I’m sure many of you have heard, but for those who haven’t, I’ll fill you guys in: Recently, a certain Exo anti-cafe (anti-fanclub) by the name of “Ga Mang So” was targeted by the South Korean media for their acrimonious behaviour not only on their cafe webpage, but also in numerous places elsewhere online. “Ga Mang So” stands for “Gayo-gae ga Mang ha neun Sori”, which means (roughly in Korean), “the deadening sound of Gayo (Gayo meaning Korean music)”, and this organization is dedicated to promoting hateful opinions on SM Entertainment’s twelve-member Kpop group, Exo.

I won’t go into the detailed particulars about what “Ga Mang So” does, but I want to mention a few of the malicious acts this organization has already committed online: swearing and other forms of textual profanity, spreading false rumours about the Exo members (primarily the rumour about the Korean members being exempted from the customary two-year military service), as well as photoshopping their faces into zombies, various animals, and (I still cannot believe this) funeral portraits.

I am not an Exotic. I am your average Korean girl and university student who has lived much of her life in and practically grown up in North America. I have stuck with Kpop through thick and thin for ten years now, since 2004. I have my own bias groups and groups’ members, and Exo is not one of them. Nevertheless, I am disgusted at “Ga Mang So” and what they have been doing to emotionally hurt and humiliate the Exo members and their families. No Kpop idol deserves to be treated as such. In fact, no PERSON deserves to be treated as such.

This is my truthful opinion of Exo: Yes, they are under SM Entertainment, the very company that drove out former Super Junior member, Hankyung, as well as the three former TVXQ members (now part of JYJ), Yoochun, Jaejoong, and Junsu. Yes, they are Lee Soo Man’s boys, his money-making machines. Yes, they are being promoted differently than other groups (details of which are too complicated to describe here). And yes, their songs do not always suit my tastes (strictly only my opinion, I’m sure millions of you out there love their music). But that’s just because of SM Entertainment, the company that they’re in, and not directly because of THEM. I mean, what wrong have they done to anyone? Besides working endless hours practising and also doing variety shows, what have they done to receive such hatred and blame?

I admit, I wasn’t too fond of Exo around the time before and when they debuted and up until the first half of last year. I haven’t watched any of their promo teasers (I still haven’t watched a single one), didn’t know the names of any of the members except Kai, whom my friends kept bugging me about (I know all the members now), and I found them to be extremely annoying whenever I saw them on music or variety shows. When I went to Korea last summer and attended various Kpop concerts and the 2013 Idol Sports Championship, I quite soon grew sick of being jostled and screamed into the ear (to the point where I almost became deaf) by the thoroughly devoted Exotics at those events. And whenever I saw Exo winning awards or gaining some sort of recognition, me and my petty heart couldn’t congratulate them. Looking back, I now realize that I was jealous. I was jealous at Exo for having so many fans, winning so many awards, being so popular throughout the Kpop mainstream, while some of my own bias groups did not have any of these things. I never stopped to think about WHY Exo had so many fans, WHY they are loved by so much people.

But late last year, due to constant recommendations from a friend, I had the opportunity to watch a few episodes of “Exo’s Showtime”, as well as Exo’s guest appearances on “Weekly Idol” and “Laws of the Jungle”. From those shows, I got to know the Exo members’ individualized characters and personalities. I discovered that they are very nice people, hardworking and diligent in their work, always caring about and looking out for one another, while also forever grateful to their fans. I felt guilty for judging them formerly, just because of the way they looked and how they were marketed. Nowadays, while I may not be an avid fan of Exo, I still wish them happiness and success in their music career.

In a nutshell, don’t be an anti-fan. Don’t spend your precious time being an anti-fan of any Kpop idol/group. To all you current anti-fans out there, STOP. You’re wasting your lives on something so insignificant, of hating celebrities that you barely know, or not at all. Who are you to judge them? You don’t know what they’ve been through in the music industry, throughout their personal lives. Instead, focus on those groups/singers that you DO like. Support them to the best of your ability, and as much as your personal time may allot you. If you’re an anti-Kpop then fine, don’t listen to Kpop. Read a book, take a nap, I don’t know, but don’t bash a music genre that you yourself did not create. Who gave you the right to do so?

This was my humble opinion of the “Ga Mang So” fiasco. I hope something like this will never happen again, and I hope that at least some of you will agree with me.

[original post = http://anybody2you.tumblr.com/post/73663690328/ ]