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The world of K-pop, as a POC, can be very racist. However, it’s easy to be gaslit or disregarded when non-POC listeners repeatedly attempt to defend their favorite idols. But K-pop idols are not ignorant, sheltered, or incapable of causing harm. It’s simply easier for non-POC American listeners to find comfort in the indoctrinated racist thinking that portrays East Asian individuals as harmless and clueless.
This mainly shows up in phrases like, “They don’t understand American culture, so they couldn’t have known,” or “They don’t understand that word; it was an accident,” and even “Their culture is different; they don’t know about the rest of the world.” But with powerful companies heavily investing in these performers, crafting them to have global appeal, they have to understand the customs of other nations, as it hinges on them gaining revenue from international fans. So, these companies and idols are not lacking in understanding the wider world.
Yet, there is still this dissonance between the reality that idols are susceptible to racism and the American racist ideology that says they are oblivious and innocuous. To mediate these conflicting beliefs, fans find comfort in infantilizing these idols. And in the end, this infantilization of East Asian cultures and people not only deflects accountability but also harms those affected by these actions and other East Asians.
Apr 1, 2025
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I just had a disgusting conversation w a rich privileged white woman about systemic racism and her calling me racist for me never having the rich white women in my past relationships understand my perspective as a Black/Hispanic person in america. This person has been my close friend since middle school and I’ve ignored her ignorance for yeeeeeaaaarrrssss but today i completely blacked on her. her privilege and disconnect w reality & the current political state of the world couldn’t be excused anymore. She might just need to rot in her mansion alone while watching me exceed her privilege.
Jan 28, 2024
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A brief anecdote to preface this (skip to get straight to the philosophy):
Today a team member and I (building a business) met with an expert in his respective field to ask some questions. After a little explanatory back-and-forth, it was clear he had a complete lack of knowledge of our sector, and had only understood the description of our project on a superficial level. Nonetheless, he proceeded to spend most of the time “pushing back”, and therefore was unable to offer much insight that we could use.
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Critique/judgment without understanding is invalid – period. This is confusing to some critics/would-be critics/people because they conflate the accumulation of knowledge with the skill of understanding. Let’s say you’re a music critic – you know lots of stuff about many kinds of music, many eras, etc. One day something comes along your desk, you pop it on, and it sounds a bit odd. You’ve never heard of the artist before… it sounds vaguely similar to something you know of – sure, let’s compare it to that, I guess. In this moment, you may not realize that you have a blindspot. Maybe you don’t yet understand the cultural or aesthetic movement this piece of music is born from because it doesn’t overlap with your breadth of knowledge (even if it’s very wide). Your prior knowledge may inform your ability to understand, but it doesn’t replace it. A real critic will take the time, as their duty, to understand as best they can before they make any critique. Anyone else isn’t a real critic.
This goes for everything and everyone, not just professional or expert criticism. It’s true on an individual level, a social/cultural level, a political level, etc.
Now especially, everyone’s a critic – and that’s both great and terrible/terrifying. Criticism/judgment are perfectly valid and useful forms of human expression if and only if you seek to understand beforehand.
So, we can think about that from the perspective of giving criticism and, of course, receiving it. Being open to criticism is a massively important quality to develop, but if someone hasn’t made an effort to understand you/your idea, their critiques can go into the trash can. 🚮
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Jun 4, 2024
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Of course the media someone chooses to consume and the things they like to buy can signify certain personality traits but these choices aren’t personality traits in and of themselves. people take criticism of things they like as a personal attack and I think this is partly why there’s such a dearth of incisive cultural criticism today.
Encouraging people to personally identify with the products they buy = the devil’s marketing strategy…
Oct 7, 2024
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Mar 13, 2025
Apr 29, 2025
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I’m watching it be fleshed out in real time, seeing every kind of mishap or glitch. I love it, it’s changing with me.
Mar 31, 2025