Seoul has been plagued in recent months by a series of violent mass random attacks in what are commonly referred to as "Don't ask why", or Mudjima crimes. On July 21, a subway rider took a knife out of his backpack and stabbed 4 random people killing one; on August 3, a 22-year old deliveryman apparently inspired by the July 21 attack drove into a crowd injuring 14, and then ran into a department store stabbing 9 more, one of whom died of her injuries.
The two recent Seoul attacks inspired a rash of copycat threats online and caused a national unease. These and other incidents were possibly inspired by similar attacks in Japan including the Tokyo subway Joker attack of Halloween 2021 -- in which a young man dressed as the Joker from the movie of the same name poured lighter fluid around the perimeter of the subway car he was on, set it afire and then proceeded to use a long knife he had been concealing to stab 17 people. Japan, like South Korea has seen an uptick in recent years in apparently random and violent attacks against women, children and strangers committed by first time offenders in stark contrast to famously low rates of crime.
In an otherwise exceptionally crime free country for its size and clout in the 37 nation Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, the spate of random violence in South Korea has captured the public's attention. Police are tracking and reporting on perceived online threats and increasing their visible presence in subways and other well-traveled public spaces. Per the BBC,
While the details surrounding the perpetrators are still sketchy, the little revealed so far has already fuelled public anger. "These days there are jobless losers who are taking their ills out on everybody else," one user wrote on Tiktok, in a vein of commentary which has become common online.
The BBC article on the Seoul attacks quotes an online commenter asking "Have we become the USA of Asia?"
The fact that South Koreans and Japanese are discussing the violence is an indication that both are a long way from becoming the USA of Asia. Knives are used in the attacks because gun bans are strictly enforced in both countries. In the USA of North America (i.e., the USA), as of this writing the number of mass shootings this year, 443 is already 68% of 2022's total of 647, and yet the topic de jour is Woke Beer Ads. "Don't ask why" indeed.
In the heat of the moment, news reports of the Mudjima crimes sensationalize the randomness, in a way encouraging blindness to what's happening. What's happening -- according to the reports of the attackers themselves is despair. It's frustration. Nothing to lose. Why? On reflection it seems pretty obvious but not to the media. Unless you are among the lords of the 37 nation members of the OECD, you either have the misfortune of being unemployed and having to look for work, or you are unlucky enough to be at the mercy of an employer. Your prospects either way are grim, and you may be excused for thinking you have no say in the matter. In the post-historic world, the comforts of life are becoming outrageously beyond the reach of all but the most incuriously compliant and complicit in the dismal science of getting by.
We are wallowing in "Don't Ask Why". In the US, we passively accept an outrageously insane system of health care and have to regularly swallow our disbelief that our vastly wealthy country is alone in making its citizens pay up if they want the luxury of physical and mental health as though that is a perfectly normal thing. Around the world, your choice is to accept the world you have inherited without questioning or to go insane. In a best case scenario, the insane are the sanest among us. In the worst case, they lash out seeking to make victims of their fellow victimized, most of them not caring whether they live or die on the other side of their bursts of exasperation. "Don't ask why" seems to be their motive. "Don't ask why" seems to be enough. Even to the rest of us who desperately need there to be no reason.
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