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The Candlelight Revolution | |
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< | In March 2017, the Korean Supreme Court decided to impeach the then-president Ms. Park. Several events led to this impeachment. A scandal that involved Ms. Choi, a close friend of Ms. Park, misusing her relationship with the president to squeeze out money from Korean conglomerates and a marine accident that caused the death of many young students for which Ms. Park was accounted to be liable. Angry people poured into the streets and requested Ms. Park to resign. When Ms. Park refused to do so, the National Assembly called for impeachment and the Supreme Court approved. Because the people were holding candlelights while protesting, this impeachment is often referred to as the 'Candlelight Revolution'. There is no contestation that the internet played a significant role in the Candlelight Revolution. News and rumors relating to Ms. Park were widely disseminated through personal broadcasting media, people's anger was snowballed through interaction on social media, and instant messengers were used to organize protests. Thus, some people perceive the Candlelight Revolution as a true example of the internet promoting democracy in its most favorable way. | >
> | In March 2017, the Korean Supreme Court decided to impeach the then-president Ms. Park. Several events led to this impeachment. A scandal that involved Ms. Choi, a close friend of Ms. Park, misusing her relationship with the president to squeeze out money from Korean conglomerates and a marine accident during which the president kept herself locked-in in her bedroom and did not receive reports nor give any orders to rescue the drowning passengers who were mainly high-school students. Angry people poured into the streets and requested Ms. Park to resign. When Ms. Park refused to do so, the National Assembly called for impeachment and the Supreme Court approved. Because the people were holding candlelights while protesting, this impeachment is often referred to as the 'Candlelight Revolution'. There is no contestation that the internet played a significant role in the Candlelight Revolution. News and rumors relating to Ms. Park were widely disseminated through personal broadcasting media, people's anger was snowballed through interaction on social media, and instant messengers were used to organize protests. Thus, some people perceive the Candlelight Revolution as a true example of the internet promoting democracy in its most favorable way. | | | The King crab | |
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< | Another side of the story. Early this year, a man widely known by its social media ID 'Duru King' was convicted. Duru King was found guilty for impairing the operation of portal website servers by manipulating the numbers of 'likes' or 'dislikes' for certain articles or opinions posted on such websites using a hacking tool called 'King crab'. At first, Duru King operated the King crab for the benefit of the now-president Moon during his presidential election campaign and received some money from a congressman who was a very important figure in Mr. Moon's camp. After President Moon's victory, Duru King asked for more, that a man well-acquainted to himself should be appointed as consul-general. As his request was rejected he turned his back on Mr. Moon and started to use the King crab against him. Ironically enough, it was President Moon's political party that first requested the police to investigate this case because they found that the number of 'likes' of some articles or opinions opposing Mr. Moon spiked in an irregular way.
Also, during the criminal trial of Ms. Park that followed the impeachment, it turned out that much of the news, especially those that had been distributed through personal broadcasts or social media had no grounds or were fake. Although Ms. Park was found guilty for most charges filed against her, it was this type of fake news such as that Ms. Park took viagra pills and had sex with a priest when the children on the ferry were drowning, that made people storm the streets.
How do we know?
Perhaps it was more the dead children and the corruption. Or the
stories, which may have been more true, that she was having sex with
Choi. Perhaps she was actually impeached for being a lesbian, which
is how it looked from NY, rather than because there was state money
paid for Ms Choi's daughter's horses, or influence behind her
university admission, all of which was—to be
blunt—rather familiar in the upper reaches of Korean politics
and society. Heretofore, however, it was sufficient to put
Presidents in jail for corruption after they left office, or to
drive them to suicide. From outside Korea, the misogyny and
homophobia seems more important than the particular content of the
rumors.
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> | In the aftermath of the impeachment, Mr. Moon was elected as the new president and his political party gained the majority in the Korean parliament. One year after, the current ruling party requested the police to investigate suspicious activity on the internet. They found that the number of 'likes' of articles opposing Mr. Moon and 'dislikes' of articles that favored Mr. Moon spiked in an irregular pattern. Few months later, a man, widely known by its social media ID 'Duru King', was convicted for impairing the operation of portal website servers by manipulating the numbers of 'likes' or 'dislikes' for certain articles or opinions using a hacking tool called 'King crab'. It was found that Duru King had initially operated the King crab for the benefit of Mr. Moon during his presidential election campaign for which he received some money from a very important figure in Mr. Moon's camp. After President Moon's victory, Duru King asked that a man well-acquainted with himself should be appointed as a high-rank diplomat but his request was rejected. That's when he turned his back and started to use the King crab against Mr. Moon. | | | | |
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> | The history of internet opinion manipulation in Korean politics dates way back. Several politicians from different political parties were convicted for hiring people to distribute false information through the internet to slander his opposing candidate in a primary race or election, in 2004, 2008, and 2012. A former head of the Korean intelligence agency is serving jail time for having ordered his subordinates to post mass comments or retweet comments that support Ms. Park who was then running for president. | | | Baby, One more time | |
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< | Following the above developments in Korea, and learning about similar stories of Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, I'm terrified about the consequences that the misuse of the internet can have on democracy. However, I also believe that democracy is still the best method to protect civil rights and to effectively and fairly run a country. There is an old saying in Korea that describes my feelings towards this issue, 'I hate you, but one more time'. It is used in situations where one loves another person so much that one cannot abandon the other person in spite of his/her faults and gives him/her another try. Therefore, rather than jumping to the conclusion that we should declare democracy dead because of the risks it faces in the internet society, | >
> | Now, some might question what real harm it does to tweak a few numbers of 'likes' or 'dislikes' or put out some false information on the internet. Most of the information on the internet is not verified, most times even the author or source is anonymous, and most people know that, don't they? However, even if people are not sure whether an information or opinion is genuine and true, it can have a substantial impact. A classic psychological experiment by Solomon Asch observed that about one third (32%) of the participants conformed to the clearly wrong majority view although most of them said that they did not really believe their answer but were afraid of being different (McLeod? , S. A. (2018, Dec 28). Solomon Asch - Conformity Experiment. https://www.simplypsychology.org/asch-conformity.html) Asch suggested that it was the social pressure and thus should be able toare know that and thus they should screen the information and Shouldn't people know better than just receiving it as a plain fact? their reasoning incorrect anywa iFollowing the above developments in Korea, I'm terrified about the consequences that the misuse of the internet can have on democracy. However, I also believe that democracy is still the best method to protect civil rights and to effectively and fairly run a country. There is an old saying in Korea that describes my feelings towards this issue, 'I hate you, but one more time'. It is used in situations where one loves another person so much that one cannot abandon the other person in spite of his/her faults and gives him/her another try. Therefore, rather than jumping to the conclusion that we should declare democracy dead because of the risks it faces in the internet society, | | |
Who has actually been doing this? It doesn't seem necessary to write an essay countering this argument unless someone is really making it. |
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