Who stole my language and my culture? - Part 2

1977: 23 months after my arrival into my adoptive family. My aunt asked me to sing in Korean. I sang but I was ashamed to sing in my birth language.
The assimilation was almost completed.
It took them few months more to assimilate me completely.

Who stole my language and my culture?

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Korean
• adoptee
• forced
• assimilation
• international
• intercountry
• overseas
• interracial
• adoption
• transracial
• culture
• language
• abduction
• brainwashing

[peterdodds1]

I was adopted from a German orphanage by an American couple and this video mirrors my experience.

This video helps illuminate the issue of international adoption, particularly the tragic problem of children who suffer the loss of being separated from not only their birth-parents, but also from their ancestral homeland and culture - their entire heritage.

[jstele]

@slappymcgroundout You think you're entitled to shove your ignorance down other people's throats. This was simply a video from a woman sharing her experience. You did not have to act so obnoxious and aggressive in your response and that is what I objected to. But for some reason, I just don't think you will ever get it. "Welcome to the club, Myung-sook. You didn't really think that every American had English-speaking ancestors, did ya" That's not ignorant? That's not aggressive?

[slappymcgroundout]

For yet one more, causes of death in US: Diseases of Heart 28.5% Malignant Neoplasms (cancer) 22.8% Cerebrovascular Diseases (stroke) 6.7% Chronic Lower Respiratory Diseases 5.1% Accidents 4.4% Diabetes 3.0% Influenza and Pneumonia 2.7% Alzheimer's Disease 2.4% Nephritis, Nephrotic Syndrome and Nephrosis 1.7% Septicemia 1.4% ROK is cancer, stroke, heart disease and then suicide. Keep that in mind when you consider what culture she lost. And eating well isn't the solution.

[slappymcgroundout]

For one more:

According to the research done by 38-year old Jeong Seong-guk of the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency...there were 2,330 suicides in Seoul in 2007. The piece goes on to report that suicide is the 4th leading cause of death in Korea. According to Suicide.org, Korea ranks 10th in the world in suicide. The US is 43rd. Rates per 100K: ROK 32.5 men, 15 women. US 17.9 men, 4.2 women. Might I ask whether she lost a higher risk of suicide as well? The figures are from WHO.

[slappymcgroundout]

@jstele "Fuck you and your sense of entitlement." Entitlement? What am I entitled to? And grow up, please. The f word and "bitch" are for moral and intellectual midgets.

[slappymcgroundout]

And, moron, you have to be a bigot to even think there's a loss here. Is any one culture more valuable than another? What happened to that whole multicultural meme that says all is equal? So at least be consistent. And so in terms of the multiculturalists, she's simply traded one for the other. That's all. You have to think that Korean culture is superior to imply any loss. Ditto an American child adopted by foreigners and raised in their culture.

[slappymcgroundout]

And here is all the dysfunction? Descendants of Germans make up the largest group in the US. How many speak German? Irish are next. How many speak Gaelic? The Japanese here in Hawaii used to have Japanese language schools. They are rather rare these days, since after a while, the now grown kids and their kids don't place the value on the language. It doesn't make them any less, they are still human. And every child who is adopted must deal with fact of loss of parent(s).

[slappymcgroundout]

@jstele Who in Deity's name is attacking her? And what was her alternative? To grow up in an orphanage in the ROK? She and you might ask yourselves, where she'd be now if the alternative were the reality? For how dumb is the whole culture meme, the children or grandchildren will lose their native language. It's just the way that it works.  And why are they here? Because their prior location and lives offered no hope. It helps to remember that.

[jstele]

@oxus72 I would say that outright ignorance and obnoxiousness is VERY offensive. When people are so blatantly careless about the feelings of others. Sloppy was aggressively attacking her, so I felt the need to intervene.

[oxus72]

@jstele Personal preference I guess. I save my f-bombs for outright despicable thoughts and language; willfully deceptive politicians and such, or the type who don't want any exchange of ideas, just trowing mud around. You can always have a shitty argument and still come out looking reasonable by proxy if the guy with the better ideas throws a fit. The comments here are imo clueless, condescending and unproductive given the context, but they're not deliberately bad.