A Korean-American doctor deplaning a United Airlines flight says he was greeted with “Konnichiwa” by what he presumed was an employee of the carrier. That’s Japanese, not Korean, and reminds me of an episode of King of the Hill when Hank Hill meets his Laotian neighbor, Kahn Souphanousinphone.
Doctor Park confronted the man, who denied being an employee of United Airlines even though he was greeting deplaning passengers. He shared the story to Instagram, because he’s genuinely affected by this – despite his work to become a doctor he’s still made to feel less than, reduced to a racial stereotype (and the wrong one, at that).
And he wonders why – if this person wasn’t an employe – United let them standard there greeting passengers like that? And stood idly by as customers are being mocked?
United, for its part, can certainly review CCTV footage at the gate to determine who this was, and if this was an employee take appropriate action, and if it wasn’t coach gate agents better. There isn’t enough gate staffing these days to watch out for drunk passengers boarding planes, let alone strange, possibly sub-80 I.Q. customers behaving oddly. But they should work to make passengers feel safe and more comfortable when they travel.
- Maybe the man is an employee, probably shouldn’t be, but Dr. Park is almost certainly going to have a more meaningful life. I wish Dr. Park would revel in his own success and contributions rather than being affected by such a small person. Or perhaps the man is simply not right in the head. That man probably deserves some sympathy, actually.
- A rando at a United Airlines gate doesn’t take away from Dr. Park’s accomplishments. It doesn’t diminish his social status. To most of us, I imagine he’s much higher status than the man who ignorantly thought he was funny?
- That isn’t to deny racism or various kinds of prejudice and hate. Growing up I never really knowigly experienced antisemitism, and somehow thought it was a thing of the past. Since October 7 I’ve gotten a surprising amount of hate e-mail, and this genuinely makes little sense to me. There are plenty of reasons to hate me that seem far more logical than because I’m Jewish?
And yet the expected winner of the upcoming election for Colorado’s first congressional district, Democratic socialist Melat Kiros, refuses to say that the 2025 firebombing of a Jewish community rally in Boulder involved antisemitism, and blames Israel for the October 7 massacre by Hamas. So I feel him.
When Dr. Park says,
You think if you just achieve enough, work hard enough, become impressive enough that you’ll become exempt. That somehow you’ll outrun it, but you don’t. There’s no degree, no title, no amount of success that makes someone or system see you anything other than what they’ve already decided you are.
I get it. I also think it’s important not to value being conferred status by others, playing their game. Play you’re own. You’re already better at it than they are. They only have power when you give it to them, which is one of the great differences compared to earlier eras. What’s scary is when they try to take back that power, in Congress.
If anything, pity them their ignorance and need to use that as a salve for their own inadequacies – if they’re mentally capable to sufficient self-awareness to identify those.
(HT: Live and Let’s Fly)
I am confused about what Dr Park is upset about. Is it the fact that he was greeted wrongly or that he was not recognised for being a doctor?
As a sikh surgeon in the uk I routinely get people using the muslim greeting because of ignorance. I certainly dont run around talking about my achievements and how i am insulted by this. This is not racism but ignorance and has no impact on Dr Park being Dr Park.
Lighten up. Someone may have just been trying to be nice. It happens to my wife (from Taiwan) as well. You’re a small miserable person to go through life looking for offense.
What a Karen.
Get over yourself, lighten up, laugh a little, you are not that important and I’m sure whoever the guy who greeted you today was, he didn’t wake up this morning thinking “how can I insult and screw up this random person’s day today”.
Probably not the best assumption to make on the greeter’s part, but he was likely genuine in thanking a passenger for traveling on his airline (if in fact he even worked for the airline)
@Thing 1: thank you!!! American’s just need a reason to complain.
Truly amazing how many influencer types, and people who love to film themselves, seem to have all these “dramatic” public interactions. I’m sure it’s totally organic and not exaggerated or made up in any way.
Getting upset at something like this is so petty. First of all, you didn’t state where the flight landed? If in Japan it wouldn’t be out of line to say that to all passengers (I was there a few months ago and commonly used that phrase (and it was said to me)). To get upset at something so trivial is why people don’t even want to hear about more substantial racial issues. First of all this wasn’t an “insult” – if he really wants to get upset there are things you can call people that are a lot worse (trust me there are slurs for every race and nationality).
@ Thing1 — Yes, without video, it would also guess the United employee was simply trying to be friendly and made an error. If I had made that mistake, I would have been embarassed and apologized.
This doctor is a complete snowflake who needs to get over himself. Konnichiwa is a respectful cultural greeting with no ill-will behind it. I have personally had my ethnicity misinterpretated many times in my life because of my physiognomy (different people have misidentified me as German, Swiss, Italian, Malaysian, Native American, and even Chinese). As long as they are being polite and respectful I have a fun laugh with them, tell them my real ethnicity and nationality, and move on with my day.
Doctors like this are why the “anti-woke” movement exists. People who get offended by the tiniest, good-intent slights (I’m not talking about genuinely malignantly racism or prejudice) and try to get people punished for honest mistakes. Misidentifying Korean vs Japanese is quite common because Korea was a Japanese colony for 35 years from 1910-1945 (during which time there was lots of ethnic intermarriage and “genetic blurring”). I have traveled to Japan and yet I still sometimes misidentify ethnicity at first glance for this reason.
This is such a non story…not that i disagree with the concern growing racism and anti immigrant energy in this country…but this is probably not the greatest example of it. Unless the guy was running around isolating asian passengers and yelling japanese greetings, he probably was just trying to show of his little bit of knowledge…its a positive gesture. Im sometimes annoyed when people mistake my national origin but its a minor thing. And as a medical doctor I have NO idea what that has tp do with anything outside of a hospital/clinic setting where my rank may matter to some selected interactions.
This seems like a case of no good deed goes unpunished. It sounds like the gate agent was trying to be welcoming and made an honest mistake. Enough with the victim rhetoric.
someone always wants their 15-min of fame… what an idiot.
This guy is way too sensitive.
I’m surprised he’s lasted this long. Low information (not sub IQ Gary) humans who cry wolf for every little thing makes others not take serious racial attacks seriously. I’m a minority and I’ve experienced some economically traumatic racism. He needs to chill…..
Good Lord. None of you people would have made it through a day of boot camp.
Someone tells him “Good day” in the wrong language and he melts down?
Pah-thet-ic. If a simple mistake- or even an intentional slight- makes him feel “less than,” there’s a good chance he’s the one who needs help.
You’re the first person I turn to when. I want to get the details and context in things related to then airline industry.
This is below you. Seriously.
He’s a very immature physician to allow something like this to bother him. It’s not because he’s Korea. We all experience this from time to time (especially, women in the workspace), and most of us do not allow it to get to us like this got him. Get over it, buddy! Grow the eff up and cherish what you have and don’t let the haters get to you.
So what if the person who said it had innocent intentions and is an aircraft cleaner or a wheelchair agent, many of whom are developmentally disabled?
Why give this guy attention Gary?
Steven has it right: “People who get offended by the tiniest, good-intent slights (I’m not talking about genuinely malignantly racism or prejudice) and try to get people punished for honest mistakes. “
This is 1990-tier leftist retardation
Some people are easily offended; others are *eagerly* offended. Anecdotally, I’ve encountered a small yet disproportionate share of second-generation East Asians who fall squarely in the second category. They seem actively motivated to experience racial offense, appearing to derive both psychological gratification and social leverage from indignation itself. This phenomenon represents a pathological distortion of empathic and moral reasoning. It is a kind of narcissism or moral exhibitionism that verges on the antisocial. It corrodes discourse and often bears resemblance to traits observed in subclinical psychopathy.
Never assume malice when stupidity/incompetence sufficiently explains things.
In this situation, Dr. Park was kinda rude not to reply back with another non-English way of saying “Thanks, you too!”
As a Filipino American physician who has been mistaken for a variety of different nationalities, this guy needs to get over himself. He’s clearly insecure and wants his 15 minutes of fame, and makes other Asians and physicians look bad.
As a physician he should be above this nonsense.
Lighten up, Francis.
Betting the greater ment nothing but kindness!
Who cares?
@Mike Hunt, could I deliver your message here in France, as we have numerous similar cases
“Karean”?
Sawasdee krap doctor. This is what you have to worry about in life???
If this doctor is that sensitive (I might even say “touchy”) then I don’t think he’s got the temperament I’m looking for in a doctor.
Ya, sure, it was awkward at best and cruddy at worst, but get on with it. The world isn’t that one person.
What a bitch. Just say thank you and move on. Similar to when someone wishes a Happy Hanukkah and you don’t celebrate.
He should have just replied to the guy in a Black accent, calling the guy “bro”.
Dr. Park is just a whiny little biatch.
The odds are the person greeting him was justifying to be nice. Often in Hong Kong I often mistake Japanese people with Chinese and start talking to them in Cantonese. Instead of going into a WLB tirade, they politely indicate they only speak Japanese.
Anybody with an IQ < 3 knows that it is easy to mistake different strains of nationality. In South America I often confused Peruvians with Ecuadorians and even Venezuelans. Although Park is, supposedly, a MD, he still has an extremely low IQ.
This says so much more about the good doctor than it ever says about the greeter.
P.S. I just saw idiot Park’s YouTube video. He’s completely full of poop!
Nobody in the general public that sees you for the first time actually GAF about your 11 years of education after high school. In fact, nobody would even know unless you wear a big sign on your forehead. Seems Park is in WLB mode because nobody knew his educational qualifications.
And even if I did know, DILLIGAF? He’s no better than the guy picking up our trash every week.
This Korean-American Doctor has clearly picked up the American neurosis about interactions among different ethnicities. I worked for an airline in Asia. When I first got there, picking out what countries people are from could be difficult. After awhile, the people don’t just look “Asian” and you get pretty good at tellling where someone is from. But it’s certainly not foolproof. The person who greeted him probably asumed he was Japanese and was being polite. I picked up some Vietnamese and have started conversations with non-Vietnamese whose response was always a friendly smile and a response in either their native tongue or English. How on earth this is a story is beyond me.
@Denver Refugee — Zing! That was a good one.
@Mike Hunt — Please diagnose me, Dr. Michael Hunt, MD! Make it spicy! Throw-in extra Gochujang!
Another MD (a professional degree like a DBA or JD) thinking their degree confers on them status above us all. Have you every noticed that people with a real doctorate (PhD) typically don’t do things like demand you call them doctor (unless their PhD is in some lame field)? I’m not defending the greeter, get mad about that or not, I don’t care. But, think to we should “Respect My Authority!” is a Cartman play.
@This comes to mind – the idea that a Phd is a ‘real’ doctor a medical doctor is not oy
@Gary. While we regularly use doctor to mean physician (and med schools pounds that into students—they will be Dr. Whatever), it doesn’t change the fact that an MD is a professional/technical degree like JD, DBA, DFA, etc. Major universities have a graduate school that oversees Ph. D.s, but the above-listed programs are not under them. They are niche programs under a college. And, in my experience, graduate schools consider the Ph. D. as the only doctorate the university issues. This is true, though it might be overstepping by grad schools. Still, I like to point it out to people with JDs who think they are a doctor (most don’t) and to MDs who are so frequently full of themselves.
From a publication of NIH in 2018.
“These days many health professionals use the title ‘doctor.’ Indeed, The Canadian Press Stylebook now decrees that the title of doctor should be reserved for physicians. Physicians, surgeons, dentists, chiropodists, university professors and, in some countries, pharmacists describe themselves as doctors. This raises the question — are they? To answer this question, one has to examine that title from both linguistic and historical standpoints.
The word doctor is derived from the Latin verb “docere,” meaning to teach, or a scholar. Only by special arrangement do any of the preceding professionals teach. Only university professors with a doctoral degree normally teach at a university. Historically speaking, the title doctor was invented in the Middle Ages to describe eminent scholars. These doctorates date back to the 1300s. Such people were accorded a lot of respect and prestige.
The PhD, or Doctor of Philosophy, is the highest graduate degree awarded by our universities.
Health professionals receive undergraduate degrees in medicine. These are professional degrees, and not really doctorates. The MD degree is not a part of graduate faculties at North American universities.”
“Because of the respect and prestige, medical schools, particularly in Scotland, started to address their graduates as doctors in the 17th century. The argument was that graduates of such schools obtain a bachelor’s degree before joining medical school. There are problems with such logic, namely, a degree past a bachelor’s degree could potentially be a master’s degree, but not a doctoral degree.
A doctoral degree (PhD) is a degree that one earns after a master’s degree. A PhD entitles a person to use the title doctor. These are the social and physical scientists who conduct and evaluate published research. A PhD degree is normally obtained after six to eight years of hard work past the bachelor’s degree.
When we are asked in a physician’s or a dentist’s office what kind of doctor we are, we respond, ‘the real one.’ We are the ones who teach the others.
We hope that this contribution helps in clearing up the confusion in the community about the title doctor.”
“This contribution should not be construed as an attack on any professional or group of professionals. The main purpose here is to educate the public.”
It’s always an “influencer” whose feelings got hurt.
Oh, bravo, Dr. Park! Truly, a heroic stand for humanity. Can you even fathom the sheer, unadulterated audacity of some random stranger confusing two distinct, millennia-old cultures with a single, mispronounced syllable? It’s not just a greeting; it’s a systemic erasure of your entire identity, clearly orchestrated by the deep state of airline customer service to remind you that your medical degree is nothing but a piece of paper when faced with the terrifying power of “Konnichiwa.”
What a moron – I don’t think I would want to take advise from a doctor with obvious mental issues.
@1990 – Perhaps not a doctor, but I indeed have a psychology degree from a fairly respectable program. Do you?
WE need a law to address this problem. People should be required to all a prominent tag setting forth their preferred pronouns, expressed gender, any professional title, and their ethnic self identification. We absolutely must make a much more serious effort to avoid the scourge of misidentification. There is no time to waste. We are all in this together. We must act to stop the pain.
Oh, the horror! I nearly choked on my kimchi.
@Mike Hunt — At least you’re not claiming a ‘juris doctorate’ is a ‘doctor’… like @This comes to mind is trying to do above with an ‘umm ackchuallee’…*WHOOSH*
Still, my favorite dermatologist is Marcia Cross in Seinfeld. We learned not to judge them in that episode.
Mr Park…….Get off your high horse. At least he said “hello” versus F%$k Y@u in japanase. GEEZ…..
Wow, we really are doomed as a society if this dude is truly a medical doctor.
USMLE should probably start making psychiatric evaluations a requirement in order to become a doctor or get licensed….
Mike Hunt has this one right. Some East Asians resent no longer be grouped with “minorities” and think they deserve that status, if only for a preference.
@ 1990. This Comes is arguing that only PH.Ds are “doctor” and not physicians and any one else, with the evidence for that argument being the grad schools say so, although the universities themselves award other degrees with the title “doctor.”. My experience is that in the US the term “doctor” is a physician, as when the FA asks for a “doctor” they are not looking for a Ph.d. to read poetry to someone having a heart attack. But this is not true worldwide. The people This Comes is referencing are most often called “Professor”. When I am teaching law, students and admin usually call me “Professor” although my degree on my diploma is designated as a J.D.
Updated video from Dr. Park says United responded to him. The offending guy was a passenger (presume with gate access) and not a United employee. The gate agent had called a supervisor for his removal prior to Dr. Park’s engagement , were on their way and the gate agent was likely engaged in other gate opening/turn duties as well as being available for approach. Further engagement with a potentially mentally unstable person is best left to a higher lever while you continue your job. The person was soon after removed from the gate area by authorities.
How was Dr Park’s confused thinking it was a United employee enough to put them on social media blast? Surely he knows a United uniform after his flight engagements had completed? Although he shapes his narrative early that it “may not be a United employee “. Sounds like he well knew but sought blast notoriety and compensation.
Very distasteful.
Both of you need to chill. Someone was trying to be nice to him. You’re saying they should take action against “possibly sub-80 I.Q. customers”. What does that remind of? :Let me think…
How thin skinned / dense person. Couldn’t imagine him spending a day in Venezuela (or almost anywhere else in latin america), where almost EVERYONE will call him ‘Chino’.
He’s a Dem 100% sure, so if he complains about that in latin america he’s not embracing the culture and respecting our diversity and cultural customs. Funny how that nonsense leftist stuff works LOL
Maybe the greeter forgot to bring his Asian eyes chart, so he couldn’t tell what oriental flavor Dr. Park is.