Shining Peace into the Darkness
(Original)

Hwayong Shin
(Age17,South Korea)
Hankuk Academy of Foreign Studies, Seoul

In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, people are transfixed by mere shadows and are incapable of recognizing reality. This is a simple metaphor for human ignorance, but one that speaks volumes about the consequences of the limitless misunderstandings which exist between peoples. The media of the future should strive to become the torch of knowledge to extinguish the shadows of ignorance which separate the many peoples of the world.

Within Plato’s Cave, the shackled people watch the shadows cast by a huge fire. Another group of people hold up statues to display a different reality, a reality beyond the cave of shadows.

"They are certainly a strange people!” a shackled man cries out. “Is their world of any interest or concern of ours?”

They are strange people, indeed. Their rituals exhibit sadism and masochism. For example, in a “mouth-rite,” a bundle of hog hairs with magical powders are inserted into the mouth and the bundle is moved about in a ritualized series of gestures. A “holy mouth man” carves holes in people's teeth or simply gouges them out. Men scrape and lacerate the surface of their faces almost everyday, and women bake their heads in an oven every lunar month.

"It's barbaric!” a shackled woman cries out. “I’ll have nothing to do with them.”

How can these two groups of people have any sort of relationship?

An informed group of people, such as the media, is needed to explain the Nacirema to the shackled people of Plato’s cave. They could explain that these odd seeming people from a different world are not so different after all. Inserting a bundle of hog hairs into the mouth is simply brushing the teeth, and the holy mouth man is only a dentist. Scraping one’s face is shaving, and baking one’s head is getting a perm. In other words, ‘Nacirema’ actually denotes ‘American.’

“Oh, I see,” a man cries out. “They are not so different.”

Simply observing the life of others around the globe cannot bring peace. A peaceful world requires mutual concern and understanding of others. If there is no one to help link all different peoples through communication, a lasting world peace cannot be established.

The media’s role should be to inform and foster communication, providing the peoples of the world with deeper knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of their fellow human beings. Such efforts would make invaluable contributions to establishing world peace. Respect for the values, customs, and cultures of others will make great strides in promoting tolerance and peace, and the media have an important role to play in seeing this realized.

The growth of media has led to greater communication and exchange of information, and, in turn, a greater emphasis on world peace. Initially, radio brought global issues to the public. Then television brought news instantly to the public, broadcasting images from all around the world. Now, ever-expanding Internet-based technology provides information throughout the world.

Information alone is not enough. A dedication to the greater objective is required. Biased reporting, the fostering of misinformation, or the promoting of stereotypes will have counter-productive effects. Far from creating an atmosphere conducive to encouraging peace, such media reporting will simply promote a continuation of current strife.

Understanding and appreciation of other peoples is crucial for world peace. Misunderstandings lead to conflicts, which, in turn lead to tragedies that mark so much of human history. The media has the power and the resources to either promote understanding or to undermine peace by either doing nothing to advance the condition of mutual understanding or, worse, pursuing biased, self-interested values and ideas which encourage conditions conducive to furthering global misunderstanding. Therefore, media should be alert not to give any biased opinion, but should provide valid and objective information so that no unnecessary conflicts occur and spark people’s preservation of world peace.

The idea of world peace has been spread only with the help of information and communication technology and the involvement of the media. By promoting communication and understanding, the media make world peace possible. With the ongoing dedication of the world media, we can all break free of the shackles of ignorance that keep us in our own private caves, separated from the other peoples of the world.