Jo Jon-hyuk, Seoul Metropolitan Superintendent of Education candidate [Yonhap News] 

The process of making "foie gras," a French delicacy, is cruel. A tube is inserted into the goose's throat, and feed is forcibly poured in. Without regard for the goose's will, and solely to obtain the desired outcome for the owner, this horrific process of fattening the liver is called "gavage."

Recently, looking at the landscape of the Seoul Metropolitan Superintendent of Education election, I am reminded of the strange "ideological foie gras" production process taking place in our children's classrooms. And I witness the uphill battle of candidate Jo Jon-hyuk, who has stepped forward to cut off the tube of this immense violence, only to face concentrated fire from the progressive camp.

As soon as candidate Jo Jon-hyuk put up a banner saying "Expel Queer/Homosexuality Education," the progressive cartel revolted as if a hornet's nest had been disturbed. Progressive media outlets, led by Hankyoreh and Ohmynews, are simultaneously bombarding him with the old frames of "inciting hatred" and "discriminator." Furthermore, progressive superintendent candidates like Jung Geun-sik and Han Man-jung have joined in, demanding the removal of the banner and waging a crusade.

Why are they so desperately, almost convulsively, attacking Jo Jon-hyuk alone and trying to imprison him in the cage of an "anti-hate frame"? Paradoxically, it is because candidate Jo precisely hit their most hypocritical and painful soft spot.

Let's recall the classrooms of the past decade, dominated by so-called progressive superintendents and the Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union (KTUW). They constantly preach "diversity" and "human rights." These are truly beautiful words. 

However, concepts such as sexual identity, queer theory, and gender intersectionality are highly complex socio-philosophical discourses that are still intensely debated even among adults. The progressive education sector brings these complex gender ideologies into the classroom as if they were multiplication tables, forcing them into the mouths of underage children.

What happens if a child, whose values are still forming, tilts their head and says, "I think that's a bit strange"? The child is immediately branded as an "anti-human rights barbarian" in the classroom. If a parent dares to protest, they are labeled a "discriminator" and silenced. They claim to respect diversity, yet they are absolute dictators who absolutely do not tolerate any diversity that does not agree with the specific ideology they have established. Is this not religious indoctrination, rather than education?

Parents have long been furious about this horrific ideological forced feeding. However, fearing the terrifying scarlet letter of "hater," no one dared to step forward. What is commendable about candidate Jo Jon-hyuk is precisely this point. He touched the forbidden nerve that many parents only suffered in silence. Knowing full well that the giant cartel of progressive media and the KTUW would attack him, he willingly took on the filth of being called a "hater" and offered himself as a shield on behalf of the parents. This is courage that is impossible without considerable fortitude and a firm educational philosophy.

If there were a parent who forcibly fed kindergarteners spicy and stimulating mala tang, which adults enjoy, and berated them, saying, "If you don't like this taste, you're a picky, bad child!" we would call that child abuse. Similarly, how violent are the pens of the progressive media outlets that, while forcibly feeding radical queer ideology without regard for developmental stages, foam at the mouth calling candidate Jo, who tries to stop it, a "hater"?

What must be expelled from our classrooms now is not specific sexual minorities. We must remove the "tube of forced feeding" that aims to turn children's classrooms into "ideological laboratories" to raise them as the vanguard of progressivism.

The more desperately the progressive media crafts anti-hate frames, the more the centrist and right-leaning parents must clearly understand the essence of this fight. The battle that candidate Jo Jon-hyuk is fighting alone is not a shallow debate about "pro or con homosexuality." It is the forefront of normalizing education in Korea, an effort to return classrooms, which have become ideological foie gras factories, to spaces of common sense and neutrality. How long will we stand idly by and watch a courageous leader fighting against the lynching by the massive progressive media? Now is the time for parents and citizens to shatter those old, violent frames and respond.

◆ Writer Park Joo-hyun

Composer, music director, columnist, and essayist. She actively expresses her opinions on political, current affairs, and social issues on Facebook, gaining sympathy from many. She has published the essay collection "Crossing the Stormy Sea."