- Apr 13, 2006
- 28,919
- 16,354
- Country
- Canada
- Gender
- Male
- Faith
- Christian
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- CA-Greens
I am an English teacher in Korea. I teach in a public elementary school.
I am also a musician, performing biweekly at a local pub. To top it off, I also love to act.
The first is my job. The rest are my hobbies, things I do out of personal interest and things for which I refuse payment.
Recently, I performed in a play called "Babopalooza" (babo meaning "fool" in Korean) which did quite the job of teasing Koreans AND foreigners alike about eccentricities and basically had fun with life in Korea. The play was incredibly well received with a stand ovation on the first night and hearty applause the second.
Unfortunately, an undercover cop was in the audience for this particular show and she took 'great offense' to the content, even though as she was leaving (early) I asked her what she thought and she said she liked it.
Well, myself and other performers were on something called an "E2" visa which we took to understand that we could not participate in any money making ventures.
The producers (on the same visa) charged just enough money that they KNEW they would lose money on the production, just not thousands of dollars. The actors, at NO point received money.
[I TRULELY am getting to the point]
Since the police have been investigating this show the foreigner community has become bitterly divided. That saddens everyone.
My point: In essence, the E2 visa reads: "The teacher shall refrain from activities that are not outlined in their contract or permitted by the school".
That means that literally, we cannot (legally) even busk....heck, we can't even play music OUTSIDE on a park bench because it is not a perscribed activity in our contract. This would require us to get school permission, go down to the immi office and pay about 60$.
It should be noted, however, that Korea and many of the locals have an interesting (unofficial) legal set up. There seems to be rules upon rules regulating everything but the cops selectively choose to enforce rules.
For example, there are probably over 100 foreigner bands with members violating their visa; probably thousands of foreign teacher (FTs) who are [this is GRANT!] illegally volunteering in orphanages. I'd wager every foreign teacher in Korea has broken the OFFICIAL terms of their visa at least a dozen times.
I have hunted around the internet looking for an official government page that explicitly explain in ENGLISH what is permissible on an E2 visa and haven't really came close enough to something legally binding. It seems the government is keeping the rules from us.
So that is the set up.
Now, my question the CFites (and you don't have to make it relative to my situation but generally speaking):
How do you feel about unjust laws? Would you fight to uphold it because it IS a law (as some foreigners are doing)? Would you struggle to dismantle it? Would you break it and hope to avoid the concequences? If the situation is relative, in which cases would you do what?
I have come to the realization that my liberal tendancies from university are still engrained in my head but my cowardice is making it difficult to become fully enraged.
I will say this: Once the whole punishment thing passes, there are going to be some foreigners getting an EARFUL from me, I tells ya.
I am also a musician, performing biweekly at a local pub. To top it off, I also love to act.
The first is my job. The rest are my hobbies, things I do out of personal interest and things for which I refuse payment.
Recently, I performed in a play called "Babopalooza" (babo meaning "fool" in Korean) which did quite the job of teasing Koreans AND foreigners alike about eccentricities and basically had fun with life in Korea. The play was incredibly well received with a stand ovation on the first night and hearty applause the second.
Unfortunately, an undercover cop was in the audience for this particular show and she took 'great offense' to the content, even though as she was leaving (early) I asked her what she thought and she said she liked it.
Well, myself and other performers were on something called an "E2" visa which we took to understand that we could not participate in any money making ventures.
The producers (on the same visa) charged just enough money that they KNEW they would lose money on the production, just not thousands of dollars. The actors, at NO point received money.
[I TRULELY am getting to the point]
Since the police have been investigating this show the foreigner community has become bitterly divided. That saddens everyone.
My point: In essence, the E2 visa reads: "The teacher shall refrain from activities that are not outlined in their contract or permitted by the school".
That means that literally, we cannot (legally) even busk....heck, we can't even play music OUTSIDE on a park bench because it is not a perscribed activity in our contract. This would require us to get school permission, go down to the immi office and pay about 60$.
It should be noted, however, that Korea and many of the locals have an interesting (unofficial) legal set up. There seems to be rules upon rules regulating everything but the cops selectively choose to enforce rules.
For example, there are probably over 100 foreigner bands with members violating their visa; probably thousands of foreign teacher (FTs) who are [this is GRANT!] illegally volunteering in orphanages. I'd wager every foreign teacher in Korea has broken the OFFICIAL terms of their visa at least a dozen times.
I have hunted around the internet looking for an official government page that explicitly explain in ENGLISH what is permissible on an E2 visa and haven't really came close enough to something legally binding. It seems the government is keeping the rules from us.
So that is the set up.
Now, my question the CFites (and you don't have to make it relative to my situation but generally speaking):
How do you feel about unjust laws? Would you fight to uphold it because it IS a law (as some foreigners are doing)? Would you struggle to dismantle it? Would you break it and hope to avoid the concequences? If the situation is relative, in which cases would you do what?
I have come to the realization that my liberal tendancies from university are still engrained in my head but my cowardice is making it difficult to become fully enraged.
I will say this: Once the whole punishment thing passes, there are going to be some foreigners getting an EARFUL from me, I tells ya.
