A Part Tells Us the Whole

By Ahn Byeong-wan

A college woman's ``loser" remark seems to have stirred many young people into anger. Even an editorial had to cover this matter under the title ``Talk Show Folly" in The Korea Times on Nov. 16.

On a recent KBS show, she categorized all Korean males shorter than 1.8 meters as ``losers."

First of all, I think it should be taken into consideration that the woman at the center of this turmoil is an inexperienced, as well as a transitory, personality.

Anybody can inadvertently make a slip of the tongue in a specific situation. How much higher is the probability when considering the culprit was a young girl? Apparently, she did not know her remark would bring about so much controversy.

The girl should have her right to express her view, whether it is decent or not, without being driven into a corner.

I am sure the majority of people who have heard the story will think this way and remain silent. Still, the minority can gather enough firepower and exercise their muscles in this highly wired, information-oriented society.

But I don't want to censure those who publicly blame and protest against the girl, either. They have their reasons, too. And again, we have to be tolerant toward them because most of them are also hot-blooded young people. We should be even more sympathetic to their plight as the current world climate is gloomy with the ongoing economic crisis.

We should accept both sides of the dispute. I think most of us will have no difficulty in doing so.

But despite all these perspectives, KBS, already a responsible public broadcaster, is even more at fault. It was certainly in a position to have prevented this from the get-go.

KBS personnel had to have known the disruptive potential this remark would carry. Their actions were intentional. Conscious or unconscious, this incident must be connected with their desire to boost ratings at all costs.

But is KBS solely to blame? Isn't it because we, the general public, always seem to help such ``noise marketing" schemes work?

The Bible says that if your eyes are bad, your whole body is in darkness. Without the right vision, how can KBS do things the right way?

I wish that we could all have sharper eyes so that we could distinguish between the good and bad things that KBS and other media outlets offer us.

Finally, I think the girl has paid her due. She has already sincerely apologized. But I have heard that she is being further forced to take a leave of absence from school to escape the continual heckling of angry protesters. What an onerous position she's in.

Hopefully, people have released all their rage by now. If not, I hope they will quickly realize that hateful words cease to be as powerful when they're ignored and forgotten.

The writer lives in Seoul and can be reached at bwahn-0@hanmail.net.