[Asia Approach] Vague Fear vs Realistic Terror... The Era of Phobias

Cover capture of the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel on the 1st (Source: Der Spiegel website)

As the novel coronavirus infection originating from China spreads worldwide, various phobias are rampant. Phobia, a fear of the unknown, has existed since the dawn of humanity. Throughout modern and contemporary times, unforeseen variables have impacted human life, generating countless new phobia neologisms.

This novel coronavirus is an infectious disease, but globally it has become known as Corona Phobia. Symptomatic individuals are quarantined, but with the possibility of asymptomatic carriers, people avoid places where even a 0.0001% chance of infection might exist, avoid contact with strangers or outsiders (Xenophobia), and wear masks.

Corona Phobia adversely affects not only human life but also the global, national, and regional economies. Since Corona Phobia began in China, it has evolved into China Phobia, and further escalated into Wuhan Phobia and Wuhan Resident Phobia, isolating and quarantining residents or visitors of Wuhan, the outbreak site. The aforementioned Xenophobia, originally a broader concept involving hatred, rejection, and hostility toward foreigners, has emerged domestically due to a surge in foreign immigrants, and in Europe due to the massive influx of refugees causing various social issues, leading to Islamophobia. In response, there are new Nazism and white supremacy movements. There is also immigrant hatred triggered by Trump.

In Europe, even East Asian Phobia, rejecting all East Asians, has appeared. The recent cover of the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel, published on the 1st, featured an image of a person who appears to be Chinese wearing a red raincoat and gas mask while looking at a smartphone, with the phrase "CORONA-VIRUS" and "Made in China" underneath, sparking controversy. In Europe, especially in major tourist countries like Italy, Spain, and Greece, local residents show resistance to the large influx of tourists, resulting in Tourism Phobia. Similarly, in Korea, the entry of males into women's universities has caused safety concerns, leading to Outsider Phobia.

Radon mattress piled up at Dangjin Port storage yard amid radon bed controversy
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Phobias have diversified as society transitioned into an industrial and information and communication technology (ICT) society. Representative examples include Food Phobia, Carbon Phobia, or Chemo Phobia, fears related to various diseases and disorders caused by food and petrochemical products. The pesticide egg scandal that began in Europe gave rise to Egg Phobia; the controversy over hamburgers led to Hamburger Phobia; humidifier disinfectants and radon beds spawned Disinfectant Phobia and Radon Phobia; and the carcinogen controversy in sanitary pads caused Sanitary Pad Phobia. In 2018, frequent fire accidents in certain BMW car models during driving led to BMW Phobia.

With smartphones and social networking services (SNS) already integral to daily life, there is Nomophobia, the fear of being without a smartphone, and Facebook Phobia, the fear of receiving notifications from anonymous senders. Some refer to this as the neologism editiovultus phobia. The emergence of AlphaGo has also led to AI Phobia, the fear that artificial intelligence (AI) might threaten humanity. The controversy over the military's first transgender corporal and a transgender female university applicant reflects the changing social landscape through Homophobia.

Although phobias inevitably stem from human anxiety, the recent variety of phobias arise from distrust in objective facts and information, excessive and vague fears, and the spread of falsehoods and misinformation. Therefore, it is necessary to view them with a cool-headed perspective.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.