Hey! Hallie here!
Spring boarding right off of Taehyung’s birthday, anyone who has a Weverse account got a pretty startling notification. BigHit released an announcement informing everyone that several accounts were being taken down for false claims and hateful harassment directed toward the BTS members. There was even mention of legal action being taken towards some of the largest offenders. I wasn’t certain what the entire issue was about. I’m not often on Weverse or Twitter, so I wasn’t really aware of any harassment at all. More information came out this morning, mostly delivered by fans, somewhat explaining the situation. Evidently some haters were attacking Jimin for a past health issue and threatening him with some pretty horrific things. That along with spreading rumors and generally being jerks. Of course, the fan base is incredibly angry at these individuals. Who wouldn’t be? But there are also some things that the fan base is doing that aren’t so helpful right now, and we need to talk about it.
- We need to stop assuming the comments made about Jimin are the main reason for BigHit’s announcement. BigHit hasn’t clarified what exactly the announcement is responding to, or even that it’s responding to attacks made on Jimin alone. While hate comments directed at Jimin have surged, they have surged randomly for all members throughout the years. The truth is we don’t know anything about this situation aside from the fact that people have been nasty to Jimin recently. So yes, remind him that he is loved. Because he is so, so, loved. But also keep in mind that we are in the dark about a lot of this and we shouldn’t spread fan information as fact without knowing the whole story first.
- We need to stop assuming what Jimin’s mental health is currently like. We don’t know Jimin. We aren’t his friends. We aren’t his family. Most of us have never even met the guy. We appreciate him. Of course we do. But we have no right to assume where he is emotionally right now. We don’t know if he’s even read these mean comments or if they’ve affected him at all. So if you’re one of those people who has been alluding that Jimin might be considering doing something drastic. Stop it. Immediately. Not only are you potentially triggering other people, but you have no right to assume that Jimin is currently dealing with that depression. That information is personal information. So, once again, remind Jimin that you love him. But don’t attempt to guilt people into feeling sorry for him because of an assumption you’ve made about his mental health. Simply give him the love he deserves.
- We need to realize this isn’t the first or the last time that any of the boys will receive hate. Each member has received so much hate. From random controversies, to rumors about who they might be dating, to attacking members with past mistakes, haters have been present for their entire careers. We’ve even talked about the ‘But Namjoon’ controversy on this blog. Most, if not all of the time, this hate in undeserved. But it’s also expected. They’re a very huge presence in the public eye, and for some reason, a lot of people have a lot of hate to give. That doesn’t mean that these comments are ok. But it does mean that we can’t assume something bad is going to happen to the member that receives hate every single time these comments get a little louder. There are plenty more people who are ready to drown out the bad comments with some very lovely messages. That’s what we’re all doing right now, in fact.
- We need to realize that the best thing we can do right now is send Jimin love. Stop attacking haters. You can attempt to educate people if you want, but many are just trolls you shouldn’t waste time on. Stop trying to spread incomplete information. We don’t know much right now. Stop using a catastrophic thought you’ve had about the situation to guilt people into feeling bad about the situation. That’s more often triggering than helpful. Just send Jimin some love. Talk about how cute his smile is. Talk about how nice he is to the fans. Talk about how beautiful his voice is. Talk about how important he is to BTS. He, just like all of the boys, deserves that love every day. So show him just how amazing he is and drown out the mean stuff.
I think it’s pretty obvious that I didn’t want to dive too deep into what exactly is being said right now because I don’t think it helps. This is simply a reminder that there are better ways to use our energy in situations like this. For example, today is the anniversary of the first song Jimin composed himself, “Promise”. It’s a song that is very personal to himself that addresses some of the issues he was having with his mental health at the time. It’s beautiful and something most people can relate to. So let’s appreciate that he shared something so personal with us. It deserves love and attention today and Jimin deserves to be acknowledged for such an accomplishment. Jimin is an amazing musician with a big heart. ARMY should focus on that today above all else.
Don’t do anything fun until I get back!
Hallie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 