• Related Questions
• What happens if government censorship makes us forget history?
• Do we have a moral duty to remember?
• How would you feel if your government tried to erase your history? 

During class, we learned how memories of events are passed on with various methods. Depending on different governments, there will be different actions to commemorating events. In addition, because there are numerous different events that happen everyday, there will often be bias to what events are remembered.

In Human Acts, Han Kang writes a fictional story closely based on the democratization uprising that occurred in Gwangju in the 1980s. At the time, because South Korea was under an authoritarian rule and dictatorial regime, South Korean citizens were opposed to the government structure. As a response, the government claimed that there was pressure from North Korea and used this as an excuse for a Martial Law getting passed. Leading to the South Korean citizens protesting for their human rights and paratroopers attacking citizens.

Because there was so many different individuals that were affected by the protests, the government build various memorials after what happened to maintain a collective memory to ensure that citizens can remember the events. For example, the May 18th National Memorial Cemetery shows the courage of the South Koreans fighting against the paratroopers. However, the May 18th National Memorial Cemetery does not express how people of all ages, from middle schoolers to the elderly, were fighting against the state and were deeply effected by the protests. This is why it is also crucial for individuals to remember their past in the form of vernacular memory which can be different from the institutional memory.

While most governments often create structures or find ways to commemorate tragedies, some governments attempt to hide their past and skew the public’s perception of a tragedy. Government do this in order to better control their population and create an atmosphere where citizens are more susceptible to propaganda. Although, as a result of this, citizens won’t have easy access to information about their heritage. So, whether it is the government or the regular individuals of a society, it is our moral duty to remember past events in order for us to learn from the past and not make the same mistakes.