Song Joong-ki - Song Hye-kyo proceeds with divorce mediation process
This was not a breaking news of a disaster or a major accident or an urgent incident, but a breaking news that the celebrity's personal life, Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo, were divorced. It meant he had scooped. The moment I saw this breaking news, I sighed.
All kinds of rumors surrounding the reason for the divorce were poured out in real time through smartphones and TVs, and they showed the power to stimulate the curiosity of citizens and concentrate their attention. Everyone saw the flood of bad rumors as if they knew that it would be clear that other shocking and violent events would be noticed in a few days. As if you climbed on the banks of the rainy season and relaxed the stress accumulated by watching the sulfur water that was blown by heavy rains.
John Berger’s point of view of the media is accurate: once seen, one spectacle is another spectacle, and it is simply replaced at a daze rate without any context. He says that he should also be wary of media trying to quantify everything while ignoring the essence.
In fact, the media say that they should be wary of the indiscriminate rumors surrounding the divorce of entertainers and the damage of the parties and the people around them, but in fact they are helping to raise curiosity about the reason for the divorce of entertainers. The media itself is quantifying the event itself of entertainers' divorce. Moreover, it is said that the audience should be tempted by the commerciality of the audience rating, and the main culprit of the rumor spread is punished according to the law, but in fact, the media itself plays a host to spread rumors.
The poet Choi Seung-ja is the one who sang, 'I am alive, it is nothing more than eternal rumors.' The dimension of rumours, which the poet's song means, differs from the secular bad rumours surrounding the celebrity couple; however, there may be rumours for anyone, whether a celebrity, athlete, or politician. Rumors exist, both private and public, especially bad rumors in relationships between men and women.
But like the poet Choi Seung-ja's poem, rumors are nothing more than rumors: it is shameful to be excited, swearing, and spreading gossip through SNS because of the rumors of a favorite entertainer. Media also deals with bad rumors in a critical news time zone because of the inevitable media attributes of ratings and commerciality, but it can result in losing the dignity, prudence and trust to keep on its own.
Since all citizens have focused on rumors that have been blown up like a frenzy, starting with the news that a popular young entertainer couple has decided to divorce, citizens are no different from producers or media of rumors. We are all a joint venture, enthralled by imaginative, peeking, voyeuristic curiosity, and we are both accomplices of rumors and slaves to rumors.
Why is that? The truth of bad rumors surrounding the divorce of Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo is because of our all-too-light judgment and perception. We all have a little different perspective on bad rumors related to the divorce of these couples, the gyrassy and voyeuristic peeks, and the sensation and commerciality of the media. Why? It is a result that did not question.
Professor Lee Jin-woo, Professor of POSTECH, says, Hannah Arendt advises to stop and think and think about what we are doing to avoid becoming a slave of the times. The slaves of rumors are no different. You have to stop and think. What am I doing now? How important to me is the bad rumors related to the divorce of Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo, and I am also enjoying voyeuristic imagination through a peek.