Korea's Skaters, Media, Emotions and a Call for Reason and Consistency

**** I had written this article on , the 27th but I never posted it. I hesitated because I wanted to see if I had more to add on this topic. Roboseyo posted this article on the second and here I am posting my five day old article on the 3rd! This is a learning lesson for me; next time, when I have something like this, I will post it faster. Roboseyo's article goes further to discuss karma and poor sportsmanship such as planting a flag on the pitcher's mound or being a sore loser. It's a good read.

Also Brian in Jollanam-do and The Marmot's hole had something to say, but they said it on the 25th. They focus on the negative reactions of the netizens including death and bomb threats. It's an immature and malicious reaction to what should be serious situations. I must improve my print time...

Foreword:  To all my Korean readers/friends, this is not an attack on your culture or the Korean people. This is my point-of-view from what I've observed as a foreigner. There will be aspects that I'm sure you'll say I won't understand because I'm a foreigner. Well, the same can be true for you. You may not understand my point-of-view (POV) because you're a Korean, but I'll hope that you will see my viewpoint as much as I understand with your viewpoint.

 

Image taken from Stupefied

Living in Daegu, I get to see Korea's good and bad sides. That's how I want to see it. I want to see Korea's good and bad and still love this place and treat it like my home. If I saw only Korea's good side, I would be deluding myself. If I saw only the bad, I would be limiting myself. Take the good with the bad. One of the things I dislike is the refusal of some people (not just Koreans) to accept evidence or reasonable arguments against their own rose-colored reality. Any objection to their reality is meet with derision and negative reactions like being told to shut-up or being dismissed as not knowing the full issue. This is the reaction I often receive if the subject of  Korea's winter Olympic disqualifications and the inconsistent reactions to them. By the way, I think Ohno is a douche bag so I have no interest in defending him other than to point out the illogical and emotional reactions of the local media and netizens.

In 2002...

First, a little background. In 2002, US Skater, Apolo Ohno won the gold medal in a controversial disqualification against Korea's Kim Dong Sung. Below is a video of the event, the alleged blocking and Ohno's reaction can be seen at 4:13, 6:42, 6:54, ad nauseum.



I don't know the rules to this sport, I really wouldn't have cared if not for the place I live. Yes, I got sucked into this controversy instead of staying above it. This event caused a huge surge of anti-Americanism. Add the fact that Ohno is half-Japanese and OMG! The media had an leftist orgasm. I distinctly remember that I couldn't go anywhere for a few weeks without seeing that clip. It was unnecessary.

Did the Korean media, "netizens," (I hate that word) or anyone of reason mention the Australian judge? No. It was ALL about the half-Japanese-American and how Korea was the victim yet again. How did the "rational" netizens react? They sent tons of email that crashed the US Skating and Olympic servers (Ok, that's kinda cool.) and sent death threats to Ohno (not cool).

Later that year South Korea hosted the World Cup Soccer match and it was S. Korea vs US. When the Korean team scored a goal, they did a mock skating dance of Ohno on the sidelines.

 

Image take from Gusts of Popular Feeling

It must have been cathartic. I thought is was witty; a bit childish, but ok..I'll go with it. I thought that the Korean media and the angry people could move on since they got their payback against the powerful and evil US and Ohno. I thought, "Hey, we're even! Even the score of the game, 1-1, made Korea and the US even." Boy, was I wrong.

It appears to me that han, the Korean word for bad feelings built up by a perceived wrong, is never released when the wrong has been paid back. It appears to me that han can only be released if the victim one-up's the other party. So in this case, the payback by the Korean soccer team is not enough, even though this should make the US and Korea even. The only thing I can imagine, where their han will be released, is if in another Olympic match, a Korean beats Ohno and then Ohno begs forgiveness by cutting off his finger with his ice skate on international TV.

In 2010...

In these articles (here, here, and here) we find a discussion of what happened between the Chinese and Korean relay teams. Bottom line, the Australian judge made the call and the Koreans lost. It's doubly shitty because it was the same judge that disqualified the Kim Dong Sung in 2002. Where is the outrage? Why aren't the Korean media and netizens slamming the Chinese servers? Why aren't there death threats directed at the Chinese team? (not that I want that to happen) Why all of a sudden, it's the judge and not the players? Why the inconsistency?

Here is my pathetic diagram of what happened:

Same problem: Impeding another skater
Same judge: Jim Hewish
Different countries: USA then China
Differentiating characteristic: Koreans will point out that Ohno's "Hollywood" gestures influenced the judge. China did not do this.

Conclusion

There is a problem with this thinking. If the judge can be influenced by gestures, as some Koreans will say, then skaters should be making all kinds of gestures all the time. But...judges are supposed to be above being influenced, they are supposed to be impartial. If the angry netizens want to talk about judges that are influenced or bribed, then take a look at this 1988 Olympic Boxing Match. There isn't any motive or incentive for the judge to side with Ohno or against Kim DS. The argument that Ohno's gestures influenced the judge must be false.

Potential Skating Gestures to Influence Judges

Taken from DesertExile

So, if we discount the supposed influence of Ohno's gesture on the judge, then the ONLY possible explanation for the different reactions from the media and mob is anti-American and anti-Japanese sentiment. The reaction to go after Ohno instead of the judge is purely emotional. The reaction to go after the judge NOW, is because he's the same judge from 2002, and the gold medal is not going to Japan or America. The reactions are inconsistent. Ohno, should never have been the subject of unjustified hate -- it should have been the judge. That would have been reasonable and logical.

I'll give you another test to see if emotion or reason dominated in 2002. Let's switch the skaters' positions. Let's suppose that Ohno was disqualified for impeding Kim DS. Logic says that this switch should illicit an emotional reaction from angry Koreans that the call against Ohno was not right. But it won't. The media and netizens will make the same rationale that I've made in this posting. Therefore, the media and mob are happy when things go their way, but when it doesn't they need to smash and break things and cry out and never release their han.

I call on the angry netizens perhaps more specifically, the media to be consistent in your actions. Don't be hypocritical. If you're going to hate Ohno, then hate the Chinese team. If you're going to hate the Australian judge now, then hate him for 2002. Release your han. It's been 8 years since 2002, yet I still hear anger in peoples' view of Ohno. Let it go, dude. 8 years...really? The coaches will file the complaints and protests and do what they can to remediate the situation. There's no need to make death threats; that's just hateful. There's no need to hate the opposing team's players; they're doing what they're supposed to do and win...just like Korea's players. Use your logic next time and don't hate the opposing athlete just because she's from Japan or he's from America... two great trading partners and friends. When you crash someone's servers because a referee's call didn't go your way it only makes you look inf

Publish Post

antile. If the referee's call does go your way, you don't argue. How would you feel if someone else crashed Naver in protest? Angry netizens be consistent and be reasonable.

***I agree with what Roboseyo (wish I thought of it first). What goes around comes around. Act like and ass, get treated like an ass. Be cool, get cool points.