"To the young people in the plaza right now, the most disgusting and useless waste of all is none other than your pathetic lectures and the very names of MBC and Newstapa."

A producer from Newstapa sat across from a host in an MBC radio studio. Two massive speakers supporting the left-wing media ecosystem came together to put the recent demonstrations by the 2030 generation at Olympic Park under the scalpel.

Regarding the protests by young people who poured into the streets in anger over the shortage of ballots during the June 3 local elections, the dry and bizarre diagnosis they delivered was this: "A space where young people learn and spread the worldview of the far-right."

We must use a microscope to dissect and dismantle the terrible arrogance and enlightenment ideology typical of the 40s and 50s left wing that lies at the foundation of this broadcast's text.

How did the left-wing media portray young people in the past, when they took to the streets in their school uniforms or pushing strollers to throw stones at the conservative government during the mad cow disease protests or the impeachment period? They were lauded as "awakened citizens" and the "vanguard of democracy," elevated to the rank of saints.

Yet, when those same young people gather in the plaza to protest the procedural flaws in vote management that occurred under Lee Jae-myung, they are reduced overnight to "far-rightists brainwashed by conspiracy theories" and "pitiful patients addicted to the red pill."

Are they great sovereign citizens when they chant slogans favorable to your camp, but far-right forces manipulated by shadows when they point their fingers at the shameful flaws of the Lee Jae-myung regime?

This terrible double standard—treating young people not as independent political agents, but as pets or expendable pawns that can be brainwashed and controlled at will—is the narrow, violent lens through which the left views the younger generation.

The coldest piece of black comedy is the solution offered by the producer in question. Concerned that people in their teens to 30s get their information through X or overseas social media, he moralized that "the 40s and 50s editors must bring this into the light and fact-check it to show that it is false information."

It makes one scoff. Do they truly not know why young people abandoned the vaunted legacy media and left for overseas social media and individual content creators?

From the mad cow disease rumors to the Cheongdam-dong cellist bar incident, and the recent Lee Hwa-young salmon drinking party—the true source of this "fake news," which fabricates non-existent illusions into truth to suit the tastes of those in power, has been none other than outlets like MBC and Newstapa.

Those who have degraded themselves into a house organ for Lee Jae-myung and shattered the credibility of facts now pick up a rod, claiming, "We will correct the wrong ideas of the youth." What a grotesque form of intellectual vanity this is.

As the speakers of truth they once monopolized move toward an uncontrollable space, they treat young people like mental patients and attempt to verify their ideologies. This is not journalism. It is the perfect manifestation of fascism, which believes the state must control even the brain structure of its youth.

The reason why the 2030 generation loathes the left—the real reason for their "extreme disgust"—is perfectly condensed into those few minutes of broadcasting. It is that suffocating, patronizing "kkondae" (condescending elder) attitude that teaches young people how to live and think while wearing the old medal of democratization and breathing in the privilege of hypocrisy. It is a narrow-minded totalitarianism that labels and socially buries anyone who speaks with a slightly different voice by branding them as far-right.

Young people are by no means fools swayed by agitation. They have simply felt nauseated by the musty hypocrisy and violent enlightenment radiating from Lee Jae-myung and the left-wing power bloc, and have turned their backs on them. To the 40s and 50s left-wing editors who denigrate youth protests as a breeding ground for the far-right and wish to drag them into the light for re-education, I deliver this cold warning:

To the young people in the plaza right now, the most disgusting and useless waste of all is none other than your pathetic lectures and the very names of MBC and Newstapa.

◆ Park Joo-hyun, Writer

A composer, music director, columnist, and essayist. He actively expresses his opinions on political, current, and social issues on Facebook, garnering sympathy from many. He is the author of the essay collection, "Crossing the Stormy Sea."