Are Internet and Diet Modern Forms of Religion?
By Lee Hwan-hee
Staff Reporter
Korea Journal is a quarterly academic journal of Korean Studies. The main topic of the current issue is a thought-provoking one as the idea of the "religious" in contemporary Korean culture is explored.
In an introductory essay, Jang Suk-man of the Korea Institute for Religion and Culture (hereafter KIRC) clarifies what is meant by the ``religious," which is defined as the range of thoughts and behaviors associated with existing religions but not identifiable with any specific one.
And it could be defined in various terms: it might be attempts to create a new reality or community by transcending time and space, or trying to achieve an eternal life, or trying to overcome bodily existence.
Still, if that definition is too abstract, the examples Jang gives as the examples of being "religious" in contemporary society is not, as he gives three examples: the Korean Internet culture, the diet fad, and education fever.
In "Looking for Salvation Beyond a Risk-laden Reality," Yu provides statistics that say Koreans are among the people who spend the most time on the Internet in the world. But how is Korean addiction to the Internet any different than that of any other technology-obsessed nations?
Yu argues that it is distinguished by the fact that what drives Koreans to the Internet is primarily not convenience or entertainments but the sense of security and community that it provides to the users. Yu lists a number of large-scale accidents that occurred since the late 90s in Korea, and argues that because of the increased frequency with which they occur in present Korean society (and their cause is identified as the government that does not enforce stricter safety measures), Koreans seek a sense of security other than the physical one, and this aspect makes Korean Internet users akin to religious believers.
While the argument has some conviction, the conviction seems to be based on a specifically sociological understanding of what a religion is. It is a common theory that religion is caused by an avoidance of material and social reality and it only provides a false sense of group security.
But religions such as Buddhism and Christianity, at least in their more coherent versions, do not teach to abandon the material world for a better one because the material world is fraught with uncertainty. Rather they teach to accept reality as it is, as uncertain and insecure, and tell not to be too attached to worldly matters.
While the behaviors of Internet users and religious believers look similar, Internet users seem to avoid the material reality because they are actually too attached to being physically secure.
And such understanding of religion also mars the paper by Park Sang-un, "Beauty Will Save you: The Myth and Ritual of Dieting in Korean Society," which argues that the zeal with which Korean men and, particularly, women engage in dieting in contemporary Korea has a religious aspect. Park also argues that the aspect of disciplining of the body can be understood religiously.
While it is hard not to deny Park's claim that beauty and dieting are sought after fanatically in present-day Korea, it is also hard to accept Park's conclusion that this phenomenon can be characterized as something religious in nature.
Disciplining one's body because one is devoted to beauty means one is too attached to the material reality, which no major religion actively advocates. In fact, Park weakens his argument by claiming that the standards of beauty are created entirely by society. Then why bring in religion into it, unless it too is understood as a social phenomenon?
The most convincing paper on the topic in the journal is by Lim Hyun-soo, titled "A Religious Analysis of Education Fever in Modern Korea," as he traces the high value that modern Korean society puts on education (and educational credentials) to Confucian values instilled from the Joseon Dynasty.
Isn't the search for better educational credentials essentially similar to being devoted to beauty and dieting, though? Lim argues what reflects the Confucian legacy the best is various sacrifices that parents make for the sake of their children's education, not individuals' searches.
The sacrifices not only reflect the Confucian value of putting the family name above individuals, in that the success for the child brings prestige for the whole family, but they also reflect Korean parents' demand for "hyo," or filial piety, so that they aren't quite sacrifices in altruistic sense.
Whatever their faults, the papers are all interesting, and the topic will continue into next issue as it will deal with plastic surgery in contemporary Korea.