In an age of extremes, how can we coexist?

PD Kwon Seong-min, who planned and directed "The Thought Verification Zone: The Community," which was recognized for both topicality and artistic quality, including winning the Best Variety Show Award in the Entertainment/Culture category at the 3rd Blue Dragon Series Awards and being nominated for the Best Variety Show Award at the 60th Baeksang Arts Awards, expands on that story through his new book, "You Have Entered the Community."
This program, which received praise for “creating a microcosm of real society, illuminating the multifaceted nature of human beings, and opening up a new horizon for reality,” and “suggesting the possibility that coexistence is possible even with different opinions,” deals with the issues surrounding politics, gender, class, and social ethics, which are the axes of conflict in Korean society, and presents the context of different ideologies and values ​​with a balanced perspective, starting from the problem awareness that served as the basis for planning.
By encompassing the author's personal experiences, the devices and scenes within the program, which is also a kind of social experiment, the viewers' reactions to them, and political and social theories and discourses, the book paints a three-dimensional picture of the diverse opinions in Korean society.

For the past 14 years, producer Kwon Seong-min has been communicating with the public by incorporating various social messages into his entertainment programs.
This ability is also evident in "You Have Entered the Community."
It vividly conveys political and social concepts through everyday examples and specific social scenes, helping readers understand them within the context of life.
Thanks to its humorous yet sincere guidance, this book establishes itself as a political and social education book that anyone can read without difficulty.
"You Have Entered the Community" is not a book that attempts to determine which position is right or wrong.
The author proposes that we shift our focus away from the extreme opinions that are prominent online and instead understand the context in which people form their opinions and the instincts at work within them.
Because everyone has their own history and trajectory, and cannot be reduced to a flat, simple opinion.
Now that the new administration has emerged, ending the civil war and uniting the nation have become crucial tasks. Can we truly end the long-standing conflict and move toward a society of unity and coexistence? This book will spark open dialogue and inquiry among people.

If our goal isn't simply to confirm our own legitimacy and integrity where differing opinions collide, if we want to find common ground on the ground we walk on together and realize, even if only a little, the society we each dream of, then we need to understand each other's language and examine where they stand.
[… … ] even if it is just to better get my opinion across.
(Page 11)

The biggest problem with looking down on others is that it's not true.
There is no such thing as a person formed by only one standard.
I'm not trying to say, 'Even Hitler was a good man to his subordinates.'
I am not trying to advocate relativism, which says that all positions are important and that there is no right position in the world.
It's dangerous to assert absolute goodness beyond context and time, but I still believe there are better choices at every moment.
[… … ] I also feel a sense of crisis when I find people in similar situations to me looking flatly over the fence.
While ridicule directed at the outside may strengthen the bonds within, it is unlikely that sound choices will be made based on a perspective detached from the truth.

--- p.33~34

The nature of online spaces that promote public issues and act as a forum for public opinion is similar.
Like many people who call customer service, those who show up to the space are usually already angry.
Their position is set, and it is unlikely that they will listen to other opinions and change their own opinion even partially.
On the other hand, the action of supplementation and reinforcement to destroy the opponent's logic occurs frequently.
There are countless sources of ambiguous evidence online to support your position.

--- p.41~42

In 18th-century Europe, political power was formed in the salons of the bourgeoisie, but the public opinion of the common people was probably formed in the marketplace and the laundromat.
(“Did you hear that?”, “Oh my, what’s going on!”) ​​In those days, the common people in the markets and laundries could not have political power, but in the democratic era, people who go to the markets and laundries have equal sovereignty.
That is why the countless spaces in our daily lives where we just wander around without any intention of public discussion can all become public forums of their own.
The more unexpected encounters there are, the more meaningful stories can begin.

--- p.56

The more a person decides on one side of the issue first and then bases their judgment on that position, the more distinct their political views become.
That is the 'party line' that professional politicians follow.
A party line is an opinion that prioritizes the party's position over the individual judgments of each politician and is formed accordingly.
But most of us are not professional politicians.
In every matter, we have to have a complex position.
Even if opinions are divided on some issues, we may be in agreement on other issues.

--- p.84~85

Normal distribution curve shape.
A bell-shaped curve that is high in the middle and tapers towards both ends.
The media is full of people making extreme and blatant claims, but this is what our reality looks like most of the time.
The people who scored the highest on the test did not even make up 10 percent of the total.
This means that most of the over a million people who took this test online were clustered around 1 and 2 points.
It would probably be impossible for the red three dots and the blue three dots to convince each other.
It wouldn't be easy to become friends by meeting in private, and I don't think it's necessary.
And sometimes, extreme claims can become a driving force that broadens the horizon of discussion.
But the vast majority of people are hovering around points 1 and 2.
Good politics would be politics that meets on top of this great peak.

--- p.123

I wasn't lucky enough to be born into a wealthy family, but I was fortunate enough to have parents who were loyal and supportive.
Parents who try not to place emotional burden on their children even when there are no seriously ill family members and financial difficulties, and who try to keep promised rewards at all costs, foster in their children many abilities and a sense of stability, including the ability to delay gratification.
Being born with a love of reading and writing is a fortunate thing that can be very beneficial in Korean society.

--- p.163~164

My personal impression is that, although social conflict is intensifying, we hear less and less about class than before.
The 'spoon' debate now feels somewhat outdated.
Acceptance and helplessness play an important role in cooling down the conflict.
In the face of a reality that seems unlikely to change, it may be much easier to give up and yearn than to try to overcome class inequality.
It is also interesting that influencers and characters in works that are rapidly gaining popularity among the younger generation are focusing on "people who are like friends with cultured parents who look young enough to be unable to guess their age, and who have been loved and raised since childhood without any flaws" rather than "self-made people who fiercely cross class lines."
This description is actually close to the habitus of the 'perfectly wealthy class, with no trace of other classes whatsoever.'
Why does this spectacle sparkle so brightly?

--- p.196

In fact, the atmosphere in which boys are often seen as troublemakers in the classroom is part of the "crisis of masculinity," a phenomenon that many recent social studies have pointed out.
Thanks to the efforts of feminism over many years, leadership, assertiveness, and rationality, which were traditionally considered positive values ​​of masculinity, are now universal concepts in mainstream discourse that transcend gender characteristics and are naturally used to describe women as well.
Gender has disappeared from masculine values.
[… … ] There is little left as a positive value in the realm of masculinity.
Nowadays, the means by which men express their masculinity are mainly intentional childishness, irrational boldness, aggression, and norm-violating play.

--- p.209~210

Many scholars interpret young men's hostility toward feminism as the "anger of men who have lost their vested rights."
They are dissatisfied with the reality that they have to compete with women, unlike in the past, and they want to restore the patriarchal authority that the industrialized generation enjoyed.
But this is the frame of the industrialization generation.
The young men who shout 'equalism' have never felt like they were vested interests.
Nor do they identify themselves with the patriarchal males of the industrialized generation.
The world I experienced throughout my teens and twenties was not one that favored men, but feminism continued to say that women were discriminated against, which was just disheartening.
I cannot understand why they hold us responsible for the discrimination that previous generations committed against us.

--- p.222

Let's go back to the story of my goshiwon, which was the beginning of this article.
If you're a man reading this, you'll probably take it as a cute and cheerful sitcom episode, just as I described.
However, female readers would have found it difficult to simply pass over the phrase, “After that, I continued to live with the window open.”
Let's reverse the gender of this experience.
No woman would want to live in a room with a single, soundless wall between them, and the knowledge that a drunken man could burst in through a window she thought was impenetrable.
If I had a choice, I would pack up and leave right away, but if not, I would have to spend the summer in anxiety with the windows tightly locked.
Women must also consider safety when choosing a place to live, and the more things to consider, the higher the cost, of course.

--- p.225

As this is a strategy that capitalizes on the long-standing affection the original work has received, respect for the original work is usually also important.
Naturally, the casting of characters with drastically different appearances leaves something to be desired.
But, as a fan of the original work, if the moment I express my regret and the response I get is, "You're racist!", my regret and sense of loss quickly turn into anger.
No matter how much I explain that that's not the point, it's no use.
Just because the cast of the actor is black, any criticism is seen as an attack on black people.
The complex emotions of fans of the original work are lost.

--- p.302

That's true.
Logic alone cannot persuade people.
No, to be precise, the logic of trying to subdue the other person does not persuade people.
It just makes you shut up.
What's important is not the logic itself, but the attitude underlying it.
Instead of immediately accusing those who expressed regret over the unconventional casting of "The Little Mermaid" of being racist, if we had truly understood their affection for the original work and shared the meaning of the new casting, wouldn't there have been far fewer people who would openly criticize them?

--- p.304

This is the scene that impressed me.
The question, “I am proud to be white,” again moves in the direction of disagreement with the majority of the participants.
The white woman who barely moved one space to “I’m proud” is already crying.
Other people start to scold him.
It's one thing for a black person to be proud of themselves, and another thing for a white person to say that.
They say they cannot agree with that statement because historically the people who said that were the Nazis and the KKK.
Being proud is something you can say about your own accomplishments, but skin color is not one of your accomplishments.
Amidst the torrent of harsh words, the woman standing alone in the opposite direction speaks with a face that looks like she is about to cry.
“Shouldn’t I be proud of just being me…? I like being me, and even if I were given the choice to live as a different race, I’d still want to live my life as I am now.
Isn’t that something to be proud of… …?”
--- p.321~322

As Hama said in an interview, in everyday life, people are not persuaded by logic alone.
Only when we are in a relationship where we feel that the other person understands and respects us do their words truly resonate with us.
Even if they say the same thing, some people have more persuasive power.
It depends more on how much they acknowledge my heart and experiences and what kind of relationship we have than on what logic the person uses.
Ultimately, it is not logic that persuades people, but the way they live their lives.

--- p.329

But it is for that very reason that hypocrisy is necessary.
It is hypocritical for a person who is so messy at home that he doesn't even bother to take care of his own wife, but then leaves the pregnant woman's seat empty outside because he is concerned about what others think.
In a world where everyone is genuinely good and kind, there is no need for hypocrisy.
But the more messed up people are, the more desperately they need even a fake line.
Humanity has seen countless times how messed up and terrible its true colors are.
Each time, the hypocrisy was nailed down even more blatantly.
It is sometimes called civilization, sometimes law, the separation of powers, the Declaration of the Rights of Man, religion, etiquette, and virtue.

--- p.334

This small community of thirteen very special people is a structure that has already involved a lot of interpretation and planning, rather than being a representation of reality.
However, I hope that it can serve as a reference, as the thoughts and words of each person contained within it, as well as their three-dimensionality, are certainly true.
That's what I think this program is about.
I wish I could recall the faces of the performers and the unexpected words they left behind, in front of labels like right-wing or left-wing, feminist or anti-feminist, wealthy or old-fashioned.

--- p.340

Certainly, some people are born with a more evil nature, while others are born with a more good soul.
Some people develop that temperament more steeply as they live, while others certainly take a turn in a completely different direction at some point in their lives.
My emphasis on the power of environment is not because I believe that nature necessarily changes when conditions change.
What matters is how much of a certain nature society allows.
Because there are societies that encourage evil tendencies, and there are societies that guarantee a minimum level of goodness so generously that good tendencies are no longer necessary.

--- p.344~345