The Witch Hunt Against Lee Seung-gi: Time to Restrain Yourself

Mr. A, the father-in-law of singer and actor Lee Seung-ki and spouse of actress Yom Miri, has been charged with violating the Capital Market and Financial Investment Business Act, or stock price manipulation. He was found guilty in the first trial and acquitted in the second trial on appeal, only to be overturned by the Supreme Court.

Thanks to this, Lee Seung-gi was put in an unfair situation where he was constantly in and out of people's mouths just because he was his father-in-law. Even though he didn't play a role in his father-in-law's misdeeds, and even though it happened before they became a family, his name is in every topic related to his father-in-law.

Lee Seung-gi, who suffered mental violence for a long time because of his 'family' relationship with his former agency, and was not paid the money he was owed, and even went to court to fight for it, was so happy and grateful after he finally escaped and found a new home that he donated the money he won to society. I think it was more painful for him to realize that the harsh scene he was in was caused by a close relationship than not getting the money.

It's a shame that he has to get involved in his father-in-law's money problems again. Of course, since the public perceives Lee Seung-gi as the father of his married spouse, that is, Lee Seung-gi's family, if he causes a problem in society, the public has a moral responsibility to hold him accountable. This moral responsibility does not include personal attacks or malicious slander.

The problem is that the extent to which Lee Seung-ki was criticized is placenta. Some even consider it his karma for marrying the wrong woman, or drag out his words from his lawsuit with his former agency and lump his father-in-law's transgressions together as if they were his own, which is extremely abnormal even for a star whose life is destined to be on display to the public.

No star's every life choice, unless it is immoral, should be judged by the public. It's a life that belongs to others and should be respected, and it crosses a line. We call it a witch hunt, when the crowd's misguided psychology leads to unjust victimization. In Western civilization, the witch hunts were a very specific manifestation of this, in which those in power at the time "created" witches as embodiments of evil in order to clarify their identity and consolidate their control.

It's interesting to note that this was a time when the rational and rationalizing mindset was blossoming on the one hand, but on the other hand, it was possible to believe in the irrationality of witches. It's a story that really illustrates how the crowd, the masses, are a fragile bunch that can be easily swayed by propaganda if they don't have a well-formed thought process. Be it for good or ill.

The current phenomenon that Lee Seung-ki is facing can be described as a witch hunt, which started when he announced that he was marrying the daughter of a publicly disliked family, and has been slowly building up since then. This has caused a certain sense of betrayal among some members of the public, mainly his fans, because they trusted him so much.

But it is a personal life that cannot be touched by others. It is a basic condition of life that even stars should enjoy, and sometimes it is forgotten because of their star status. This sometimes leads to tragic endings, as we've seen in many cases before. The baptism of fire that is currently being heaped on Lee has gone beyond the bounds of moral responsibility. It's time to stop and think about what's going on. Mr. A is Mr. A before he is Mr. Lee's father-in-law.