I've changed my mind about this school... does Caltech really condone this behavior?

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

<p>I've always thought of Caltech as one of the highest, if not the pinnacle, of learning institutions in California. I thought this would be a place with civilized students who respect their community and other individuals, regardless of social/racial standing. </p>

<p>I am really questioning this now, after I've witnessed such racial slurs from a Caltech student (I do not want to name names in public, but something should be done). There was an individual that I've tutored for math1a that was a Caltech student, and I've recently seen his racial slurs directed at blacks and japanese people. This is what I'm referring to:</p>

<p>YouTube</a> - What a dirty Korean Soccer テコンサッカー ACL 浦和レッズvs全北現代</p>

<p>I am 100% certain that the HopesLastStand individual is indeed a Caltech student from Fleming. There are also other slurs that I've received on AIM, but I don't wanna post them.</p>

<p>Are all Caltech students like this?! I am pretty appalled at the ignorance that someone could have.</p>

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<p>If one hateful individual making racist comments is enough to turn you off of a school completely, then good luck finding anywhere to go. Every school has people who act like that. It's really just a question of whether you notice them or not.</p>

<p>Are there people who enjoy racist jokes at Caltech? Sure. They're also at every other university though, and if you think otherwise, you're deluding yourself.</p>

<p>That said, you can go through four years at Caltech and not encounter such things. It all depends on who you decide to spend time around.</p>

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<p>Yes, every single of us here is racist, antisemitic, and...and...what else is there, stereotypic enough, to say? Ah, and us, guys, spend days and nights playing video games because of the horrible ratio... :)</p>

<p>Seriously, though - judging about the whole institution based on the sayings of one individual is not a good idea. When you come to college, you'll find out that it will be quite different from what it's been with your family - people tell racist jokes, get drunk, and do weird things in general. And it is not only at Caltech. </p>

<p>That said, however, you do not have to be around that kind of people if you do not want to. :)</p>

<p>EDIT: Aaaand, Mike beat me to it, of course... Argh! :)</p>

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<p>Thanks for the constructive replies. I was sorta angry because I'm Japanese myself. To judge an institution based on the actions of one person was unfair of me, I was being just like that person. Anyways, I'd like to apologize.</p>

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<p>Perfectly understandable to be angry - I find myself hoping that I don't know this person. Oh, well no apology necessary, I'm just glad you now differentiate between this guy and the rest of us.</p>

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<p>This is not condoned at Caltech in any way, shape, or form. Interesting, you say this person is a frosh in Fleming Hovse. I've never heard anything like this from anyone, though I have a hunch on who this person may be (hopeslaststand sounds really familiar, but I can't remember where I've read it). I really hope this won't influence your views on Caltech. It shouldn't.</p>

<p>If this still bothers you at all (heck, it would bother me), you can PM me with who this person is (I'm a frosh in Fleming Hovse), and I could maybe explain the situation a little more.</p>

<p>edit: in fact, it was who I thought it was. Wow. Seriously, do not let this guy influence your views on Caltech at all, and I applaud you for having the ability to tutor this kid. If you want a further explanation, PM me.</p>

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<p>
[quote]

Thanks for the constructive replies. I was sorta angry because I'm Japanese myself. To judge an institution based on the actions of one person was unfair of me, I was being just like that person. Anyways, I'd like to apologize.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>If I were Japanese, I'd also be pretty mad - it's totally understandable. Anyway, I've never heard/seen anything like this at Caltech until now. As others have said - most people here I know would not condone that kind of crap in any way. Those youtube comments are <em>pretty</em> extraordinnarily awful, by the way.</p>

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<p>I haven't watched the video but for what it's worth, Caltech is one of the schools with a community strong enough that someone doing anything like that to another member of the community would be punished not only by the official channels but also by being socially looked down on by a lot of people. Thanks for understanding that it's just one person. But the people who are at Caltech now may consider doing something about this.</p>

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<p>I'm not connected with CalTech in any way, shape or form -- </p>

<p>But the moral of the story here is that YouTube and chat sites (like CC) are definitely not anonymous. In this day and age, anything you say or do on the internet can be seen by anyone, and you will be identified by people who know you.</p>

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<p>Uh, yeah. I agree with Dauntless on this one. I also know who this person is, partly because he is the only person I've heard making offensive comments of this kind. Don't judge the entire community on one person.</p>

<p>I'll repeat Dauntless' offer and ask you to PM me if you want to talk more about it.</p>

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<p>Anyone who has had ANY primary education in South Korea (including myself) is aware that</p>

<ol>
<li>Japanese pirates have been forcing Korean villagers into slavery for over a thousand years.</li>
<li>Japanese took over Korea and ruled brutally for 36 years.</li>
<li>In World War II, countless young Korean men were forced to fight in the Japanese army against the United States, most of them fighting in the front lines. Most of the ?Japanese casualties? in World War II were in fact, Korean deaths.</li>
<li>In world War II, Japanese forced hundreds of thousand young Korean women into the military as sex slaves (comfort women), forcing them to sleep with many Japanese soldiers until their uterus rot from the diseases.</li>
<li>Worst of all, Japanese government DENIES the fact that all of these World
War II atrocities ever occured.</li>
</ol>

<p>and most blatantly:
6. And today, Japanese individuals post hateful videos of Koreans on Youtube to rally hatred against Koreans.</p>

<p>After all this, they expect Korea to play a gentle soccer game with Japanese?</p>

<p>If you guys haven't read any of the older comments by the Japanese earlier in the video, it had plenty of brutal racial comments against Koreans (such as "your mom was a good comfort woman"). Even more ridiculously, most of the comments against Koreans were given positive ratings and those who defended Koreans were given negative ratings.</p>

<p>As a nationalistic, patriotic first generation Korean, reading the whole thing exploded my anger. I in fact stayed up until 5 a.m. that night reading the thing OVER AND OVER again. It was worse than a personal attack against myself, for it targets not only me (a Korean), but EVERYONE ELSE who is like me (other Koreans).</p>

<p>I just HAD to post what had to be posted, to get EVEN with those jerks, and to let them know how much they are hurting us Koreans. Sorry guys.</p>

<p>Edit:
Regarding maelstrom99: Although I have never met him in real life or what he looks like, I frequently chat with him on AIM. He was a smart and very hard working student and was eager to get into Caltech, so I gave him random suggestions on Caltech App. Because he was able to help me on few math homework problems before, I advised him to put that he “tutored” a Caltech freshman on his application, to see if that would get him anywhere. Anyhow, I was never formally “tutored” by this kid.</p>

<p>To maelstrom99: Im sorry if my anti japanese comments in the video offended you. I did not post those because I am racist against Japanese (I in fact have a Japanese friend going to MIT lol). I just posted those because I was angry at those who were racist against Koreans.</p>

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<p>YouTube</a> - Broadcast Yourself.
All comments can be found here. Some of them include:</p>

<p>WestEgg312 (2 months ago) Show Hide<br>
+11<br>
Reply | Spam
WHY DOES KOREAN EXIST???
We should eliminate Korean from this world.</p>

<p>g125 (2 months ago) Show Hide Marked as spam
0 Poor comment Good comment<br>
Reply | Spam
gooks are dirty cheaters, not just in football. I mean, they like to steal other country's cultures and claim them to be originated in Korea or by Koreans. I guess they have to do this to make their sorry ass feel better. The whole country is made up of losers. </p>

<p>pin1973 (2 months ago) Show Hide<br>
-24<br>
Reply | Spam
<em>post is in Korean language</em>
ayana8988665 (2 months ago) Show Hide<br>
+6<br>
Reply | Spam
What are you talking about????Don't type the ugly language like that. Nobody can get your means except barbarians </p>

<p>sickunts (1 week ago) Show Hide<br>
+2<br>
Reply | Spam
haha..... dumbkunt....
hey your mom is very good comfort woman
papipupe3 (5 days ago) Show Hide<br>
+2<br>
Reply | Spam
haha, Koreans...you have to understand how Koreans are peceived in the world. Most people think Koreans are crazy, dirty, sneaky.</p>

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<p>To HopesLastStand: Let me first say that I understand your feelings, because I am South Korean myself, and I also attended school in Korea. It is sadly true that the Japanese government denies and/or refuses to apologize for most of the war crimes they have done, such as human experimentation etc (unlike Germany). However you of all people (I mean come on, look at the politicians in our country) should know that bashing other people like that does absolutely nothing. What was the outcome of all the comments? Just more anger against each other...</p>

<p>Also don't forget that the Japanese history textbooks omit and/or make vague remarks about their crimes in WWII, so some young Japanese people may genuinely not know what happened. Does it make me angry? Of course. Will I make comments like that in youtube? Probably not.</p>

<p>To be painfully honest, most young Koreans don't generate this anger by reading primary/secondary sources, it's built in starting from their youth. There's no doubt that politicians have used this anger to move the attention away from the domestic problems we had. What I'm trying to say is, we shouldn't forget what happened but we should move on. I'm quite sure you know all this, and just lost your temper.</p>

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<p>Where did African-Americans come into this whole story?</p>

<p>Anyway, being angry about atrocities committed 60 years ago does not entitle you to make racist slurs against others, a practice which you are (bewilderingly) defending. Also, having a Japanese friend does not mean that you are not a racist.</p>

<p>You need to get some counseling to help you deal with your issues, because if you don't deal with this it is going to cause more trouble in your life than you can imagine.</p>

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<p>I just reread the comments on youtube because I didn't know which comments were HopeLastStand's... and I agree with Ben Golub. I was thinking of something much, much different. Please ignore my previous post.</p>

<p>Strange. I always imagined those type of comments were from little kids.</p>

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<p>I'm already seeing counselor weekly because I have lots of personal problems going on in my life. I guess I'll bring this up too then.</p>

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<p>I really do hope things get better in your life soon. Happy holidays to you and yours.</p>

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<p>Thanks man</p>

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<p>I'm not quite sure about the details of this controversy, but I think that there is one thing worth pointing out here: Caltech is a university, and not a high school. As such, it is not right to assume that just because a student says something nasty in public, the Institute is "condoning" it. Universities are not supposed to be in the business of excommunicating heretics, but rather in the business of supplying good ideas with which to fight the bad ones.</p>