Korean Star Suicide And Occam’s Razor

Choi Jin-sil, a South Korean movie star, allegedly killed herself recently out of humiliation after widespread online criticism of her single-mother lifestyle. Widespread public anger over Choi’s death is giving support to the government’s plan to crack down on the web, putting it under “martial law.” (Martial law? No http requests after 7pm, perhaps?)

The NY Times article doesn’t explore another possibility, which has got to leap out at anyone who watches movies and/or doesn’t trust their own government. The life of a single celebrity might have seemed insignifant next to the government’s need to gain traction on its censorship initiative. It’s much easier to crack down on public speech when public speech is on your side.