so it goes

One side always argues that nothing can be as bad as the Holocaust, therefore nothing can be compared to it; the other argues that the cautionary lesson of history can be learned only by acknowledging the similarities between now and then.

But the argument is really about how we perceive history, ourselves, and ourselves in history. We learn to think of history as something that has already happened, to other people. Our own moment, filled as it is with minutiae destined to be forgotten, always looks smaller in comparison. As for history, the greater the event, the more mythologized it becomes. Despite our best intentions, the myth becomes a caricature of sorts. Hitler, or Stalin, comes to look like a two-dimensional villain—someone whom contemporaries could not have seen as a human being. The Holocaust, or the Gulag, are such monstrous events that the very idea of rendering them in any sort of gray scale seems monstrous, too. This has the effect of making them, essentially, unimaginable. In crafting the story of something that should never have been allowed to happen, we forge the story of something that couldn’t possibly have happened. Or, to use a phrase only slightly out of context, something that can’t happen here.

A logical fallacy becomes inevitable. If this can’t happen, then the thing that is happening is not it. What we see in real life, or at least on television, can’t possibly be the same monstrous phenomenon that we have collectively decided is unimaginable. I have had many conversations about this in Russia. People who know Vladimir Putin and his inner circle have often told me that they are not the monsters that I and others have described. Yes, they have overseen assassinations, imprisonments, and wars, but they are not thoroughly terrible, my interlocutors have claimed—they are not like Stalin and his henchmen. In other words, they are not the monsters of our collective historical imagination. They are today’s flesh-and-blood monsters, and this makes them seem somehow less monstrous.

Anything that happens here and now is normalized, not solely through the moral failure of contemporaries but simply by virtue of actually existing. Allow me to illustrate. My oldest son, who spent his early childhood in a Russian hospital, was for many years extremely small for his age. I spent useless hours upon hours in my study in Moscow, where we then lived, poring over C.D.C. growth charts. No matter how many times I looked, I couldn’t place him—he was literally off the chart. As far as the C.D.C. was concerned, my son, at his age, height, and weight, was unimaginable. When he was four, I took him to see a pediatrician in Boston. She entered his measurements into her computer, and a red dot appeared on the chart. I felt my body finally relax; my child was no longer impossible! He was on the chart. Then I realized that the pediatrician was working with an interactive chart. (This was in the early aughts, and there weren’t any available to me at home.) She had just put him in the system. His little red dot was still below the lowest, fifth-percentile curve. He was still the smallest child of his age. But a sort of cognitive trick had been performed. My son’s size had been documented, and this made him possible.

On March 14, Yong Junhyung’s agency Around Us released an official statement following the artist’s announcement to leave Highlight.

Hello, this is Around Us.

First of all, we apologize to those who were confused by the incorrect official statement.

In relation to the report from SBS’s “8 O’Clock News” on March 11, Yong Junhyung found out that Jung Joon Young had taken illegal footage while asking how he was doing on the day after having a drink together in late 2015.

Later, he saw the illegal video(s) he received through the one-on-one chatroom and exchanged inappropriate conversations with him. We were able to confirm this fact through Yong Junhyung’s witness interview on March 13.

Yong Junhyung realized the severity of the issue and faithfully complied with the witness interview.

He is aware of the seriousness of how morally lax his past behaviors were and is deeply repenting on having disappointed many people through his past statements.

He fully understands that this incident is something that cannot be forgiven, and he is deeply reflecting on himself for disappointing and breaking the trust and love he received from fans of Highlight and his fellow members.

Moreover, he will take full responsibility and leave Highlight as of March 14, 2019 in order to avoid tarnishing the group’s image and causing secondary damages.

We sincerely apologize for being unable to check the exact facts, causing confusion to many people, and releasing an official statement after a hasty decision even though Yong Junhyung was involved in a shameful incident.

We will take caution to avoid such instances in the future. Once again, we apologize to the fans who truly care for Highlight.

Day 163 of 365 - The Academy Is…, “Down And Out”