By Hyon O'Brien
The other day, I was listening to an American radio broadcast from NPR (National Public Radio), and heard the announcer say that now that gasoline was being sold at $4 per gallon in some states in America, it has become a tipping point and people are deciding to take more public transportation.
I was surprised to hear the fairly new and specialized phrase ``tipping point" being used without any explanation. If new words are used by enough people long enough, they become everyday words and get included in dictionaries ― it seems that ``tipping point'' has achieved this tipping point.
A few years ago I came across Malcolm Gladwell's fascinating book called THE TIPPING POINT: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. The writer defines tipping point as ``the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.'' Certain ideas, products, messages, and behaviors spread like viruses do.
According to him, there are three rules of social epidemics that lead to tipping points.
First, the Law of Few: the success of any kind of social epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of people with a particular and rare set of social skills.
They are connectors (people who link us up with the world), mavens (information specialists or people we rely upon to connect us with new information), and salesmen (charismatic persuaders with powerful negotiation skills to the point that people want to agree with them).
As I ponder on the tipping point phenomenon in today's Korea, I look around to find who and what are the examples that can be classified under the Law of the Few.
The Korea Exchange Bank Foundation that was created by Ro Fallon, former chairman of Korea Exchange Bank who is currently a professor at Columbia University, comes to mind. I am told other banks have been following suit and creating foundations in a ``giving back to society'' movement.
Second, the Stickiness Factor: the specific content of a message that makes it memorable and has impact. Distinctive messages are sticky enough to sink into mass consciousness. Good examples: American children's TV program Sesame Street or Korean Hallyu such as the drama Winter Sonata around Asia.
Concern about ``global warming'' successfully reached the tipping point globally a while ago and is gaining general mass acceptance and participation.
Third, the Power of Context: human behavior is sensitive to and strongly influenced by its environment. As Gladwell puts it, ``Epidemics are sensitive to the conditions and circumstances of the times and places in which they occur.''
The most recent fervor shown through series of candle light demonstrations against U.S. beef import as well as other political issues is a good example of human behavior being strongly influenced by the currents of the times stirred up by right ingredients of social context.
How did it gather such intensity in such a short time? Somewhere along the way, a combination of influences brought about a tipping point that was unstoppable by any tangible means.
How do we make any values and ideas stick in our consciousness? By examples of our own actions we can demonstrate the importance of giving to people in need to those we come in contact with.
Yours truly wrote not too long ago a piece in The Korea Times with the title ``You've Come a Long Way, Baby'' in which I mentioned a few things that we Koreans need to improve in order to be counted among world class citizens.
How can we make the ideas of obeying the traffic rules, not pushing and shoving people on streets become a norm? What do we do to educate the public to wait their turn to get on instead of rushing onto subways, buses and elevators before others get off?
What does it take for some Koreans to feel embarrassed enough not to talk loudly on mobile phones in public places? Who will stop the motorcycle and bicycle riders from racing on sidewalks where pedestrians walk?
Who are the charismatic people, the salespersons, who will create the critical mass to influence public behavior and courtesy? How can a message be generated that will STICK in people's consciousness? How do we generate a social context and circumstances around us daily to remind the importance of having good public manners?
I think the tipping point can be reached in these particular issues in one major way: the foremost important ingredient is family education and schooling. Parents and teachers have to set out to mould good citizens ``one child at a time" with the aid and reinforcement of mass media.
Schools should include in their curriculum required classes on public manners as well as on the subject of giving. Let's find a popular, respected social figure to take on the role of persuading and convince the general population until the desired behavior reaches its tipping point and stick with us.
We need a person like Al Gore who successfully persuaded the whole world of the danger of global warming. Can that be you? Actually, it is you and me and all of us. Let's see whether we can tip the world.
Hyon O'Brien, a former reference librarian in the U.S., has returned to Korea after 32 years of living abroad. She can be reached at hyonobrien@gmail.com.