Racism at the Driving Range rant

[TimV]

I think the reason that you attract the oddballs is that your avitar is really a picture of you and your just joshing us about what you really look like.

[arbitrage]

When I was in elementary school people said I looked like Benny Hill. Now, picture Benny Hill if he was 6'3" and 275lbs and you would have a good picture of me today.

 

 

 

This is where I usually wind up after a normal tee shot. JK

 

 

 

I think the reason that you attract the oddballs is that your avitar is really a picture of you and your just joshing us about what you really look like.

[Tinymoon]

While waiting for a station to open at the driving range another golfer strikes up a conversation with me. No problem, I am just stretching. The conversation turns to the people currently occupying some of the booths in front of us (happen to be Korean). He proceeds to call them "evil people" and "bad people" out of nowhere. He says all this loud enough for everyone in the area to hear it. They all turn around and look at us. Now I am guilty of "racism by association". I do not like confrontation and I kind of was wincing and turned my head away from him. What else could I have done? Do I confront him on his classless ignorance? How would you deal with this situation? This is not the first time this has happened to me (normally on the golf course).

 

For the record, both the offending party and myself are white.

 

I apologize in advance if this rant offends some people.

 

Your white acquaintance is actually not alone in his thinking. Maaany people feel similarly towards Koreans. The reason why there are stereotypes is because it is based on some sort of reality. You've got to admit. Some of these Koreans on ranges have notoriously bad etiquette range behavior. They act like they own the place sometimes. I asked my dad, who is a native Korean, as to why some Korean men in his generation act the way they do in certain situations. He mentioned the experiences he had while serving in the Korean army from ages 18-21. Some of the things they did were unthinkable. First starters, how bout' them prostitution farms they kept on their bases. Impressionable young men during their early 20s. No wonder that full into their 40s, 50s and 60s, they're still full of machismo sometimes.

 

 

I agree that the stereotypes have to stem up from somewhere. I am Korean-American myself. Born and raised here tho...and my Korean actually isn't that great. Nonetheless my parents are pretty traditional. I get annoyed with Koreans all the time at the range or on the course...but i also get annoyed at the other egocentric yuppies. I don't see why some people still like to pull the race card. Every race has some annoying people...

 

its just the way it is. And from what someone else said...the newer generation is different. The older generation will be phased out eventually. (the super loud FOBs. i know all you Korean-Americans know wut i'm talkin about.) ;)

[Ghost_Orchid]

When I was in elementary school people said I looked like Benny Hill. Now, picture Benny Hill if he was 6'3" and 275lbs and you would have a good picture of me today.

 

 

 

This is where I usually wind up after a normal tee shot. JK

 

 

 

I think the reason that you attract the oddballs is that your avitar is really a picture of you and your just joshing us about what you really look like.

 

 

Dammit, now the Benny Hill song is in my head.

 

My one Korean run in was on the course, i'm standing next to my cart while my group was teeing off...a line drive comes whizzing by me. Usually when this happens, i stare the person down as they come to retrieve their ball. I'm not gonna pick a fight, like another poster said, i'm and adult and i dont need to get arrested over some stupid $h1t. Anyway, the line driving Korean comes up smiling saying 'sorry', i was pissed as hell so i said '@#$er, dont tell me sorry, yell FORE!!! If you yell fore tand still get hit, then come and say sorry'. I dont think he understood a word i said.

[mjc694]

Golf should be a melting pot, i love the reference to Harvey Penick "....and if you play golf you are my friend." should be the way it is. unfortunately its not the case for everyone....

 

 

a few years ago i was a social member waiting at a prestigious local club. i was just a kid maybe 28 years old. Tiger was just becoming the rage, and was prepping to play David Duval (remember him?) in the battle at big horn, or whichever one of those made for tv matches was the first of those events. The winner was to get a million dollars, and the "loser" got 500K or something like that, and it was a pretty hot topic. People were wondering if this type of event was good for golf or not.

 

It got brought up at a community lunch table in the clubhouse, and i said something along the lines (tiger worshipper that i am) that i thought it was great for golf, and was a nice throwback to the wwog days, and that i couldnt wait to watch it. One of the older members looked at me and said....and i quote EXACTLY as i have never forgotten it.....

 

"Son, 50 years ago they would have taken that n----- out back and hung him, not given him a million dollars to play golf."

 

to my great shame i said nothing. i was dumbfounded. I paid for my lunch, and left the club. I never joined, but i do still see this individual around from time to time, as he is in the golf business. I will never forget what he said, and i never fail to let others know what kind of person he is.

 

Racism of any stripe is just plain foolish. You cant beat it, as its quite prevalent, but you can refuse to carry it forward.

 

you my friend, did the right thing. its no use getting into a beef with a guy over something this stupid but i can guarantee you that you will never forget that man, and the next time you know.

[blade_man]

here's my take. I can't figure it out. I run a pro shop and am a starter 6 days a week. most are great, they give me tips and I play rounds with thier kids, and they are some of my best guests. but some...no matter how much I try to help, have no problem showing up right when my twilight rates start (busiest time of day) never calling and reserving a time. and when I tell them it's gonna be like an hour, they look at me like I am screwing them over. I explain to them politly, and usually after a couple weeks they get it. But honestly some never do. I treat everybody equal, it's my job but there are some people out there, all races that just don't care about anybody but themselves

 

 

Now that my friends is a profround statement! Some just never do, doesn't matter what race, it has become a "me" mentality!

[larrybud]

Some people are not only racist, but clueless to their racism as well. I have a buddy who is Korean that was adopted by Americans. We're playing a scramble one year with two of our other buddies. We get to the golf hole where they take your photo. The photographer is a white guy, maybe 60 years old. He says to my buddy "Hey, you're like Jackie Chan", and proceeds to do some stupid a** kung-fu move with his hands. We all look at each other, shocked that someone is stupid enough to do anything like this. We had a good laugh about it afterward... laughing at the stupity of the photographer.

 

He did take a pretty good picture, I'll admit.

[kirkuleez]

Arbitrage is a great guy who loves golf. Spring Rock Golf Center in New Hyde Park IS a Korean owned facility. It is one of the factors that leads to Americans feeling as though Koreans are treated special and may feel resentment somehow, and that was directed towards me. I am the golf pro in this blog and happen to be Japanese, not Korean. The guy was totally oblivious to how obnoxious and disturbing he was. While he was at it, why not just start shooting fireworks at me and get a strobe light going.

[Ward]

While waiting for a station to open at the driving range another golfer strikes up a conversation with me. No problem, I am just stretching. The conversation turns to the people currently occupying some of the booths in front of us (happen to be Korean). He proceeds to call them "evil people" and "bad people" out of nowhere. He says all this loud enough for everyone in the area to hear it. They all turn around and look at us. Now I am guilty of "racism by association". I do not like confrontation and I kind of was wincing and turned my head away from him. What else could I have done? Do I confront him on his classless ignorance? How would you deal with this situation? This is not the first time this has happened to me (normally on the golf course).

 

For the record, both the offending party and myself are white.

 

I apologize in advance if this rant offends some people.

 

This story makes me laugh. I'm American, born in California to Korean immigrant parents. My folks have been here for 38 years now, and always been good about assimilating into our culture here, and also my grandfather on my mom's side is a white American...so I identify my self as American but I can attest that Koreans can be rude MF'ers and they do seem evil.

 

But from my inside experience, most of them on the inside are good, hard-working people with good family values, appreciative of the opportunities in the US, etc. It's mostly their outward demeanor that makes them seem bad. I've been to S. Korea once and rudeness in public is just their norm. Koreans are rude to each other. They don't have it in for white people or anything.

 

Trust me I see them spreading all over golf courses and driving ranges everywhere. Both in California where I'm from, and in the NY/LI area where I'm now. I see them on the course and in the pro shop being rude and honestly sometimes I cringe because I'm somehow associated with these folk. My parents belong to a country club in California that's over half Koreans. The white members must feel kinda weird, but hey turnabout is fair play.

 

BUT if you don't like confrontation then there's no need to say anything to this driving range racist guy. I'm sure your reactions spoke for themselves. Eventually he'll realize the truth about them Koreans, that they're essentially harmless and actually contribute to our marketplace economy and don't really commit crimes and what not. You can't really change someone's mind with words anyways.

 

People meet me and sometimes assume that I'm somehow foreign or whatever, then eventually see that I'm as American and as cool as anyone you'd ever meet, not to mention pretty slick golfer too...that does a lot to repair the Koreans' bad image. It just takes time. Most of the rude MF'ers are my parents' generation, they'll be phased out sooner or later. It's OK. Koreans are the least of most white peoples' worries and they know it...I think they just get fed up with their rudeness and frankly I kind of understand. :cheesy:

 

 

 

 

 

I'm with you all the way. I'm born to 1st gen Korean parents who had me while living in London, and then grew up and was educated in socal my whole life. I'm about as white as an asian can get, yet still speak perfect korean and know the culture and people very well.

 

Straight up, Koreans in the US who are not predominantly raised here are a totally different breed from ones that did grow up here. I myself get disgusted with the rudeness and loud obnoxious behavior of Korean people IN GENERAL (particularly at the driving range). A lot of them are loud and inconsiderate and surprise surprise....many of them are racist too since they grew up in a 99% korean population and had very little exposure to other cultures and races. This will change over time, but there are still a ton of these people who are all about 45+ yrs old right now. If you think Koreans here are impolite, try going to a crowded marketplace or mall in korea, where shoving someone into another person is as customary as saying "excuse me" over at your local grocery store in the states.

For every rude and annoying person of every race, there are a dozen others of that same race who are perfectly civilized and pleasant to be around.

 

You can't blame anyone in this world for having whatever beliefs they have, but you can blame them of being idiots when they publicly annouce their sentiment to some complete stranger such as the original poster.

[Ward]

I'm with you all the way. I'm born to 1st gen Korean parents who had me while living in London, and then grew up and was educated in socal my whole life. I'm about as white as an asian can get, yet still speak perfect korean and know the culture and people very well.

 

I don't think you should describe yourself as white. I've dealt with this my whole life and it gives me rage. Because a person speaks good English doesn't mean they're trying to be white. I grew up around a lot of Asian-americans who accused people of their own kind of being or acting "white", mainly because they didn't speak rudimentary, half-accented English. What a poor way of seeing things.

 

I always hated that some Asian-american people wouldn't take ownership of their Americanness, they who considered Americanness the domain of white people. Well guess what these people marginalize themselves with that attitude, and they speak neither English nor their parents' language particularly well, i.e. they are caught between cultures, and suffer from self-imposed identity crisis.

 

Enough with these labels I say. Life is hard enough as it is.

 

 

 

 

 

HUH? I think you're looking waaay too far into that comment.

[The Ultimate Spin]

i really can't believe that people are so ignorant these days. this guy sounds like another run of the muck redneck that is probably dumb as a post.

 

Anyone see that South Park that deals with immigration? “de tuuk ur jerbs!!!!”

 

sorry to hear you had to go through that, it's not right what some people do.