Pornographization of Tablo

By Jason Lim

For the last few weeks, Korean news media has been filled with long, intellectual, and often smug social essays on what happened to Tablo.

Just in case you live under a rock, let me summarize. Eric Lee, better known as Tablo of the Korean hip-hop group Epik High, had been accused by members of a specific portal site group of falsely claiming that he got his bachelors and masters from Stanford in five years. Tablo ignored the accusation at first; he probably didn’t want to give validity to the accusations by addressing it in any way, especially since it was so patently ridiculous. However, the accusation soon resonated among South Korean netizens, and Tablo was forced to produce a diploma, transcript, and other documents testifying to his academic credentials.

Unfortunately for Tablo, mere proof wasn’t enough to put the malicious rumors to rest, as they were continually fanned by the portal site group dogging his every move and inventing problems with any evidence that Tablo proffered. Eventually, he had to take a TV news crew to the Stanford Campus and visited with the school administrators in a desperate effort to clear his name.

The desperation move seems to have worked. In recent polls, most people now believe that Tablo is telling the truth. Even the police chimed in with the results of their investigations supporting Tablo’s claim of being a Stanford grad. Now that the ground seems safe, mainstream Korean pundits have poured out of the woodworks to belatedly and noisily pontificate against the collective internet behavior in Korean society that allowed ― nay, facilitated ― such baseless and destructive accusation.

Most pundits make the following points. One, Tablo partially brought this on to himself by bragging on Korean TV about how he was accepted to both Stanford and Harvard, two schools that have attained mythical status in Korean public’s consciousness ― that he graduated from Stanford with both bachelors and masters in five short years probably didn’t do him favors either.

His academic prowess, and the implicit socioeconomic privileges that made it possible, triggered an angry reservoir of resentment, jealousy, and envy in Korean society against the rich and powerful. Therefore, what happened to Tablo is a reflection of the chronic division between the rich and powerful vs. the poor and weak that has been getting worse recently.

Two, the fear created by the mob mentality on the internet is real and consequential. One even pointed out that a major TV network even changed the timing of their shows to manage the risks associated with getting netizens riled up against their programs. And it’s not just TV networks. Just look at what happened to the government in the case of Mad Cow and Cheonan sinking.

The pundits all have a point. Yes, there is jealousy involved here. Envy too. And, of course, some unbelievably mindless group–think. But I think it’s more than that. I think what happened to Tablo was pornographic.

Most typically think pornography as an explicit visual depiction of various sex acts between two adults. However, the essence of pornography, and what makes it so destructive, is the objectification of the person as a tool to satisfy the desires of the viewer. Pornography degrades the person to a state that exists only to titillate whoever’s watching. It’s not about sex. It’s about a voyeur having God-like power over someone defenseless who’s forced to do whatever you’d want her to do and like it. It’s exercising that power with impunity, hidden behind the cover of anonymity. Unaccountable.

What happened to Tablo has all the elements of pornography. He wasn’t viewed as a person. Tablo was objectified and then used to satisfy some emotional neurosis that a bunch of total strangers had against what the supposed ``privilege” or ``job description” that Tablo represented. And we all watched along as peeping toms, titillated.

Tablo was viewed as an object, defined alternatively as an entertainer, victim, and even a social issue. He was never depicted as a human being, a person with a wife, child, and parents who are precious to him. No one seemed to consider that Tablo could actually be a person with emotions that could be punctured and hurt. Of course, Tablo isn’t the first victim. In the last few years, we witnessed other entertainers commit suicide under the pressure of faceless, incessant, and ultimately groundless accusations from the web.

While recent research has shown that new social media technology dissolves some of the human connections and objectifies people, it would be cowardly to blame social media for the onslaught of destructive behavior online. Ultimately, it’s human beings driving human behavior in how we treat one another.

Human beings were behind the portal group that stalked Tablo and took away his dignity. Human beings were behind the rumors of loansharking that drove Choi Jinsil to suicide. And there we were, peeping through it all and enjoying the entertainment that we created out of the misery of another person.

It’s our choice whether we want to enjoy the pornography made from other people’s lives. But don’t rue the day when you or the ones you love find yourselves being ``pornographized” and used to titillate mindless strangers. What happened to Tablo is more than about false accusations. It’s actually a matter of how we fundamentally relate to one another as human beings.

Jason Lim is a non-resident fellow at The Peace Foundation, a non-partisan think-tank researching policy options for peace on the Korean Peninsula. He can be reached at jasonlim@msn.com. You can also follow him on Facebook.