There was a good article appearing in Korea Focus, dealing with recent scandal in Korea on top levels. This is why I think it's worthwhile to read a lot of words.
There are many ways to silence or erase from memory a certain person
or an event. In life, people experience or do things that they want to
forget. As irony would have it, the things I want to forget are better
remembered by others. Although such words do not have feet, they travel
far. It is because the more people talk about something, it deviates
farther from the truth and it makes people all the more curious.
Who
are the most likely to commit an act that they wish people would soon
forget? It is those who act in their own interest only but pretend it is
for the greater good; those who talk about serving a cause and
fulfilling duties but do not know what they are; and those who talk
about due process and rational decision making but make decisions behind
closed doors. Unethical actions of such people in power are probably
the ones they wish would be forgotten. That being the case, these people
have the power to make others forget; they possess the power to silence
others.
The most terrifying form of censorship is
probably by fire. To oppress any form of criticism, Qin Shi Huang of the
Qin Dynasty banned all academic discussions and confiscated and burned
books that made people think. This is a typical act of force by those in
power. Banning and ultimately burning books that they do not want read
and silencing others so they would not have to hear what they do not
want to hear is censorship commonly equated with power.
The
recent Yoon Chang-jung scandal made me think the above type of
censorship would not work in this age of the Internet. How could anyone
control the incessant flow of words created about the disgraced
presidential spokesperson`s alleged sexual harassment? At one time,
people were discussing the immorality of a public aide to the president,
and soon enough the talk shifted to the difference between sexual
harassment and sexual assault, one being a misdemeanor and the other a
felony.
One conservative commentator wrote that this was a
set-up tactfully conspired by the pro-North Korea, pro-Roh Moo-hyun
group. Other conservatives lamented this is a disgrace to the whole
nation. I believe not a few people want this incident and the truth to
be covered. I will leave it up to your imagination to figure out who
they are. What piques our curiosity is the modern way of erasing this
incident from people`s memory. However, in this Internet era, an
incident will never disappear. It feeds on itself and it is impossible
to ban books and silence voices. How can the truth be concealed?
In ancient Rome, damnatio memoriae,
or condemnation of memory, completely erased any traces of a person. If
a person had brought disgrace upon the Roman State, his name would be
deleted from the public records and his statue destroyed as if he had
never existed. This would be, by far, the most severe form of censorship
in that all traces of the person are removed so there is nothing left
to talk about.
In the Internet age, the powerful brew yet
another type of criminal penalties. In the old days, those who had power
would reduce the amount of information to the maximum possible extent,
but the media in our days is intent on excess production of information.
Shortly after an article appears online about a press conference in
which a man has denied all the allegations of sexual harassment against
him, another column written a year earlier by the same person appears.
In it, he denied any misconduct and wrote “the stress level goes up
reading all the news about the ‘madmen` who ‘sexually harass` others.”
This is how a person`s image is ingrained, and he is condemned to be
remembered no matter how badly he wants to be forgotten.
The
media, which mass produces words so that nothing is forgotten, is yet
another form of authority. All that distorts and hides the truth is a
form of power, and the media by nature performs censorship and covers
the truth by amplifying words like bubbles. Has the media abandoned its
role as a critic and purveyor of truth to stand up to those who seek to
cover it up? Is the media in plain competition with the Internet, simply
adding words without caring about the truth and producing meaningless
information?
It is highly suggestive that Yoon, who had
worked for the press, was appointed presidential spokesperson for not
speaking the truth but for his bluntness. If the media follows the
Internet logic and turns its back on the truth, then sensationalist
journalism can turn itself to trial by media anytime, in which both the
perpetrator and the victim are condemned to be never forgotten.
[ Hankook Ilbo, May 23, 2013 ]
Picture and text belong to Korea Focus.
