Why KPOPSECRETS sorta piss me off

Among k-pop fans are those like the submitters of KPOPSECRETS, who claim that “my YG Elitist friends will kill me if they knew I liked BEAST too” or “SONES will kill me if they knew I left their fandom.” And I’m still not quite sure how things like THIS and THIS are even “secrets”…but anyways. These examples are just among hundreds that are on this site, and I’m about to give you my 2 cents on why the people who feed this site need a serious change of mindset. 

Firstly, this implies some type of stigma surrounding these so-called “secrets”, which are in fact, nothing more than personal opinions people are entitled to hold. This basically discourages individuality and free speech as a k-pop fan, and reinforces the ridiculous rigidity of fandoms. “If you don’t think this way, then you are not a so-and-so fan.” “If you don’t like this, then you’re no true this-and-this fan.” Having to conform to these standards cause unbelievable amounts of stress for everyone; and to think, these standards were defined merely by fans themselves. Nowhere are these so-called “rules” written in stone (and if they are, someone please enlighten me with a source so I can just shut up now), and not once have they been declared by the idols themselves. 

Secondly, we’ve all seen too many instances of fans going at each other when these “rules” have been broken. Just one look at the comments of any of these secrets and you’ll know what I mean. You’ve got people defending oppa’s old hair, for Pete’s sake. And, of course, we’ve got the notorious ten-minute silent treatment threat over disagreements about lightstick colors and anti-fans. Actually, the issue of anti-fans is quite interesting — an example of people either unable to handle butthurt properly (defensive fans), or who are threatened by competition (trolls). There’s deadly competition between fans most likely because they can’t accept the fact that not everyone appreciates their idols the way they do. The reason for this? Maybe the seriously distorted view fans have of their idols — that they’re perfect and should stay that way. Which leads me to my next point.

This fanaticism people have for their idols is dangerously similar to religious cults, don’t you think? People spew hateful comments at each other; they hurt and even go as far as killing each other (or themselves)… and all for what? Their celebrity biases? People, let’s not forget the fact that these celebrities are humans too — they have imperfections just like you and me. (For more examples on how far fans have taken their obsession, check out this interesting livejournal post.)

Tying back to my original point, seeing submissions of KPOPSECRETS imply how dangerously close many fans are to achieving these extreme mindsets. The fact that they are intolerable of different opinions, and that they BELIEVE that their opinions are intolerable… These opinions reflect individuality, and the fact that they have been labelled as “secrets” say how much individuality is discouraged. Fans basically have no right to express themselves, and most importantly, they are socialized to attack and alienate those who are “different”. How backwards is this? This is dangerous… and the fact that we have 10, 11, 12 year olds sucked into this is making it even more dangerous. 

Oh yeah, and the fact that we have blogs like KPOPSECRETS kinda consolidates and permits this fanaticism, doesn’t it? To be obsessed to the point where it crosses the line is not something that needs to be encouraged, but needs to be controlled. Before you know, official channels like these will be springing up all over the place… eventually making it “okay” to be this way. And if people are getting physically, emotionally, and mentally hurt by this, then of course, it’s NOT “okay”.