I don’t really mind talking to younger fans too. Thanks to this fandom I’ve met younger fans who are very mature for their age… shout out to my babies and shady sisters @ewkaciura, @holysuga, @inoumi123, @sandroila, @jinships-ideas, @jiminkoo. These guys have helped me through so much. They actually make me feel young in a good way. They never treat me differently regardless of how old I am.
And yes, music is for all ages. Jazz isn’t just for old people, Hip-hop isn’t just for young people. Talent, art, lyrics, these are ageless. And so BTS can definitely be appreciated by people of any age and generation.
something i just have to express about jimin and the whole situation with his colourism/racism is that. i don’t hate him. i can’t bring myself to hate him or bts for the shit they’ve pulled. i’m angry, hurt, kind of humiliated, annoyed and dismayed at the fandom’s reaction. aggravated, and constantly sick of constantly waiting for a proper acknowledgement of their continuous fuckups,
and most of all, i’m hurt. i’m disappointed in him. because i know he can do better, be better. and i’m tired of waiting for him to do that – for all of them to do that.
the reason bts stans are calling jimin out for this isn’t to target just his behaviour, at that time. it’s one example out of (too) many where bts have said some messy, racist, colourist, heternormative/borderline homophobic shit and it’s high time someone was actually fully held accountable for it, publicly.
because if not, nothing will truly change. they can edit whatever they need to out, they can teach him not to say it just because they know it’s bad – but doing damage control and caring are two different things. and i, for one, want him to care. i want this to hurt him, i want backlash from it, i want him to understand that he caused us pain and has done so repeatedly with other conments because we love him and we don’t deserve to have to hear that shit from him in return. we just don’t.
jimin, bts, all of them are so loved by this fandom to the point where Black fans who’re directly and painfully affected by this are willing to push past that same pain to actually try and do something about it. anybody who doesn’t have it in them to do it, who unstans/leaves the fandom for any reason is absolutely within their right to do so. the ones who don’t, like me – same deal.
i want them to learn because the kind of platform bts has, the power they have over some very impressionable demographics and socially, is quite frankly frightening. they’ve done so much for so many of us and all i want from them is to do more – to undo they damage they’ve done by doing better.
i stan them despite the bullshit, knowing the bullshit, because i actually for once believe that someone in their positioncan truly do better. if anyone is capable of that, i want it to be them, because they’re in such a unique and influential place in Korean – and, slowly, Western – social circles. what they do, say, who they are has an impact.
i want the changes and strides i know they can make in themselves, when it comes to issues of race, gender, sexuality etc. to have an impact on the world, too.
I’ve seen this explanation and justification actively debunked by multiple other Korean people online. I’ve seen the photos of people literally using the word against Pharrell online, a Black man. I’m not here to be convinced that literal facts from multiple sources are suddenly rendered invalid because of your interpretation of it – he said what he said in the way he said it. In the same summer package (and I’d know, I’ve watched the whole thing and individual scenes since 2016!), Jimin makes a comment about his own skin getting tanned and not being able to be seen in the dark. Joon made a comment about Jeongguk’s skin, telling him he could cosplay as Doolie (a racist Michael Jackson caricature), because Jeongguk was worried about getting darker/tanning.
The context is colourist, the word is racist – and fyi, I’m not American. I’m Nigerian-Jamaican and was born, and live, in Britain.
00:49 Ah, I really wanted to tell you this story.. The day before yesterday I went to the studio by taxi, the taxi ahjusshi’s voice was so cool, I told him without thinking “your voice is so cool”.. I admired him and we talked and so on He replied that my (voice) was cool too. “It’s like that because you listen. haha”
This great ahjussi used honorifics.. even though our age difference is more than a generation. It felt as though he was my business associate and our ages were the same(there was an immensely respectful feeling). I thought I would like to be old like him.
He asked where I was going and I said to a studio so he asked me if I had a friend who did music..I said yes, my team? Please ask someone. I said (I am part of the group) BTS and he knew them well. He even played melOn, his most recent was ‘dope’. –> touching point (awesome)
The drivers age turned out to be 57. I asked him “how did you know us?” and he said that last year during the fan meeting at Hwajeong Gymnasium He drove a lot of fans there..ㅋㅋㅋhe said it with a smile. If he was carrying Chinese and Japanese tourists (fans), they would always ask to listen to BTS.. He said he would even receive a thanks and a tip. “Ah, so I got those tips because of BTS. haha”
He said in the old days he was a fashion designer, he was always trying to stay young and communicate with better to youth, he said he would listen to BTS’ and though it was cool and enjoyed listening to it, he improved. He even listened to the news and mentioned billbaord. It felt nice because it felt sincere. My first time feeling this. I didn’t know that those who are a lot older listened to our music so sincerely, it gave me hope.
Yes. Maybe winter is not as sharp as I thought.
Things like this….they happen to you after living so long. Stay alive and see them. After 30 minutes of talking to the taxi driver, my day felt warmer. I didn’t forget forget to wish him a good day before I left.
I think the “Answer” will be tied to the following idea from the book “Into the Magic Shop” (which was an inspiration for the Love Yourself concept).
“Happiness cannot be without suffering, that compassion is born from understanding our own suffering and the suffering of those around us, and that only when we have compassion in our hearts can we be truly happy.”
@paticle 