Viral Infamy

          Fame matters. These days, people are literally obsessed with fame. All the teenagers admire celebrities at their age and so-called superstars are treated as if they have greatly contributed to humanity. From time to time, however, some achieve fame, which is an ultimate goal for others, relatively easily. In fact, they become famous without their purposed intention or calculated plan. In other words, some are forced to be famous regardless of they like it or not. “I Like Turtles” boy is the very apotheosis for this argument. His stupidity made him a national – or global to some extent – celebrity, who is always in people’s and media’s close attention. Although some people may envy the “I Like Turtles” boy’s fortune, it is not a fortune, but a misfortune in core. He boasted his inanity to the public at the expense of his fame. In fact, the fame of “I Like Turtles” boy is misguided in that it is infamy. Like the case of “I Like Turtles” boy, 10-second fame is more to do with infamy, not fame.

             A case in point is the “Subway Immorality Girl” in Korea. On October 4^th 2010, a video taken by phone camera was uploaded on the YouTube and became a popular gossip at that time. At the video, a teenage girl fought with an old lady, who seemed to be more than 70 years old. When netizens first come up with the video, they harshly blamed the teenager for her immorality since such rude behaviors towards the old are hard to be understood in Korea, which has been profoundly influenced by the Cofucian culture. Therefore, netizens actively sought for her personal information such as her name, age, habitat and phone-number. Soon, the teenager was socially ostracized and became the symbol of sin against heaven. However, later it was known that the old lady, who fought with the little girl, was notorious for her provocation to others in subway line 2. According to the witnesses, even if the girl apologized to the old woman for unintended collision between them for several times, the old lady incessantly insulted the girl and even her parents. In summation, both of them deserve to be criticized. In this case, however, the real problem is not the immorality of Korean society, but the thoughtless publication of their individual information. Although they are not people to be respected, it does not necessarily mean that their privacy can be infringed on.

             The identical concern should be considered in a similar case: “Subway Molester” accident. Just like the aforementioned example, a video about this accident was publicized on the Internet so that anyone could have an access to molestation. In the video, a middle-aged man molested a drunken lady who was in lack of consciousness due to excessive alcohol. Although it could be taken for granted that subway is a public space, the man dared to molest her. His boldness – stupidity in other words – led to a sorrowful tragedy to him. Not only he turned himself to the police, his private information, especially his face, became accessible to the public. Accordingly, his ephemeral mistake at the moment consequently wrecked havoc on his whole life. He was punished more than he should be. Also, the privacy of the victim was violated as well in that her face was clearly recorded in the video without any mosaic. Though her only fault was immoderate intake of alcohol, she could do nothing but live with the immense sense of shame and humiliation.

             In both cases, the real problem is that the personal information of malefactors as well as victims was so easily spread to the public. Of course, their immorality, bellicose characteristics and law-breaking should be blamed or punished. However, that their behaviors were recorded in videos cannot justify the publication of their individual information to the public. It is simply an additional punishment that cannot be legitimized. While the “I Like Turtles” boy will ruin Oprah's whole day, the thoughtless publication of trouble-makers’ private information will ruin their whole lives.