In the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech, Korea Night, originally scheduled for April 30, was canceled. The event, which was sponsored by the Korean American Student Association, the Korean Students and Scholars Association and the Korean Undergraduate Student Association, intended to celebrate Korean culture as well as educate the public about Korean culture.
If this cancellation was because the shooter was Korean-American, which is very possible, then it was a big mistake. Perhaps those in charge felt that celebrating Korean culture was disrespectful because of this fact. According to one of the event's organizers, it was out of respect.
""In this time of mourning, a celebration of culture wouldn't be appropriate,"" Bunghoi Kim told the Wisconsin State Journal.
However, had the shooter been a member of a different ethnic group, the event probably would not have been canceled.
Furthermore, if that is the rationale behind the cancelation, then it reflects poorly on our supposedly tolerant and accepting campus. If the event went on in spite of the tragedy, it would show that the campus was behind our Korean-American community, and it would reflect the view that one person does not serve to represent an entire ethnic group.
Although gestures of mourning and respect are always honorable, in this case holding the event could have expressed those sentiments in addition to educating the community. Ultimately, the cancelation took away the opportunity for people to enrich their views of Korean culture.
Information is generally beneficial and is only harmful if it instructs in violence or provides false information through propaganda. Nonetheless, in this case, the instruction of Korean culture does neither of these things and therefore, is not harmful.
The more informed people are about something, the less likely they are to be disrespectful about it. People are more likely to make grand, sweeping generalizations about subjects that they have very little information about.
Historically this is the case. For example, in former eras, many believed evil spirits and not germs caused disease. Fortunately, after reflection and experimentation, scientists discovered this was not the case. After the general population accepted this as fact, doctors actually treated diseases instead of using exorcism or other useless quasi-medical practices.
Furthermore, a cultural-knowledge deficit can quickly lead to cultural insensitivity. It is easy to mock something when only provided with lopsided, incomplete information, which is what leads to stereotyping.
However, information provides people with the means to understand aspects of culture, something that is rarely so black and white that one can simply throw a label on them. An event such as this one could have alleviated some of the ignorance surrounding the Virginia Tech tragedy and reduced the persistence of stereotypes among its attendees.
Cultural enrichment is crucial to the vitality of this campus and events like these should not necessarily halt after a tragedy. We can use the celebratory vigor to unite in times of calamity.
Many may argue that this postponement was respectful because it sought to refrain from joyous activities, much like when, after Sept. 11, 2001, we demonstrated national mourning by postponing or canceling various festivities to promote unity throughout the United States.
Although this instance of tragedy may be analogous in a sense that it was a national tragedy, this situation is very different from 9/11 in terms of cessation of group activities. In this case, not all UW-Madison festivities on campus were canceled—just Korea Night.
Above all, we ought to welcome celebrations of culture even in times of tragedy because it is during those times when it is easy to forget we are all members of humanity. Once we have lost that spark igniting appreciation for humankind, we have lost not only our respect for others, but ultimately, we have lost ourselves.
