May 27th, 2008
After being elected the president of South Korea by more more than 5.2 million votes in December, Lee Mung-Bak must be riding high, right? Nope, in only a few short months, the president’s support rating has fallen to below 30 per cent! This is a record low for a new president in South Korea. A Web petition to impeach the president has received more than a million signatures.
What has brought him down? The Internet. Or, more specifically, Internet and text message rumours, most of them reportedly by young people.
For example, his decision to resume U.S. beef imports has promoted such false messages and website posts as “first human death from mad cow disease reported on May 2″ and “consuming just 0.01 gram, of US beef will (k*ll) you.”
President Lee’s desire to privatize such sectors as utilities and health care have also drawn the wrath of tech-savvy young people. Check out these posts:
“You won’t be able to take a shower due to soaring tap water rates because of the privatization of utility firms.”
“You will have to pay more than 300,000 won ($300 US) for flu treatment, once the national health insurance is privatized.”
It doesn’t matter whether you agree with or even care about Lee’s policies and desires. These incidents just demonstrate the power the Internet can have.
It is important to speak to your children about the information they can find online. As shown by the Lee situation, there are a lot of false rumours out there. Impressionable people, such as children and teens, might not recognize them as false. It might sound simple, but it is good to remind your kids that not everything you read is true.
Robin