By Oh Young-jin
Assistant managing editor
We know “The One” is not coming this time, either.
We know Neo is just a phantom created by Trinity’s intense love.
But we are excited to wait and see, just to make sure we are right as watching “The Matrix” (the original) for the 1,001st time.
As Godot is the creation of Vladimir and Estragon, who need something or somebody to beat the unbearable burden of boredom, elections are our invention to prevent our life from going sour.
It is like a cholesterol-busting wonder-drug or a foundation of youth to reinvigorate every cell in your body.
We are in a better position than those in the audience watching Beckett’s duo on stage in the absurdist drama.
In April, thousands are expected to compete for about 300 seats in the National Assembly.
The approaching election drama is just a teaser for the real McCoy ― the presidential poll in December.
Put the two big political circuses on the same annual docket and it is tantamount to a socio-political solar eclipse: I take it as a sign of hopefulness.
Why are we enjoying (loathing) the prospect of the elections? For the minority of those perverts, I should add that loathing and enjoyment are two sides of the same coin. Ask Sigmund Freud about it and he would insist that traces of sado-masochism can be found in the depth of human psychology. I am not a Freudian supporter, by the way, and rather despise him for forcing us to eat that forbidden fruit.
Of course, I don’t mean the apple that was left partially eaten by Steve Jobs before he died.
A sense of ambivalence that comes just before you decide whether to like it or not, and a predilection that haunts you after your period of indecision ends, are what election fever is made of.
Ambivalence is ours to take as voters, while that predilection belongs to candidates running for office.
In ambivalence, we play our role as spectators who pretend to watch the drama for the first time, although we have seen it so often that we have memorized the lines word by word.
Why do we try to play our role so faithfully? I feel tempted to say “out of our civic duty and in order to exercise our right as a member of a democratic society.”
Deep in our minds, however, we know we like the role so much that we can’t pass it up to anybody else. We love to see the candidates bow their heads and promise whatever we want and more, asking for our votes. It is the electoral equivalent of the U.S. subprime mortgage swindle.
We know they are lying but allow ourselves to be deceived because we can’t help liking the feeling of being respected and cared for, however bogus those running may prove to be.
As architects of Wall Street’s derivatives, the candidates keep metamorphosing on cycles of four years for lawmakers and five years for new president (no re-election is allowed for Korea’s head of state).
The recurring theme of their repackaged election platforms are change and reform.
If we reformed and changed as much as the candidates call for, we would have long been extinct, like dinosaurs. So thank them for going back on their words or denying they made promises in the first place.
This year, the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) is heightening standards by which their candidates are selected for the April election, disqualifying anybody with prior records in such shameful crimes as sexual harassment and introducing an extensive point-scoring evaluation system.
Is it good enough to win our hearts and minds? We are not even a little moved. We want something like a “Roman treat” as in the fight to the death of gladiators in the Coliseum. Maybe, we have become addicted to an increasing dose of political painkillers.
Oppositionists have already done what they are good at ― creating the new Democratic United Party. But are we moved by that?
It is mildly interesting to see Han Myeong-sook, the nation’s first female prime minister who served under the late former President Roh Moo-hyun, elected to head the DUP in a vote characterized by mobile balloting. But are we voters satisfied with it?
No, we want to see Han go head to head against Park Geun-hye in an all-woman battle ahead of the December poll.
Park, now leading the GNP, is the most likely standard bearer, while Han is barred from seeking the DUP presidential candidacy under party rules.
But the April madness is just a precursor to the main draw.
And it all comes down to this question: Is Ahn Cheol-soo, the software entrepreneur, viewed as an alternative to the establishment, ready to jump into the ring?
First, we voters want to see a battle of the sexes between Ahn and Park, just for a change.
On a more serious note, we want to see for ourselves whether or not Ahn is what we think he is ― The One or Godot.
I suspect he is not likely to be either but we know the election is rather about our anticipation than what the candidates are all about. In other words, let the drum roll begin and bring in the actors. We are ready to enjoy the show.