Machine and Ideology
Dear editor,
The Hostage crisis, which shook South Korea in July and August, reminds me of appalling photos I've seen of the dead bodies of suicide bombers.
If there is one phrase that best describes the hostage crisis and the dead bodies of suicide bombers, it is this: dire consequences result from ideology.
Ideology was the driving force behind the hostages and suicide bombers' rash behavior. The power of their dogma was so strong that they risked their lives. Dogma dictated their actions.
The pictures of the Taliban's victims and of the suicide bombers showed me that a human is the only being that has no soul.
Felix Guattari, a French philosopher, called a man a ``desiring machine,'' which seems to be the case here. A human is a structure in which an ideology is located.
Spurred by ideology, the brain produces actions. Thus, all human action can be considered mechanical and ideological.
In my view, the most essential thing is our own body, because the body is the true nature of reality. The phantom, in other words ideology, could put the precious body in danger. Ideology amounts to ``simulacres."
Human beings are subordinated to their own bodies. Their lives end when their bodies cease to exist.
We live in what Guy Debord called ``Society of the Spectacle." As he said, in the spectacle, ``development is everything." If we fail to look back, then we will not break free of ideological shambles.
Kim Hyong-eok
Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province