[Inside Chodong] Angry People

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] The temperature fluctuates around 30 degrees Celsius, and intermittent fox rain that renders umbrellas ineffective continues. Even in a comfortable environment, maintaining calm composure is not easy in the complex and multifaceted modern society, and the weather is no exception. The season that requires more attention to rational judgment and thoughtful speech and behavior, summer, has arrived.

It is not a recent phenomenon that crimes fueled by malice and anger, targeting weaker children, women, or the elderly as scapegoats, fill the social pages of newspapers. Like a crow flying and a pear falling coincidentally, and akin to an illogical optical illusion, brutal news inevitably arrives with the muggy season.

Recent cases motivated by 'anger' include the arson incident at a Daegu lawyer's office, the assault on a woman actress in her 40s, and the stabbing of an emergency room doctor with a weapon after the wife, who was transported to the hospital, passed away.

Crimes where irritation and anger, which should have been kept hidden, are unleashed recklessly on others often exceed the level of personal disputes. Crimes driven by collective anger are also widespread.

Consider the loudspeaker protests in front of former President Moon Jae-in's residence in Yangsan, Gyeongnam, and the counter-protests in front of President Yoon Seok-youl's residence in Seocho-dong. While the parties involved may have some significant meaning or purpose, to the vast majority of people with common sense and civic awareness, such acts are nothing more than crimes causing suffering to nearby residents without gaining even minimal sympathy.

Moreover, as the expression of collective anger expands into online virtual spaces, the scope, intensity, duration, and extent of damage have become enormous, increasingly turning into a major problem in our society.

In his 2014 book Anger Society, humanities writer Jeong Ji-woo examines the personal and social concepts of anger as explored by various Western philosophers and applies them to Korean society. I found it relatable and will quote a few paragraphs.

Originally, anger is an emotion created for survival and self-protection, but modern people's anger is no longer closely related to survival. It arises from a sense of discord and inappropriateness when one's ideas clash with reality or when the ideas within oneself are already misaligned.

The author identifies 'collectivism' as the most problematic concept in Korean society. "The collective hierarchical culture compares people, ranks them, and becomes the basis for producing shame, humiliation, deprivation, hostility, frustration, obsession, greed, and ultimately anger. Collectively hierarchical ideas deprive individuals of their uniqueness. We are already accustomed to the violence of evaluating individuals by standards shared within the group. When we participate in various backbiting, contempt, discrimination, and envy based on collective standards, we are kicking this society ourselves."

One of the anger resolution methods proposed by the author is 'solidarity (連帶)'. It is the claim that we must break free from groups that passively impose assigned roles, emerge as active social members who exercise responsibility in solidarity with others, contribute to cultural development, participate in politics, and fulfill social responsibilities.

In today's Korean society, where collectivism that divides and incites conflict and isolated individualism that only shouts for 취존 (respect for taste) are witnessed everywhere, the starting point for improvement is ultimately ourselves. When the discomfort index rises, irritation grows, and household finances worsen day by day, it is not the time to complain about fairness, morality, or civic consciousness. At times like this, we must first firmly hold on to our sanity.