Let’s take a look at a few things that happened recently in our country. Ten days ago, Seolhyun and Jimin of the girl band AOA released an apology for failing to recognize the patriot, Ahn Jung-geun in a photograph. That same day, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs decided not to allow attendees to sing “March for the Beloved” in unison, and around this time, the singer Jo Young-nam was also in the news for having employed a “ghost painter.” Then, in the early hours of May 17, a young woman was killed for no reason in a busy Gangnam district.
I am now scared of the South Korean society. Outrageous incidents continue to happen casually. Articles covering web portals are like fish that have finally reached water, busy trying to attract more views. People also post a lot of comments. Major online boards instantly filled with comments. Even if I try to avoid them, the anachronistic opinions of those who have returned to the 1970s keep coming into sight. The stories have now moved to the social network services (SNS). The same stories are being repeated under their own names and pictures, as if remaining anonymous was bothersome.
Isn’t it truly frightening? The media and tens of thousands of “commentors” turned young female celebrities, whom they had treated as the object of collective voyeurism shooting “arrows through the male heart” and appearing in “nosebleed-inducing pictures,”; into a traitor with a “pour awareness of histor” overnight-all because they did not recognize the face of a historical figure.
The ignorance of the members on Infinite Challenge and Two Days and One Night are the subject of humor, but how come people freely condemn the ignorance of girl band members, whom they so often sexually objectify? People call celebrities public figures and, in fact, most easily turn them into a scarecrow they can stab. Celebrities are just “famous” people who exert slightly more influence on others than most people. They are fundamentally different from a president who cannot distinguish tactical nuclear weapons and a nuclear reactor and a prime minister who does not know the maruta of the Japanese occupation.
Rather, those who lacked an awareness of history were ministers who could not call the May 16 Coup d’etat a coup d‘etat. These are the ones who refer to the May 18 Gwangju pro-democracy movement as a riot carried out under the orders of a spy. But a minister told the people not to sing a song that comforted the victims of the massacre and their families. Two days later, this man was kicked out of a ceremony to commemorate the May 18 movement. Of all days, on May 18, the Dong-A Ilbo published the love story of Lee Soon-ja and Chun Doo-hwan, who claimed "I have nothing to do with the Gwangju incident (note that he did not call it a pro-democracy movement).“Like a person with a serious illness, at first I was angry and dumbfounded, but now I am overwhelmed by fear. It was the moment I realized how much the people with power looked down on the powerless ordinary people.
It is also sad and scary how people mention Duchamp and Warhol to defend the businessman Jo Young-Nam, who sells his name along with his paintings, just as an actor earns money by selling clothes under his name and a comedian sells music by singing carols. His “art” does not stand along with modern art, which resisted the modern, refused to be taxidermized, overthrew the artists concept and deconstructed the art museum. He pretended to be a pre-modern artist, who poured his “spirit world” into the body. He then claimed that he had ordered the production of his works according to “the practice in the (contemporary) art world.”
I oppose legal punishment for Jo, but he clearly tricked the people. What’s more, some scholars referred to the people who criticized the masterpiece as ignorant subjects in need of enlightenment. But I doubt that the purpose of contemporary art is to have the mediocre ordinary person shut up and remain still.
The murder of a woman in Gangnam was eventually an extreme form of violence against a weak and vulnerable group. I felt fear when I saw the strong wearing an elephant costume and suggesting we all “get along” at a memorial organized by the physically and socially disadvantaged. I also felt despair at the protests of men who cried that society should not look on them as potential criminals. We are contemporary people living in a round prison, but we often equate ourselves with the guards not the prisoners. That is why we feel somewhat relieved when we see the numerous closed circuit cameras while walking along the back alleys of Gangnam. But at the desperate warnings of women, men get angry and tell them not to make a generalization. I am astonished at the fact that there are so many people who identify themselves with those that encourage or turn a blind eye to misogynic crime.
This happened in the past ten days, but in fact, we might have been this way all along for longer than the past decade. Those with power continued to exert violence, and the weak sought out “easy” targets to let out their anger. Those who had to suffer unfair practices, condemn those who force such unfairness on them, yet continue to create other victims. It is not easy to find the light. When a baseball team you cheer for is on a losing streak, the fans find comfort at the sight of young athletes, who are not yet mature, but full of potential. They are willing to risk defeat now, believing that although they may be last, they will be able to aim for the championship a couple of years from now after the athletes master their skills and accumulate experience. Hope is the force that helps us bear reality. Right now, is there such hope in South Korea?
I am now scared of the South Korean society. Outrageous incidents continue to happen casually. Articles covering web portals are like fish that have finally reached water, busy trying to attract more views. People also post a lot of comments. Major online boards instantly filled with comments. Even if I try to avoid them, the anachronistic opinions of those who have returned to the 1970s keep coming into sight. The stories have now moved to the social network services (SNS). The same stories are being repeated under their own names and pictures, as if remaining anonymous was bothersome.
Isn’t it truly frightening? The media and tens of thousands of “commentors” turned young female celebrities, whom they had treated as the object of collective voyeurism shooting “arrows through the male heart” and appearing in “nosebleed-inducing pictures,”; into a traitor with a “pour awareness of histor” overnight-all because they did not recognize the face of a historical figure.
The ignorance of the members on Infinite Challenge and Two Days and One Night are the subject of humor, but how come people freely condemn the ignorance of girl band members, whom they so often sexually objectify? People call celebrities public figures and, in fact, most easily turn them into a scarecrow they can stab. Celebrities are just “famous” people who exert slightly more influence on others than most people. They are fundamentally different from a president who cannot distinguish tactical nuclear weapons and a nuclear reactor and a prime minister who does not know the maruta of the Japanese occupation.
Rather, those who lacked an awareness of history were ministers who could not call the May 16 Coup d’etat a coup d‘etat. These are the ones who refer to the May 18 Gwangju pro-democracy movement as a riot carried out under the orders of a spy. But a minister told the people not to sing a song that comforted the victims of the massacre and their families. Two days later, this man was kicked out of a ceremony to commemorate the May 18 movement. Of all days, on May 18, the Dong-A Ilbo published the love story of Lee Soon-ja and Chun Doo-hwan, who claimed "I have nothing to do with the Gwangju incident (note that he did not call it a pro-democracy movement).“Like a person with a serious illness, at first I was angry and dumbfounded, but now I am overwhelmed by fear. It was the moment I realized how much the people with power looked down on the powerless ordinary people.
It is also sad and scary how people mention Duchamp and Warhol to defend the businessman Jo Young-Nam, who sells his name along with his paintings, just as an actor earns money by selling clothes under his name and a comedian sells music by singing carols. His “art” does not stand along with modern art, which resisted the modern, refused to be taxidermized, overthrew the artists concept and deconstructed the art museum. He pretended to be a pre-modern artist, who poured his “spirit world” into the body. He then claimed that he had ordered the production of his works according to “the practice in the (contemporary) art world.”
I oppose legal punishment for Jo, but he clearly tricked the people. What’s more, some scholars referred to the people who criticized the masterpiece as ignorant subjects in need of enlightenment. But I doubt that the purpose of contemporary art is to have the mediocre ordinary person shut up and remain still.
The murder of a woman in Gangnam was eventually an extreme form of violence against a weak and vulnerable group. I felt fear when I saw the strong wearing an elephant costume and suggesting we all “get along” at a memorial organized by the physically and socially disadvantaged. I also felt despair at the protests of men who cried that society should not look on them as potential criminals. We are contemporary people living in a round prison, but we often equate ourselves with the guards not the prisoners. That is why we feel somewhat relieved when we see the numerous closed circuit cameras while walking along the back alleys of Gangnam. But at the desperate warnings of women, men get angry and tell them not to make a generalization. I am astonished at the fact that there are so many people who identify themselves with those that encourage or turn a blind eye to misogynic crime.
This happened in the past ten days, but in fact, we might have been this way all along for longer than the past decade. Those with power continued to exert violence, and the weak sought out “easy” targets to let out their anger. Those who had to suffer unfair practices, condemn those who force such unfairness on them, yet continue to create other victims. It is not easy to find the light. When a baseball team you cheer for is on a losing streak, the fans find comfort at the sight of young athletes, who are not yet mature, but full of potential. They are willing to risk defeat now, believing that although they may be last, they will be able to aim for the championship a couple of years from now after the athletes master their skills and accumulate experience. Hope is the force that helps us bear reality. Right now, is there such hope in South Korea?
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