Singer puts twisted spin on democratization
By Kim Tong-hyung
Hyosung Leader of the girl group Secret
Hyosung, the voluptuous leader of the female pop group Secret, opened her mouth on a radio show Tuesday afternoon and let something out that should have stayed in.
All hell broke loose on social media, the force mighty enough to temporarily knock off scandal-ridden former presidential aide Yoon Chang-jung from the top of search word lists. The 24-year-old singer and her management agency scrambled to issue an explanation, but somehow ended up making things worse.
Her quote, when translated into English, doesn’t make any sense when taken literally.
``We are a team that respects the individuality of each member,’’ a bubbly Hyosung told DJ Choi Hwa-jung in a conversation about the chemistry between Secret’s members. ``Because we don’t do the democratization thing.’’
On the first free dictionary that appears on Google, ``democratization’’ is defined as ``to make or become democratic.’’ But in the language of ``Ilbe’’ (www.ilbe.com), an online message board dominated by Internet users who support ultra-right-wing politics, the word passes for something close to ``monoculture,’’ ``uniformity’’ or ``crowd justice.’’
Those who enjoy reading and writing on Ilbe have frequently come under attack from their online opponents for their perceived sensational and biased views. In response, they began to derisively call their cyber foes as ``democratic citizens.’’ Websites and message boards overrun by these alleged leftist and North Korea sympathizers were deemed as ``democratized.’’
So in delightfully using the word democratization in that context, Hyosung was either unveiling herself as an active Ilbe reader or getting too cute with an Internet buzzword she didn’t fully comprehend. Judging from its emailed statement, her management agency would prefer her being seen as an idiot than a young woman with pointed views on society and politics.
``I apologize for using an expression that was wrong,’’ Hyosung said in a statement released through her agency.
``I regret that I used the word without proper understanding what it meant. I will do my best to prevent this kind of mistake from happening again.’’
For a country that experienced a painful process to achieve democracy, which was accompanied by bloody civilian suppression and the marginalizing of working-class citizens, it’s ironic that democratization is a word that is being used ironically.
One contemporary Korean history researcher wondered whether the intense ideological conflicts during the liberal government of the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, who was frequently battling conservative politicians and was criticized for bogging down the country in partisan nonsense, bred public fatigue for words such as ``democracy’’ and ``progressive.’’
Others point out that the conflict in the past decades between the social forces that pushed for democratization and the power elite that put economic growth before civil liberties has left its traces in an authoritarian culture, found in all of society’s organizations, including companies, schools and the military. For example, younger employees at companies will frequently hear their superiors sarcastically say to them ``isn’t democracy good,’’ which is another way of saying they had it much harder when they were young.
``The late president and his political allies frequently carried themselves like crusaders in the last fight to save democratic values and the public certainly grew weary of that,’’ said the historian.
``This regrettable led to the devaluing of the word democratization, which has begun to carry the nuance of mobocracy.’’