Two Stars' Suicides Draw Scrutiny To Pressures Of K-Pop Industry, Fans

K-pop star Goo Hara was found dead on Sunday in her home in Seoul, South Korea, according to the Gangnam Police, who are investigating the cause of her death. She was 28.

Multiple news outlets, including ones as far away as Australia, picked up the tale of Holden and his seatmate as their “human interest” story of the day. But if that consent had been withheld, social media denizens would have extended the drama anyway, invading the lives of two people who were singled out for celebrity on a whim. As with so much else that is mediated by the internet, the medium’s dissociative effects prevent us from centering the humanity of the people involved.

I scrolled through the tweets with a smile, letting myself get caught up in what felt like a made-for-TV drama. Then I realized that was precisely how I was treating these very real people. My stomach turned as I considered how I’d feel if every twitch of my arm, half of my conversation, and even my bathroom usage were all narrated, without my knowledge, for a swelling audience of several hundred thousand people online.

However, within copyright law exists the doctrine of fair use, which allows for use of a copyrighted work in the creation of new work without permission, as long as the use fits within certain parameters. A legal finding of fair use takes into account the following factors: The purpose of the use, The amount of the work to be used, The effect of the use on the market for or value of the original work, and The nature of the copyrighted work.

Meme creators and posters have been sued for using people’s images without permission, especially those who were not already public figures. In 2003, the parents of the unwilling star of the “Star Wars Kid” video sued their son’s classmates for posting the video online. Though the suit was settled, the video did not disappear, and the Star Wars Kid learned to deal with his fame.

A member of popular South Korean boyband SHINee died Monday in a possible suicide, leaving K-pop fans devastated by the tragic, sudden loss. Kim Jong-hyun, known by his stage name Jonghyun, was found unconscious at his apartment in Seoul, police told Korean media. He was 27.

The article focuses on the suicides of various Korean pop (K-pop) musicians. Topics include singer Amber Liu discussing the death of her former bandmate Sulli, the death of Goo Hara, a member of the band Kara, and the death of actor and singer Cha In-ha of the group Surprise U. The suicide of vocalist Jonghyun of the group SHINee is also mentioned.

To everyone taking to the streets tonight to protest against police violence and racial injustice: We're with you. Know your rights.

On this day in 1958, after violent resistance to integrating Little Rock Central High School, white residents voted to close public schools rather than integrate. To overcome racial inequality, we must confront our history. Share this #racialinjustice

Not only did McGarrity concede that people labeled as “black identity extremists” had nothing in common except their skin color, but Rep. Ayanna Pressley’s (D-Mass.) question about the FBI’s “black Identity extremist” designation prompted a startling revelation from McGarrity.

U.S. residents are 128 times more likely to be killed by everyday gun violence than by (international) terrorism; black people specifically are 500 times more likely to die this way (Xu, Murphy, Kochanek, & Bastian, 2016).

But I end up coming back to this simple stuff because I can’t shake the feeling that digital literacy needs to start with the mirror and head-checks before it gets to automotive repair or controlled skids. Because it is these simple behaviors, applied as habits and enforced as norms, that have the power to change the web as we know it, to break our cycle of reaction and recognition, and ultimately to get even our deeper investigations off to a better start.

CCR has been fighting for racial justice since our first day. We organized legal support for and defended marchers who were arrested on the historic Selma-to-Montgomery march in 1965; litigated scores of Voting Rights Act cases; led challenges to de facto segregation that held states responsible for affirmative duties to racial equality; and established a national Anti-Ku Klux Klan Network in the late 1970s.

The authors of the Declaration of Independence outlined a bold vision for America: a nation in which there would be equal justice for all. More than two hundred years later, it has yet to be achieved.  Though generations of civil rights activism have led to important gains in legal, political, social, educational, and other spheres, the forced removal of indigenous peoples and the institution of slavery marked the beginnings of a system of racial injustice from which our country has yet to break free.