The K trap

Courtesy of Ian Schneider

By David A. Tizzard

Individual freedom is the goal of our political age. We are focused on the full liberation of peoples across political, technological, racial, sexual and other intersectional divides. Media focuses our minds on the revolution at hand: freedom from kings, popes, tsars, elites and bureaucracies. Freedom from predestination. We live amidst the birth of existentialism. The rise of the performative person. Of the "me."

New bibles

In this new world, we are free to choose our own lives, our own dreams, and, importantly, our own values. What is right is what we decide. Destiny is in our hands. Power is wrested from the grasp of others and placed in the sanctity of the individual. Valuing this so highly, we also want others to have this opportunity. So much so, in fact, that we will insist that they have freedom. We will demand that people be free, even if comes at the barrel of gun. There is a religious zeal reminiscent of mid-millennia Europe beneath the claims of rational secularism. Prayers and mantras have been replaced by numbers and statistics. Moreover, the religious tendencies continue when we ascribe this current individual liberation a universal quality. We project our morals across billions of people all around the world just as religions do. The word "catholic" is derived from a Greek phrase which indicated "the whole." It wasn't trying to be specific. This truth was for everyone.

This existential freedom we have been granted, the ability to write our own story, comes with certain terms and conditions. We are free to choose our values, shampoo and sex but, as with anything, there is a price to be paid somewhere. The corporate world requires targets and constant input. Freedom of choice arises alongside compulsion of consumption. If you want to be free in your life, you are obliged to pay rent, purchase cosmetics, start a mortgage, own some credit cards, accrue debt, subscribe to Netflix, buy Twitter blue and so on. There is a price tag on freedom. It's one we pay for ourselves. And, more importantly, the price seems to be getting higher by the year.

Paradoxical Traps

Politicians, influencers and multimedia continually champion the world of freedom and they have given birth to our current age. Yet, somewhat paradoxically, it feels like we are more trapped than ever. We are born free but everywhere are in chains. So how did we get here?

Previous decades have exacerbated individualism, selfishness and suspicion. People were forcibly atomized. Game theory, distrust and Randian models encouraged strategic self-interest as the only way to create stability. The Prisoner's Dilemma taught a generation that betrayal of other people was not only the safest option, it was also rational. Desired.

The capitalist idea of the free market, where the invisible hand moves thing around and everyone gets rich by acting in their own self-interest, has been known since Adam Smith. But that's all it was: it was largely confined to the economic sphere. It was never really meant to apply to morality, to sexuality, to toilet paper, to some of the most fundamental aspects of human life. Capitalism was meant to set us free. And, in some ways, it certainly has. For others, though, it has opened the path to serfdom. With inflation and corporate greed, with the rise of celebrities famous for being famous, we have seen growing inequality, a shrinking middle-class, a loss of trust in institutions, and a collapse of social mobility.

Out of the trap

We are told that we are divided ― our interests clash with each other and can therefore never be realized. Politicians and thinkers tell us there is no such thing as society. This seems like a crass abdication of responsibility. It reeks of those with power wanting to have their cake and eat it: to enjoy the trappings of elite status but then not do anything with the privilege they have been provided. This is achieved by dividing people along cultural issues such as race and sex, but also by gaslighting people and continually championing particular ideological causes. "If you want freedom, pay us money," they cry. Be an individual. Stand by yourself. Break the rules.

But in real life, we do trust each other. We reach out for companionship. We are neither rational nor wholly suspicious of others. We have the capacity for empathy and positive social interactions. Our lives can, and probably should, be beautiful. Collective duty and working for the public good is something we have realized before and can again, should we choose.

We are currently living in the century of the self. Like everything, it has brought with it advancements, regressions, successes, and failures. What will arise out of this century however? What comes next? The answer is somewhere inherent in the current system but not yet visible to us. We will only see it once it's here. New bibles eventually replaced by other new bibles.

Dr. David A. Tizzard (datizzard@swu.ac.kr) has a Ph.D. in Korean Studies and lectures at Seoul Women's University and Hanyang University. He is a social/cultural commentator and musician who has lived in Korea for nearly two decades. He is also the host of the Korea Deconstructed podcast, which can be found online. The views expressed in the article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.