2008 Woodie Awards
Things you can't un-see: The very worst of the internet
Living in a Culture of Cruelty
SHEENA QUASHIE, OBSERVER MANAGING EDITOR
Issue date: 10/7/08 Section: Life & Leisure
Last week, popular Korean actress Choi Jin Sil , was found by her mother hanged in her bathroom. She had taken her own life. The official statement from her management stated that the actress was depressed and susceptible to Internet rumors and nasty messages about her and her children.
Many readers of the Observer may not be familiar with the 20-year career that Choi left behind. She stared in many popular TV dramas and was called "the people's actress" because of her popularity and her seemingly ageless beauty. She was found in her shower stall hanged with an elastic bandage.
A woman only identified as Baek, was arrested on Sept. 30 for starting and circulating a false rumor that Choi had lent 2 million dollars to another actor that recently took his own life. The falsity fueled forums and websites of anti-fans as well as blogs and gossip sites in her home country.
Her life in the public eye was as dramatic as the movies and soap operas that made her who she is. Which in turn made her fodder for the tabloids. Everything from her storybook wedding to her abusive husband and painful divorce was covered. Now added to that is her somber Oct 4 funeral at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul.
According to the JoonGang Daily, notes Choi left behind said that she was a solitary person, a victim of bullying, and that she didn't feel right. She called close friends and told them to look after her two children. Even though the woman that created the rumor called and begged for forgiveness the damage was done, it was becoming common knowledge that Choi had lent the money and she felt oppressed by the backlash.
It seems universal that all those in the public eye have given up a certain level of privacy because of it, but the worldwide trend of making the humiliation of celebrities entertainment now has a body count. When our popcorn entertainment is at the expense of another human being's mental health what does that say about humanity?
Many readers of the Observer may not be familiar with the 20-year career that Choi left behind. She stared in many popular TV dramas and was called "the people's actress" because of her popularity and her seemingly ageless beauty. She was found in her shower stall hanged with an elastic bandage.
A woman only identified as Baek, was arrested on Sept. 30 for starting and circulating a false rumor that Choi had lent 2 million dollars to another actor that recently took his own life. The falsity fueled forums and websites of anti-fans as well as blogs and gossip sites in her home country.
Her life in the public eye was as dramatic as the movies and soap operas that made her who she is. Which in turn made her fodder for the tabloids. Everything from her storybook wedding to her abusive husband and painful divorce was covered. Now added to that is her somber Oct 4 funeral at the Samsung Medical Center in Seoul.
According to the JoonGang Daily, notes Choi left behind said that she was a solitary person, a victim of bullying, and that she didn't feel right. She called close friends and told them to look after her two children. Even though the woman that created the rumor called and begged for forgiveness the damage was done, it was becoming common knowledge that Choi had lent the money and she felt oppressed by the backlash.
It seems universal that all those in the public eye have given up a certain level of privacy because of it, but the worldwide trend of making the humiliation of celebrities entertainment now has a body count. When our popcorn entertainment is at the expense of another human being's mental health what does that say about humanity?
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