JANGSEOKIN

CYBER BULLYING-SNS[SOCIAL NETWORK SERVICE]

Seokin Jang

I want to talk about cyber-bullying as another precedent from the social issues in the world. As we know, since developing the Internet area, cyber-bullying has become one of the most serious problems. And I found something related with my thesis concept that actually cyber-bullying, which could drive someone to suicide eventually, begun with one malicious comment.

43% of U.S. teens having experienced some form of cyber-bullying in the past year. - A survey by Harris Interactive reported

Cyber Bullying has become one of the major social issues in Eastern Asia, especially South Korea. According to Broken Windows Theory, nobody wants to throw a stone to the intact window. However, if the window was broken already by someone, next person might throw a stone much easier. Like this, if someone writes the malicious comment first, next person writes the malicious comment much easier. What's next? The one neglected malicious comment could make a tons of malicious comments. They might feel no guilty because everybody does, nobody cares, and then they are going to write more crazy and tough. Finally, one malicious comment could drive the person who is the target of malicious comments to commit suicide.

Have you ever pointed the finger of blame to someone with a groundless argument, or say something maliciously even though it is not what you want to say? Sometimes people give affront to their family, friends, or even lovers because of their unconscious acting and saying. The problem is that usually they do not have any guilt because it was not their intentional behaviors even though someone already got deep scars from them. I have also several similar experiences when I was a child. At the school, I did something wrong, and then teacher told me you are such an incorrigible student ever. I did fall into despair, and decide to go more wrong way. Few months later, teacher asked me what happened to me. And I said that you made me like that. That word made me like that I said. That word was “incorrigible”. However, teacher did not remember what she said to me because she might be not going to say like that. And also she just said that unconsciously. That is why she did not remember it even though she offended my mind already. Another case was fighting with my friend. One day, I fought one of my best classmates because of the very tiny reason that he used my eraser at school. Then we started arguing and then finally fighting. At that time, I said something very malicious words to him unconsciously. I knew how serious malicious words were that I said, so that I tried to request reconciliation with him, but it was too late. Maybe he got really deep scars because of my malicious words. After fighting, we could not do reconciliation, and hang out each other anymore. Ultimately, I lost my one of the best friends because of malicious words even though these were not my intentional thoughts. An old saying has it that “what is done can not be undone.” We need to think how someone else feels before we say something to others because someone could get hurts.

Have you ever heard about people who committed suicide because of the malicious comments? Maybe it doesn’t touch your heart how serious malicious comments are, and you might think it is ridiculous story because generally we think that the ways of killing people are the physical action or reaction such as shooting a gun, hitting with a cops club, or stabbing with a knife. However, we should know that also malicious comments could sometimes drive people, especially celebrities to make extreme decisions such as suicide, and will not leave them in peace after death. The Internet has become one of the most powerful communication methods in the world. We encounter tons of various stories about people in the world through the Internet such as news, social networking websites, or personal weblogs. According to Convergence Cultures by Henry Jenkins, we are living in the era, called convergence cultures that consumers’ power, not to be ignored, influence to producers (2006). Like this people’s opinions, like comments, has influenced to various areas such as media Industry, society, and even individual person. That is the reason why we are able to observe people influencing each other more often on the web from the previous decades. Growth of Internet, definitely, our life has developed, but our privacy and personality were encroached by the Internet. Everything has its pros and cons to it. The Internet has both sides as well. And now, we cannot ignore the bad side of the Internet anymore. One of these is called “Cyber Bullying”. It is unfamiliar in American society, however not from long ago, it has been recognized as one of the major problems in Eastern Asia, especially South Korea. Namely, American online community should prepare for the malicious comments before it becomes one of the most serious issues in American society like South Korea. Therefore, I decided to let the people know that the effects of malicious comments on online communities through my final project. I am going to discuss what the problems are, why people write malicious comments, and what the solution is for making clean cyber world.

Here is my inspirations, which are two cases of negative effects of malicious comments on the Internet from South Korea. The first case is about an actress’s suicide by malicious comments from rumors. Because of the rumors, the popular South Korean actress, named Jin-Sil Choi, committed suicide by hanging herself on October 2, 2008, at her own home in Seoul. A month before, one Korean actor, who was a close friend with Choi, was found dead in his car. He committed suicide apparently because of distress over mounting debts. After the news of his death, Choi appeared deeply shaken at the funeral. Shortly after the funeral, rumors spread on the Internet that Choi had lent a large sum of money to him. After that some Netizen, which are people actively involved in online communities, begun to write about her on social networking websites. They said “Choi lent a lot of money to him, but he did not have ability to pay back, so she pushed him coercively again and again. Finally, Choi made him to commit suicide.” The rumors were mounting up. At the beginning, this rumor was just one person’s supposition. But after that this rumor became the truth. On September 22, 2008, Choi sought a police probe into the sourve of the rumors, calling them groundless. Police arrested the person spreading the rumors. However, Choi already came under greater stress amid rumors circulating on the Internet. Finally, she could not overcome, and then she committed suicide. Her suicide was shocking news for Korean society because people thought she could overcome and had no regard about these malicious comments from Netizen. It reveals a cross section of that people do not know how serious and terrible malicious comments are. Think about it. If one of your friends says something about you maliciously, you will be ok because you will ignore that. However, if all of your friends say something about you maliciously, you will not be ok. And you will feel lonely and gloomy, and probably you will think there is no one besides you. And then it could drive you to commit suicide ultimately.

The second case is about a Korean hip-hop singer’s rumors. The successful Korean hip-hop musician, named Tablo and a Canadian of Korean decent, had been a victim of rumors about fake diploma scandal. Tablo was a co-terminal student at Stanford University, and obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature and Master’s Degree in Creative Writing within only 3 years and 6 months. At the first his debut, media announced him as an intelligent hip-hop musician. It was good enough to put him on a spotlight because general image of hip-hop musicians in Korean society is known as a poverty, darkness, and defiance. Therefore, his background as a hip-hop musician was refreshing jolt. However, at the beginning of this year someone posted a thread about his educational career on the social network website. His argument was a likely story, and then people began to believe and were disturbed by this. And then Netizen kept spreading on bunch of different websites. After that they made a community website for demanding what the truth is from Tablo. The community website involved over two hundred thousand members. They kept posting and writing about why his diploma is fake with tons of malicious comments. However, the blame was on not only himself but his families also. Therefore, he became a social phobic, and finally he decided to sue some of the leaders in this web community, and he decided to go to Stanford University with members of the media for confirmation of his degree officially. Ultimately, he clears from the false charge. According to his interview, he said he did not feel the need to answer or prove what they demand because he thought the truth would come out soon or later and solve this mess. However, he felt fear because he saw that rumors were starting to become the truth by Netizen.
Now I have a question why people make malicious comments online. Since I researched it for this essay, I have found some Netizen’s tendencies. First, they can hide their personal information such as face, name, and location. Secondly, they don’t act by themselves; they tend to form a group more easily online since their identities are hidden. Lastly, they do not feel any guilt when they post malicious comments. Here is the survey why you write malicious comments. A survey company conducted a survey of teenager students who are the biggest age of group for malicious comments. Total 754 students from South Korea participated in this survey. 34 percent of the students answered that they wrote malicious comments because of reducing stress level. 28 percent of the students answered that they do not notice that it is a big problem, and 27 percent of the students answered nobody knows who I am. Lastly, 11 percent of the students answered it is fun. These tendencies reflect why they post malicious comments to somebody even though they never have met, talked, or known the person personally. I believe that they cannot make any malicious comments or blame face to face with celebrities or anyone in this matter. What I mean by this is that it shows human’s double-sideness. Now, I have another question. What is the solution to make a clean cyber world? Korean bar association raised opinions for making the special law about the cyber contempt, named the case of Choi Jin-sil. And also Korean government announced that they are going to control the Internet. On the other hands, Korean Commission on Civil Rights strongly apposed because it violates the rights of freedom of expression. It is a very complicated problem. Yes, it is if the governments are trying to control the people by force. However, if they provide the opportunities to have consciousness to Netizen who enjoy writing maliciously, this problem will be solved without a doubt. According to the result of this survey, it showed that most of teenagers who enjoyed writing malicious comments did not have any meaningful thoughts toward it. Through this survey, I came to a conclusion. If they knew the consequences of those comments, it would definitely decrease malicious comments made without any concerns.

In conclusion, if you consider someone’s feeling before you comment, you might reconsider your comments. What I want to let the people know is that somebody can be driven to commit suicide by malicious comments, and also the malicious comments can destroy someone’s life which can include one of your family members. I don’t believe I can change the world with this project in short time. However, if the people consider at once before comments maliciously, that will be good enough for this project because I believe this little change will bring a big result like the butterfly effect. We should realize that a person might commit suicide because of the malicious comments. The person could be your friend, family, or yourself. And also you might be one of the people who drive someone to commit suicide. Definitely, it is one of the serious crimes. I want to let the people know that somebody can be driven to commit suicide by the malicious comments, and also the malicious comments can destroy someone’s life which could be one of your family members.

Reference:
Abbott K. & Makowsky W. (27 September, 2010). Korean pop star battles attacks on Stanford record. The Stanford Daily. Retrieved December 01, 2010, from http://www.stanforddaily.com/2010/09/27/korean-pop-star-battles-attacks-on-stanford-record/

Daliy News Staff. (02 October, 2008). Korean movie star Choi Jin-Sil found dead in an apparent suicide. NY Dalily News. Retrieved December 01, 2010, from http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2008/10/02/2008-10-02_korean_movie_star_choi_jinsil_found_dead.html

Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide., New York University Press.

Lee S.H. (21 October, 2009). 34% Teenager reduce their stress level using malicious comments. Newsboy. Retrieved December 01, 2010, from http://blog.newsboy.kr/1430

Vitalwarning. (28 September, 2010). ‘The Stanford Daily’ publish an article about Tablo’s controversy. All K-Pop. Retrieved December 01, 2010, from http://www.allkpop.com/2010/09/the-stanford-daily-publish-an-article-about-tablos-controversy