We've already seen a connection between the anti-AES movement and Irvine, where Andrea Vandom and ATEK sought to use Korea's vulnerability to "shame politics," in part by trying to get the mayor or Irvine involved with their effort to remove objectionable material from the Anti-English Spectrum site — solely because he's Korean-American.
I really wish they hadn't done that. What little opportunity for good to come out of that tactic is overshadowed by how badly it can blow up in a lot of people's faces: the Korean-American mayor for getting distracted with an issue that has nothing to do with his constituents but everything to do with him being a Korean-American, and Ms Vandom and ATEK themselves for making veiled threats in public that if the Naver thing doesn't go their way they will try to use that to tarnish Korea's image. People tend to not like things like that. Big resentment-builder and a bad way to win people to your cause.
Especially when you've failed to first go through proper channels anyway.
Anyway, the newspaper at my undergraduate alma mater, UC Irvine (Go Anteaters! Zot!) has written up a piece. It turns out Ms Vandom and I are alumni of the same school, which is why, it appears, she brought this to the attention of New University, the school paper. I'm going to fisk this later, after a project is over, but for now here's the link.
(HT to Popular Gusts)
I tried to leave this comment at the NewU, but it hasn't gone through. It's stuff I've said before, but for now I'll just leave it here:
ReplyDeleteMs Vandom and ATEK deserve credit for trying to do something about this, but they have gone about it in a ham-fisted way.
AES's alleged power is not in their website, but in their supposed influence with a few legislators and some lazy journalists. Getting them designated as a hate group by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea would discredit their organization and deflate whatever power they had. I and others had suggested this from some time ago.
Instead, this movement to get their site gutted through Naver turned things into a free-speech issue, while also giving AES ample warning to remove ore reposition questionable material that would be needed to make the case with the NHRCK.
Now that Naver is rejecting their request to have the stuff removed, but AES has removed some of the most egregious stuff anyway, it makes the case in the NHRCK harder. Harder but not impossible. I hope that Ms Vandom and ATEK will move their battle away from Naver and go back to the NHRCK. Get AES discredited.
http://kushibo.blogspot.com/2009/11/nsets-versus-aes-in-kt-or-yankers-of.html
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised, from reading this article in the NewU to find that Ms Vandom and I are both alumni of UCI. Zot!
Maybe we should form an alumni association in Seoul.
You know what's funny? When Rhie was making cartoons about the "wall of the Jews" and there was a lot of criticism from Jewish groups on those cartoons Rhie made a personal apology to the KOREAN AMERICAN COALITION! And I recall a lot of expats thinking that was weird.
ReplyDeleteNow, you see the situation a bit reversed. The expat community does something very similar in this situation, reaching out to a KOREAN AMERICAN politician.
I think ATEK should try to contact the Korean American Coalition instead. Their board is full of bleeding heart civil right types who graduated from Berkeley...
Get AES discredited.
ReplyDeleteAlthough they have taken down the "black pig" post and other of the more obviously racist postings, give them time. They'll post more. They can't help themselves.
Going after AES now would probably get the complaint shot down, but give them enough rope to hang themselves.
I give it 3 months before we'll have another batch of posts we can use against them in discreditng them