[Political Fandom]⑩ "Why Did We Become Hateful?"

Political Fandom Dominates Politics Beyond Expression
Tragic Politics Like Roh Moo-hyun's Death Turn Into Revenge Politics
The Vicious Cycle of SNS Destroys the Public Sphere

Editor's NoteIn Korean politics, 'fandom' has become an indispensable presence. There is even talk that fandom dominates politics. The Democratic Party actively utilizes fandom as a political asset, following former President Moon Jae-in and former leader Lee Jae-myung. Newly appointed People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon also secured party leadership centered around fandom. However, fandom has been criticized for exhibiting extreme behavior that causes political polarization and expands conflicts. We have diagnosed and analyzed the realities and reasons behind fandom politics and examined the possibilities for change. ① "Han Dong-hoon is a tool" "Lee Jae-myung is qualified" ② Activities expanding beyond online and offline to YouTube and media ③ Buying books to raise lawyer fees and relay support on SNS ④ Numerous 'Jaemyung's Village' vs high view count 'Withhooni' ⑤ Supporters worried about 'fandom fear' ⑥ Politicians suffering from fandom ⑦ Political YouTube channels earning billions ⑧ Nosamo, different from today's fandom ⑨ Park Sang-hoon: "Diverse voices needed to overcome fandom" ⑩ "Why have we come to hate?"

Through events such as the 22nd general election and the People Power Party leadership election, the power of 'fandom politics' has been reaffirmed. Fandom politics has exerted strong influence not only in everyday political activities and public opinion formation but also in major political schedules such as candidate nominations and party conventions, surpassing the level of mere 'seasoning.' In intra-party primaries, 'fandom politics' has become a constant rather than a variable. What draws attention is that this fandom politics is driven by 'hatred.' The targets of hatred include not only those on the opposing political side but also those within the same camp who hold different views. Fandoms close to 'enmity' have escalated to violent incidents, darkening the future of our political community.

Fandom politics became controversial due to a series of aggressive behaviors. These include pinpointing targets and sending text message bombs that effectively paralyze politicians' mobile phones, sending 18 won as political donations and requesting receipts to confuse lawmakers' offices, and using derogatory nicknames like 'watermelon' (a politician who is different inside and out) to belittle others. Beyond influencing public opinion by protesting against media outlets that post critical articles or comments, fandom has become a force that controls the political stage. Although sometimes framed as direct democracy, fandom politics based on 'hatred' paralyzes the political function as a platform for mediation and consensus, acts as a force that incites extreme confrontation, and accelerates political polarization and, ultimately, the demise of politics.

How did fandom politics begin?

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Park Sang-hoon, former research fellow at the National Assembly Future Institute, who has pointed out the problems and harms of fandom politics, noted that the fandom political phenomenon has characteristics unique to Korean politics. This is because the Democratic Party fandom, which dislikes both People Power Party and Justice Party, cannot be explained solely by policy or ideological terrain. Emotional reasons rather than camp logic are reflected unfiltered in political expression. Additionally, strong cohesion around specific individuals, high participation from middle-class college graduates, and strong ties to the two major established parties rather than new parties stand out. Other features include extreme sensitivity to internal party power struggles and a lack of sensitivity to norms.

According to analyses from political insiders, the emergence of aggressive fandom politics in Korean political culture is a recent development. Compared to past fandoms such as Nosamo (People who love Roh Moo-hyun) or Paksamo (People who love Park Geun-hye), which emphasized support rather than opposition and were more defensive, current fandoms are combative and aggressive.

Various analyses have emerged inside and outside the political sphere, including interpretations that tragic events in Korean political history have inflicted a kind of 'trauma' on citizens viewing politics. Jang Hoon, former administrative officer who worked in the speech secretary office during the participatory government, said, "Politics changed before and after former President Roh Moo-hyun's death," adding, "After his death, expressions of apology such as 'Sorry we couldn't protect you' surfaced, followed by statements about returning to power to take revenge. In the past, such expressions of revenge were avoided, but now they appear directly."

Former President Park Geun-hye, who was pardoned at the end of last year, was discharged from Samsung Medical Center in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the morning of the 24th and is moving to the National Cemetery. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

In the conservative camp, too, experiencing unprecedented events such as the impeachment and imprisonment of former President Park Geun-hye led to anger and trauma. The series of political situations where the president stepped down and was imprisoned caused supporters to follow a pattern of apology, anger, and desire for revenge. The fact that President Yoon Suk-yeol, who investigated former President Park, became the conservative presidential candidate and won the election was largely due to strong resentment against the Moon Jae-in administration. As a vicious cycle of revenge breeding revenge continued in politics, fear that defeat equated to the death of the supported politician dominated the party. This fear led to uncritical absolute support and political phenomena like 'do whatever you want.'

Moreover, the winner-takes-all electoral system, where even one more vote means victory and the rest become wasted votes, combined with a presidential system that wields unchecked power, has made politics even more extreme. Justice changes depending on who holds power. Under the names of 'cleansing deep-rooted evils' and 'national disgrace incidents,' massive investigations, audits, and probes were conducted against the opposing camp by state agencies. As a result, fans had no choice but to fight desperately for the political and biological survival of their supported politicians.

Additionally, there are criticisms that wrong political decisions by successive governments exacerbated the situation. Former research fellow Park Sang-hoon pointed to the Park Geun-hye administration's attempts to intervene in party nominations, known as the 'Oksoi incident,' and the Moon Jae-in administration's emphasis on direct democracy methods like public petitions. The overlapping phenomena of pro-Park and pro-Moon led to the disappearance of pluralism in parties and political order, with politics dominated by those who know the president's intentions?'Paksim' (former President Park's will), 'Munsim' (former President Moon's will), and 'Yunsim' (President Yoon's will)?and the emergence of figures like 'pro-Park identifiers,' 'Moon core officials,' and 'Yoon core officials.'

Furthermore, social networking services (SNS) have accelerated and radicalized political fandom. Selective highlighting or distortion of information, and the amplification of conspiracy theories within SNS's unique algorithmic systems, have led political supporters down a path of radicalization. Especially amid dissatisfaction with traditional media, SNS, which emerged as alternative media, gained the power to form public opinion surpassing that of the press, causing the public sphere to disappear. As a result, intellectual humility acknowledging 'I could be wrong' vanished, leaving only hatred.

How can fandom politics be overcome?

Former research fellow Park Sang-hoon diagnoses that the absence of politics is fostering the current fandom democracy. He pointed out, "Both ruling and opposition parties blame everything on each other and have no joint civic projects," adding, "Both sides wish for the other's downfall." He urged, "As long as we affirm democracy, those legitimately entrusted with sovereignty must have the courage to distinguish what should and should not be done and boldly step forward when change is necessary."

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