Cruelty of the "Fans"

Hey guys. I know you are probably shocked that I am posting again so quickly after you have just heard from me that I have been a bad blog mom. Unless you follow me on social media, then you already know why I am here. It has been a while since I have had to write such a post but if you follow me on Twitter, I am sure you have seen me speaking out against hate in the k-pop fan world.

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As a multi-fandom fan, I get to see both sides of every story. However, the truly heartbreaking thing that I have been witnessing are just cruel. A lot of people have been reporting these abusive tweets because that is what they are: ABUSIVE! As a victim of cyber-bulling myself, I am terrified of these people. I have been an active person on social media for over 10 years now, it might not reflect in my current accounts, but I have been around since I was in high school (around 2007 or 2008-ish...I think). I used to have a Twitter account that I could tweet to via my Motorola flip phone's text messages (before every person had a smart phone) and then would spend hours chatting on when I got home and got my hours on the iMac in my parents' room or the slow Gateway in our office. Those accounts and the friends I created there are distant memories now because I had to delete the account due to cyber-bullying. You can still find lingering remnants of the account, but cyber-bullying left me scarred and starting from scratch. But you didn't come here to listen to me ramble....you came for my rant.

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I won't give fandom names (again, if you follow me on Twitter you probably already know a few of the groups involved in what I am talking about) because I do not want to start wars. However, I cannot ignore threats of physical violence (I will get into this in a minute). First thing is first though.

Opinion

[noun]

A view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Say someone doesn't particularly like a style for a concept, this doesn't mean they dislike the group now. Their opinion about the concept doesn't reflect their love for the group. Just because their opinion is different from yours, doesn't mean shit. Wanna hear something that I am open about that I've gotten shit for but I don't care? I hate the song Go Go by BTS. I FUCKING HATE IT. The song is like nails on a chalkboard for me, but guess who still fucking loves BTS. This girl right here. Do I attack others for not agreeing with me? Fuck no. My friends who love BTS LOVE the song Go Go. Yeah we joke with each other about it, but not ONCE did they judge me for not liking it. Just like they don't judge me for being multi-fandom.

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I have seen so many people saying that the people who don't like something or speak out against something involving their favorite group should hand over their fan card because they are a true fan because a true fan loves EVERYTHING. Wrong. Let me share with you two definitions.

Fan

[noun]

A person who has a strong interest in or admiration for a particular person or thing.

Stan

[noun]

An overzealous or obsessive fan of a particular celebrity.

See the difference. Now, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with being a stan. Be obsessive. In high school I made a documentary about the truth behind obsessive fans who are wholly addicted to their...whatever. Hell, I am a stan. Have you seen this blog? I stan a lot of stuff. But there is an ugly side to stan. It falls back to the overzealous and obsessive. Fan culture in regards to k-pop will always be a touchy subject especially because there are language barriers, but for some reason, hate knows no language barriers. Something I saw on Facebook (years ago, but it popped back up again) really stands out in this situation.

Tip 1: Be Consistent - Don't go from one band to another just because they messed up once. Not everyone is perfect. All these k-pop idols have a 'bad' side to them.

Tip 2: Appreciate Their Music - Sometimes the fans don't actually care about the music their idol groups do...but something that might look like just 3 minutes to you, is made up of countless of hours and all-nighters.

Tip 3: Don't Overdo It - Just keep the relationship as 'fan' and 'celebrity', I just think those boundaries need to be kept for the relationship to be healthy.

Conclusion: Treat your oppa/unnie the way you would want other fans to treat them. Always keep these in mind!

While this is talking about how to treat an idol, reverse some of these. Treat the other fans the way you would want to be treated. This is something basic we learn as kids, yet the second we have the Internet at the tips of our fingers...we forget. Don't forget that YOU are a fan. YOU do NOT own the celebrity nor do YOU own the fandom. YOU do NOT get to say who can and cannot be considered a fan. In fact, the only person who gets that right is the company and the idol! Respect your fellow fans. Internal fan wars are nasty things and someone could get seriously hurt because of it.

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Now, the real thing that pushed me over the edge (especially as someone who has been cyber-bullied) was the threats to physically harm an idol in order to make said idol miss a music show to give their fave the ability to win easier. If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw what I am talking about. But basically. A bunch of rogue fans (I actually think the group that these fans are "supporting" is a fucking precious group and it is sad that I have to talk about their "fans" this way) took to Twitter "censoring" themselves (but not really because they wanted to start a fight) by saying they wanted to break this idol's legs so he would be unable to go to the performance because he has already had some wins and their group deserves this win more. (I can't really talk too much about them because the tweets have since been deleted - so I can't actually reference everything they were saying) The tweets were brought to my attention by a YouTuber who I love dearly and we have a lot of favorites in common. I was shocked, appalled, and disgusted. Especially because, like I said, I love the group that these "fans" were "supporting".

The people who said these terrible things have since taken down the main threats to "protect their own accounts". THEY WANT TO FUCKING PROTECT THEIR OWN ACCOUNTS! They do not fucking care that they have been saying things that could cause them a lot of legal trouble because IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO THREATEN TO HARM SOMEONE! They just care about keeping their social media account open. I am sorry but that is not how this fucking works. You threatened to harm a celebrity because you were upset your favorite wasn't winning awards. Do you know how disgusting that is? What would your favorite group say if they heard this? They would not call you their fan, that is for damn sure.

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Even though there are still tweets out there (that are still getting reported), it has, I think, partially died down. In light of this though I want to talk you through the steps of what you should do. Especially because, when this happened to me nearly 10 years ago, I didn't have anyone to walk me through what to do.

The basic thing you need to do is report and block. Report and block the offensive tweets. Report and block the offensive accounts. Do not retweet or quote because you are getting them the attention they are looking for. At least just screenshot the tweet if you want to share it because they get views for you sharing. Do not engage them either. They are looking for a fight and if you engage them, you are giving them what they want and it makes BOTH sides look bad.

Maybe I am a pushover, I don't really fucking care, but you make people uncomfortable when you become aggressive right back. Now I am not saying you don't have the right to be pissed because I am fucking LIVID, but I didn't once fight with the people. I spoke my mind without sharing it with them. I just reported and blocked. Just do not stoop to their level.

Remember: Fans (especially international ones) are the face of their groups and your actions reflect your group (even if you think it wouldn't, it would).

Be the amazing fans you should be and not the demon fans everyone fears.

Sorry for the serious post, I just really needed to get this off my chest, it has been bothering me all day and I just can't believe that someone would do this because their faves hadn't been winning...

That's all that I have for right now.

Until next time.