Links – 2008-09-01
Whoo! I can see the del.icio.us inbox again. Carmen and I are resetting our options, so hopefully, the links should be back up soon. Until then…
Kabobfest wonders what Kim Kardashian is doing for the image of Arab and Middle Eastern women in the American consciousness. They also weigh in on the controversy surrounding the new movie “Towelhead.” (Thanks Fatemeh!)
Readers Kenya and Demajali sent in some information on how the LPGA is instituting an English only policy for players. Those who do not pass an oral language evaluation will be suspended from the tour:
The LPGA made the announcement last week in a mandatory meeting of South Korean players at the Safeway Classic in Portland, Ore. (Seven of the LPGA’s Top 20 players are Korean and half are from East Asia; 45 of the LPGA’s 121 international players are from South Korea.) According to the article, many Korean players approve of the policy (at least publicly), but that doesn’t make it any less sinister.
Angela Park, interviewed in the story, appears to be under the impression that the LPGA officials could impose quotas on Korean golfers if they wanted to. “The LPGA could come out and say they only want 10 Koreans, but they’re not,” Park said to Golfweek. “A lot of Korean players think they are being targeted, but it’s just because there are so many of them.”
Advertising Age’s Big Tent blog has a great response to the LPGA’s ruling:
If I were a marketer, I would think twice about supporting an organization that openly discriminates against its members and potential members solely because they choose to speak a language other than English. Social, professional and political advancement shouldn’t be tied to one’s ability to speak English. Instead, golf should be judged by skill, knowledge of the game, professionalism, future potential and sportsmanship.
(Thanks HighJive!)
Ann over at Feministing highlights another kyriarchy approved dating guide. Unfortunately, some of the comments quickly veer into “what’s wrong with these uncivilized negroes?” territory. Consider that a warning. Good thing a few people on the thread had common sense.
M. Dot takes a blog post to explain to Feministing readers what they are missing in trying to label the book a black problem, and not looking at the *whole* issue.
And the Washington Post discusses dating issues over in Japan, providing more evidence to support the idea that *every* community has issues with dating. It is a problem that tends to occur with humans, regardless of any other modifiers.
Robin Thicke denied the cover of Vibe for being white? Bossip has the scoop. (Via Stereohyped.)
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of
Brian Barker wrote:
I think that the LPGA’s decision smacks of xenophobia.
At least the Beijing Olympics appointed an Esperanto translator, and CRI broadcast daily, about the Games, in this language.
You can see confirmation at http://esperanto.cri.cn
Posted 01 Sep 2008 at 12:36 pm ¶
Rob Schmidt wrote:
“Kryiarchy”? Oh, you mean “kyriarchy.”
Not that I’ve ever heard of a kyriarchy, mind you. I thought I knew every -archy, but evidently not.
I looked it up and found that someone made up this word a few years ago. Here’s the derivation:
http://feministphilosophers.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/word-of-the-day-kyriarchy
Posted 01 Sep 2008 at 1:47 pm ¶
browne wrote:
What does speaking English have to do with playing golf, so now sports stars have to pass an English test, is that going to extend to baseball and soccer?
This is total xenophobic bs. If the tour was being taken over by Parisian women I highly doubt the language “issues” would be a problem.
This reminds me of the SAT’s here in the US (the test they use for college entry) when Asian-Americans did well, they changed the rules. They changed the test specifically to target a weak area statistically for people of Asian descent, completely outrageous and also the real reason they wanted to get rid of affirmative actions in California schools had nothing to do with black people or Latinos, but because under the performance only based entry “too many” Asian-Americans where getting in.
This special kind of racism against people of Asian descent in America needs to stop or at the very least be called out on by the mainstream media.
Posted 01 Sep 2008 at 2:17 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
@Rob -
Thanks for the catch. I spotted another typo while fixing the first one. No more blog posts after midnight for me.
Posted 01 Sep 2008 at 3:42 pm ¶
Logan wrote:
To try to explain the reasoning on English in the LPGA (note: casual follower of golf, got this from guys who I trust from ESPN radio):
The issue is that the LPGA has been stagnant in growth, comparatively speaking, to other sports. For many of the foreign players who come over to a primarily American tour and win, often times they aren’t able to come out and thank sponsors in their acceptance speeches, or communicate with fellow players in Pro-Am events, and the reasoning follows that incidents such as these have helped cause the LPGA to stagnate in growth, while other sports like NASCAR, which by all accounts has great crowd interaction and communication with sponsors and such, to thrive recently. From the accounts I’ve heard/read, it is mainly they want the players to be able to speak and understand conversational English, and the specifics would come at a later date.
Additionally, Sei Ri Pak, probably the most well known South Korean golfer, has came out and like many, supported the intent of the LPGA, and stated that players should make an effort to learn English, but stated that she felt the suspension was too harsh a penalty, and that fines might be better.
My personal thoughts: Nice intentions, too harsh a penalty. I’m going to apply my current situation to the LPGA Situation: I’m leaving in less than a week to go to China for a year as a teacher. In my position, I won’t need to know any Chinese, and for my year, my job only requires me to speak English to the students to help them learn English. I have been preparing by trying to learn some Chinese for when I go over there, and I will continue my studies while I’m there as well to hopefully be somewhat fluent by the time I leave China. If I knew a teacher who was going over there, who wasn’t going to make any effort to learn Chinese, I think that teacher would be a jerk personally.
While our situations are somewhat different (I’m living in China while many South Korean golfers still live in South Korea I think), I can’t go out and call the LPGA racist or practicing an exclusionary policy when, quite frankly, its the right thing to do. If you’re going to be making a living in a foreign country, working with foreign sponsors, there should at least be some effort to learn the language to be able to at least somewhat communicate, especially in a situation where personal interaction trumps anything of a team venture (ala, Football/Baseball/Basketball). That isn’t xenophobic in my eyes, that’s just common courtesy. While I think the suspension is too harsh, I do think there should be made an effort to help educate foreign players in English, or to persuade them to at least learn a little.
Posted 01 Sep 2008 at 6:28 pm ¶
Anonymous wrote:
Wow!!
I’m speechless at the LPGA stupidity. This smacks of xenophobia. It seems only in the U.S is speaking another language or more than one language looked down upon. And I love how its not going to be for all players, players can be ‘targeted’ based on staff observations.
Un-effing-believable!
Posted 01 Sep 2008 at 6:54 pm ¶
JC wrote:
The LPGA is not just xenophobic… they are just simply racist. The Korean players has been winning turnaments left and right… someone has to stop the Yellow Hords.
“So How do we stop them Korean gals from winning ur money?”
“Well, since we white gals can’t beat them, how about just kick them out? It worked for the guys really well until this Tiger Woods freak.”
“But won’t we need a cover story or they’d be calling us racist or something?”
“I know, Let’s just say only people speak English can play! This way our white European sisters can still play.”
“But what if they can’t speak English as well?”
“Come now, no one is going to assume that a white gal can’t speak English.”
“But some of them undesirables still speak a few words of English, what then?”
“I know, We’ll force them to take a really hard test, like SAT or something. They’ll never pass and we will get ride of those pesky Asians for ever!”
I know that I’ll never watch another LPGA event again.
Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 7:11 am ¶
Cynthia wrote:
I completely agree with Logan. I would expect that an international table tennis group based out of China would require people to speak/understand Mandarin to thank sponsors.
Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 7:35 am ¶
coco wrote:
Athletes can thank sponsors through translators or learn enough commercial english to do so in advertisements, the way that actors do. It seems like this could be better addressed on a case by case basis.
This regulation shifts the focus of the LGPA from athleticism to commercialism. Do viewers want to watch a fixed competition?
Who would want to win at a fixed competition? The money would be good, but everyone would know it was meaningless — like earning WWF titles instead of Olympic wrestling medals.
I can’t think of any other sports where viewers know talented athletes are being cut out because they don’t have sponsor appeal….for doping, yes, cheating, yes … but I thought folks got on the Wheaties box because they were great.
What are viewers tuning into LGPA for in the first place? Golf or Advertisments? Because the sponsors seem to be arguing that golf is going down because foreign golf champs can’t sell shoes. But I don’t think there’s a causal connection between sponsors making viewers watch. I think it’s the athletes who make viewers tune in.
Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 1:00 pm ¶
Joseph wrote:
I wasn’t familiar with “kyriarchy” either until this link. What a great term.
Seems like a post on this would go some way toward putting the white feminists vs. WoC stuff that was kicked up during the primary season into context…
Posted 02 Sep 2008 at 3:31 pm ¶