BY: Ashe | NYAN Host & Blog Writer Dec. 5, 2019 | 3:00 PM
My love affair with K-pop is a long and complicated one, a relationship whose identity continuously morphs with each passing year. In one phase it’s a companionship tested by overfamiliarity; in another, an apathetic routine built by convenience and comfort at its best and soured by resentment at its worst. That is to say, I’ve been listening, studying and overanalyzing this industry for a long-ass time.
I got sucked into the music in 2008, and like so many, thought I had discovered this amazing thing that was overlooked and under-appreciated, and if only others could experience and understand it like I did, their newborn eyes would finally open and they would see. Problem is, no one knew what K-pop was, or cared. It’s hard to imagine now, but at the time, the subculture was still burgeoning. I had all of this bottled up excitement, and no outlet. And when I become interested in a topic, genre or medium, it’s like a frenzy; I spend hours upon hours on the computer, digging up as much as I can, trying in vain to satiate a thirst for knowledge that cannot be satisfied. I probably have an established disorder of some kind, but it’s always been my entry way into fandom. I inundate myself with knowledge, and if I don’t die from the overstimulation, congratulations! It’s like my own rite of passage in a manner.
It hasn’t bypassed my attention that, hey, fans don’t have to do that anymore. I don’t have to do that anymore (though I’m weird and obsessive so that doesn’t count). K-pop has reached a point in the cultural zeitgeist where it is now being compared to the “emo” scene in scope – not a small feat, to be sure. It has moved in earnest from underground movement to a bustling niche community with itchy Twitter fingers.
This all may have been for the better or the worst, depending on who you ask. No more screaming your love out into nothingness; there are now countless other fans to heed your call. Some of those fans are also fanatical, possessive, ignorant, and racist. And the fandom’s visibility gives them a platform to direct their vitriol towards other enthusiasts, including you.
I’m not going to wax poetic about how “K-pop is popular, now it’s bad.” Nothing is bad simply because it is more prominent in the eyes of others. However, the experience of being a fan is forever changed, and much of that can be chalked up to social media.
Now, fans are quick to cry foul when they are reduced to a writhing, screaming monolith. And while it is true that everyone’s reputation should not be sullied due to the actions of a few, these individuals are often the loudest and the least hesitant at showing off. And fair or not, they are the ones by which everyone else are judged. When fans spam fan cams under a Twitter post memorializing the tragic death of an individual, everyone is judged. When fans decide to stalk a boy group and take video of themselves rooting around in their personal belongings, everyone is judged. When a fan is viciously attacked on social media with racial slurs and epithets for daring to voice an opinion that is not agreed upon by others, everyone is judged. That is the nature of things, and K-pop fans are not exempt. The fans are not exempt, and thus, by extension, neither are the K-pop artists.
If you don’t want everyone to be painted by the same brush, why not pull your head out of the sand and say something next time you see a fan being unfairly attacked? We all know this behavior is wrong, and allowing it to continue is only making yourself complicit in the actions of others. And these people will continue to set the narrative the K-pop fans are young, crazy and immature. The next time feelings of indignancy start to surface over these labels, think about the type of behavior that you are encouraging, and which is more visible to non-fans.
It may not be fair, but remember, you are the majority, and the majority have the power to control the narrative. Prove that you are better, and promote behavior that the fandom can be proud of.
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