SHOULD KOREANS IN THE U.S. FEAR A BACKLASH BECAUSE OF VIRGINIA TECH? [+] serious ballot by Felix ACTIVE Sun Apr 22, 07 - Mon Apr 21, 08 Some Korean community leaders in the U.S. and the South Korean government itself have expressed concerns about an anti-Korean backlash in the United States, following the insane shooting spree committed by Virginia Tech student Cho Seung-Hui. Sunwoong Kim, President of the Korean-American University Professors Association claimed that, "I think that it's going to affect us quite seriously. It's certainly going to cause a negative sterotype of Korean Americans because he happened to be Korean and a loner and, under some emotional stress, he reacted very violently." A small number of Koreans in the U.S. have reported some negative or even threatening comments, but, so far, there has been little evidence of any mass hostility towards Koreans or Asians in general. Personally, I think Professor Kim's just plain wrong in his assessment. It's patently obviously that Cho was a very disturbed young man, who acted entirely on his own. His killings had nothing to do with his ethnicity, save the fact that he may have derived some slight inspiration from the South Korean film,"Oldboy." (Actually, as a fan of this film, I must say that the events in Cho's life have virtually NOTHING to do with the plot of this cleverly scripted and directed movie.). This is somewhat unlike the situation after September 11, 2001, where it could be argued that the bigots who went after Muslims and mosque property were at least going after coreligionists, if not co-ideologues, of al Qaeda and company. There was at least a very tenuous connection, even if the actions of the bigots against innocent 3rd parties were utterly unlawful and misguided. I just haven't detected any such shifting of blame amongst any of my fellow Americans during the past week since the Virginia Tech tragedy. So, should Koreans in the U.S. be afraid of an anti-Korean backlash? Yes, they should. No, they should not. SORRY, THIS POLL IS NOW CLOSED. Ballot #114184 : Voting Finished : SEE RESULTS Comment: show your vote with comment?

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