The attacks by the People Power Party and far-right factions on the film The Assassins have crossed the line. They are shouting about "historical distortion" regarding the film's contents, gathering in front of lead actor Yoo Hae-jin's home to cause a disturbance disguised as a rally, and even requesting the Singapore International Film Festival to suspend its screening.

The bigger problem is that the current behavior of the People Power Party and far-right factions is completely contrary to how they acted in the past. Representative Joo Jin-woo, who raised his voice on September 27 regarding The Assassins, pressing for a suspension of its screening by saying, "This is not cinematic imagination, but a heinous crime that breaks the hearts of the bereaved families. It even concealed the historical truth of North Korea's terrorism," said completely different things a year ago.

A year ago, Representative Joo posted on his Facebook page: "This is a form of prior censorship prohibited by the Constitution. It is up to the audience to judge. Usually, those who fear the truth are the ones who try to block people from seeing and hearing," and, "History and culture are not to be arbitrated by those who seize power, but are to be directly seen and judged by the citizens. I also respect those who oppose the film. However, for power to block the screening of a film is not liberal democracy." He made the exact opposite statement back then.

The film he was "defending" was none other than The Founding War 2, a film that glorified the dictator Syngman Rhee. While advocating for "liberal democracy" and shouting "against censorship" over The Founding War 2, which was engulfed in controversy over glorifying Syngman Rhee, he took the exact opposite stance regarding The Assassins, which has the assassination of First Lady 육영수 (Yuk Young-soo) as its background. At the very least, one should maintain logical consistency, but he is flipping his words like turning over a palm depending on the situation.

Furthermore, in terms of the gravity of the matter, The Founding War 2 is much more serious than The Assassins. First of all, The Assassins is a faction film based on a hypothesis different from historical facts. In other words, although the film is based on the assassination of First Lady Yuk Young-soo that occurred on August 15, 1974, it is a new story created with the writer's imagination added, falling into the realm of fiction.

However, The Founding War 2 is a documentary film, differing in genre from The Assassins. A documentary film is a record film, making it "non-fiction." In other words, in contrast to drama or fiction, it is a work produced based on the recording of facts, containing the purpose of generally appealing to a certain issue by accumulating factual data. Despite this, the film even distorted the Jeju 4.3 Incident into a communist riot.

Despite being a documentary film that should convey facts, Representative Joo Jin-woo shouted "against censorship" under the banner of "liberal democracy" regarding The Founding War 2, which committed historical distortion to praise and glorify a dictator, while crying "historical distortion" and requesting a halt to screenings for a faction film adapted based on historical facts. I do not know how to evaluate this chameleon-like transformation show. Is the "freedom" in the "liberal democracy" shouted by the People Power Party members applied selectively?

The reason why People Power Party members and far-right factions show attitudes lacking even logical consistency can only be seen as being trapped in "factional logic." Because they only pick and choose what suits their tastes, they wrap themselves in "freedom of expression" or "liberal democracy" to defend The Founding War 2, which is embroiled in controversy for praising a dictator, while rushing forward to tear apart films that do not suit their tastes.

If my "freedom of expression" is important, other people's "freedom of expression" is equally important. Just as The Founding War 2 praised the dictator Syngman Rhee in accordance with "freedom of expression," respecting The Assassins for adapting the assassination of First Lady Yuk Young-soo from a new perspective is also part of the true "liberal democracy" they talk about. At the very least, while the Democratic Party criticized the content of The Founding War 2, its members did not request a "ban on screenings."

Moreover, the behavior of the People Power Party members merely serves to promote The Assassins. If they genuinely believe this film is a "historical distortion," the best course of action would be for the public to naturally feel a sense of aversion, let bad rumors spread, and let it be naturally forgotten. However, People Power Party members are pouring out overreactions to this film to a strange degree, and as a counter-effect, the audience numbers are steadily increasing.

In the past, when the 1979 film Caligula by Italian erotic film master Tinto Brass opened in Boston, USA, screenings were banned because it contained too many overly explicit and brutal scenes. This sparked an even more explosive level of public interest driven by the impulse to see what kind of movie it was.

This anecdote gave rise to the psychological term "Caligula Effect," which captures the psychology of "telling people not to do something makes them want to do it more." The more the People Power Party and far-right factions intensify their attacks on The Assassins, the more it will stimulate the public's Caligula Effect, ensuring that the film continues to be talked about, for better or worse.

What has been clearly revealed through this episode surrounding The Assassins is that the "liberal democracy" shouted by the People Power Party and far-right factions is nothing more than an illusion and a fraud. The "freedom" they shout about is solely their own freedom, not a freedom that can be shared with those who think differently from them. It would be much better for them to stop hypocritically talking about "liberal democracy" and instead proudly say that they want a "dictatorial statism."

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