Poor Little Rich Girl

This article in a classics scholarly journal is by a Korean woman who talks about all the micro-aggressions she has experienced as a non-white in the field of classics. She is described as the editor-at-large of the journal in question. Yet, as far as I can tell, she has only a masters degree and not a Ph.D. To be any kind of editor of a classics journal is quite an appointment, and I’m sure that no one from my university would have gotten such a position with such modest credentials. She, of course, went to elite schools – Princeton for her bachelors and Cambridge for her masters – and I think I’m safe in assuming that she is rich and privileged by her wealth. What is striking is that nearly everything she complains about could easily be experienced by poorer students in classics. For example, her article mentions white men from public schools – these are English public schools, which means they are really private and very expensive – who learned Latin and Greek from day one. Such people can be very intimidating to non-white students. But they can also be very intimidating to poorer students who had no such opportunities to learn those languages because their schools didn’t offer them. Yet, despite the fact that economic background could also be mentioned in this article, it is not (which is one more sign that she is probably wealth). I wonder what would prompt people like the author to admit that not every sort of exclusiveness is based on race or gender. Sometimes, there can be class exclusiveness.

But even if author isn’t wealthy, the fact is that she herself either has or probably will execute a few micro-aggressions of her own on people who went to less elite schools. Academia, particularly classics, is a snobby place, and lots of people get stomped on for no good reason, simply because they went to the wrong school.

Plus, I have to wonder if there were no, absolutely no people she has encountered in classics who treated her decently. Obviously, some must have done so since she has the position she does, and you don’t get such an position if no one thinks you can do the job. So, some must have treated her decently. Yet, she refuses to acknowledge their actions. Why not? Basically, because she is a whiner, like many other academics.

Comments

[Big Hominid]

Koreans have a culturally ingrained sense of victimhood. Some of this is justified, I guess, given Korea's bitter history as both a vassal state of China and an annexed territory of Japan. Korea's current divided state, which is not of its own making, probably also adds to the pervasive sense of injustice. That said, Koreans often take their grievances too far and see "microaggressions" under every rock and in every dark corner. It's not a very healthy way to live, in my opinion, and I say that as a half-Korean myself.

Kevin Kim

[John Pepple]

Very interesting! Thanks for your insights.