“Please delete the game Battle Ground’s desert map.” “I would like to report someone who made me angry.” “I am very happy to invite you.”
These are the titles posted on the Blue House (Cheongwadae) petition site. the Blue House (Cheongwadae) citizen’s petition, which is intended to know and resolve the grievances of the public, has been taken lightly because of the claims made for fun. Of course, shallow petitions may break the stereotype that politics is difficult, since petition is another way to participate in politics. Nevertheless, there are problems with posting an article out of range of the policy proposal on the site.
First, petitions with a light heart, hinder other petitions to be publicized. The citizen’s petition website has the system of showing those with over 200 thousand of agreements on the main screen. Therefore, when numerous petitions are filed at once, the truly necessary petitions cannot be seen until they are recommended by some more. Some petitions in need may not reach to the public. Hence, it could be common to see the same petition repeated all over again. No matter how many there are, it will be hard to go over 200 thousand consents on its own. It leads anyone who realizes the problem will give up the petition.
The biggest problem of prank petitions is that these may lead the weight and authority of politics to be taken lightly. Politics determine the nation’s life. It should not be taken easily. The citizen’s petition is one of the platforms which makes people participate in politics. If the public, themselves, disrupt the authority of politics, it would not play its original role anymore.
To resolve the problem, some people are contending to introduce real-name system to the Blue House (Cheongwadae) citizen’s petition. They argue that the system might prevent misused petition. However, the real-name system has a side effect of constricting the petition itself. There is a concern of privacy exposure by removing anonymity, which is one of the major characteristics of the petition itself.
Therefore, the fundamental solution is to recognize the significance of petition. People should not forget the fact that the writings they upload on the petition site can have a huge effect situationally. If individual awareness changes, the Blue House (Cheongwadae) citizen’s petition would be a great platform to discuss social discourses more than now.