking lots and the Shopping Mall.

James Howard Kunstler: The tragedy of suburbia

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia.html