#idk i'm not very educated about this topic but it just pisses me off every time i see something like this

[sapphic-schizo]

nothing quite pisses me off like all these stupid fucking luxury development projects that are way too ambitious and have no real demand so a huge amount of money is wasted on buildings that will never be occupied and left to rot half-finished while there are homeless people on the street and an increasingly severe lack of affordable housing in cities. like that stupid fucking "horizontal city" the saudi government is planning to build in the middle of the desert. it's so obvious from a moment's glance that it's literally just a speculative concept they paid someone to render in CGI and any architect or city planner can point out more than 100 flaws in the plan but it's a real plan and they're gonna build a little bit of it and then give up and it's gonna sit there and rot in the desert and mess with the ecosystem. or so many mcmansion subdivisions in america and canada that no one can afford to live in so they're just empty shells where people squat and do drugs. of course developers don't wanna build boring apartments for stupid poor people that sucks they all wanna be luxury landlords or whatever. die

[determinate-negation]

Hii. I'm not sure how to phrase this question, but how does one draw the line between the most effective way of getting people into engaging critically with art and politics (which is imo, being nice and encouraging and yes coddling a little bit people's fragile egos) and expressing your own discontent with people's lack of curiosity and desire to learn and form well funded opinions beyond base level takes, paired with an immovable conviction that anything that isn't immediately comfortable (such as your blorbo show (?) Being criticized) must be Evil.

What I mean is that as an individual you'd want to basically shake these people who shut down every discussion with the slogan Let People Enjoy Things, and rightfully call them idiots for throwing a tantrum at the grown age of 36 because someone said maybe watching something other than Steven universe would be good or whatever, but on the other hand telling people they are unintelligent for exclusively engaging with surface level ideas/ uninspired art does Not encourage anyone who does that into going beyond that comfort zone. At the same time tho it does feel like you're doing airplane sounds so the baby eats the pudding without crying. You cannot condescend anyone into critical thought but the fact that so many people are unwilling to engage in it out of laziness is making everyone's life worse. How do we get out of that point ig is my question. Sorry if that made 0 sense English isn't my first language :P hope you're having a good day/night

idk i honestly get very annoyed by watching people or interacting with people who respond to any mild critical thought with some iteration of 'let people enjoy things' and 'youre being elitist for not liking the popular thing,' and a million other things. ngl i dont think tumblr is also the greatest place for like... scholarly discourse although it can actually be quite productive for it somethings. but a lot of people genuinely dont want to look into shit. theres an attitude here (not just on tumblr but i just think in the capitalist west) of incuriosity and its difficult to say how to overcomme. for example ill post links to books and essays about a topic and have people complain that i dont specify what chapters to read. this pisses me off to no end and i end up ranting about it and probably coming off like a dick lol. thus the posts...

i also do post like essays and articles and shit that i think explains my position on this and the theoretical basis for it, and if people ask questions ill try to explain any concepts and give recommendations for stuff to read about mass culture and cultural criticism. i think this has been more productive, idk. i dont think political education and class consciousness will rise from social media though, which is where these tendencies are allowed to develop to the extreme. organization and education irl will be the most fruitful, but still i just think to show people the stuff that influenced me and how i think of it is a net positive. ty and same to you

[sehyoons]

Can I ask what you don't like about the hair? Just the look of it or are there cultural problems I'm unaware of? I think harley quinn and joker a famous characters so it makes sense to use them. But I haven't really watched any super hero movies. What makes you disappointed in beat?

This is gonna be a long reply so I’m putting it under a readmore. If anybody wants to add on pls do because I think this is a conversation we should have, but please put it under a readmore if it gets long or just dm me if you wanna talk okay cool leggo

First off, instead of saying it every other sentence I’ll say it here once, THIS IS ALL JUST MY OPINION. I AM NOT PERFECT. I HAVE A LOT TO LEARN AND I AM ENTHUSIASTICALLY OPEN AND EAGER TO LEARN AND BETTER MYSELF. ALSO I’M WHITE AND TRYING TO BE AWARE OF MY PRIVILEGED AND UNLEARN MY BIASES WHICH IS A LIFELONG PROCESS AS A WHITEY. PLEASE EDUCATE ME IF I’M WRONG OR MISSING SOMETHING and please do it in a nice or neutral way I have no ill intent man I just wanna be good and learn okay leggo

Let’s list out all the aspects of my disappointment

The borderline cultural appropriation of the hair – the topic of people getting braids (only talking braids here, not dreads or anything else) has been changing and when bk’s teaser dropped I took the time to google some info because the last time I really sat down and tried to learn about this stuff was a while ago and these conversations and viewpoints are fluid and always evolving. Everybody has their own opinion which is important and valid. from what I found there’s an agreement that the key distinction between appropriation and appreciation is language and intent. (here’s a video I found that summed up the general idea and was very helpful, but I really urge you to do you own research and have your own discussions about this so you can learn too.) I don’t know shit about braids and styling and names so I’m not sure what the proper term for bk’s hair is so I’m just going to refer to it as “braids” and if that’s wrong or there’s a better word please let me know!!basically from what I’ve learned (which again if it’s wrong pls hit me up) the hair itself isn’t a problem. If bk, A.C.E, or Beat make inappropriate or inaccurate comments about it then that’s where we need to draw the line and let them know. There’s a term “calling in” (as opposed to “calling out”) that focuses more on correcting and educating rather than demonizing and cancelling. If it comes to that then I trust that choice will help them understand what’s going on and express how we expect them to act in the future. Knowing A.C.E and Beat I trust that they’ll be understanding, apologetic, and learn from this as to not make the same mistakes again.One woman expressed that a key point in her definition of cultural appropriation was that it’s being done by a dominant group. But I would argue that as an idol you are considered a dominant group especially in your home country? And also any non-korean people would be considered a minoritized group in South Korea? so I’m not sure how that effects this… I’m not sure where I stand in that respect….

The laziness and problematic nature of the joker/hq “concept” – when sy’s “joker” styling dropped I was pretty pissed. My friends talked me down and they’re right, if this was something as simple as just styling and not necessarily a whole ass concept then I could be chill. It’s still not my fav and I don’t like it, but it would be w/e and I would get over it. But it doesn’t seem like that’s the case (obvs it could change w the mv but it doesn’t seem like it will imo.) I’m all for concepts, but this feels lazy to me.  I expect more from Beat and A.C .E. It seems like they saw something that was popular rn, and historically has been done and beaten like a dead horse, and decided to go for it. whether they did it because it’s just something they’re into or in an attempt to garner attention idk. There’s a difference to me between “ooo fun Halloween costumes concept!” and this. Again, we have to wait for the mv to really be 100% sure on that but ya.also, for people who don’t know, the joker/hq relationship is VERY NOT GOOD. It is manipulative and abusive and not healthy and the fact that people romanticize it is very not okay. I’m not going into things because it’s a lot but google’s your friend.

The fanservice/shipping/baiting – I’ll preface this with I AM SUPER GAY AND SO FUCKING SUPPORTIVE OF BEING LGBTQ+ AND NOT HIDING SHIT AND BEING LOUD ABOUT IT but that’s not what this is. listen. I get that the industry is hard. But this aint it. especially with the increase in “[member], kiss [member]!!” comments on vlive they have GOT to be more aware of this shit. I’m all for being playful but this seems pretty forced. I’m very loud about not shipping real people and I don’t want to say that they’re asking for it because that’s not the right attitude… but they’re certainly not making it easy on themselves alright?

So to answer your questions more directly: the hair is done badly and is in poor taste and if Beat or A.C.E say something stupid it’s gonna be a fuckin mess. sy & bk look sloppy and I don’t like it.