[Kim Seong-kon] Turning into each a progressive and a conservative

If somebody says that they’re each a progressive and a conservative, or leftwing and rightwing, we might imagine that they’re a sly opportunist, a hopelessly contradictory individual, or a case of dissociative id dysfunction. Not anymore. Right now, a wonderfully regular individual can turn out to be such a broadminded one who can cross the border between the 2 and embrace them, if they’ve braveness and capability. Furthermore, they’re a perfect individual we’d like to be able to construct a non-polarized, higher society.

The famend critic Leslie Fiedler already perceived the arrival of a polarized society and emphasised the significance of moderation in his monumental essay, “The Center Towards Each Ends.” For Fiedler, nothing could possibly be extra pressing in our extraordinarily polarized society than to have somebody who can keep within the center, criticize each extremes and reconcile the 2 antagonizing ideologies. In fact, it’s not straightforward to remain within the center and mediate the 2 as a result of he will probably be criticized by each extremes. Nonetheless, nonetheless, Fiedler urges us to “Cross the Border, Shut the Hole,” in his well-known article with the identical title.

The well-known American novelist Thomas Pynchon, too, warned of the polarity of our society, saying that we should always keep away from the “both/or mentality” and embrace the “each/and development.” Pynchon urged us to beat our monochromatic black-and-white views and embrace colorfulness. Pynchon’s perception is interesting to us, particularly on this period of crossovers and hybrid, fusion cultures.

We are inclined to divide issues into two and provides privileges to the one we select and dismiss the opposite as unfaithful. It’s fallacious. In his celebrated novel, “The Crying of Lot 49,” Pynchon wrote that “each industrial capitalism and Marxism are a part of the identical creeping horrors,” if pushed to the intense. Pynchon emphasised the need and significance of somebody who can buffer the 2 extremes, kind out an entropic scenario, and assist restore order. Solely such open-minded folks can be sure that society staves off the inevitable whole annihilation of a human civilization that shuns range.

Traditionally, South Korea has been a divided and polarized society as a consequence of its persistent ideological warfare. Since 1945, when Korea was liberated from Japan, Korean society has been sharply torn between the Left and the Proper, or Marxism and capitalism. The consequence was the division of the Peninsula by the North and the South. Even inside South Korea, we’re divided as soon as once more by progressivism and conservatism, ideologies that detest one another a lot that it appears unimaginable that they could ever be reconciled. The issue is that, as we are able to see from the examples of Stalin and Hitler, each far left and much proper are finally the “similar creeping horrors.”

Lately, the Korean folks have been exhilarated and elated to listen to the information {that a} Korean novelist acquired the 2024 Nobel Prize in literature. As soon as once more, nonetheless, our nationwide festivities have been instantly spoiled by ideological faction fights. The left-wing folks have fun it as their victory, whereas the right-wing folks criticize the Nobel laureate’s “leftist” sense of historical past.

We must always take into consideration the tragic Sewol ferry catastrophe. As an alternative of mourning for the drowned, our flesh pressers turned it into mud fights for political achieve. The left-wing politicians have used the tragedy for successful elections and seizing energy. Embarrassingly, the identical factor is occurring now. This time, right-wing extremists are turning the nationwide festive ambiance into yet one more area for ideological warfare.

That’s the reason at present’s South Korea urgently wants those that can deconstruct and dismantle our slender mindset primarily based on binary oppositions. The world is just not product of progressivism and conservatism solely. Due to this fact, we’d like those that can boldly stand agency in opposition to the 2 extremes and reconcile them, so we are able to put an finish to the seemingly endless ideological scuffles in our society for good.

As an alternative of attempting to make use of the pleasant information of a South Korean successful a Nobel Prize, all of us ought to have fun the significant event collectively. As for the tragic Sewol ferry catastrophe, we should always sincerely mourn for the drowned. Humanity ought to come earlier than ideology, and customary sense ought to prevail over political brawls.

When pushed to the intense, progressivism can simply flip into socialism or communism. Likewise, conservatism, too, can degenerate into racism, regional prejudices or anti-immigrant sentiments. That’s the reason moderation and the center floor are obligatory and essential. Sadly, nonetheless, our society is suffering from unprecedented polarization.

In a divided, polarized society, we should always transcend bipolarity and search range. We must always every play a pivotal function in depolarizing our society and bringing again concord and stability to our nation. We must always cease the combating between the Left and the Proper. In spite of everything, we’d like a pair of wings to fly and a pair of footwear to stroll. If we’ve solely one of many pair, we’ll find yourself falling from the sky or stumbling on the bottom. “That’s the manner it’s,” as Walter Cronkite stated.

Kim Seong-kon

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul Nationwide College and a visiting scholar at Dartmouth Faculty. The views expressed listed here are the author’s personal. — Ed.