Fruit-Shaped Bus Stops (1990) Location: Nagasaki, Japan

I need to have a whole essay, book lecture on the jedi mind manipulation that the asian media has gone through hell and high water to push on unsuspecting people who really don't even know the evils that they unknowingly be supporting. Mind you understandably exo was promoting a skin whitening company before kji went to the military, free will is a thing that's fine, and understably they have an image to promote. But I've never seen the other members this skin whitened while in the military, they all tanned and had unedited photos posted of at least light tans. Almost all the members who posted army photos before or after training had tans, I'm genuinely trying to understand them having the naturally darkest member edited to where his skin looks lighter then theirs did. I truly don't understand that, it seems comical yet also very strange. There were times even while injured, barely going outside that his skin is darker. Almost every public sighting he's had he appears to have like no melanin in his skin. I always think before I speak it's typical for me to hold in my words for months until I'm very sure of what talking about. To me s.m would know better than anyone else jongin's natural skin tone. Early in his career he never hid it and talked about it quite often, then somewhere along the way unless he was in america or europe his skin was ghostly pale a majority of the time. Logically speaking one would think that he tends to do what is required of him when asked by his employer. Understand that as well. Then there's the multiple layering that s.m I assume started placing over his photos so that it would be impossible to "darkwash" a laughable term coined by people upset at the attempt of fans to figure out the true skin color of kpop people. Now it is considered even more villainous to "darkwash" than to whitewash. Mind you this child was underage most likely skin whitening, putting poisonous chemicals on his face to appear lighter and caking makeup on all to fit into the s.m standards. But this is seen as normal and okay for both boys and girls. None of this is natural and can cause severe damage to the skin. Since it's 2024 and the average fan or even passerbyer will know little to none of this information, nor any cultural social background of what's going on in the kpop industry and why it is in fact not okay. But normalization and jokes make everything seem okay. The amount of fans I know of that genuinely, truly believe jongin is light bright tan and that's the darkest he can get and anything else is just bad lighting is sad. I know deep down they feel and say this because this is what they want to be true. The effort they put into the facade for him to me is too much to just be a coincidence, usually in the army kdolls are on their own but s.m hasn't stopped controlling his image, whether it's "random sightings", "public events" or things he posts himself they are intent on heavily lightening and editing his photos in a way I've never seen done before for someone on a break. They still have his collar on pretty tight.

230524 Kai Military Training Camp Update

Redemption - [DAY_966] The End of Evangelion.

I feel like people pressured Shawn to address his sexuality again and he didn't want to address it really from how he talked about it and to me it's disgusting how this keeps happening and this pressure is coming from other queer people most of the time, I will never get why y'all do this to others that you believe are in your own community instead of giving them space to do that on their own time

Did nct ever make sense financially:

But I want to explain why though

Nct was started as a group with infinite members. The goal was to have a male akb48

That being said the financial success of akb48 depended on the members doing various activities OUTSIDE of the group with an emphasis on practical safe and relatively inexpensive projects= consistent returns on investment.

Also the group's success depended on the group being well, actually successful.

S.m's marketing strategy is the opposite. The group is successful just by virtue of existing, they will get million invested in them regardless.

The group at least was thought of since the early 2010s when most of their members join. We know the group did not have a name and was simply a large collection of male trainee's. The group was basically a basket to keep their trainee's inside of. Don't worry if you do not make it into xyz group you can go to Nct.

Johnny was originally going to be a member of exo and was later placed in Nct, not the first round but in a later unit nct U.

It's actually very odd the thought and financial process of nct. Because unlike with akb48 it was not the direct intention to have the members do other projects and have seperate careers. It is the method of s.m to have people in groups for a majority of their career and then they can do other things. Unless you are lucky.

Also akb48 built up over time. It is a very old group, whereas nct gained lots of members quickly and the direction wasn't always decided or clear.

Like Akb48, Nct or SRB14 had a more direct and connected with the public image. They were not exo who were meant to be distant to create intrigue. They all had a pretty nice and approachable personality.

"AKB48 was founded as "idols you can meet".[4]Japanese idols are entertainers/performers who appeal directly to fans for support. Close interactions between fans and idols allow idols to cultivate and maintain loyal fan followings."

You won't remember Exo having a group youtube channel with weekly vlogs or having so many varieties even though they were a smaller group. Each group has a specialized team and marketing style.

AKB48 like nct had specialized teams as well

"According to former member Misaki Iwasa, each team has its own theme. Team A represents freedom; Team B is idol-like, with cute costumes, and Team K has a strong, powerful image"

AKB48 was very successful and had their own theater which would cut down on costs. The concepts were also more down to earth, they are more a performance troupe than an idol group. The focus is on entertaining the fans

Nct being a boy group inside of the kpop industry had a lot of competition and also they didn't have much of a pull besides having lots of members. They still had to travel and book venues and sellout stadiums to break even. Because boy bands are made to impress and show out. Of course lots of money is spent on expensive music videos, hotels, lots of staff, appearances at awards shows, top fashion for each member. Which is fine for a small group, but when the members keep growing and growing every year eventually getting into double digits; almost half the size of AKB48 in almost 1/3rd the amount of time, how is that sustainable?

It's not.

Simply put the more employees a company gains the more they spend paying their employees. If NCT is a company and the staff and members are the employees, then almost every year their costs increased. Even when they had good years, it was offset by the fact that their money would be paying for another unit. This is why s.m ent went so long without any other groups. And when they finally made a new group they took members already in NCT.

Add in the fact that there are some artists getting paid and sitting on the bench. They cannot afford to add them into a project or promote them. They can only bet on people they know will bring in money.

If they had brand new people that would be adding more and more people to the payroll, which at this point they likely can't afford. They would need a new project with already existing employees and have them double their workload--since they are the main ones bringing in money anyway, recycle in-house music and producers, and garner outside forces investing money on this dumpster fire to create something that would be profitable for the company. Send them to America so you can rack up the prices on tickets and merch cause Koreans sure won't go for this.

And...........that's how you get super m

okay now I'm done.

Also one more thing, the artists are not making money off the music, they make money other ways.

Spotify also takes a lot from the artists

Please, please stop streaming (too much music fries your brain) and bulk buying(is awful for the environment). The music industry has been dead, these artists are literal slaves. Good day.

lmao in korea the paps work for the gov literally. Its all planned out. I heard they have a file drawer on what scandals would best garner public reactions.

Dispatch makes me sick. What they do is a invasion privacy. I honestly hope to God that whoever’s relationship is revealed gets love and support from everyone because fans can be very possessive.

That's the thing is that dispatch also approaches the companies before releasing anything like this on idols and ask for money to keep it quiet - so it's never a "shock" to them but it's still disgusting nonetheless. The way paparazzi are is just nasty any way

I love how @runwaylooks asked us what radical feminist has done and continues to do to this day, and then immediately deletes the post. 

Anways…

1. Arab radical feminists liberating women across the Middle East (here, here)

2. African feminists bringing exposure to and addressing issues such as FGM and menstrual stigma. Examples include Laetitia Ky, Hibo Wardere, Sylvia Chioma, Nomcebo Mkhaliphi who you can all read more about here, since they were all under attack by trans activists over their activism.

3. Radical feminism rising all across Latin America, addressing issues such as femicide and abortion rights (here, here, here). Speaking of radical feminism in Latin America, you can watch this discussion with Bruna Santiago, the co-editor of Radical Feminism Magazine QG Feminista (a radical feminist magazine in Brazil) here, including other radical / gender-critical feminists. These are all comprised of women who work to bring awareness to women’s sex-based rights, among other feminist topics in Brazil (femicide, abortion, sexual violence).

4. Radical feminists in South Korea developing the 4B (”4 ‘No’s”) movement to liberate women in the country from centering men, and other patriarchal practices, from their lives. You can read more about it here, here, and here. Speaking of feminism in South Korea, it has actually grown more radical feminist as the country descends more into extreme patriarchy. They also address femicide and abortion rights, among many other topics.

5. French radical feminists fighting against violence against women in their country, as well as street violence and harassment (here)

6. Groups like Radical Women that continue to unite and uphold womens’ activism in various regions (here is the link to their website where you can browse around)

And those are just some, I’m sure we can find much more.

what taemints think kai does everytime taemin breaths

For colored girls: think piece for educational purposes; opinions welcome tho

So i was thinking on how, 90 percent of black female exo stans going from normal kai fans to hardcore fujoshi's to distance themselves from the kmusic nd black women movement is kinda sad, like just b ur self people will think what they want to think regardless its sad the lack of creativity these spaces had because so many fell into group think and feared being x'od out(no pun intended) from a fandom. it'll never be that serious. I'd like an actual study done on why most people get into hard-core shipping particularly females and particularly neurodivergent ethnic women, is it simply cause of naturally being in love with a couple(which is just voyeurism and still implies projecting yourself on one part of the relationship 4 real just look it up some twilight article from 2007 written by a white dude might pop up tho) or is it to distance oneself from the prison of the body avoid the harsh realities of gender inequality. Boys don't have to deal with periods, hormonal imbalances and physical vulnerability or at least as not as much as women typically do (if anyone disagrees pls go read any book on femicide in 1st or 3rd world countries its eye opening). But going back to what i was saying it kinda shocked me when i realized unlike other races there was more of an imbalance in the hetero-crushing fangirl and the vocal Fujoshi side of the fandom when it came to black women. Surely racism and simply wanting to be liked and possibly even avoid racist backlash by being apart of something that basically excludes all discussion of an idols toxic, s*xist, hetero er*tic behavior or really any conversation that a ethnic person w a brain would eventually call out. Wearing the fujoshi badge of honor would come with a certain code of conduct not mentioning too much outside of what would make the average shipper uncomfortable. Even if a shipper were to post a social climate topic talking of or reposting a thinkpiece this is basic liberal internet code of conduct being a shipper primarily a yaoi one of course that is acceptable. But anything digging to deeply in the behavior of pathology of a person or even(gasp) possible odd problematic things concerning the very ship you all congregate over that would be to much and you should be swiftly blocked lest anyone end up thinking to hard. I think many people have thought quite long and hard about it seeing the trend of intense idol worship, shippings, then completely deactivating of accounts leaving many pockets of the internet old kpop ghostowns. Because still to this day I wonder if for no other reason than just nobody talks about it, how interesting some of the most beloved exo ships including jongin like kaisoo could have long histories of simple unhealthy or toxic behavior towards one another and it either be swept under the rug, mass deleted( super common), or my fav have a black nd white filter put over it or have it slowed down.

For that reason i believe exo ships must be the korean kpop yaoi equivalent of justinxselena/ justinxhailey because of the pure blockheadedness of the shippers only caring about crafting the narrative. In exols so wrapped up in identifying with a homoerotic ship that common sense and decency leave the window. I won't touch on the dehumanization, overs*xualization ( thats a whole literal book i could write because they were kids who got groomed to be appealing to women and men alike and have unrealistic anime like bonds with their group members, and fellow trainee's) regardless on if you think they are together or not hell literally who knows but ignoring the system itself is messes up and not wanting to kill the l*st you have for your ship long enough to see it..its too much. These companies are not right they are truly a flashy version of slavery no part of it is cute including the ships companies sit down and pair up. Again there are still shippers of couples that are dead and divorced, many couples are secret no on can say for sure what is and isn't true but what is true above is that children desperate to make themselves and their families proud are taught to be s*x symbols before they are done with puberty. The same puberty as many of their fans were going through as they first laid eyes on them. I'll never forget in the one direction documentary they brought in a neurologist to describe how the fan's brains as mostly preteen or teenage girls were extremely affected almost to the point of hysteria. I just can never back down on the boy/girl bands craze being distinctly built for young girls. It is. It is real life barbie and ken. The way they view the teen girl market is predatory, evil and ends in destruction of young minds.

The fact that johnny kitagawa was exposed yet people still revere him and his work like he did something tells me so much about the world and era we are in. I truly believe people have/will have the same sentiments towards lee sooman. But look what he did for kpop...what did motown do for black music? Sold it to the literal devil. People as a commodity is slavery. People's relationships, their affection, how they express love, their intimacy being wrapped up in a bow for you is slavery..comfortable slavery but still slavery none the less. They are designer slaves, ultra house slaves. I need more realistic conversations about the nature of this particular pocket of capitalism. Without the sob story attached about how its a..or rather a particular idol or a paticular relationship is your salvation..no its not. hollywood married couples with kids break up. The self identifying * delulu fantasy* im a real life manic pixie dream girl this idol is my emotional support...yes emotional support idol I've heare this so many times before. But people always mis speak, what you mean is that idol is your virtual emotional support dog.

Because what else could you call feeling entitled to wanting to control someone's viewpoint, disliking how masculine or feminine someone is on a particularly day ( the domkai subkai or alpha omega debate with him sends me each side completely ignoring all humans have a balance of maculine and feminine energies. Denying someone polarity as a human being is something else.) and how that disrupts your view of who you feel they should be, showing praise when they are a good boy and feeling okay to drag them when they did what you consider bad, feeling that person is less than human, nothing more than a virtual pet.

I am interested to see how people react when sm no longer has control and the freedom on their personal image.

when the malewife member gets an actual wife and has children and is conservative then what..thats not far fetched that is just realistic.

When reality sets in will the kpop fandom still like them, everyone says yes a if exo hasn't been under contract since their brains werent fully formed and sm controlled their image even if you think they didnt.

I has to get offline when chen's wedding was happening and people were using behind the scenes footage of members next to one another at a most likely an assigned seat wedding. You think a married man is gonna put his band members spread out next to family...wild nothing was learned. But the shippers laugh at the stan shippers who don't want him married

the exo is family fans is no different than the they shouldnt date fans you are implying they would put a group over their own wellbeing or even their children now thats where you're buggin. The people who retort we pay their bills we made them..nope wrong gain technically you didnt, their sponsors, managers, ceo, makeup artist all who they know better than any fan helped make more so than any fan. Fans are customers, one person stop going to a restaurant or store, ten more people see a commercial or celeb endorse it and go in droves

one customer stop shopping at a luxury grocery store because its too expensive or the store changed too much

doesnt matter to the store because its not a store just like an idol they have a team upkeeping it and keeping it running and evolving, getting or rather paying or giving incentives to wealthy or influential people to keep their product or corporate entity running and successful.

People back then were shocked when liam started revealing things about the group the fans had no ideal about. These are people, who are mostly contoured into whatever the richest person in charge thinks they should be how on earth could you know anything beyond your own nose watching video content made by the same people who created the celebrity avatar they occasionally embody.

Im still learning new stuff about the entertainment industry nothing is ever certain Media is an illusion even whats behind the curtain seriously, a lot of what people think is fanservice is...but not for regular fans its for super duper rich people the same ones who keep the companies and comebacks going. But anyway most of this is known subconsciously anyway. Gifts aren't allowed but somehow certain fans can gift items worth more than the rent at an idols dorm, these special fans aren't bratty rich girls but again its a lovely story pushes to further demonize women making women the ultimate villains when at the end of the day women are getting financially, spirituatually, creatively and physically drained by men whether in the physical or metaphysical by the characters in kwangya.

Theres so much more to say but eh i only said a few problematic things

oh and because I sped past it and i don't wanna come back to this and clarify, people be speed reading i know sometimes I'm people. What i meant concerning the kai shipping sitch is that every yaoi ship he is in there was a time said other half of the ship went there with either his features ( which is featurism and worse than colorism every idol skin whitens but i noticed people consistently saying or alluding to his looks being other which if you didn't know in far east asia featurism would be pointing out someone not having the typical far east asian features and having more austrailoid/negroid features. I never noticed this til I went back after my brain developed. This would be why all those years ago taemin said he looked like he was from south america which was a bit more accurate than kai saying he thought taemin was usher. There are other instances between these two but im just putting an example. Exo certainly had there fun but on the tail end of exo's career you will only see kai himself making fun of his skintone. You can feel however you want but I just find it interesting the same standards the public has with heterosexual relationships even fictional shipping fandom just doesn't exist when concerning yaoi. But again I feel thats for obvious reasons. The shipverse which mainly includes the highlight reels heated onstage moments or fluffy ones.

Anyway whatever i can tier rank ships another day. All the ones I have seen that may have actually had something going on.... nobody cares, which means it's mostly just group think. Its the tribe aspect. Notice there's no one shipping oxygen and hydrogen its a true bond definitely real but there's no fanclub/cult