Citizens waving the Taegeukgi flag, claiming to reclaim their rightful sovereignty. ⒸHanmi Ilbo

Somehow, we've once again fallen into the unproductive quagmire of ideological scrutiny, debating "fraud versus mismanagement." It's truly maddening.

To be honest, I'm not particularly interested in whether the Election Commission's malfunction was an intentional manipulation or a foolish mistake. After days of struggling through this bitter debate, I've suddenly discovered the true point that ignites a hot yet cold fury from the depths of my heart.

It was due to the truly sorrowful and bizarre scene I encountered while observing the asphalt of Olympic Park.

I, too, was someone who cautioned against allowing the old political colors to taint the voluntary protests of young people seeking to reclaim their lost right to vote. But did you see the right-wing supporters and conservative politicians lingering around the scene?

They covered their faces deeply with masks, their every step hushed, agonizing over whether their presence might "taint" the purity of the youth. Watching those timid shoulders hovering from afar, suppressing even their own legitimate doubts and feelings of support, I felt an unbearable sense of humiliation and sadness.

Why must we always censor ourselves and tiptoe around others like this?

Let's coldly retrace their trajectory. When a social tragedy or a major issue erupts in this country, has the Democratic Party and its left-wing cartel *ever* not exploited it politically?

Mad cow disease, claiming that eating American beef would create holes in our brains; insults and conspiracy theories regarding the sinking of the Cheonan; the Sewol ferry tragedy, overlaid with claims of human sacrifice for children; the Saudi myth that Chamoe melons would be fried by electromagnetic waves; Fukushima, which incited panic buying of radioactive salt; and the recent Itaewon disaster.

Among those numerous witch hunts of incitement, was there even one protest that began with complete scientific evidence and facts? No. They inflated 1% of anxiety into 100% of fear to occupy the public square, and they stole the sorrow of others to wield it as a weapon to overthrow the government.

Even after all this, they have never once shown shame or apologized. Instead, they sanctimoniously aestheticized their shameless political exploitation as "noble solidarity with civil society."

So why must conservatives and the right-wing, even in the face of this clear and bizarre fact of a constitutional body making vote ballots disappear in broad daylight and pillars of fire rising from behind the Election Commission before the vote count, clamp their mouths shut and tread carefully?

The moment we utter the entirely rational doubt that our rights have been stolen, they immediately brand us with the scarlet letter of "far-right." And fearing that label, we put on masks ourselves and hide in the shadows.

It's "awakened citizens' action" for others to capitalize on someone else's tragedy to shake the nation, but it becomes "far-right political color" for me to raise my voice to reclaim my trampled sovereignty. This is a hideous and sickening double standard.

This is the point that truly enrages and saddens me. The debate between fraud or mismanagement is no longer important for conservatives and the right-wing. The true essence we should be angry about is the fact that even the humble right to freely voice our natural doubts has been ruthlessly snatched away by the violent label of "far-right" that they wield.

We are the right-wing, claiming to defend freedom, yet we have completely outsourced the freedom to express our thoughts and doubts to their censorship standards. It's a topsy-turvy world where ignoble agitators stand confidently with microphones in the middle of the public square, while those trying to uphold common sense must be ashamed of themselves, masked in back alleys.

It's time to throw off those flimsy masks. Discard the intellectual vanity of patiently maintaining neutrality until perfect evidence emerges, and discard the sorrowful tiptoeing, fearful of being labeled as far-right.

When the nation's system collapses, it is not political color but the most noble and desperate instinct to protect democracy for a sovereign citizen to throw a stone of doubt.

Do not fear your rightful anger. What we must reclaim, before the stolen vote ballots, is "the lost wildness" itself – the ability to confidently speak my voice, mocking their suffocating frames.

◆ Writer Park Ju-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 published the essay collection "Crossing the Stormy Sea."