when did I ever promise you the world?

[meiface]

Sometimes I have non-incoherent thoughts too, though usually they come out in the form of unpopular fandom opinions:

【一】 What's up with praising people to high heavens for the bare minimum of human decency? It's like thanking someone for not punching you in the face. Shouldn't we have higher standards than that?

What do I mean?

GD does something

Comments

[out_of_words24]

sadly it seems to be the norm that celebrities just aren't held to the same standards, as if their "talent" somehow insulates them from everything else (see: other designers saying john galliano is just "eccentric")

also, oh god, colonialism. we have our own version of that here (the sarong party girl phenomenon) which creeps me out just as much.

[meiface]

In some circumstances, I could see some praise like, "Wow, I'm impressed, he hasn't let the fame get to his head," and so on, but in situations like this? Sorry, all that's required is basic human decency, not the second coming of Christ.

What is the sarong party girl phenomenon? Oh hey, it's on Wiki! /hits that up

Hmm. I think:

1. I will always find it skeevier when it's the guy targeting women, particularly in this context of former colonialism and submissive Asian woman stereotype

2. a huge part of why these women target white expats is because (a) the guys are creepily Yellow Feverish and therefore receptive and (b) those guys have all the status and wealth, so, if you're going to gold-dig, they make prime targets

[nyw]

re: 2.: there's also the (sort of) fact that local men aren't exactly the best partners - a very large majority still expect sweet and obedient wives so they'd rather go for mail-order brides, or women from China, etc etc - a great majority of local women is very quickly becoming materialistic and career-minded, and altogether a bit too independent-minded for a lot of men. I guess it's unfair of me to say this since I doubt there are any local boys on your flist who can defend themselves, but I consider a lot of them too immature and mummy's boys :| As a matter of fact my mother thinks I should either 1) date older, or 2) date foreign (implicitly meaning white or Japanese [idek]) because she doesn't think I'll be able to tolerate local guys :|

Well in any case your male exchange friends are clearly looking in the wrong places if they haven't landed local girls yet.

(Sorry for edit!)

[meiface]

ahh, you make an interesting point! My mom tells me to date older too, though "local boys" in the US would obviously be different from the ones here, even if they're Chinese. I think for her it stems from the fact that guys in general mature, um, slower. She wants someone settled and financially secure for me to date - told me to look a far as 10 years older. When I was 16. I was scandalized. Maybe that is also part of it with the guys here?

Ugh, I hesitate to call them exchange "friends" as much as "people I had the dubious and rather unfortunate honor of meeting early on and who now hit on me at every opportunity and expect me to be flattered". :\

[meiface]

Oh, no, it's not the G-sus pun that gets me - it's the actual comments of the post, being so amazed at GD being such a great and amazing guy for helping the kid / that they've always known he was fantastic / blah blah blah. Some of it I get is standard exaggeration, but this is just such a recurring thing with celebs/idols, where they do the bare minimum of basic human decency and it's suddenly like they're the nicest person ever omg. Why are our standards so low?

[meiface]

Honestly, it's really gross to me that we've reached a point where we're like "oh, I expected you to punch me in the face, but cool, you are so awesome for not punching me in the face!" as applied not only to celebs but humanity at large. Particularly on matters of common decency; I would love if people were not so shitty with e.g., homophobic comments but sadly that remains more of a pleasant surprise when they're not. But common decency things like protecting a kid from a mad crush? You'd think wouldn't be so shocking. :(

Ugh, particularly in the legal field here of white expat dudes with their pretty, quiet, well-dressed Asian wives hanging off their arms. To say nothing of this one guy who was dating one Chinese girl and yet flirting with every other one he ran into throughout the course of his life, up to and including his subordinates in the firm. Such a good ol' boys' club, the American law firms here.

[misslemonbar]

I hate omona as much as the next partially-sane fan, but what mainly made me think that "aw, he's a nice guy" was that everyone else (including the security guards, jesus) was preoccupied with GD and were too caught up to notice or even care about the kid. But like you said, I was more shocked by the idiocy and ignorance of everyone else around GD than GD himself. Like, sure, let's reward the guy instead of telling everyone else to actually give a crap next time? It's like rewarding the one kid in class who did his homework instead of telling everyone else off

[meiface]

I am really glad GD did what he did (and I have always liked GD ♥) and it's not like I don't think he deserves any praise or recognition at all - but not to the point where it's so exaggerated to start sounding like, "Oh my god, what a fantastic human being, what an angel, clearly no one else in the world would've done what he did--"

Ugh, ugh, ick, I hate everything about your second paragraph. D: Way to go, unending misogyny prevalent in all cultures! Because clearly the girls always want it, whether because the guy is Western and rich and ~bringing her to a whole new life~ or because she is easy. Fuck you sometimes, humanity.

[misslemonbar]

GD is a sweetheart ♥ I only really started paying attention to BB this year (what kind of kpop fan am I) but you're right, he doesn't need to be elevated to God level for his kindness. People should learn from his example, rather than putting him on an even higher pedestal.

isn't humanity wonderful \o/

[jaded_skys]

Yeah, I had a guy just about try to force me to kiss him, even after I was like "no, I don't want to date you, I don't like you like that, you should stop, NO," and he still tried. Urg. White girls mean what they say.

[forochel]

I did not read the comments, but wow are those security guards assholes or what?

also re:OT3s: inorite! sometimes I am like oh I am a bad person I squick at this OT3 then it's like ... why.

[meiface]

As with most of the internet, but particularly ontd spinoffs, one should never read the comments. I should've avoided them! I should also avoid reading YT comments, oh dear god.

The weird analogy in my head upon waking is like: I like raisins, I don't really like oatmeal, and someone else is here telling me if I don't love oatmeal with raisins clearly I am a close-minded raisin-loving person who has it out for all people who like oatmeal.

...I am not fully awake. :(

[emeraldcrystal]

It could be that people are praising GD in comparison to the fans and security guards? Because they don't seem to have any common decency.

And also yes to the OT3 and OTP thing! When I see fics in the White Collar fandom, I feel bad that I don't ship the OT3.

[meiface]

It's easy to condemn, but I could see how in a situation like that the fans can't do that much (when there's a wave of twenty people behind you pushing you forward because they can't see anything, you sort of get carried along in the momentum until you hit a railing, a wall, or more people in front of you). The security guards, however, were definitely assholes. Ugh, I mean, all said and done, I'm really glad GD did what he did; I just am icked by the recurring theme that celebs get held to different standards of common decency.

Oh man, I don't think I could ever survive White Collar fandom, since the mentality seems to be so much OT3 or bust. I just...don't do that. D:

[emeraldcrystal]

Ah, that's true; I've never been in a situation like that so I shouldn't have judged. Haha, yeah, celeb drama confuses me so I don't follow it. xD

The show is great and I can definitely see where the OT3 comes from (because every character is so awesome) but I'm a OTP shipper so it makes me sad that even when I see a fic with the pairing I'd like to read, I get afraid of reading it because I feel bad for not shipping the OT3. My mentality is so messed up lol.