Park Wi, Lee Jae-myung, and a Sudden Surge of Rage

  1. Keep doing someone favors, and they start thinking they are entitled to them.

  2. Save a drowning man, and he accuses you of stealing his bundle.

  3. People elected Lee Jae-myung because he said he understood the sorrows of the underdog, only for him to start throwing his weight around.

  4. Spartacus frees the gladiator slaves, only for them to capture Romans, force them into gladiatorial combat, and refuse to obey his orders.

  5. Black slaves were freed, only to return to Africa and turn Liberia into a great slave state run by Black people.

  6. Odysseus infiltrates Troy in the Trojan horse, seizes control, becomes king, and turns around and attacks the Greek army.

  7. We championed Jin Jung-kwon for spearheading the anti-Chosun movement, only for him alone to be picked up by the Chosun-JoongAng-Dong-A establishment.

  8. The state sent Ahn Sang-ho, Ha-young’s great-grandfather, to study in Japan at public expense, only for him to return as a Japanese stooge.

  9. Yi Seong-gye was sent to attack Liaodong, only to turn his army back at Wihwa Island. 

  Why is Park Wi being vilified? Because we have been through this kind of infuriating bullshit so many times that it is familiar. It is déjà vu. There is an eerie sense of recognition. We have seen this scene many times before. Every page of the history books is stained with filthy blood. Chinese history, in particular, is a history of betrayal. There was no king who did not kill the retainers who earned distinction, and during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, no general who did not kill a king. The generals who survived through political savvy were Wang Jian and Guo Ziyi.

  While conquering the last remaining state of Chu, Wang Jian deliberately grumbled to Qin Shi Huang, asking for land and a mansion so that the emperor would not have him killed. By stressing his appetite for small things, he demonstrated that he harbored no greater ambition. After all, discarding the hunting dog once the rabbit is caught is the standard formula. Guo Ziyi of the Tang dynasty, famous from paintings of Guo Fenyang’s festivities, was the only man to survive through political savvy. Akechi Mitsuhide’s rebellion was much the same. Treat the people well, and you arouse suspicion.

  Anyone who seeks popular support must harbor designs on the throne. The Honnō-ji Incident was Akechi Mitsuhide’s preemptive strike after he fell out of Oda Nobunaga’s favor for showing generosity to the people. Transformation is when the masses surge in and replace one power bloc with another, but opportunists spot a niche all by themselves, use a trick to wedge a toe into it, and then make enough room to force the rest of their body through. They mistake the achievement for the product of their own talents alone.

  Suddenly they bolt the city gates and hurl stones at the very people who stood by them like a devoted first wife. That is what happens when a private clique gathers behind them. They become preoccupied with handing out posts to their Ten Attendants. That is why Moonjo-teollaeyu is under attack. Yong Hye-in, propelled into office by an underground organization, will obviously look after only her underground connections. Had Kim Kyoung-soo, who rose with Druking’s support, not fallen out with him midway, he would have been busy taking care of Druking’s gang. Han Dong-hoon, backed by Jin Jung-kwon, is destined for the same fate.

  It is a formula: once the Ten Attendants latch on through the back door, everything falls apart. Chung Cheong-rae, too, must tread carefully. Jung Bong-ju and Chung Cheong-rae were attacked not because of their inflammatory remarks, but because people suspected them of treating netizens as a private organization; Jung Bong-ju even built one, going on about “Mikwons” and all that. It was not merely a fan club, but a collusive faction. It was the behavior of brokers acting after being promised positions in advance. They insist otherwise, but that is what it becomes. 

  On islands such as Britain and Japan, betrayal is institutionalized. Just watch The Gentlemen series on Netflix. Britain and Japan have primogeniture and succession to the headship of the house in common. That differs from the equal inheritance practiced in Korea and China. The Western custom of a son-in-law taking his father-in-law’s surname is likewise a matter of picking up an individual. The message is: come alone. If you bring a power base with you, it may turn around and devour them instead. Japan and Britain traditionally devised systems under which only one person would be picked up. 

  It resembles country bumpkins guarding their turf: they pick up just one person, tame him, and make him conform to the established order. But what if he brings a power base with him? What if a whole group moves into the countryside and uses sheer numbers to overpower the locals? Preventive measures are needed to stop a change in the balance of power. Britain and Japan are countries structurally nailed down so that revolutionaries like the Gracchi brothers cannot emerge. The side effects produced by Japan’s system of succession to the family headship were the customs of yobai and mabiki.

  Because only the eldest son inherits, a family raises only one baby, and because it does not matter what happens to the second son and those below him, yobai and incest become rampant. A child born of incest can simply be subjected to mabiki, and because second and younger sons do not touch the family property, it does not matter whether they sleep around behind the scenes or do whatever else. The concept of chastity was created because of inheritance. Beware of becoming a reed warbler cuckolded into raising a cuckoo’s brood. Do not wear the horns.

  There is a reason Britain and Japan are structurally doomed. Park Wi put together a staff and went to Africa supposedly to do volunteer work, then made a pastor push his wheelchair. That was not volunteer work; it was imperial pageantry. Park Wi did nothing wrong. He needed content, so of course he created some. But if a politician puts on a show like that, they deserve a beating. Netizens condemn Park Wi because they believe he has acquired power. 

  The people hate the bullying and abuse of power by those warped by authority. Power always betrays the people. Park Wi was hit by a stray bullet meant for Lee Jae-myung. Yi Seong-gye killed General Choe Yeong, and Lee Jae-myung stabs Moonjo-teollaeyu. Knowing it is coming and still falling victim to it only doubles the sorrow.