▲ Students put on makeup which belittled the past president. (Google)

Have you heard about Ilbe? Ilbe is the shortened word for the ‘'Ilgan Best’' website. This website shares gossip among users registered with the site. The presence of this page is considered a serious problem as it contains unrefined, rumored information that has no basis in fact. As you can tell from the name, if the uploaded information isn’'t popular, it disappears. Therefore, the authors often try to upload raunchy and fake stories that have little basis in facts. The main problem of Ilbe is that immoral rumors are generated that are harmful to a society. Thus, the majority of people hate Ilbe users and the website itself.

‘'XX Women University bitches are so rude.’' This statement was made by one student from a high school in Seoul, Gangnam-gu. He denounced the university when he had been called to talk about his future dream. His classmates were smirking as he said it while the teacher tried in vain to stop them. Unfortunately no students took their teacher’'s advice seriously and the derogatory comments were regarded as a joke between the students.

Ilbe comments are circulated every day as jokes without any understanding of the severity of damage. Funny code words and expressions from Ilbe submissions are shared between middle and high school students in major cities. They often belittle particular genders and regions, but as most of the content is an attack on someone, it often uses illogical and simply inflammatory criticisms.

It is hard to correct students who use the rumors from Ilbe as they only consider them as a kind of joke. They are drawn to the site despite the fact that they know that it is bad and often harmful yet they continue to read it with ample curiosity without realizing the maleficence they are causing.

There were reports that teachers and students had conflicts that were a direct result of the distinctive view of history and politics that stems from submissions to Ilbe. One student made a strong protest about the class of 4∙.19 Revolution declaring the history being taught in school to be totally wrong. The student was restrained but only after her further denounced the 5∙.18 Gwangju Democratic Movement as a riot in another class hour.

Essentially it is hard to control student use of the Ilbe site because it is readily available on their smart phones. So why is using the information on Ilbe such a severe problem? First of all, Ilbe is a far-right website. Their postings are antidemocratic, praise autocracy, distort history and belittle women. Also, it induces regional prejudice and hatred for minorities. It often arouses criticism for advocating and coaxing readers to perform criminal acts. If students keep accessing Ilbe they are at risk of adhering to an immoral source of thinking that actually works against the good of our society.

Teenagers today are a part of an internet generation with easy access through common devices like their phones and as a result, use it more than any other age group. Therefore, middle school students and high school students are more likely to be influenced by an internet community than anyone else. So why do we need to take it seriously? As mentioned above, teenagers are highly suggestible and one of the internet communities that influence teenagers is ‘'Ilbe’'.

Ilbe is known for its political bias, abasement of woman, distortion of history, defamation of living people and even the dead. However, a number of teenagers are using expressions from the site’'s posts without realizing the impact this has on our society. The Dankook Herald (DKH) interviewed a middle school and a high school student to understand more about their use of the site. DKH asked both students if they know anyone that reads and recounts expressions from Ilbe. Kim Gwang-bin (16, Cheonan Dong Middle school) said “"One of my friends often visits the Ilbe website and he often uses terms from it.”" Then he added, “"He often repeats words that insult the former president of Korea. I think he uses them without actually knowing their true meaning,”" he said as concerning his friend.

Lee Jeong-hwan (18, Seo Won High school) also said their classmates are often repeating phrases from the site that abase women and distort history. However, when DKH asked whether teachers take actions against students using expressions and stories from the site, both students agreed that even though some teachers were aware it was happening, none of them took any action to stop it.

DKH also interviewed Prof. Kim Yu-mi (The Faculty of Liberal Arts) to help identify a reason for this phenomenon and possibly find a solution. DKH asked her why she thought was the reason for this situation. She said, “"Problems that happen to children are mostly caused by adults. Ilbe is a prime example of conservative adults projecting their violent thoughts to young students.

In addition, young students repeat these expressions without understanding the true meaning behind them.”" She added, “"I’'m worried that some students consider Ilbe as their source of power amongst their classmates and a means to relieve themselves of any sense of inferiority from their studies or their physical abilities.”" DKH then asked for the solution. “"It is important for teenagers to solve this problem by themselves. Though, if it is never addressed and the teenager and grows up, it will have a critical impact on our society. Nevertheless, convincing, them that Ilbe is wrong and educating them to be more empathic or ethical are solid solutions to this problem,”" she emphasized.

Being a member of Ilbe is politically and socially incompatible as they incite violence and hate while never having sound discussions with the people who have different opinions. They don’'t feel they have to. Teenage students are the future of our society. What they say or how they act shapes our world and no one welcomes a society that has politically bias, abases woman, distorts history and defames people. Our society is responsible for protecting students who are innocent and easily influenced by the defamatory and harmful content and must also warn them about the dangers of its continued use.