Hypocrisy, righteousness - maladies plaguing South Korea

In today’s South Korea, there are many people who firmly believe that they are absolutely right and all opposed are wrong. They are so intoxicated with self-conceit, smugness and arrogance that they do not realise they could be wrong.

It is these self-righteous people who are primarily responsible for the grudges, hatred and resentment prevalent in our society. It is also these stubbornly self-righteous people who contributed to our society’s notorious bi-polarity and chronic antagonism between progressives and conservatives, or between the privileged and the underprivileged. Indeed, their narrow minds have no room for negotiation.

Self-righteousness may come from good intentions sometimes. Nevertheless, it can still hurt others’ feelings. For example, suppose people gather to help someone who is in desperate need of money. They all agree to give US$100 each to the needy person. Suddenly, a self-righteous man proposes everybody contribute $500 each because he believes a contribution of $100 will not be enough for the poor man. Self-righteous and smug, he does not care about those who cannot afford to give $500.

In addition to self-righteous people, there are hypocrites who can be called pretenders or deceivers. Some hypocrites don the mask of socialism, while unabashedly relishing the sweet fruits of capitalism. These rich Leftists instigate socialist revolutions with their tongues, while themselves leading extravagant lives in an affluent capitalist society. They pretend to be Marxist because it is fashionable and brings them popularity. It is no wonder they do not have any intention to defect to North Korea, the country they pretend to adore so much.

On the other side of the fence, there are right-wing hypocrites who ostensibly advocate pure arts and pure literature, while clandestinely craving monetary profits by producing bestsellers. These people also openly seek and wield worldly power in the republic of letters. Ostensibly, they claim that literature should remain pure, free from worldly matters, and yet, their literary world is heavily contaminated by mundane desires already.

Other hypocrites include those who preach anti-Americanism, but impudently take advantage of what America can give. These pseudo anti-Americans almost always enrol their children in American schools to give them better education or to help them get a job in the US.

They even send their sons to KATUSA (Korean Augmentation to the US Army) for their military duty simply because it is much easier than spending two years in the Korean Army. In addition, these anti-Americans proudly display their US education in their bio or on the jacket of their books. As America-haters, are they not supposed to denounce anything that is connected to the country they claim to hate so much?

Likewise, there are those who wrote bestsellers with titles like “You Don’t Need to Learn English”, but secretly send their children to the US or UK so they can learn English. The problem is that these books written by hypocrites easily misguide us. It is amazing how tolerant and generous we are about the contradictions and inconsistencies that are ubiquitous in our society. In Korea, there is nothing weird about having double standards so you can easily get away with discrepancies.

However, self-righteousness and hypocrisy were the two vices that Jesus lamented and admonished in the New Testament. While criticising the scribes and the Pharisees, Jesus condemned those who “trusted in themselves, that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt”. He also harshly criticised hypocrites, saying, “Woe to you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.” Ironically, many hypocrites in our society are fervent followers of Christ.

If you are self-righteous, you easily become hypocritical to camouflage your smugness. If you are hypocritical, you ultimately become self-righteous in order to hide your hypocrisy. The two vices are closely interrelated and will eventually blind you. As a self-righteous person, for example, you will become blindly hostile to those who you think are wrong. As a hypocrite, you will become blind to the truth that you have to perceive and acknowledge.

Fortunately, there are those who are neither self-righteous nor hypocritical in our society. It is these decent and discreet people who have sustained our society for the past few decades against all odds. Unfortunately, many of our political and social leaders are still hopelessly self-righteous and hypocritical. We should refrain from being sanctimonious and two-faced. We should acknowledge the fact that we may be wrong. At the same time, we should be genuine and consistent as well. Then self-righteousness and hypocrisy will disappear from our society.

 

Kim Seong-kon is a professor emeritus of English at Seoul National University and president of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.