The Pain of the 'Spoon-Bragging' Era

Actor Ha Young has become embroiled in a significant public controversy following revelations about his family's past, specifically his great-grandfather Ahn Sang-ho's collaboration with Japanese imperialists and his grandfather's tenure as a doctor on Sorokdo Island. This has ignited widespread public outrage, with some voices attempting to mitigate the criticism by invoking the concept of "guilt by association" and defending Ha Young as an individual.

The author contends that focusing solely on the issue of collaboration with Japanese forces overshadows a more profound problem: class. Ha Young, an actor on the rise, has frequently highlighted his family background, including his lineage from a "fourth-generation doctor family," as a notable "spec" to gain public attention. This aligns with a broader trend in South Korean media, both traditional and new, that continuously produces and consumes narratives of "family boasting" among celebrities.

The article questions whether Ha Young would have received similar praise if his ancestors had been independence activists instead of collaborators. It probes the societal acceptance of "family boasting" when the lineage is perceived as prestigious or free from historical transgressions. Historically, many individuals sought to distance themselves from their family's fame or influence, but contemporary media is saturated with "inherited family content" featuring celebrity second-generation figures and "gold spoon celebrity" articles, creating an environment of widespread "national spoon boasting."

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Sometimes history and ethnicity also obscure class.

This phenomenon is particularly perplexing in South Korea, a nation that often expresses strong opposition to "free-riding" and "unfairness." The author criticizes the society's leniency towards the lives of modern aristocrats who start with inherent advantages. The narrative seems to have shifted, where birth luck is no longer viewed as an unfair privilege but as an innate talent or "spec." This perspective ignores the fundamental inequality of starting points – some are born on third base while others cannot even enter the stadium.

Philosopher John Rawls's concept of justice, which states that no one should benefit from their natural abilities or social position as a starting advantage, is invoked. The author argues that fairness that does not question the "spoon" (social class) is a deception that conceals structural inequalities and places responsibility on individual effort. In this context, the dismissive remarks suggesting criticism of Ha Young stems from "envy" hold a sliver of truth. For those who do not see inequality or historical collaboration as problematic, such criticism might appear as mere jealousy. However, for ordinary individuals, it represents a class-based pain, a "class ache," which could only be legitimized and expressed through the lens of his great-grandfather's collaboration, thus becoming a "suppressed class ache."

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No one is entitled to use his natural abilities or his social position as a more advantageous starting point in society.