In regards to this CRAZY EatYourKimchi Drama…
this is going to be a very messy and poorly thought out post, but i’ve been wanting so say some things about this for a while.
as someone who has watched pretty much all of the material for years now, let me just say a few things;
simon and martina have always been problematic. they have always said things that were a little off. i’ve always maintained that it’s okay to like something that’s problematic, as long as you understand why those things are problematic. my issue with simon and martina isn’t that they are problematic (everyone makes mistakes, you know, we’re human, we mess up.) my issue is that they deny that they have said things that are either sexist, racist, xenophobic, classist, and ableist. my issue is that, not only do they deny that the things they say are hurtful, but they also deny and invalidate the pain they are inflicting on others by saying these things. instead of saying, oops, we were offensive, sorry about that, issuing a genuine apology for triggering people and moving on with their lives, they instead say; oops, you took offense to something that isn’t offensive, and completely missed all the nice things we said, and are accusing us of things, and this is not our fault, and blah blah blah blaming victims and excusing their actions.
that is not cool, that is not respectable. and i can honestly say that, after watching them argue with people they hurt, and like and support and even encourage their fans that attacked the offended, i don’t like them anymore. not a bit. because by not owning up to what they’ve done, and backpeddling, they’ve made a bigger mess. they took the route of the little man. instead of owning up to their mistakes, they pretended they didn’t make any, and have continued to defend their actions, and made a snarky and condescending response to defend their actions. and that is not cool or admirable or respectable no matter how you look at it.
i’d also like to say; t-aratards is a very offensive thing to say. if you doubt this at all, take a few seconds to browse through the ableism tag. understand the historical oppression of that word. understand how using it, even jokingly, is not funny.
if you think that what they said about hyuna is okay, look under the slut shaming (and even rape culture,) tags.
if you think using the word ghetto the way they did is okay, look under the classism tag and even racism tag.
in fact, just read this whole thing.
i’m not saying simon and martina are maliciously saying these things with the intent to harm people. i’m saying they are ignorant to what they are actually saying, and i’m saying they are being willfully ignorant. as english majors and teachers, they should understand that words can be chucked full of decades of meaning that predates their use of those words, and they should understand that using such words does perpetuate systems that normalize ableism, classism, racism, sexism, ect “other isms,” and they should understand the importance of eradicating such speech from their vernacular.
if you think the response to EYK has been uncalled for, think about how many times these people have faced such comments, have been willfully ignored when they have tried to point out why they were hurt, and have even been told that they had no right to feel hurt in the first place. think about the language you hear and use that could seriously harm the people around you. basically, think about other people, and think about doing whatever you can to not hurt those people.
we need to be able to have open discussions about conduct in this fandom. we need to open our minds to create room for a share of discussions without immediately siding with our biases. we need to understand that our wonderful oppas and eonnies and the media sources that talk about them can say things that are wrong. we need to understand that people can be hurtful, can make mistakes, and can be wrong. and we need to learn to accept our mistakes, own up to the, apologize and try not to do those things again, or else this fandom will continue to be a dangerous place for POC and victims.
i’m done.
(via lifeisblaq)
