Seeing the true faces of Rhyu Si-min and our country's intellectuals this time

The controversy triggered by Rhyu Si-min this time
is a phenomenon and a reflection of our era.
In a way, it could be said that he carries the public sentiment of our time.
If there hadn't been this initial resonance,
I believe the topic of debate Rhyu Si-min threw out would not have had such explosive power.
The problem is the true faces of some intellectuals
who are evaluating and criticizing the topic Rhyu Si-min raised for our era.
There are no critiques that approach why Rhyu Si-min said these things
or analyze his words from the perspective of democratic philosophy.
Instead, they focus on things like what kind of person Rhyu Si-min is personally,
or whether he opposes the President.
They all turn away from evaluating through an essential approach
and instead focus on trivialities, treating a social-wide topic
as if it were a gang organization, saying things like "it harms the organization."
Seeing how shallow and spineless some of our country's intellectuals are this time—
and if I were to speak more bluntly, whether they possess the temperament of sycophants—
it makes me feel bitter to realize things I hadn't even noticed before.
It seems the phrase "distorting learning to curry favor" (Gok-hak-a-se) didn't come to be for nothing.