[Kim Seong-kon] Out of the 'Badlands' and into a 'Dreamland'

Korea Herald

22-04-2025

These days, we are witnessing some extraordinary global crises: territorial disputes, trade wars and ideological clashes. Many of us are worried about severe inflation and the sharp increase in prices. Others are concerned about the worldwide decline of democracy and the prospect of Orwellian societies looming everywhere. Suffice to say, many of us feel that our future has become nebulous and grim.
Recently, I watched a television drama that mirrors our present and foretells our possible future. It was a 2015 American TV series titled 'Into the Badlands,' a futuristic, post-apocalyptic drama that depicts the world five hundred years from now after it is completely ruined by war. The narrator says, 'They destroyed themselves because they had no way to control the power they unleashed.' In the drama, human beings have degenerated into primitive tribes who fight with swords and crossbows.
In a territory called the Badlands, several feudal states have developed, ruled by tyrannical barons. People there live in an authoritarian society that demands absolute loyalty to their baron, who seeks total power and control. Among the states, there are endless territorial disputes, trade wars over drugs and fuel, and ideological conflicts. Naturally, the states are divided by an 'us and them' mentality of antagonism toward one another. 'The Badlands' presciently depicts the predicament of our world today.
The Widow, one of the barons, leads an antifeudal campaign and opens her territory as a sanctuary for escapees from other states. To accomplish her grand cause, however, she cannot avoid battles with other barons and thus causes many warriors to die. Then one day, she wonders, 'I told myself it was for the greater good. But what if it wasn't? What if I've become the monster I swore to defend them from?'
Our ideologically oriented politicians should ask themselves the same question, because they do not seem to hesitate to sacrifice others for their ideologies, which they believe are for the 'greater good.' They also believe 'the ends justify the means' and that collateral damage is inevitable in the pursuit of a grand cause. Such firm convictions eventually lead to a self-righteousness that makes them believe they are always right, whatever they do. Indeed, when fighting a tyrant, it is easy to become a tyrant oneself.
In "Badlands," there are those who have dark energy inside them that turns them into black-eyed, ferocious killing machines when they get angry or see their own blood spilled. Blinded by hate, they attack others in madness. Naturally, the barons want to use these people as lethal weapons to win wars with other states. Originally, this ability was considered a 'gift' for healing the injured, but they mistook it for a tool for revenge. In our real world, we can also find people who become easily enraged and vengeful when provoked or offended. Such extremists are prone to manipulation by belligerent politicians.
The Totemists and some other people in the Badlands believe there is a utopian city called Azra outside the Badlands. Thus, they set out on a journey to find the mythical city. Their leader is a pseudoreligious man called the Pilgrim, who is, in fact, another self-righteous, power-wielding tyrant who pretends that he is both God and the Messiah. He calls himself a liberator and savior, while condemning others as 'heretics.'
He does not tolerate differences and kills those who do not believe in him. Under the pretext of rebuilding the lost utopian city, he and his black-eyed warriors attack the Badlands and massacre innocent people. His religion has become a dogmatic ideology. The Pilgrim reminds us of some of our political leaders whose ideologies have become religions to them.
The series illustrates that choosing the wrong leader destroys not only our lives but also our country. The wrong leader can be either an autocratic tyrant or a phony preacher who deludes himself that he can resuscitate an already failed and obsolete ideology that he believes will save the world. Both will take us down the wrong path, and we all will have to suffer the consequences.
In 'Badlands,' people do not welcome pregnancy because they see a bleak future. However, the Widow, who is pregnant, decides to give birth to her baby because 'children can be a new beginning.' Sagely, she says, 'We should teach our children not to make the same mistakes we made.'
These days, the world seems to be turning into the Badlands. Young people are reluctant to have children because of the uncertain future, and their elders either hate and fight one another out of prejudice or join the 'panic buying' madness, worrying about drastic rises in prices. As a result, we feel that we are going through another pandemic frenzy. Indeed, fears, ideologies and racial biases in our world are as contagious and harmful as the COVID-19 virus. Nevertheless, we will overcome this crisis, too -- and prevail. We should build a Dreamland for our children, instead of stumbling mindlessly into the nightmarish Badlands.