🐻 There are those who don't do this and I think they don't look at Weverse, I think they didn't see it, and my Weverse... did I only post it on Weverse?... when I posted it on Weverse, after I said that I'd like people to not come to the hotel, almost 90 people out of 100, ARMYs pretend they don't know us when we are out on the streets. So that we can make even small memorable experiences in those countries, they pretend they don't know and walk past. In fact, they close their eyes tight after seeing us. And that makes us really happy so we say hi first.
🐻 "Hi!"
🐻 And then they go, "*gasp* hi! Blah blah. Have a good day!"
🐻 It goes like that. And we shake hands too.
🐻 And that warms our hearts. And so we say thank you more and give our greetings.
Sitting with family members talking about BTS vs grammys.
And a cousin of mine said, “i actually dont understand why it’s such a big deal. Just accept the award and move on. They want to give it to them right? So just take it.”
I’ll pause here to say that it made my blood boil to high heaven hearing that.
A little backstory. This cousin of mine is doing her phd fellowship in marine microbial something or other. She’s always been too prissy to explain it claiming we won’t get it anyway. A whole other issue entirely.
So I said to her, “you’re doing all this work for your phd right. You’re the best in your field. On the verge of a breakthrough. And you’re about to be awarded for your contribution. The Nobel Prize. Or the Crafoord Prize. Hypothetically. Wouldn’t that be an honour? Of course it would. Now, think about the fact that, just before they decide to honour you with that, *gasp* they realise you’re Asian and far beyond qualified compared to some of their darling non-Asian candidates that were a shoe-in. So in an effort, to placate you instead of giving you the award you were promised. They create a whole new one. Just to sideline you in there. The Asian Nobel Prize. Or the Asian Crafoord Prize. How would that make you feel?”
Her face contorted into this beautiful web of confusion. While all my other cousins around us who were also having this conversation with us went dead silent.
She then proceeded to say, “that wouldn’t make any sense. My field work as a microbial marine biologist should not be accredited to where I’m from. If my finding is a breakthrough, then it’s a breakthrough to all. Not just Asia.”
Me: exactly. And that is the point bts is trying to make. That their music and their contribution to the artistry of being musicians should not be accredited to the fact that they are Asian. Music is music. They are global artists. They are mainstream global artists. Sidelining them to secondary, segregatory categories is not acceptable. They should not have to stand for it. Just like how you would not stand for it in your field of work. Qualification of awards should be measured by merit. Not by geographical borders. And to add to what you said earlier. Why not just take the award. What message do you think that would send to the institution that are trying to normalise and camouflage discrimination as inclusion? It would just give them the leverage to keep doing it to others. To keep doing it to bts. So when is enough enough?”
Silence. By this point most of them either checked out of the conversation or just didn’t want to refute me further.
But at the very least I got them all pondering. And also got the prissy high and mighty one to stfu once and for all 😤 which was my end goal anyway. lol.
She’s never talking to me again I bet. A win is a win.
Now that we have established that Jungkook did ‘💋’ Taehyung. let’s talk about how he was so smug after pulling that lil stunt and how Tae had to scold him by kicking his thigh. HE KNOWS WHAT HE DID and he did it to rile up Tae. his big ass smile after being hit…such a flirt