The Argus Prize 2019 English Essay Contest 3rd place

“The Fermi Paradox,” an article written by Tim Urban, refers modern humans dwelling on Earth as “highly intelligent beings.” Also, he presents the readers with a hypothesis that humans might be the “only” intelligent beings in the observable universe that is measured to be about more than 27.4 billion light years across. After a thorough reading of the article, one would ponder about a question like this: So, what exactly differentiates us “rare intelligent beings” from the non-intelligent prokaryotes and eukaryotes? Among numerous and seemingly endless probable claims, “the ability to control one’s desire or to make rational decisions” sounds like a persuasive standard in making such distinction. Even Sigmund Freud would agree with this opinion with a comment like, “Human beings, not suffering from mental diseases or illnesses, should be fine in controlling one’s ID with one’s Ego and Superego.” Well, this was not the case for the “should-be intelligent beings” related to the Burning Sun Club Scandal.
 
The truth of the nonsense that took place at the Burning Sun Club was underneath the surface hidden before a man known as Kim Sang-kyo reported on his social media that he was attacked at the club on Jan. 28, 2019 when Seung-ri was on staff as the publicity director. The next day, Burning Sun responded to the news of the assault by accusing Kim for making attempts to harass women. Kim’s case of sexual harassment was sent to the public prosecutor’s office whereas the club director who supposedly had abused Kim was not accused of anything for lack of evidence. Later, the CEO of Burning Sun Lee Moon-ho responded to the controversy by firing Jang, or the club’s director, who assaulted Kim. Alongside with Moon’s action, Seung-ri, who self-claimed that he had low level of involvement with Burning Sun management, apologized on his Instagram for the issue related to the Burning Sun Club and made sure that he would be ‘more careful’ about everything next time. The scandal seemed to end peacefully.
 
However, the time-bomb hidden somewhere in the Burning Sun Club exploded when a group Kakaotalk chat that supposedly contained around 200,000 messages regarding Seungri’s prostitution scandal as well as hidden sex tape in Jung Joon-young’s cell phone was revealed. The prostitution scandal was just the tip of the iceberg. More serious problems seemed to lie far below the surface. To clarify, the group Kakaotalk chat also displayed ridiculous crimes regarding sexual assault, prostitution, drug distribution, tax evasion, hidden camera footage and police corruption with involvement of many famous celebrities such as Eddy Kim, Roy Kim, and so on. Surprisingly, Seung-ri, who supposedly embezzled 530 million won from the Burning Sun club and procured a dozen prostitutes for his investors, has avoided jail for now as the Seoul court rejected to issue a warrant. The reason was clear: “lack of evidence.” 
 
As a citizen of Korea, a mixed emotion of glee, indignation, and sorrow stirred in one corner of my heart when the controversies around the Burning Sun Club Scandal went viral. At last, people were beginning to realize how serious the problem sexual crimes are! For so many years, female victims  involved in sexual crimes such as sexual harassments, rape, and hidden sex tape videos had to weep silently and were offered little or no help. Due to the lack of awareness of how serious those problems were, so many of their cases were not notified to the audience and the jury of the world.

Thankfully, as more people have been shouting out for women’s equal treatments these days, more awareness regarding sexual crimes have been raised. The feeling of glee acquired from such fact, however, plunges down and reaches the feeling of indignation and sorrow when realizing the gruesome fact that, still, numerous cases regarding sexual crimes are not being tackled down properly. It is not only the celebrities who are committing such crimes but could be anyone around us. In fact, there are hundreds of sex tape videos posted on illegal sites with millions of viewers! Yet, due to “lack of evidence”, criminals still walk around our neighborhood feeling unguilty whereas the victims shiver under their bedcovers “feeling” the unnecessary guilt. Alas, is it in the human nature to enjoy others’ pain?
 
People related to the Burning Sun Club may have fantasized the Great Gatsby’s party, but what they have dreamed of was no fantasy. It was just full of grim chaos. Plato once mentioned that a nation or a society’s goal should be to create a ‘well-being’ society. For certain, things that happened in the Burning Sun Club Scandal are epidemic plague spread by the non-intelligent eukaryotes that is very detrimental to the wellness of a society, and so should be tackled ‘as soon as possible.’

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