Mattathias Schwartz writes a feature on the sad tale of blogger Minerva.
It’s a great piece and well worth the read. As for my comments, I’ll just rehash what I said at the time:
Frankly, I think the guy’s a schmuck, and representative of larger problems regarding accountability — or lack thereof — in cyberspace.
Still, I do agree with the court’s recognition that online forum are places where anyone can login to write and debate. And really, we’re walking into dangerous territory where we start arresting individual netizens for spreading mistaken information about the government… even when they’re outright lying. And I’ll say it again — guys like Minerva wouldn’t be such a problem if the government and mainstream (read: conservative) press didn’t have so little credibility with large segments of the population.
And:
Korea’s IT technology, ubiquitous Internet access and Net savvy population are supposed to be national strengths, but they won’t be if the country gains a reputation as China Lite. And let’s be honest — as much as I lean in favor of the current Korean administration, its approach to the Internet (as well as to a great many other things) is simply too hamfisted to make effective control possible… but plenty hamfisted enough to piss off a good deal of the public and embarrass the country trying.
(HT to reader)
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I hope he writes a book and makes a fortune……
HT to reader? Both JW and mkaplan mentioned it in the comment section. I’d say give it to JW just because he’s a good kid who likes recognition, but technically mkpalan provided the link first…
I vote JW.
I vote me. Technically, I didn’t supply the link, but I like recognition.
As for JW, he shouldn’t be allowed to vote on this issue since he actually supplied a link and is therefore biased in favor of himself. I, on the other hand, didn’t supply a link, so my vote is fair.
Jeffery Hodges
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huh?
But seriously folks . . . the Mattathias Schwartz article is interesting (though it says too little about Minerva’s failed predictions).
Jeffery Hodges
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Per the article:
This is *so* Chinese in its choice of words, as Robert puts it, it demonstrates a lack of credibility on the part of government.
Consider also the Guatemalan Minerva “Jeanfer” whose situation was an uncanny parallel to what happened here too.
http://www.rjkoehler.com/2009/.....elsewhere/
Minerva was a Korean hero and now has been martyred. He is a testament to the power of true individual thinking, to the ability of the dedicated autodidact discern truths unseen by the herd. Instead of being jailed he should be hired by a major bank; I wonder if they’d have the courage. Wait, I don’t wonder — I know they won’t have the courage. Now that he’s been outed it’s more likely that people would believe some automaton with some nice degrees earned by deadening rote memorization rather than trust someone like Minerva — someone whose mind was truly alive. He may have had his excesses, like pretending to be someone of great stature. But really, his prescience alone is enough to confer stature on the man in my opinion. I’d love to meet him. Could he yet have a future? Will he be hired by a non-Korean firm?
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