If you know France
If you know France, you were not surprised by the turnout of over 4.5 million people last week. The alchemy of how the French reacted to the tragic events was almost predictable. The peaceful and tolerant emotions were very possibly uniquely French. Millions more in hundreds of cities worldwide shared the emotions and came out to march and show support. Many pundits and media experts said they were witnessing an historic event in modern times.
Upon reflection, many interesting questions emerge. Will we see more t e r r or of the same kind throughout Europe? Just now, the French police estimate there are over 20 active terror cells in France alone involving 180 people. If terror events continue or escalate more in France, will even more outrage play out? When people have had enough, what will they do?
After the 9/11 tragedy, the American people came roaring back with similar outrage. There was no defeatism. America’s mood was described as resilient. Korea experienced horror and grief on a national scale after the Sewol ferry crisis. Hundreds died and thousands demonstrated. It was reported that many Korean people showed outrage in a different way. It was a time for national mourning. Many people cancelled vacations and stayed home. Retail sales dropped for weeks, as people did not buy. It was resilience, but of a different kind.
So, I got thinking, what would it take to bring 4.5 million to the streets of Seoul? Would Korean people react with outrage and purpose, as the French did?
The numbers are interesting. Seoul is even larger in population than Paris, so normal logic would say there should be even more Seoulites who would march than in Paris. If, God forbid, a major terror event happened in Seoul, something tells me we would not see the massive response as we did in Paris last week. What would it take to bring that number of people to express outrage and grief in Korea? And so spontaneously? Something tells me it would have to be an event on a far greater scale than in France. Some horrific event that allows public outrage.
The French reaction was large scale, but the amazing thing was that it was so spontaneous. But think about it, there are many very serious problems in the world that take more lives. World hunger, girls’ education, organized crime, and wars: these causes would lend themselves to organized protests, and not spontaneous reactions.
There is a worldwide movement that just recently began to help the plight of young girls in the world. Organizations are being formed. With spokeswomen like Malala Yousef, there are signs that much more is to come. We already have a worldwide recognition day, once a year on March 8, International Womens’ Day. But there are no expressions of outrage, or demonstrations.
What I am thinking is that the power of a movement of any kind, especially like the response to terrorism, lies very much in the spontaneous qualities of reaction, followed by strong actions.
The other interesting factor is that many of the world’s problems are not bringing people to the streets because of the lack of organized efforts.
It seems there needs to be elements of humiliation, real outrage, pride, anger, death and injury, and grief. Then, as we have seen, there are possibly unique cultures where spontaneity is more possible, even part of national pride. The cultural differences are there, for sure.
Back to Korea. What would it look like? There would have to be a massive and large-scale blow to Korea’s pride, its security, affecting the daily life of busy South Koreans. These kinds of tragedies usually are man-made, but sometimes can be acts of nature. We have just recently seen in Paris that the size and scope of the public reaction does not depend on the number of people killed. In Korea, the question is whether or not the quality of spontaneity is latent in the people.
The bright hope for a culture with low spontaneity and unity is the alternative to organize protest. Grassroots movements are slow and tiring. Not much happens fast and with pitched emotion. But it offers promise.
Contemporary Korea does have some pressing issues, but there is not much collective, concerted action. The comfort women issue continues. Who owns Dokdo continues. Human rights is an issue for all of Korea. Maintaining economic vitality is a big item in the news each day. Basically none of these problems are burning issues. An issue needs to be so “hot” it will stir organizing activity and bring people to the street.
We have a lot to learn from each other. America learns from France. Last week the world witnessed a remarkable, human surge of emotion on a very large scale. Will we see it happen again? My feeling is that if it does escalate, we will see the shift that has not yet happened in recent history. It will be the shift from outrage in spontaneity to organized efforts.