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Making Points: A thread on ALL the mess I'm tired of (but haven't had to properly address because I'm hardly ever on Twitter).
😑☕️☂️
[A Thread]
😑☕️☂️
[A Thread]
INTRODUCTION + DISCLAIMER
I'm going to say what I say with receipts, but my opinions are my own. I am not encouraging anyone to verbally drag anybody.
I don't need help when it comes to reading; I can open and close books just fine on my own.
I'm going to say what I say with receipts, but my opinions are my own. I am not encouraging anyone to verbally drag anybody.
I don't need help when it comes to reading; I can open and close books just fine on my own.
I actually don't directly address people much of the time because I am not in the habit of giving people who are thirsty for clout direct attention. Often, unless their foolishness ends up in my Twitter feed, I don't even think about them.
There is no get-out-of-shade-free card or "I have an opinion, and merely having an opinion is enough to save me from getting called out." There is not coming for BTS or ARMY and then trying to bully the people you are slandering and harming into treating you with kindness.
To summarize, you're going to get this read, collect this L, & I don't care HOW hard it hurts your feelings.
When you're out here blowing up situations for cash, defaming fandoms for clout, and/or being a nuisance, you know DAMN WELL you're not considering OUR feelings.
When you're out here blowing up situations for cash, defaming fandoms for clout, and/or being a nuisance, you know DAMN WELL you're not considering OUR feelings.
POINT #1 - About BTS "blocking" other K-pop groups from having worldwide success
K-pop goes back to the mid-90s. There were a NUMBER of groups, male and female, as well as solo artists who made their debut in Korea before BTS did in 2013.
K-pop goes back to the mid-90s. There were a NUMBER of groups, male and female, as well as solo artists who made their debut in Korea before BTS did in 2013.
Many just assumed that Western (mainly American) fame just wasn't possible because if the Big 3 couldn't pull it off, who could? Additionally, i-fans weren't pressed about it because they showed no signs of sincerely wanting it for ANYONE.
I can't tell you how many times I heard, "Only Korean fame matters, anyway?" and how it was a reality that K-pop groups who only had international fame (that didn't include Korean fame) weren't taken seriously.
Flash forward to BTS breaking through internationally, and ARMYs making it happen due to a system of international grassroots tactics. Even as we were doing our best for BTS, our efforts were looked down on and shaded.
It's blatantly obvious that I-ARMY and K-ARMY are able to work together or encourage each other to achieve things. But rather than ask how this is possible when it's known that Korean K-pop fans don't respect or often communicate well with international K-pop fans, you instead-
have people whining about how effective ARMYs are and acting as if we're supposed to step aside and let someone else be successful. They seem to believe that if ARMYs disappeared, someone else would automatically get what BTS has.
Where EXACTLY is this automatic end result supposed to come from if there's absolutely no record of K-pop fans, particularly i-fans, being willing to humble themselves enough to beg, borrow, and spend for their faves?
BTS isn't blocking anyone.
ARMYs aren't blocking anyone.
Until K-pop fandoms are willing to do the work and spend the money themselves and stop burning bridges by being terrible at promoting K-pop, they'll get nothing but dust.
This is neither our fault or problem.
ARMYs aren't blocking anyone.
Until K-pop fandoms are willing to do the work and spend the money themselves and stop burning bridges by being terrible at promoting K-pop, they'll get nothing but dust.
This is neither our fault or problem.
POINT #2 - On the need for "fresh faces" in K-pop
First of all, this is perhaps one of the UGLIEST comments I've ever seen. Idols aren't toys for you to play with and then throw away when you're bored. These people are desperately trying to earn a LIVING.
First of all, this is perhaps one of the UGLIEST comments I've ever seen. Idols aren't toys for you to play with and then throw away when you're bored. These people are desperately trying to earn a LIVING.
I recognize that the phrase "idol" implies that someone is a non-living object. An item of worship that is likewise unable to move or speak, allowing someone to project onto them whatever they want.
...But "idol" is a figurative term, not a literal one.
...But "idol" is a figurative term, not a literal one.
These are people desperate to earn a living in an industry that is absolutely flooded. I wrote a multi-part series about the reality and it's only gotten WORSE since I did.
I don't understand how anyone can understand the desperate situation that K-pop idols are in. We're talking young people with massive debt, who have to work minimum wage jobs, and yet have their dreams SHATTERED.
BTS miraculously avoided this fate. How is that BAD?!
BTS miraculously avoided this fate. How is that BAD?!
It's absolutely horrible that people so mentally and emotionally detached from the reality of what K-idols are going through that they treat their careers as something that should absolutely have an expiration date...like they're toys to get tired of and be thrown away.
If you want "fresh faces," just wait.
The K-pop turnover rate has continued to increase unchecked as groups debut, flop, and poof out of existence. With K-pop fans unwilling to provide meaningful financial support, "fresh faces," might be a permanent and unfortunate reality.
The K-pop turnover rate has continued to increase unchecked as groups debut, flop, and poof out of existence. With K-pop fans unwilling to provide meaningful financial support, "fresh faces," might be a permanent and unfortunate reality.
POINT #3 - On Tabetha Hemlock's Many-Colored Coattails...
Not sure there's anything I can say that wasn't already laid out in this thread:
But if I were to reference a specific example, I'd have to go with the time Hemlock attempted to pass off eight Korean politicians as ARMYs in an attempt to erroneous claim our fandom was campaigning for BTS to be exempted from military service.
Now, if you don't know, the Korean general public has little respect for most idols anyway. But those who try to blatantly avoid military service? They get straight CANCELLED.
It's the kind of controversy that can end and ruin careers. Why would you imply something so harmful?
It's the kind of controversy that can end and ruin careers. Why would you imply something so harmful?
Imagine doing something like this that can RUIN someone's career, but wanting to get on Twitter and talk about how upset and "scared" you are of the people calling you out over the damage you've done and tried to do.
I imagine if Hemlock had any empathy or remorse, she'd imagine what it would be like for BTS if her story stuck and resulted in an entire country coming at their necks.
Hemlock, imagine if the entire U.S. hated you because of something someone erroneously said about you...
Hemlock, imagine if the entire U.S. hated you because of something someone erroneously said about you...
How do you do this to people and then have the audacity to try to sell a book about them, written without any integrity, love, empathy, or sincerity? You certainly don't have the trust or blessing of the fandom you leech off of. That much is true.
POINT #4 - There is a disturbing lack of empathy for BTS and ARMYs and our unique journey in 2019.
At what point are you going to leave us alone?
At what point are you going to leave us alone?
If people cannot cope with reality as it is, they will mentally create a new one that better suits a narrative they can live with.
This is why some people prefer to believe that BTS has always been privileged and ARMYs have always been this massive fandom.
This is why some people prefer to believe that BTS has always been privileged and ARMYs have always been this massive fandom.
A reminder that this is where BTS started.
This is BTS members handing out flyers for people to attend a show where they performed to like 200 people in L.A.
This is BTS, two years after debuting, winning their first music show award.
And here's BTS getting their first daesang.
Notice how stunned they are?
Does that look like the reaction of a group that expects to win everything because they're massively adored by Korean K-pop fans?
Notice how stunned they are?
Does that look like the reaction of a group that expects to win everything because they're massively adored by Korean K-pop fans?
BTS started from the bottom, sleeping all together in one room, recording music in a garage.
Their fandom was at a point too small to fight back, even as BTS was being brutally mocked on Korean message boards.
netizenbuzz.blogspot.com/2015/05/pann-b…
Their fandom was at a point too small to fight back, even as BTS was being brutally mocked on Korean message boards.
netizenbuzz.blogspot.com/2015/05/pann-b…
Imagine thinking a once struggling group and a tiny fandom that scrapped and crawled and struggled their way to the top (being fought and harassed and mocked at every turn at the same time) should surrender their hard work to ease the egos of people who did not help us.
If you're going to be an exploiting clout-chaser, anti, or some person who feels motivated to come for BTS and drag ARMYs, you should give up the idea that you aren't going to get the dragging you asked for by putting "BTS" or "ARMY" in your mouth.
Just accept the inevitable.
Just accept the inevitable.
CONCLUSION
You can't exploit BTS & ARMY and also shade, defame, and antagonize this fandom and think you'll get away with it. You will be called out. You SHOULD be called out. And if you had any class or integrity, you'd apologize instead of slandering and insulting this fandom.
You can't exploit BTS & ARMY and also shade, defame, and antagonize this fandom and think you'll get away with it. You will be called out. You SHOULD be called out. And if you had any class or integrity, you'd apologize instead of slandering and insulting this fandom.
As for the desperate K-pop fans who continue their pathetic tradition of cheerleading anything that causes BTS or ARMYs harm because you resent our success and happiness...this is precisely why your faves will never. I'll leave you to get back to your failed stan existence. ☂️
