Social Mores Coming Back Into Fashion: South Korean Actress Publicly Humiliated For Adultery
Actress Ok So-ri convicted of adultery
As the world economy melts down, a large number of what we consider our “enlightened” social mores or behavior is thrown right out along with demonstrably idiotic economic behavior. That is, humans cannot seem to keep from throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
One of South Korea’s most famous actresses was convicted of adultery Wednesday in a high-profile case that drew renewed attention to a decades-old law prohibiting extramarital affairs.
Ok So-ri, who was handed a suspended jail term, had lost a battle in October to have the ban declared unconstitutional.
The AP article (From sfgate.com) goes on to indict Confucianism as the social culprit, but I believe that is wrong. People familiar with Koreans know that a very conservative branch of Presbyterianism profoundly influences Korean culture.
A comment following the San Francisco Chronicle article is especially pertinent:
Be not ashamed of mistakes and thus make them crimes. Confucius
What do you think: Will growing economic conservatism result in social conservatism?
One Response to 'Social Mores Coming Back Into Fashion: South Korean Actress Publicly Humiliated For Adultery'
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My studies of economics vis-a-vis social practices indicate that severe economic declines tend to dramatically increase the polarity between conservative and liberal values. In other words, there should be growing hostility between the two camps.
Peace treaties tend to get signed at economic peaks, wars tend to break out at economic bottoms. As far as what is morally acceptable, you will often see a severe split between opposing views, and only when the political scene gets taken over by a dictatorship does the morally-conservative side totally control the social scene.
JWS
17 Dec 08 at 4:37 pm