After giving myself time to sort through the mess of the other day, and decompress, I want to address this vile behavior we all witnessed occur on social media. With the members of BTS creating their own personal Instagram accounts, and posting personal photos/videos, many “fans” have jumped on the opportunity to feel vindicated about their twisted beliefs of the members and their relationships. Unless you live under a rock, if you are ARMY, you are aware of the infighting between “fans” in the defense of their ships and favored members. Over the years, it has gotten increasingly disturbing and completely out of hand. However, in the last few days, the worst of this fandom have seemed to hit a new low. I haven’t spoke much on my thoughts on certain BTS ships and the “fans” who ship them, but I felt compelled to, even if just for myself.
With V and JK both posting pictures together, there were some Vkook shippers who decided it was their right to take this as “proof” of their ship. But instead of simply enjoying the pictures, they sullied the moment by posting hateful anti JM comments and messages all over social media. With malicious intent, many of these posts were aimed at JM himself, in hopes that he would see how much he’s “hated” by V and JK, and everyone else. However, all that achieved was an outpouring by REAL ARMY, flooding social media with positive messages of love and support for JM and BTS as a whole.
One thing I want to emphasize here is that we as a fandom do not own BTS, and what we get to see of them is not the whole entire picture. We can speculate. We can wonder. BUT, we won’t know anything 100% unless it comes directly from their own mouths. With the content we do get, it is clear that all 7 members love and care for each other deeply. That would be hard to fake; with how often cameras are following them around. The problem is, too many in this fandom pick and choose what they want to believe and what they want to ignore. Too often, shippers (and even solo stans) will create false narratives based purely in speculation, hyper focusing on meaningless details, and overanalyzing every last word, look, and touch. This bleeds into how easy it is for shippers to believe just about anything they read online, including unverified sightings and claims of their ships going on “secret dates” or traveling together.
This brings me to the pictures that JK recently uploaded to his Instagram of him and V. Not only did these pictures cause many Vkookers to claim this as a silent “coming out,” and a chance to deface JM, but it has also become their “proof” of the Vkook “dinner date” rumor. After JK posted those pictures, the owner of the Atomix restaurant in NYC posted this:
Many Vkookers, both Korean and International, took this as evidence enough to prove the “dinner date” rumor, and a nonverbal admission of their relationship status. They also tacked on the fact that Hobi could not remember when this would have taken place, which they then concluded to mean that Hobi and the others, were not there. What I find funny, and hypocritical, is shippers (not just Vkookers) will be quick to accept certain behaviors as “proof” of their ship’s realness, such as going out for a meal together, but negate the same behaviors exhibited by rival ships as “fake,” “forced,” or “brotherly.”
In terms of this “dinner date,” until proven otherwise, one can choose to see it as a meal over drinks between friends or a date night between lovers. The issue here is that we KNOW they are friends, but we have NO WAY of KNOWING that they are a couple. Same with any other ship, we JUST DON’T KNOW 100%. Some ships hold more water with K-ARMY for reasons that I-ARMY are lost on for multiple reasons, but that is a whole other can of worms I’m not about to open. Regardless, no one has the right to speak on what is true or not other than BTS themselves. Despite what I’m aware of, I still cannot say with 100% certainty that I KNOW the nature of JK and JM’s relationship, any more than I can about JK and V, or any other combination within BTS. I don’t know who is closer to who, or anything else. And odds are, no one else in the fandom knows 100% either.
In all honesty, if V and JK did in fact have drinks and dinner alone, I’d be glad. If you remember back to FESTA 2020 “Rolling Paper,” fans were made aware that something was up with V, and the members were concerned, reaching out to him. It was pretty clear that none of the members were entirely sure what was wrong, but they could still tell something wasn’t alright with V. Then, during the infamous talk between V and JK in an episode of “In the Soop,” V mentioned JK calling him, asking to meet for drinks, only for them to have not shared a “proper” drink together until that very night. Some time later, V mentioned in his Weverse interview, that he had experienced his lowest point, and had struggled with how his life felt aimless. However, after writing “Blue & Grey,” V said he felt lighter, wanting to let go of his own “Blue & Grey.” With all of that in mind, it makes sense that V may have pulled away from those he was closest to for a while; it’s a natural human response to feeling unhappy and being stretched too thin. V wanting to reconnect with JK would be key in his healing process, considering how close they were when they were teens. That’s what makes that conversation between V and JK so special.
I’ve noticed that some Vkookers choose to believe that this conversation from “In the Soop” was scripted and forced upon them by the company, refusing to believe the words coming out of V and JK’s mouths. They chose to ignore the beauty and vulnerability of this moment, and instead they harped on how “fake” it was. It couldn’t be true, unless it’s accepted that V and JK had grown apart for some time, as per their own words. If one is to accept this fact, then it is only logical to accept that the odds of V and JK being a couple at that time were very low. Therefore, it’s not surprising that so many Vkookers denounced this conversation, and created their own narrative that fit their own beliefs of V and JK’s relationship. Sadly, the opposite would be true if there was a change in who what talking to JK. Replace V with JM, and the reaction from this same base of “fans” would be very different. It would have been the “proof” they needed to show how JK and JM are not close, and therefore could not be a couple. Do you see the hypocrisy there? There’s no way you don’t. This is an example of a logical fallacy, and this is just one of many within the shipping fandom.
[TW: Mention of depression and suicide, hate posts]
What I wanted to get at here in this long winded post is how dangerous shipping logic (or better yet, lack thereof) has become, where reality is easily replaced with fantasy. This fantasy has surmounted in this deranged mentality of ownership of BTS and this perceived notion of knowing everything, allowing for bdelygmia to become an everyday occurrence in this fandom. Belittling, degrading, insulting, abusive and violent words, death threats, and demands for a member to kill themselves has become rampant on social media, and it is nothing short of disturbing. Any use of this type of rhetoric against ANY member of BTS, OR ANYONE ELSE, is unacceptable. THIS NEEDS TO STOP! I know I’ve touched on this before, but we have seen one too many times before how this can ACTUALLY LEAD TO SUICIDE! Too many have succumbed to their depression, hastened by the nasty, hateful comments left by senseless netizens hiding behind a keyboard. Suicide is NOT A JOKE! Please, do not allow your fantasies to cloud your better judgment. The world is not black and white, and you, as a fan, cannot assume to color in the lines for someone else, let alone your ships or favorite idols. Be thankful for what they share with you, heed their words, learn to observe ALL CONTENT before you come to any perceived conclusions, and NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING!
I fear this will only get worse. I fear someone could actually get hurt. What more has to happen until something changes?
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