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BTS condemns anti-Asian racism; say they've experienced it

44 Comments
By JUWON PARK

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44 Comments
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These guys are desperate for attention. South Korea has a racism problem that they could try to address. Just this month, several regions in South Korea ordered all foreigners to undergo testing for COVID or risk a fine.

20 ( +24 / -4 )

Is it possible, just possible that they’re confusing racism with dislike due to the fact that they are a bunch of auto-tuned, no-talent pretty-boys?

And don’t even get me started on the hypocrisy of Koreans denouncing racism.

And yes, racist violence against Asian Americans is horrible and must be punished.

pl

Please do not mistake my dislike for all boy-bands -and this one in particular- with support for racism.

19 ( +22 / -3 )

A racist article about racism? Why the need to state the race of the killer (white)? Would it have been phrased the same way if the killer were not white? (Because the majority of clearly racist attacks on Asians are not perpetuated by white people. If white is so important, then why did the same author completely ignore the two white victims?

I have been outspoken about anti-Asian racism for years. Now suddenly, it's in the "in" thing and people feel compelled to make it an anti-white issue, and to play up racism as a factor even when it isn't. This doesn't help - it only makes things worse. As we have already seen.

16 ( +23 / -7 )

bandwagon

16 ( +20 / -4 )

Not everything is about race. Maybe they are being mocked for the same reasons the Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, and Justin Bieber are mocked.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

The band said their own painful encounters...included being “mocked for the way” they look.

Rather than being mocked for the way they sing, which would be totally understandable

12 ( +12 / -0 )

The gunman was a nutter who happened to be white.

There is no evidence it was racially motivated

Its an inconvenient truth but most violence towards Asians is actually perpetrated by African American men in the USA

10 ( +24 / -14 )

I applaud anyone who publicly says racism is bad. Whoever, whenever, wherever. It’s simple.

Yes, it's simple to say it. So simple that many actual racists say it, as they pose as morally superior people. Words are cheap.

10 ( +14 / -4 )

Great PR, ain't it?

9 ( +13 / -4 )

Bandwagon indeed. Opportunism at its worst, disguised in sheep’s clothing. The worst thing about this sort of nonsense is that it actually serves to feed the race specter even more! Makes the situation it claims to be fighting worse, oh the irony.

Go colorblind people, and have a good life. Don’t let any virtue signaling doublethink fool tell you you can’t rise above all this garbage.

K-pop band, give me a break! K-pop is a global force with millions of thronging fans. Play the victim card somewhere else ay lads?

7 ( +8 / -1 )

The band said their own painful encounters with racism included “expletives” and being “mocked for the way” they look.

We have all experienced it. Buggy eyes, buck teeth, big nose, big ears, freckles, thin hair, no hair, curly hair, cross eyes.

Stop your whining.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Nearly a dozen comments, most trying to distract and explain why denouncing racism is bad.

@Bob Racism is bad. BTS should stop it.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

the band donated $1 million to the Black Lives Matter movement

and guess where that money went? Definitely not the Black community or to the families of the men they are supposedly fighting for. Instead of giving money to stupid organizations, how about on your next tour go to Watts, South Chicago, Magnolia, Queens, etc. and hand cash to a family in need. That is why I never donate money to any organization as it passes through hands that take their cut of the money before it reaches the people they are asking money for, if ever.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Is this "Asian hate" still making it in the news (if such thing actually exists)?

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Hold on, everyone. A Korean boy band who have reached unprecedented popularity in the west and made tens of millions of dollars would like to announce they are true victims.

How dare these whiny Yazidi women complain about their slavery at the hands of ISIS, we have real victims in the swanky suburbs of Seoul who need our support.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Burning Bush

So why include those groups in their condemnation but exclude others?

Because all of those groups are Mongoloids in terms of outdated anthropological jargons on biological races.

Racism is rooted in totalitarianism in contrast to individualism.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Racism, especially toward non-whites, is an everyday thing in Japan and South Korea.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

@penfold

Its an inconvenient truth but most violence towards Asians is actually perpetrated by African American men in the USA

Actually? Or just in your fantasy world?

3 ( +6 / -3 )

No need to exaggerate. There are only 7 comments before yours. As we pointed out to You yesterday, perhaps it’s better to focus our critiques on the content of articles and the manner and intent of ‘how the media in presenting them’ and, *less on who and what they gave their opinion - Who cares? **They have no impact on You but *the media and governments do.

Absolute nonsense.

2 ( +8 / -6 )

You won’t see many Asians ride the BART train at the Bay Area anymore.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

For this interested on reading about Japan’s ‘domestic racism’, there is:

 “****The Diene Report on Discrimination and Racism in Japan” compiled by Doudou Diene, Oda Makoto, Pak Kyongnam, Tanaka Hiroshi, William Wetherall & Honda Katsuichi,* **Special Rapporteur for the UN on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related to Japan.*

https://apjjf.org/-Tanaka-Hiroshi/1882/article.html

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Strange how so many posters try to turn the table and bash Asian people. There are so many beatings of Asian people in America yet where are the stories about Americans being beat up in Asia like China, Japan or Korea. Sure it happens sometimes but not very often. Sure there is an ugly side to the story but Westerners are really safe in these three Asian countries.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The Asian in America is given citizenship and a vote. The foreigner in Asia rarely gets any such thing, even generations down the line.

in the US, as in Japan, naturalized citizens are given the right to vote. Giving residents who choose not to take citizenship the right to vote would not be in the countries best interest.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

I clicked on this story to check who is the hottest guy. Reading the story, I reflected on how normal my extended family refer to Japanese as slantly -eyed yellow belly’s.

but then again, I’m Caucasian and every day Japanese ask me if I’m American. I’m definitely not American!

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

That's some hypocrisy. In South Korea they literally laugh at you for being Christian. And working conditions for westerners are among those from slavery time.

-1 ( +4 / -5 )

Looks like parts of the article and comments are centered on the racism against Asian descendants in America. Yet, racism is also prevalent in many other countries as well. Did we overlook:

“In February, a German radio station drew ire when a host compared the band to the coronavirus.” -

Furthermore, one commenter offers the impression that:

“*Those Asian-Americans afraid of their lives now* are welcome to Japan, the safest and most cultured and respectful polite society in the world.” -

Realistically, are descendants from a variety of cultures and countries, under *less* scrutiny and ire in Japan?

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

PenfoldMar. 31 07:23 am JST

The gunman was a nutter who happened to be white.

There is no evidence it was racially motivated

Its an inconvenient truth but most violence towards Asians is actually perpetrated by African American men in the USA

Exactly! Take for instance the black man that assaulted a 65 year old Asian woman in New York. He was on a lifetime parole for killing his mother. Why was he even on the streets? Now his was a case where the death penalty would have certainly been a consideration.

Second one:  Why is it that for the most part, when white people commit a crime, their race is mentioned. However, for a black man, it is only occasionally mentioned that the assailant was black? The media is racist. In the case of the 65 year old woman mentioned above, the pictures just before the attack clearly shows a black man, yet the race was not mentioned in media write-ups.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

kaimycahlMar. 31 11:05 pm JST

I personally think the problem is AMERICA, YES AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM WITH HOMELESSNESS.

I heard a great suggestion the other day. Let’s send the homeless in America to Mexico and have them come back to the US and claim asylum. Being homeless, they probably have no proof that they are US citizens, thus can claim asylum, and we can put them up in hotels as Biden wants to do for the asylum seekers from Central America.  Homeless problem solved!

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The attacks on asians is not a racial thing. What the american people and what people all over the world are failing to understand is WHY THIS IS HAPPENING!!! People of all color are being attacked, yes asians are being attacked and if you read what a lot Asians are saying this is nothing new. The media is making it more than what it really is. WHAT THE PEOPLE DON'T UNDERSTAND IS WHY. I personally think the problem is AMERICA, YES AMERICA HAS A PROBLEM WITH HOMELESSNESS. The majority of these people have MENTAL ISSUES. America has closed a number of their mental institution due to funding and let out a good number of these mental patients out on to the streets. These people no longer have access to medication or the services that they had to help them cope with real social issues. These people have mental issues dealing with people. A normal person just don't go off an beat a person down. People with MENTAL ISSUES DO, they have social problems. I have seen and had a number of these people scream and holler at me for no reason at all and want to get violent. America also has a large prison population and they are releasing what they call low level criminals on to the streets because they claim they need the space for criminals who rape and kill etc, again these people have mental issues and while in jail their situation only got worse after being locked up. America is going in the wrong direction, we have soo many homeless people, and the number continue to grow. Google Seattle's homeless, Los Angeles Skid Row, Chicago, New York homelessness everywhere and continuing to grow. The government is talking about that, but they can allow 100,000's of illegal immigrant children in and pay US tax dollars for them but not take care of their own citizens. This is why there is no money and the people are missing the big reason why. Its not RACIAL its the lack of AMERICA neglecting a growing problem and that is MENTAL ILLNESS that is bringing these attacks against everyday citizens that high lights an Asian being attacked to push a political agenda and not focus on the real problem. Until the american people see this nothing is going to change. What the government will do is pass laws, put the same Mental patients back in jail where they should have been in the first place and continue to change the narrative instead of focusing on the real issues and right now its A DRUG CULTURE THAT HAS CAUSED MENTAL HEALTH AND HOMELESSNESS THEY GO HAND IN HAND!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Like Naomi Osaka, BTS lives in the celebrity world, detached from the realities most Americans face.

Do they know BLM is supported by communists and involved in destruction and violence across the U.S.? The last thing they care about is success for Black people. On the contrary, BLM seeks everlasting suppression of Blacks so they can keep promoting their ugly cause.

Does BTS know that Hollywood, American media, Big Tech, and major U.S. universities are the biggest suppressors of Asians?

Their time would be better spent going after the root causes of Asian suppression, rather than being mouthpieces for the out-of-touch, virtue-signaling, White elites.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Not normally a follower or fan of BS, but this is a pretty dignified statement (even if not really necessary).

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

@Burning Bush

BTS is neither Asian American nor Pacific Islander.

But BTS is a global super star and what they say carries weight across globe.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Interesting. In the US there were two more brutal attacks attacks against Asians:

Asian woman, 65, knocked down, repeatedly kicked as witnesses appear to watch

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/asian-woman-65-knocked-down-repeatedly-kicked-witnesses-appear-watch-n1262431

Hate Crimes Unit investigates punching, choking of Asian man on NYC subway

https://www.news10.com/news/ny-news/hate-crimes-unit-investigates-punching-choking-of-asian-man-on-subway/

Interesting.

-6 ( +4 / -10 )

*Everyone else* here @BobFosse 9:35a *IS pointing out ‘how racism is being depicted in the media’.*

- “ Nearly a dozen comments, most trying to distract and explain why denouncing racism is bad.” -

No need to exaggerate. There are only 7 comments before yours. As we pointed out to You yesterday, perhaps it’s better to focus our critiques on the content of articles and the manner and intent of ‘how the media in presenting them’ and, *less on who and what they gave their opinion - Who cares? **They have no impact on You but *the media and governments do.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

Nearly a dozen comments, most trying to distract and explain why denouncing racism is bad.

I applaud anyone who publicly says racism is bad. Whoever, whenever, wherever. It’s simple.

-9 ( +8 / -17 )

but then again, I’m Caucasian and every day Japanese ask me if I’m American. I’m definitely not American!

I admit I have “white privilege” in Japan. But if I’m Korean/Chinese...?

-9 ( +2 / -11 )

America is fallin after Trump's ascension.

Those Asian-Americans afraid of their lives now are welcome to Japan, the safest and most cultured and respectful polite society in the world.

Posters here are solid proof.

-13 ( +2 / -15 )

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