Tablo, TaJinYo, and the implications of celebrity obsession

(Done as a request by taezon. Sorry for the delay — my internet’s signal wasn’t very nice to me over the past few days T_T)

(Image source: Google)

It was only until after I read an article given to me by taezon a few days ago did it truly, truly dawn on me the extreme lengths fans (“fans”) are willing to go to achieve… well, I don’t know what ends exactly. Granted, I’ve commented here and there about delusional k-pop/k-entertainment maniacs, but the story of Epik High’s Daniel Lee (or known to the masses as Tablo) is unlike anything we’ve seen before. “The Persecution of Daniel Lee” illustrates the chilling reality of the impact netizens have, and how something seemingly harmless like a small online community can garner enough power to dominate national headlines and eventually destroy not only the lives of a celebrity and his loved ones, but anyone who chooses to put forward their support.

“THE PERSECUTION OF DANIEL LEE” (SUMMARIZED) 

(Well, kinda. It’s probably almost as long as the article itself OTL)

It started during the spring/summer of 2010, when South Korea was undertaking this spree of credential and diploma forgery busts. With Epik High under the spotlight at the time, it wasn’t long until Tablo himself started being questioned about his education. He claimed that he attended Stanford University, and not only was he able to completed his BA in English in 3 and a half years, he also achieved his MA. As amazing of a feat this is, it unfortunately came too much of a surprise for the Korean public.

The doubts escalated and eventually manifested into an online forum entitled (in rough translations), ‘We Request the Truth from Tablo’, and shortened into ‘TaJinYo’. Membership increased as the forum received more media coverage and exposure, soon hitting about 200,000 members. Their basic argument was this: it typically takes 4 years to complete a Bachelor’s degree, and about 2 years to complete a Masters. In addition, a thesis is usually required for MA students, and Tablo didn’t write one. These questions fueled the curiosity for many and soon enough, their personal ‘investigations’ into the controversy turned dangerous. 

Not only were Stanford registrar Thomas Black and Professor Tobias Wollf (who awarded Tablo for a story in a book he had published as a student, called ‘Pieces of Me’) bombarded with emails from Koreans demanding ‘the truth’, his new wife, actress Kang Hye-Jung was also being harassed and “criticiz[ed]… for marrying him”. 

June 2010 marked Tablo’s first step of self-defense. He sent his transcript to be published in the JoonAng Daily, and Black issued an official letter in hopes of validating to the doubters Tablo’s enrollment in Stanford. However, instead of letting the issue go, TaJinYo took the evidence and concocted this grandiose conspiracy theory that accused Tablo of… get ready for it: identity theft.  

Official letters and Stanford transcript disclosed to the media (image source: Google)

This conspiracy was later considered ‘validated’ in TaJinYo’s eyes when they discovered on Facebook another Stanford alumnus named Daniel Lee, who graduated with an MA in engineering and was currently living in Wisconsin. Black had to send out another series of letters assuring that there were two Daniel Lees who received Standord degrees in 2002. Even this guy reportedly received anonymous criticism for “allowing some rapper to steal [his] identity.” 

More people got involved to backup Tablo. Arirang news anchor Sean Lim is also part of the Stanford alumni and an old friend of the rapper. After failing to garner much support from the Stanford Club of Korea (who wished not to get involved and supposedly ‘ruin’ Stanford’s image), he sought help from other alumni, and 22 friends eventually formed a Facebook group through which they channeled their support. They themselves started receiving death threats, as well as other third parties who chose to voice their faith in Tablo, such as news reporters and even their managers. 

It all finally came to an end when Tablo was able to vindicate himself via an MBC show called “PD Note” (said to be similar to something like “60 Minutes”). Through this broadcast he took South Korea through the gates of Stanford and ultimately proved his claims by verifying his transcript and diploma by the school through official means. 

Tablo eventually filed a lawsuit against 20 of his attackers, one of which was exposed to be a 52-year old KoreAm businessman residing in Chicago. Resisting against an international warrant for his arrest, he publicly voiced his anger for being “unjustly targeted”. 

Though the nightmare is over, Tablo implies he’s traumatized for life. Throughout the entire ordeal TaJinYo also dragged in other members of his family. Not only was Tablo being persecuted, the entire Lee family was being called out as a group of liars and cheats. Members investigated his own mother, of whom they found a newspaper clipping that featured her win at a hairstyling competition in 1968 and considered it a fraud. Attackers also uncovered a webpage that reported his brother’s completion of an MA in Columbia University, when in reality he didn’t. This discovery cost him his job at a broadcasting news agency. 

Everything that Tablo had placed out for the sake of convincing the public just ended up being more fuel to their wrath. TaJinYo simply refused to believe the evidence laid out before them as truth, and even went as far as accusing him for paying people off to defend him. 

“He just paid a lot of money to do this, lied about it and still became famous,” one forum member told a Korean TV crew, who blurred her face. “It represents a total loss of hope for people who work hard.”

”’I was doing everything they asked and it was never good enough,” Lee says. “That’s when I realized that they weren’t looking for answers, they just wanted to destroy me.’“ As a result, his relationship with the public eye is forever destroyed. “He’s still afraid to go out in public and doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to perform for an audience again.”

“Honestly, I’m damaged,” he says. “And I don’t know if I’ll ever be better.” 

———- MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS ———- 

This real-life horror story of the k-entertainment world actually brought more questions than answers. First of all, call me naive, but why on earth did these attackers react the way they did? Why the death threats? Why the violence? Secondly, who exactly are the people who make up TaJinYo? Are they ‘disappointed’ fans? Random netizens obsessed with truth? What were their motivations? It shocked me to see that these netizens weren’t your typical hormonal fangirls keysmashing away their loss of faith in oppa — instead, one of the most malicious members happened to be a working man in his early 50s from the other side of the fricking globe. What does this mean?

— A SOCIETY INTERESTED IN AFFAIRS OF OTHERS? —

As I start to ponder to myself about where the heck to begin my train of thought, this show I watched on Arirang last night randomly comes to mind, on which a doctor said that “[Korean] society is one that is interested in the lives of others.” When reflecting on the type of shows we see on TV nowadays, and the images the media bombards us with, I couldn’t help but nod along in agreement. Then again, in today’s age, what fully developed society out there does not tend to occupy itself with the affairs of the rich and famous? When seeing it this way, it becomes less of a wonder why there are individuals such as the members of TaJinYo that have tragically gone beyond the edge of what is appropriate. 

Images of celebrity life have been blatantly rubbed in our faces for quite some time now that we as a society have unconsciously internalized tendencies to worship and idolize them. And for those who have let themselves go beyond the extreme, they’ve learned how to form excuses to want to know more about them. In their eyes, if we as a society is being implicitly asked to idolize them, then we want to make sure we’re idolizing the ‘perfect’ people. They owe it to us to set good examples for the rest of society to follow. I mean, the public statement of that one forum member says it all — Tablo’s ‘feigned achievements’ “ represents a total loss of hope for people who work hard.”

———- THE CASE OF CELEBRITY WORSHIP ———- 

Now, I’m not educated when it comes to media psychology or anything, so my hypotheses may come off quite far-fetched. Nevertheless, I was able to dig up a few theories that tie into this argument of mine. According to FEELguide.com, reasons why we care so unnecessarily much about celebrities include the following:

1. Celebrity life is represented to us as “carefree” and “pleasurable”, and they become things we fantasize for ourselves as we live out our supposedly duller lives as normal beings.
2. It provides conversation between individuals, serving as a form of social bonding. “Shared amusement and scorn unifies us across ordinary social barriers,” and in addition, affirms “communal rules against adultery, public intoxication, and other misbehavior” (aka “ritual public shaming”). 
3. (This is interesting) We innately enjoy hearing about the misfortunes of especially those higher up the social ladder. It basically compensates for our less ‘glamorous’ situations, and, according to theories of evolutionary competition, it provides us with a sense of superiority and power over those who are supposedly ‘socially superior’. (They call this status-jockeying, and the pleasure we take in celebrity downfalls is called schadenfreude.) This is why we also like to partake in gossiping, because the more we know, the more ammunition we gain in battling our inferiority complexes. 

In addition, just like I touched upon earlier, they serve as figures we draw inspiration from. A pillar of celebrity worship is that we admire stars for their accomplishments (despite their failures) and we then push ourselves to succeed in our own lives. (Brainblogger)

But then again, why are there some of us who willingly and unwillingly fall into the trap being just a tad too obsessed? As much as I hate to share with you guys what evolutionary psychologists have to say*, they seem to have an answer. According to Psychology Today, evolution has caused our brains to evolve so that…

…anybody with a familiar face was an ‘in-group’ member, a person whose alliances and enmities were important to keep track of.

The brain simply doesn’t realize that it’s being fooled by TV and movies, says sociologist* Satoshi Kanazawa, lecturer at the London School of Economics. “Hundreds of thousands of years ago, it was impossible for someone not to know you if you knew them. And if they didn’t kill you, they were probably your friend.”*

*I’m personally really biased against their word, simply because of the stuff I’ve been hearing from them in the news lately. It’s a personal thing… or rather, I don’t know how personal it is >_> ANYWAYS. lol

*DON’T CALL HIM A SOCIOLOGIST GDI

*Sounds temptingly feasible, but I have a serious disgust for this Kanazawa guy especially… he’s got a bad rep among many for his work, which has been deemed rather discriminatory. (You can Google him — his notorious stuff’s bound to come up.) Actually, I personally have  a hard time determining who and what to trust when it comes to evolutionary psychology, because some of its aspects can be argued as passive, stubborn, and ignorant of human adaptability… but ok, crap, I’m just digressing big time right now. My insides are screaming to stop using Psychology Today as a source, but I don’t know if it’s right for me to keep information from you guys just because of something I strongly feel T_T but I’ll keep going, because you all should decide for yourselves. At least you all know my stance lol

Moreover, our brains aren’t able to differentiate between gossip about people we actually know and that about celebrities, meaning that there are moments during our conversations when we are unconsciously unaware that we’re talking about people we do not know. Psychology Today further asserts that we as consumers of celebrity culture are “quick to judge when [stars] do something wrong” because we can’t help but have doubts about whether they’re “deserving” of the “awards” they’re enjoying as high-status individuals:

“We monitor their behavior,” [says University of Liverpool anthropologist Robin Dunbar. “We need to keep an eye on the great-and-the-good because they create a sense of community for us, but also because we need to make sure that they are holding to their side of the bargain,”

a sentiment reflected in TaJinYo’s statement. 

The obvious danger of this is the tendency to forget that the ones we keep this eye on are people too — people with the same rights to respect and privacy, regardless of their position as public figures. This is such a terrifying thought (assuming this proposition is true… God, thank you Kanazawa, now I’m suspicious about everything T_T). No wonder people like the TaJinYo have managed to fool themselves into thinking they had the right to probe into Tablo’s personal affairs. 

———- SCREW EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY ———- 

However, a thought that brings comfort is that despite what evolutionary psychology says*, I believe we all have the power to save ourselves from these traps of celebrity obsession. Yes, there are so-called tendencies, but it just takes a little self-awareness, willpower, and confidence in ourselves and the lives we lead to resist against quibbling over business that is ultimately none of our concern. And I’m not just saying this for optimism’s sake — people like TaJinYo’s members only make up a small percentage compared to the larger picture. Fans who do shit like this and this are simply the rotten ones among many, many apples (yet sadly, they manage to give the rest of us kpop fans a very bad name.) 

*HA, you see what I did tharr 8] lol

I wish I understood more about why it’s hard for some fans to simply acknowledge the fact that celebrities are as human and flawed as they are, and humans who do not posses the same values as they do. The thought dominating my mind right now is the recent fuss over BEAST’s Junhyung smoking. Fans spotted what seemed to be a cigarette pack in his pocket, and people exploded in rage and denial. There were those who couldn’t accept the fact that he smoked and would be ‘disappointed’ if this rumor was true. (It didn’t help that this picture of Kikwang with what looked like a cigarette in his hand surfaced soon afterwards. Tumblr B2UTies were having a ball indeed lol.) There was even this discussion forum I came across questioning which of the members smoked, and honestly, I thought the responses were ridiculous. First of all, it’s a bad habit, yes, but we shouldn’t be naive to the fact that like a majority of the world’s population smokes, meaning that there is more of a chance than none that these idols do as well. Truthfully, I’d be surprised if they didn’t smoke. And yet, people are going around stating as-a-matter-of-factly that no way these guys smoke, because it’s wrong and they believe it’s wrong. Just because it’s ‘wrong’ it doesn’t mean they don’t do it. Secondly, to be frank, who cares? IMO, such matters aren’t worth our attention. If fans aren’t able to handle petty things like this, I honestly don’t know what kind of shit’s gonna go down when it comes to the ‘bigger’ scandals :| First may be the seemingly innocent discussion forums and blog posts. Then as fans become more antsy about wanting to know the truth, we’ll soon have Twitter spams. Then Facebook groups. Before you know it, cyber bullying, online harassment, damaged reputations and lives forever destroyed. Kinda places TaJinYo’s reaction into perspective, doesn’t it :|

We all look for idols to model after. And we can’t help but idealize this sense of perfection about them that we refuse to accept may not be true. And when reality shows us otherwise, we are inclined to take matters into our own hands and either force them to be perfect, or persecute them for not being perfect. We can’t let ourselves fall into this confusion. Some noted causes of this are low self-esteem and lack of confidence in our lives and our own potential, so therein lies the source for a solution. Let’s begin to force into our heads that the only lives we need to concern ourselves with is our own. Strip off all the glamour, turn off all the cameras, and we’ll see a bunch of individuals just as human as we are. Yes, blame it on the media for such exaggerated images, but we can’t let ourselves completely off the hook. 

On a closing note, let me share with you the most memorable snippet of the article — words that will haunt my conscience for a very long time:

“Since my attackers were all anonymous, there was no way for me to know who was after me. I didn’t know if the doctor, who’s putting needles in my baby, is one of those people. It was terrifying.”

For the ones out there struggling hard for a way out of dangerously intense celebrity fandom, this should be a good starting point for you: place yourself in Tablo’s shoes. These things are really no joke.