One thing that you will notice in Far East Asia is that individualism is a Western concept and that the Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese are the opposite. They do everything together and if you do things alone, you're considered "unique" to say it politely. This is known as the group or herd mentality. I'm going to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of it.
The ADVANTAGES:
1. When the World Cup opens, EVERYONE watches. Koreans come together, drink together, cheer together, and Seoul comes alive. The farther Korea advances, the better it gets. It's truly an amazing experience. I remember being out with co-workers during the 2010 World Cup watching Korea play Greece in their opening match. When Korea won 2-0, people got excited, went outside and chanted and cheered. I took video of how everyone in red was in jubilation.
2. If a politician such as Park Geun Hye does something wrong, the whole country comes together. Korea did something so successful that will be hard to matched by any other country. Week after week, hundreds of thousands of Koreans in Seoul protested peacefully in Gwanghwamun until the president was impeached and thrown out of office. And the amazing thing about it was that they weren't violent. They came together calmly and even made it into a party. They ate, danced, sang, and set the example of what a true demonstration should be like. Democracy smelled like a rose when Park Geun Hye was officially kicked out of office. Most news outlets were amazed and admired Korea except CNN, which turned its attention on the extremely small contingent of Park Geun Hye supporters. They were the few who couldn't accept Park Geun Hye being officially escorted out of the Blue House. The herd mentality worked to perfection and the rest of the world applauded South Korea. I was extremely proud that South Korea was my second home when I watched beautifully done democracy unfold. The United States can take a lesson from that.
3. Koreans are great at getting together. If I tell my students, "Hey let's all go out for chicken and beer on Friday!", I could easily get 10 students to join a few teachers. And if you're not careful, it could be an all-night affair. It might start innocently with eating chicken, then have some drinks, and then sing for three or four hours. And the amazing thing about it is that it could be on a Tuesday night. Koreans are always up for hanging out with their friends and sharing their life stories over beer and more likely soju.
The DISADVANTAGES:
1.The herd mentality in Korea is all about conformity. When I first came to Korea in 2003, you would never see a Korean woman with dyed hair. A few years ago, it became a trend for women to streak their hair. Now you'll see MANY women with streaks of brown in their hair. Koreans also conform to fashion. When skinny jeans became popular, many young people started wearing them. Business men usually wear black suits or if people work for the same company, they'll all look the same. From fashion we move on to make-up. Young women love to wear a lot of white make-up these days which looks terrible in my humble opinion. And now young men wearing make-up has become popular probably following Japanese culture. Conformity also affects the driving culture in Korea. Koreans usually drive white, black, or gray cars. If you look a little different, you're considered weird.
2. The herd mentality causes people to behave poorly on public transportation. I see a negative phenomena in the subway all the time. If people see that the train is coming soon, 10-20 Koreans might run down the wrong side of the stairs (the left side) to catch the train. This then causes people that got off the train from the other side of the platform to walk up the stairs on the left side. But then you see people coming down the stairs two minutes later that are actually walking down the correct way causing THREE different lines of people: one group of people going down the stairs the correct way on the right side, one group of people originally going up the stairs the wrong way on the left side that are being forced to walk in the middle, and the group of people walking down the stairs the wrong way on the left side. If people consistently followed each other the correct way, the herd mentality works to perfection here. However, if two people break the rule, then the herd mentality makes it a very chaotic situation.
3. The herd mentality causes Koreans to follow trends. When a new store opens up, you'll see Koreans wait in a long line that might wrap around the block. It could be the opening of a New Balance store in the middle of freezing weather, it could be the new Shake Shack burger restaurant that has been open for six months, or it could be the Kakao Store. Koreans love new things and when 10 people are curious, it turns into 50, which then turns into 100. If a Korean TV show promotes a place to travel to, guess what? You'll see many Koreans there within the next two weeks. If a few Koreans promote the next hot place to hang out in Seoul, one month later, that place will be crawling with Koreans on a Friday or Saturday night. Itaewon is the perfect example of this. In 2008, many of my students thought Itaewon was a dangerous area. Now if you go to Itaewon, most of the people you see on the streets are Korean. Yet Apgujeong Rodeo is no longer trendy and dead on a Saturday night even though it's a nice area, has many restaurants, and many shops for women to shop at. Seongsu Station has become a bit popular these days due to Instagram and TV. Outside of TV and social media, it wouldn't be popular at all. I went there and saw two streets that had a few restaurants and a few cafes. Other than that, it was still very industrialized and not that great of an area. Why is it a disadvantage that Koreans are trendy? The trend fade within the next two or three years once something new pops up and takes over.
This is just a short list that I notice on a daily basis. If you want to see one expat's perspective of the herd in Japan, check out this blog posting. You'll see what Japanese people are obsessed with:
Japan: The Herd Mentality.
Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy
I still don't know why Park Geun Hye got impeached by South Koreans. People claimed she practiced a voodoo ritual ceremony in Korean Whitehouse, claimed her associate Choi had billions of illicitly earned money in a German bank account, claimed that she had wild sex parties by buying tons of Viagras. All the allegations turned out to be false. They claimed that Park illegally took money using her power but the court acknowledged that she personally didn't benefit financially after finding no evidence of her getting any financial benefit illegally, but claimed that she put the country on chaos, so she was guilty. If someone is wrongly accused and put people around her confused, she in the end is still guilty because of the confusion? The whole fiasco seemed like a Kangaroo court with sentences made to appease the mob hysteria. She is still in prison. Many people now say she was witch-hunted and there are groups of people behind spreading false rumors about her. I think Park Geun Hye impeachment is an example of what can happen when mob mentality goes really bad.
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