Shit hath hiteth the faneth

   I was about to immerse myself in Unified Silla article, yet I went to tumblr. And the storm there, the storm...

First, I will present you a short story. There is a very famous guy. And there is another guy who is stalking him, well, not exactly stalking, sasaeng-ing him, meaning - he has double keys to famous guy house, he left blood notes, he has ID number, phone number etc. One day this guy comes to the famous guy house and get's slapped. No one cares - it's man to man, mano-a-mano blah blah. Another story - there is this girl, very famous, she has a stalker guy who breaks into her house, wears her underwear and lefts some 'personal fluids' on her bed. One day she comes back and the guy is waiting so she kicks him in the groins making sure he'll never be a father. Brave girl, right?

Now we have two things combined.
Update: just got that via twitter. Read.
Truth about JYJ stalkers 

Let me explain without linking or anything.

Yoochun Saesang Phone Call (0:07 - 0:021)
Yoochun: Hello? Who is it?
Fan: Isn't this "xxx" phone number? Yoochun: No.
Fan: What?
Yoochun: It's not.
Fan: Then who are you?
Yoochun: Ah.. fucking shibal (bitch, fucker, etc) ah. 
Jaejoong and Saesang Fan (0:021 - 1:31)
Jaejoong: It's gonna be fun. (hits) it's gonna be real fun. Because of you... because of you uh this is shitty uh? (hits)
You are a saesang right. (hits)
These fucking bitches (hits)
Do I have to live like this?
Do I really have to live this way? Because of you guys? (hits)
Do you guys know how many times I've hit people like you? I did it several times I can't even count it with my fingers. (hits)

 Yucheon's swearing will overlook, cause it's normal.

Now, the fandom background. There are those "Oppa didn't mean it". Oh no, oppa meant it, sugarpie, he did. Irrelevant bunch.

But there is another group, living in an illusion of 'world peace ebbryone, no violence, disgusting beaters, no hitting, let's make love not bruises'. Political correctness transformed all societies into some hyper-sensitive people where saying 'I'm not making fun of squirrels' is taken as actual making fun of squirrels. And everyone who at least tried to reason the behavior was deemed as fucked up psycho. Why? Because it is necessary nowadays to say what others deemed as right to say. So you can't say "yes, prisoners free labor is good" because you may get stoned for that. 

For this group anyone who comes with giving reasons behind Yucheon/Jaejung's behavior is equal to violence-loving future woman-beater.

But here's the thing - there are reasons behind their behavior, heavy, dark reasons. Giving reasons for their behavior is NOT equal to whitening the actions or to justifying the actions. Some people just can't hold their nerves right.

OK, his actions were too hasty. He shouldn't stoop to sasaengs' level, but I can personally understand it. Those guys have been harrassed (yes, harrassed, they had shirts ripped off, they were touched, grabbed and worse) for 9 years. There is actually a limit of what a human nature can take. Some fans in fandom say: 'but Yunho can keep it classy". You sure about that? Why is only JYJ cases are leaked? I'm not trying to make up any conspiracy theories, because they are groundless, but SM manages well their artists and seems like C-jes does not. I don't believe only those two are devils and the rest of merry bunch is Peter Pan and sparkling fairies. 80% of idols have to deal with sasaeng on a daily basis, but those of DBSK are a specific breed. Plus, the last 3 years for JYJ were beyond any person nervous capability. It's also weird both leaks have taken place when JYJ members' dramas were announced. Just sayin'. So, those two are the only ones caught.

Korea has no law against stalkers. Police does not take any case unless a violence is involved, and their answer is - deal with that. As someone pointed out - probably police, family and seniors in entertainment industry advise younger ones to respond with a hit when stalked in a nasty way. It's a viscious circle.

Sasaengs are strong and fearless because, paradoxally, they have law (in a form of lack of it) backing them up. Idols have nothing to turn to except for their own character, but it's easy to break and unstable, given certain circumstances. 

Much shit comes toward Jae because it was a female sasaeng. And folks on boards call her 'poor girl', just because she's a female. We don't know if she's a girl or 50-yo ajumma twice as big as Jae. 

As I said with Yucheon's case - I'm a woman too, and I don't excuse her purely because of the gender. Some people work hard to get beaten up. Sasaeng do that, seriously, they are dangerous folk that should be locked up.

And I disagree with  "violence is not the answer'. Sometimes this is the only answer left. Plus, the sasaeng being hit there didn't scream, didn't moaned, nothing. This is disturbing. And there are their posts around saying "I don't care if I get hit".

Fine, maybe he shouldn't have done that, true, but let's try to disregard the fact of gender and think about who's the victim here. The mental state, all of them are in now, is not stable. They are like rabbit during the hunt. Violence is not the answer? How about mental violence then? They have been raped and killed mentally already many times and no one cared. They need help, they need counselling, that's true, but it's the entertainment that drove them here. During press conferences, concerts, photo- and drama-shooting, they have to be nice, smiling and all, yet they come across some stalker waiting under their windows. The bottled anger and frustration, suppressed all this time has to vent. It either vents as screaming or violence. Human beings are, in all, primordial in their basic reactions.

Am I justifying the actions? No. Am I justifying the reason? Yes. Because there is a reason for such behavior. Maybe suicides and such violent actions among celebrities will finally be a wake-up call to all those big figures there? Maybe someone should protect idols from such people? What about bodyguards? Maybe new law?

What's more? Folks on boards keep saying "he did that many times". Only basing on "Do you guys know how many times I've hit people like you? I did it several times I can't even count it with my fingers." Don't they watch movies, dramas? When you want to scare someone, you say words like that even if it's a lie. "I eat those like you, bitches, on breakfast" doesn't mean I actually eat people as my meal, for fuck's sake. It means nothing, it's not any evidence. 

Funny enough, people like movies when character, under heavy pressure, cornered and without any way to escape, takes the means of justice into his/her own hands. We all love “The Chaser”, right? What the cop did? Hunted down and killed the psycho. What Michael Douglas’ character did in “Falling Down”? Lashed out his frustration against society. I’m not saying those actions are admirable and praiseworthy. I’m stressing out applying double standards to various situations. If we like when someone takes the justice in their own hands in movies, how can we say, in full consciousness, that this-and-this is a douchebag for doing exactly the same?

And no, I will not stop supporting JYJ, now even more than before.

Definition of sasaeng from this tumblr:

It seems that not everyone in the k-fandom completely understands what a “sasaeng fan” is. the extremely toned down version of a “sasaeng fan” is stalker. but sasaeng fans are not infamous for stalking idols. they are infamous for far worse things, and there have been extremely many physical accounts between sasaengs and idols.

it basically begins with a group of people who come together. then they each take turns staking out at various places, mostly the idols’ dorms, radio recording sites, offices, etc. and when they see the idols leaving an area, they will text the others and say “come to (insert area here) right now, they are leaving.”

and the others, from wherever they are, get to that place as soon as they can to wait for the members. idols and managers even know some groups of sasaeng fans by face and name, and these “fans” will physically try to go and hold onto the idols, swear and insult at them, touch them inappropriately, HIT and bruise the idols, and follow them around EVERYWHERE. they will knock on the manager’s vans to get them to open the window, bruise the members’ faces to leave marks, pull out their hair to “keep”, etc. therefore the managers must constantly protect these idols from harm and molestation, and to many korean fans, it is absolutely no wonder as to why idols and managers lose their temper with these “fans”.

there are many fanaccounts and blogs that belong to sasaeng fans who write things like, “i touched his butt! i grabbed his crotch! i slapped his face and now he has a bruise made by me!” these fans also call the idols and ask, “where are you? tell me where you are!” and try various methods in tracking down the idols. also, as they wait outside buildings, fans smoke and rudely throw burnt out cigarettes at the buildings, scream in the middle of the night outside their dorms to get the members’ attention, etc.

other sasaeng fans travel through taxi. basically, the fans have to pay the taxi driver a large sum of money, and in return they follow the specific idol(s) for twenty four hours. if the fan does not have enough money to spend, she would offer to have sex with the driver.

these fans have also been known for sending nude pictures to idols, breaking into their homes (and like one infamous incident: pee on their towels and hang them up on a rack), sending “gifts” such as writing in period blood or pads drenched in period blood, etc. they have physically hurt idols, in such occasions that the managers have to beat back at the fans to protect the members. they even sell the idols’ phone numbers and social security numbers online.

it is all extremely and negatively hardcore, and this is only a fourth of the many things sasaeng fans do to idols. to underestimate these fans and simply label them off as “any other fan” is insulting. many korean fans refuse to call them fans. they have been known to harm idols, more than anything, and are exactly what managers protect idols from. sasaeng fans are ultimately dangerous.

This is from JYJ3 website today: 

[TRANS] 120306 Dissecting JYJ’s Sasaeng fans, the horrific ‘fandom’ that even gives goose bumps.

A sudden stir has recently occured due to an entertainment tabloid’s recent alleged statements of voice recorded evidence of JYJ members Jaejoong and Yoochun using uncalled for/rude language towards sasaeng fans.

JYJ is well known being an idol group that suffers from one of the most relentless sasaeng fans in South Korea. For a while, Kim Jaejoong, especially, has been suffering from a significantly large number of sasaeng fans. It is well known that Kim Jaejoong had been through a lot of distress in the past and had even warned sasaengs many times (via his twitter) that he did not approve of their actions.

How did Sasaeng fan culture come to be? What caused the sasaeng situation with JYJ?

In 2008, SBS’s current affairs program, ‘That We Want to Know,’ broadcasted ‘The reportage on Fandom: Children who run as Sasaengs’ which basically explained the emerging Sasaeng culture.

The ‘fandom’ culture started with Jo Yongpil’s huge fan base of teenage girls in 80’s. This culture positively spread through music consumer movements and eventually led to the end of the the policy of censorship for music records. (Seo Taeji’s song ‘Sidaeyugam’ has been deleted due to the previous censorship policy.)

That form of “sasaeng” culture, however, is completely different from JYJ’s sasaeng fans. Either there has been a shift of perception for what is considered “sasaeng,” or “sasaeng” has reached a point where it has gotten entirely out of control–for which it has.

According to the report by ‘That We Want to Know,’ this seemingly new generation of Sasaeng fans start following an idol groups’ van as soon as the group finishes recording for a music program. They do so by hailing taxis or by rent-a-cars– all the while honking loudly at the idol group’s van.

At midnight, they reappear at public broadcasting sites. According to the report, a taxi driver testified that his taxi is a ‘sasaeng taxi’ and was reserved by students who were curious about celebrities’ private lives.

The behavior of sasaengs on the documentary report was shocking. There were an abundance of scenes for which allow us, as viewers, to understand the tortures for which JYJ feel from sasaeng fans.

Saseng fans of idol groups including JYJ pressure their celebrities by following them to their houses, restaurants, etc. The production crew discovered that taxi drivers charged sasaeng fans up to 20million won for 4 people–simply to follow their idol’s around.

The program showed ‘TVXQ’ as the example at that time. More than 10 taxis and cars started to follow the van of ‘TVXQ’ as soon as they finished their stage, and drove at 140-170km/h to catch the van.

The program also introduced ‘the forward-looking fan culture’ as trying to explain the abnormal fandom culture which has now caused various incidents between JYJ and sasaeng fans.

There are many fans, different from JYJ’s sasengs, who give donations and do voluntary work under celebrities’ names to improve the image of celebrities.

Fans perform good deeds in large, organized groups, creating a word ‘fancom (Fan+company)’ and affect the public culture business in a positive light. This is totally opposite from sasaeng fans of JYJ.

The production company stated ‘fans of celebrities are developing as main agents of public culture business from consumers’ and advised ‘the public should understand the difference between the fandom culture and sasaeng fans, and look towards the right fandom culture.’

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Translated by @dlwpdldhkdlwp Note:
– Fancom= Fan+ company= Fans supervising celebrity as ‘a company.’ For example, some fanclubs open charity events and donate the money collected under the celebrity’s name. Also, they send rice cakes or others to presses on the birthday of the celebrity to publicise the celebrity. They support celebrity like a company, but they don’t seek for profits.
– Because this is a rough translation, there might be many grammatical and spelling mistakes.
– No infringement of copyright intended.
– Please DO NOT post and/or modify my translation on any TVXQ5, TVXQ2, COUPLE SHIPPER, ACGAE, and/or ONLY-ONE-MEMBER SUPPORTING sites.
– Have a nice day!

Credit: VOP/Reporter Kang Kyunghoon
Trans by: @dlwpdldhkdlwp
Edited and Shared by: JYJ3