bad idea of the year: Yim Jae Beom puts on a nazi uniform and sings

[loverboy.livejournal.com]

Popular singer Yim Jae-beom's stage performance sporting a Nazi uniform has become the subject of disputes on the Internet.

Chin Jung-kwon, a progressive culture critic and composer Kim Hyung-suk have publicly exchanged verbal salvos on Twitter about the appropriateness of Yim's wearing a Nazi uniform on stage.

Yim, who rose to stardom for his appearance on the TV show "I Am a Singer" performed wearing a Nazi military uniform for his concert at Seoul's Olympic Park gymnasium on June 25 and 26.

Yim wore the outfit when singing "Paradom", a song about the tragedies of people living underground in a world devastated by nuclear war. Yim took off the Nazi uniform toward the end of the performance to send a message against war.

During the performance, he reportedly yelled: "No Hitler", "Htiler is dead", and "Heil freedom" to express opposition to dictatorship.


The argument began between the nation's two cultural figures when Chin tweeted Wednesday that singer Yim's performance was not a subject of moral criticism but rather an aesthetic one. Chin said it was in complete "poor taste".

Kim retorted saying that Chin's comment was a generalization of an individual's performance as totalitarianism when it should be seen as freedom of expression. "You should watch the performance first before discussing the aesthetic level of it or speaking about morality", Kim said to Chin via Twitter.

The war of words between the two figures spread to the wider public. Internet users also joined the debate, some saying Yim's performance was a glorification of the Nazis and others saying it was the rocker's expression of freedom.

Yim Jae-beom has remained silent on the issue. "The fact that Yim hasn't said anything about it means he doesn't consider the issue serious enough to react. It's just a matter of different perspectives", Yim's agency said.

source: koreatimes

Comments

[noir-shiroi.livejournal.com]

Awkward. He obviously had a positive message but the methods he chose to express it are definitely not the best.

[bolingi-aii.livejournal.com]

How can they argue that he's glorifying Nazis if his whole piece was in protest of what they stood for? I thought the performance was the exact opposite until I read the entire article, I agree with Mr. Kim maybe if they knew what the piece was about or at least watchedf it and received its message they might have a different opinion.

I never am one to sacrifice any thread of morality for "the sake of art" but this performance and its need for Mr. Yim to don a Nazi uniform completely differs from lets say, a college kid needing a costume for this weekends Halloween party. I hope he's a lot more aware about the reasons behind the debate than Mr.Kim is giving him credit for.

[mentality34.livejournal.com]

your first sentence is mte. its like saying x = 1 and so therefore x = 2.

[a-perfect-shade.livejournal.com]

that's nice and all but i still think it invites controversy to wear a nazi uniform.

[opal.livejournal.com]

mte.

[bolingi-aii.livejournal.com]

wtf, who even authorized that?

[eccentricvibe.livejournal.com]

I agree.

[stopthedisco.livejournal.com]

war

what is it good for

[kanghodong.livejournal.com]

absolutely nothing uhhhh!

[lazmy.livejournal.com]

Obviously not a good way to go about this but I can kind of see where he was going.


Still gross though

[adropofcitrus.livejournal.com]

dude, I think his message was loud and clear, especially with the ending and how he was yelling "No Hitler", "Hitler is dead", and "Heil freedom."

smh at people who see something like this and automatically assume that said person is "supporting" dictatorship and what have you.

[lightspeedsquid.livejournal.com]

yikes... at least his message was a positive one?

[kyuhyunss.livejournal.com]

a little extreme, but ok?

[ideservestars.livejournal.com]

WHO DOES THIS BITCH THINK HE IS. UM WELL I AM VERY OFFENDED, PLEASE REFER TO THE CAPS.

[notyourgeisha.livejournal.com]

Very OT but this reminds me of Xmen which I watched last weekend and how attractive Magneto oppa was.

lol.

[fenixstar.livejournal.com]

Magneto and oppa in one sentence made me choke on my bagel.

[valieleen.livejournal.com]

Honestly? I find it incredibly distasteful. Sure, he had a positive message in mind, I'll give him that. But really, what was the point of it? Hitler is dead? Well no shit, Sherlock. There are other dictators still ruling in some places of this earth. Maybe it would've been wiser to bring attention to those problems.

[annhh.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

[atarashiiyoake.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what to think of this. In a way I applaud him standing up against dictatorship, but he could have done it in a less controversial way.

Also, my grandparents were all WWII-survivors, so really anything nazi-related is enough to make me go apeshit.

Sue's mom would not approve of this.

[jaded-skys.livejournal.com]

Agreed. My grandparents met in the army, and I get emotional over anything WWII, and really, anything like this is in poor taste.

[lydzi.livejournal.com]

The message seemed pretty clear to me while reading the article. Either people who complain and all don't know how to read, either they just like to troll (and then please, troll on another subject will you?).

It isn't a very smart way to express itself, but there's no need to go all crazy about it either. Bad taste that's all. The content in itself wasn't nazi and that's the most important part (at least to me).

[yolleh.livejournal.com]

People can do the worst of things with the best of intentions.

[baka-tenshi.livejournal.com]

oh god why.

[cookiedealer.livejournal.com]

He could've worn any other uniform and it would've still gotten the message across. A Nazi uniform is always problematic.

[nandexdame.livejournal.com]

Wow, ~ironically~ wearing a Nazi uniform. Smart idea. So what if he had a good message, he chose a thoughtless and shallow way to express it. Nazi get up and "Hitler is dead" sounds like what a try hard high school student would do.

[unreal.livejournal.com]

There are other ways to send your message against war. No need for a Nazi outfit. I find it pretty discraseful.

[831panda831.livejournal.com]

Ok this subject has came up a lot of times for me because a lot of people in jrock wear these types of uniforms and stuff.
Heres the article I remember: http://aramatheydidnt.livejournal.com/1929684.html
there are some really good points made in the comments in this article.

but anyway , my opinion, uniforms and especially military uniforms look alike , this may look like a Nazi uniform but it might now be one , I'm not educated on how a Nazi uniform looks like but I sure as hell know I've seen similar suits for militaries other than that.
But honestly , this bad taste if he really was going for the Nazi look.

the japanese group eventually apologized because they were called out on it by a jewish organization : http://aramatheydidnt.livejournal.com/1933398.html

[831panda831.livejournal.com]

oh shit i just checked and he really is wearing the Nazi uniform.

Ok then WTF , so stupid , I really hope this guy freaking apologizes.

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

cant wait till the german media hears this, they'll be like "omg what has he done he should get punished!!!!111!!"

[like-a-melodie.livejournal.com]

100%agree and they'll make him look like he's dumb - nothing new, german media sucks.

[annhh.livejournal.com]

I really really hope people get better educated about these matters in SK. He obviously doesn't know the history and truth behind, he shouldn't be playing with this.

[bloody-story.livejournal.com]

I think Korean haven't been hurt by nazi as much as European and all, so that's why they probably don't understand how wrong people can see those kind of stuff...
It was a clumsy way to praise freedom lol