|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Mithrae
Joined: 22 Jul 2009
|
 Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 8:54 am Post subject: The 'keeping to the right' thing is going well! |
 |
|
Anyone else amazed at how Koreans prefer anarchy to order. A month or so ago the gov't decided that people were to keep to the right when ascending and descending the stairs/escalators in Seoul. Noone is even attempting to follow the rule, even though there's arrows and notices indicating that people are to go to the right. It's still pure anarchy. Worse yet, some subway stations have changed their escalators to the new rule, while others have not. Again, I suppose noone should be surprised by an absense of consistency in anything Korea does. And I suppose it's too much to ask for order when going up and down stairs from a people who walk (and drive) like pure anarchists. Why follow rules, or show consideration for others in that one area of their daily lives? Doesn't fit the pattern. A cultural change is needed that encompasses walking, driving, etc.
Reminds me of the program, a year or two ago, aimed at getting people to stand on the right on escalators so people could pass on the left. That lasted about three days.
It's amazing that a Confucian society, in some ways so ordered and structured, can also be so amazingly lawless. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Olivencia
Joined: 08 Mar 2009
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 12:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Made me laugh. Saw it happen very often in the Philippines. One day it was absolutely insane whereas no one could move either going up or down the stairs so I simply yelled out in a commanding kind of voice, "OK people keep to the right" motioning authoritatively with my arms. To my surprise everyone seemed to fall in line and the bottleneck disappeared. My Filipina wife and I laughed and I told her "I can't believe they listened".
How do you say "Keep to the right" in Korean? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
oskinny1
Joined: 10 Nov 2006
Location: Right behind you!
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:29 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Olivencia wrote: |
How do you say "Keep to the right" in Korean? |
It should be written on yellow signs stuck to the stairs, or at least it's that way in Busan. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:39 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| I wonder if it will happen and just needs time... or a step-up in the campaign... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
GoldMember
Joined: 24 Oct 2006
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:57 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Following instructions is not a strong Korean trait.
At intersections say behind the white line! can't do
Stop at the right light, can't do
Pedestrians waiting to cross the street, stand on the pavement not the road, can't do.
This is why there is no IKEA in Korea, people would have to follow the assembly instructions. Can't do |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 4:10 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I think the reason it is sometimes like that is that you'll have 500 people going one way and like 3 going the other, so ignoring the rule makes sense.
Unfortunately, when those times happen where its 500 both ways then the anarchy ensues and boy, is it ANARCHY. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
taobenli
Joined: 26 Apr 2004
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 5:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Am I the only one who thinks this campaign is silly? I mean, I agree that it's sometimes anarchy in subway stations, because there are so many people. But come on, Korea isn't an authoritarian society anymore, and the heavy-handedness of these campaigns probably reminds people of those days. Can you imagine if such a campaign was started in your own country? I'm sure people would scoff at it. To be fair, whenever I am following signs and walking on the right people generally get out of my way. But I kind of want to applaud when I exit Gangnam station during rush hour, and EVERYONE is walking up the stairs on the left! There is no sense of anarchy in that sense, it's just as if people looked at the signs, thought, "screw you, patronizing Ministry of Transportation" and all chose to do the exact opposite of the sign.
Actually, the only place I can think of such a campaign working almost immediately is Japan. Or North Korea. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
djsmnc
Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 6:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| taobenli wrote: |
Am I the only one who thinks this campaign is silly? I mean, I agree that it's sometimes anarchy in subway stations, because there are so many people. But come on, Korea isn't an authoritarian society anymore, and the heavy-handedness of these campaigns probably reminds people of those days. Can you imagine if such a campaign was started in your own country? I'm sure people would scoff at it. To be fair, whenever I am following signs and walking on the right people generally get out of my way. But I kind of want to applaud when I exit Gangnam station during rush hour, and EVERYONE is walking up the stairs on the left! There is no sense of anarchy in that sense, it's just as if people looked at the signs, thought, "screw you, patronizing Ministry of Transportation" and all chose to do the exact opposite of the sign.
Actually, the only place I can think of such a campaign working almost immediately is Japan. Or North Korea. |
I think it's silly to even get up in arms about where people walk. Left, right, whatever. I never even considered that people were supposed to WALK on a certain side. DRIVE maybe, but not walk. In fact, I am personally going to continue walking on the left side in open defiance of the absolutely lame, trite, soft, and dare I say uptight, arrogant, and condescending idea that people should walk on one side of wherever. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
nautilus
Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 6:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| GoldMember wrote: |
Following instructions is not a strong Korean trait.
At intersections say behind the white line! can't do
Stop at the right light, can't do |
There is a cultural perception that rules are guidelines only, and they can be ignored or gotten around if it is expedient to do so. Especially given the palli-palli atmosphere and general impatience to get things done. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
blackjack
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: anyang
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 7:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| djsmnc wrote: |
| taobenli wrote: |
Am I the only one who thinks this campaign is silly? I mean, I agree that it's sometimes anarchy in subway stations, because there are so many people. But come on, Korea isn't an authoritarian society anymore, and the heavy-handedness of these campaigns probably reminds people of those days. Can you imagine if such a campaign was started in your own country? I'm sure people would scoff at it. To be fair, whenever I am following signs and walking on the right people generally get out of my way. But I kind of want to applaud when I exit Gangnam station during rush hour, and EVERYONE is walking up the stairs on the left! There is no sense of anarchy in that sense, it's just as if people looked at the signs, thought, "screw you, patronizing Ministry of Transportation" and all chose to do the exact opposite of the sign.
Actually, the only place I can think of such a campaign working almost immediately is Japan. Or North Korea. |
I think it's silly to even get up in arms about where people walk. Left, right, whatever. I never even considered that people were supposed to WALK on a certain side. DRIVE maybe, but not walk. In fact, I am personally going to continue walking on the left side in open defiance of the absolutely lame, trite, soft, and dare I say uptight, arrogant, and condescending idea that people should walk on one side of wherever. |
Yeah I use the old shortest distance between two points rule, which means sometimes i'm on the left sometimes on the right.
I hate the changed escalators, I always go to the wrong side |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mithrae
Joined: 22 Jul 2009
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 9:35 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| taobenli wrote: |
Am I the only one who thinks this campaign is silly? I mean, I agree that it's sometimes anarchy in subway stations, because there are so many people. But come on, Korea isn't an authoritarian society anymore, and the heavy-handedness of these campaigns probably reminds people of those days. Can you imagine if such a campaign was started in your own country? I'm sure people would scoff at it. To be fair, whenever I am following signs and walking on the right people generally get out of my way. But I kind of want to applaud when I exit Gangnam station during rush hour, and EVERYONE is walking up the stairs on the left! There is no sense of anarchy in that sense, it's just as if people looked at the signs, thought, "screw you, patronizing Ministry of Transportation" and all chose to do the exact opposite of the sign.
Actually, the only place I can think of such a campaign working almost immediately is Japan. Or North Korea. |
EVERYONE was walking on the left? Are you sure about that? If that was so, there'd be no problem. There'd be an orderly system. The problem is that people follow no system, to the left or the right. It's pure anarchy with people going anywhere they wish. Believe me, I was in Gangnam Station twice yesterday. People were ascending and descending without any concept of order. 'Everyone' was keeping to the left. 
Last edited by Mithrae on Fri Dec 04, 2009 10:48 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Savant
Joined: 25 May 2007
|
| Posted: Fri Dec 04, 2009 10:34 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Koreans need to have some authoritative figure standing right next to them telling them what to do before they will actually do it.
It's why the roads are a lot better when the traffic cops are out directing traffic. These guys put their foot down and stop drivers blocking junctions, crossroads, other road users and pedestrian walkways as Korean drivers normally do.
Koreans follow a sheep mentality and the problems occur because there is often, no-one to lead them. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
BoholDiver
Joined: 03 Oct 2009
Location: Canada
|
| Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 1:02 am Post subject: |
|
|
In Bupyeong station at one place, they changed the escalators to the right, then changed them back to the left. It screwed up a lot of people for many days.
If the gov't can't even make up their mind, how can the people? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tatertot
Joined: 21 Oct 2008
|
| Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 1:50 am Post subject: |
|
|
| djsmnc wrote: |
| taobenli wrote: |
Am I the only one who thinks this campaign is silly? I mean, I agree that it's sometimes anarchy in subway stations, because there are so many people. But come on, Korea isn't an authoritarian society anymore, and the heavy-handedness of these campaigns probably reminds people of those days. Can you imagine if such a campaign was started in your own country? I'm sure people would scoff at it. To be fair, whenever I am following signs and walking on the right people generally get out of my way. But I kind of want to applaud when I exit Gangnam station during rush hour, and EVERYONE is walking up the stairs on the left! There is no sense of anarchy in that sense, it's just as if people looked at the signs, thought, "screw you, patronizing Ministry of Transportation" and all chose to do the exact opposite of the sign.
Actually, the only place I can think of such a campaign working almost immediately is Japan. Or North Korea. |
I think it's silly to even get up in arms about where people walk. Left, right, whatever. I never even considered that people were supposed to WALK on a certain side. DRIVE maybe, but not walk. In fact, I am personally going to continue walking on the left side in open defiance of the absolutely lame, trite, soft, and dare I say uptight, arrogant, and condescending idea that people should walk on one side of wherever. |
There is a good reason for the campaign. If everybody walks on one side or the other, it eases congestion and makes traveling through the subway stations easier during peak traffic hours. Unfortunately, this holds true only for the speed of the group. Individual walkers who may have traveled faster before (by weaving or following a shorter path) will be slowed by following the new guidelines. Since people are selfish (all over the world, this isn't a judgement about Korean people), many will try to walk in the way that is most convenient for them. That might be walking the shortest distance (staying to the left or walking diagonally), or it might be weaving around people and walking all over the place. Either way, it increases the entropy in the system and slows down the group as a whole, even as it allows the individual to move faster.
To taobenli's question about people's hypothetical response to something like this in my home country (the US): I would hope that people could realize that it was a good idea. Unfortunately, I think he is probably right and they would react in the same way the Koreans have here (anarchistic walking). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
whome?
Joined: 13 Nov 2009
|
| Posted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 2:07 am Post subject: |
|
|
before I joined I would read the boards from time to time, and maybe about two months ago someone asked this question or made the same statements and things went crazy!
The other day I had a student on campus try to go to his left. It just so happened that that meant he cut hard to try to squeeze between me and the wall; and at the time I was no more than 4 inches to the wall. If he had walked on the right, or hell, just continued in a straight line, he would have been just fine. But something compelled and then propelled him to almost lie flat against the wall in order to go on the left.
It's gonna take a whole heck of a lot more than a campaign to get Koreans to walk in some sort of orderly manner. And Korean campaigns for social change tend not to work to well eg: the anti-smoking campaign but you are still allowed to smoke everywhere.
I have noticed a BiG difference at Yaksu. Things work a lot better now with the switch. So much better that you really have to wonder why it took so long to make the switch. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
