The politics of fear-mongering — again

Yeh Young-june

The author is an editorial writer of the JoongAng Ilbo.

After the World Health Organization (WHO) categorized aspartame — a common artificial sweetener used in a wide range of foodstuff — as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” and put it under Group 2B on the basis of “limited evidence of cancer in humans,” the alcohol section of grocery stores in Korea quickly filled up with makgeolli — Korea’s traditional rice brew — sporting new labels highlighting that they are aspartame-free.

One of my friends, a makgeolli aficionado, always carries around a notebook with such information. The contradictions in human behavior of gulping down a bowl of ethyl alcohol — which can be hundreds or thousands times more hazardous to health than aspartame — while going frantic over the negligible amount of aspartame cannot be explained with reason.

The animal nature of becoming used to familiar things and sensitive to new ones elevates anxieties to terror. Reason is deadened and fear is amplified particularly when health is concerned. Fear-based marketing exploits this highly arousing and contagious anxiety factor.

Korean lawmakers from the Democratic Party and other opposition parties protest against Japan’s plan to discharge the treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, in front of the official residence of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on June 10. [YONHAP]

Fear-baiting is taking over the Korean society fearful of the planned wastewater discharge from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. The scaremongers are not companies out to make a profit, but politicians fishing for votes. Koreans fell into the trap in a big way over the mad cow disease scare 15 years ago. Although we soon learned that the disinformation resulted from a well-choreographed unscientific incitement, we nevertheless had to pay a dear price. Min Kyung-woo, who had been one of the demonstration organizers, admitted that the activist groups on a crusade against U.S. beef did not hold a meeting — even once — to examine the validity of the concerns about the mad cow disease in American meat: “Our protest did not originate from concerns about public health.”

Probably thanks to the lesson, few Koreans now believe that the Pacific will be instantly contaminated or that cesium-exposed fish will soon migrate into the waters off the country after the treated wastewater is released. The dirty incitement is not working as effectively as before.

Still, the fundamental anxieties have not dissolved. A poll showed that 78 percent of Koreans were worried about the wastewater discharge. Absolute belief about what has not happened remains in the religious realm, not in the real world. As Wade Allison, a British expert on radiation and emeritus professor at Oxford University, has said, fear can swallow science.

It would be best if the wastewater could be resolved in another way. The idea of walling the waters with concrete has been floated, but the well won’t be able to contain the ever-rising levels forever. Chaos could arise if another gigantic earthquake rattles the area. Discharging it into the sea was chosen as the sole plausible solution. The conclusion of a scientific study of the discharge’s impact on the marine life, the ecosystem, and humans has already been published: it simply does not affect them. Whether we believe it or not and accept it or not is our choice. In short, we cannot stop the move.

Hyper-anxiety must be kept at bay. To effectively counter fear marketing, a reassurance campaign is needed. But the government and governing People Power Party (PPP) are hardly capable. Rushing to a seafood market or drinking water from the tank are just childish performances compared to the seasoned scaremongers.

We have not heard any words of reassurance from the government and PPP officials against the outbursts and hate speech from the Democratic Party (DP). Even after the issue spilled over onto the political stage from the science field, we have only gotten a tedious briefing full of difficult language from the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission. The scene is quite different from the way Land Minister Won Hee-ryong behaved. After the DP raised suspicion about changing the route of the planned highway linking Seoul and Yangpyeong at the request of the first lady for her own gains, he immediately had a press conference and announced a drastic decision to suspend the construction.

If the government and the PPP shake at the DP’s other novel marketing strategy — attacking them for incompetence as they did before — it will further deepen public anxieties about the contaminated water discharge. Then, fear can swallow science once again.