Why does Korea interpret netizen comments as public sentiment?

[goshipgurl.livejournal.com]

This is a really powerful editorial released by OSEN that's well worth the read. The article is long so I'm skipping irrelevant parts.


The picture above is of an 'enter key gun' and was drawn by Solbi to be released at her latest art exhibition.

It leaves a lasting impression in that the enter key is represented as a gun, and the resulting bullet is just moments away from hitting a falling woman. Solbi explained that it was an artistic expression of how every action and word of a celebrity is constantly placed on the chopping board for scrutiny and hate.

Others might think that for someone in a career that earns easy money for being loved by the public, that it's being weak to pay any mind to the hateful replies they sometimes receive. To the people that are on the receiving end, however, the replies crush their hearts harder than ever.

One idol star who's performed on stages all across the world once approached me with a netizen's ID and asked if I knew who that was. Of course, I had no idea. I nagged him for being so caught up in one hateful reply when he was receiving the love of so many, but he was serious.

"This netizen leaves a comment on every article related to me saying that he hates me. What about me does he hate? I really want to just spend 10 minutes and talk with him and see if he still hates me then. I want to know what he wants me to do for him to not hate me. There probably is no other option than to disappear from his eyes, right?"

On the internet, issues like plastic surgery and past photos for females and army enlistments for males are the most scandalous topics. The endless string of hateful replies can instantly crush the feelings of an exciting stage filled with cheers from their fans. It gets worse when the issue stretches to include their friends and family.

One anti has enough power to crush the heart of a star that took 100 fans to make. Although many promise themselves not to read the replies, they can't help but to since their careers are so sensitive to public sentiment. One top star who's earned numerous CF deals for being a 'likable star' with the public is unable to put down his smartphone at any time because he's so afraid of one hateful reply turning into hundreds.

With the development of social networking services, the situation has only gotten more severe. The hate hits faster and deeper into their hearts. Stars open their mentions to find lists upon lists of informal language and criticisms that even the strongest of hearts can't take. Although they know logically that they still have loving fans, that the public still thinks well of them... the damage has already been done.

This, on top of media outlets that abuse them for clicks on their site, can completely turn around a star's career in a night.

What about overseas? Why are there more celebrities in Korea suffering from depression due to hateful replies than in any other country?

One industry insider said this: "The hateful replies are probably worse overseas, but the stars just dismiss them as nothing more than just that: hate. Unfortunately for our country, hateful replies start to get interpreted as public sentiment. Someone with a few hateful replies can be branded as 'unliked by the public' and articles will soon come out about them being on the chopping block. That influences their careers greatly since show producers will be less likely to cast them on their shows. Even producers are scared of netizen comments on their message boards so it's impossible not to pay any mind to them. It's funny because in reality, if you took any of these netizens leaving hateful replies and brought them right in front of you, they'd be on their knees saying sorry."

Netizen Comments:

1. [+280, -43] I really like the last line.

2. [+254, -31] The majority of people are too lazy to leave a comment. It's just the minority leaving comments that people interpret as public opinion.

3. [+221, -40] I want to go and smack the heads of everyone taking a sh*t through their keyboards... Everyone, watch out for your heads.

source: osen + netizenbuzz

Comments

[in-noctem.livejournal.com]

I always get angry (?) when celebs apologize for things they don't have control over like bad fan behaviour but if they kept mum a whole bunch of antis would be down their throats even though it isn't their fault. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

But I honestly cannot wrap my head around the fact that there are people who seem to find joy in mindlessly hating on a celebrity for no bloody reason.

[iusta-rum.livejournal.com]

agree with you!

You know, some people are weird and express their love saying "i hate you" (like when a boy likes a girl and instead of saying "i like you" he pulls her hair, or say "get out of my way!").

[spatza-camino.livejournal.com]

+1

[jeeeean.livejournal.com]

they probably have reasons... just a whole bunch of stupid reasons and because of ONE thing they said or ONE action they made and make a huge fuss over it.
No one can hurt them anyway.

But +1 to your comment :)

[koutaishi.livejournal.com]

But I honestly cannot wrap my head around the fact that there are people who seem to find joy in mindlessly hating on a celebrity for no bloody reason.

I cannot wrap my mind around people who literally obsess over celebrities for basically no reason. I mean there are people out there who create entire fan forums and Facebook pages and Tumblrs for random ass trainees who haven't even debuted yet and only have made appearances a handful of times. even the people who worship at the feet of established stars make no sense, especially in K-Pop.

I think the hatred people have for celebrities is a lot more sensible than some of the bizarre life-dedication I've seen from (obviously unstable) fans.

[jeeeean.livejournal.com]

finally someone's writing about netizen's comments.
because without fail, everyone would scroll down an article and just read through the comments.

It is often, though, in Asian culture, that we want to perfect and a hateful comment can go a long way especially if you're a public figure. It's the culture (?), stereotype, that we need to be loved by everyone.

Isn't it human nature to want to be accepted by everyone anyway?

I'm not making sense. I need to sleep.

[lee-chikin.livejournal.com]

Those who are most passionate about their hate are also the most vocal and the loudest, so you end up paying attention to them unfortunately.

The hateful replies are probably worse overseas
Hate is the same everywhere, but I think overseas fan focus their hate towards things koreans don't perceive as offensive and viceversa.
Nasty example: international fans hating on idols who make racist remarks.
Other nasty example: K-netizens bitching over chubby bellies on female idols (I'm referring to the UEE accident here, as far as I know the comments came mainly from Korea, correct me if I'm wrong)

[turtles-tszx.livejournal.com]

I think fatshaming applies to anyone, i've seen people in ONTD fatshaming christina aguilera, jessica simpson etc. People just like to bitch generally and they believe that artist should be prepared to be comment negatively bcos it comes with the work.

[grapewhine.livejournal.com]

May the Lord praise this post's title for existing.

[romangoodbye.livejournal.com]

amen

[msdaccxx.livejournal.com]

Certainly, much of the problem lies with lazy or overstretched journalists who regurgitate the most outrageous online commentary they can find in lieu of actually researching and writing their own copy. This must contribute to some netizens going out of their way to be as inflammatory as possible for they can get a giddy thrill from being quoted in articles. And with reputation and not losing face being so important, there must be a power trip thing going on too, for some of them - the power to make and destroy reputations and to tear down public figures with relative ease.

But, yeah, i think the fact that journos give them the oxygen of publicity in the first place is a major factor. It's spreading too - even five years ago, here in the UK, anyone spending a lot of time online was just considered a geeky weirdo by the mainstream press. Now, every public figure has an online presence and even the higher-end, non-tabloid newspapers shoehorn twitter quotes into everything or leave their articles open to comment and recycle half of what gets said below the line into new copy for a follow-up piece.. Some is journalistic laziness and some is because newspaper production costs are being cut to the bone and professional journalists are either totally overworked or replaced by bloggers and interns who don't know how to source a story properly and don't really know where to draw the line between opinion and reportage. So, you get these self-perpetuating quote-fests and online spats in lieu of actual news.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

A+

[jia-zhang.livejournal.com]

I always wondered why the Korea media gave any stock to what a bunch of netizens say. Like really. *shakes head* Justin Bieber has lots of hate online and all over the place. However, this does not mean he is not popular or well liked by a lot of people. I find this to be the difference between Western media and Korean media when it comes to celebs. The West glamorizes almost everyone, and Korea seems to like place some on a pedastal only to cut them down.

[koutaishi.livejournal.com]

Justin Bieber has lots of hate online and all over the place. However, this does not mean he is not popular or well liked by a lot of people.

uh, no, but it implies that Justin Beiber has a lot of people who hate him, which he does..

[koutaishi.livejournal.com]

people are so stupid when it comes to netizens

netizens aren't some special group of idiots who are separate from the rest of society

a netizen is any individual who is using the internet, and therefore make a pretty good representation of the general (internet using) population.. just because they say shit people don't agree with or find harsh doesn't mean they aren't representative of at least a portion of the general public

[secretchord.livejournal.com]

I have to disagree with this. For starters, people act differently online than they do in real life. The last line in this article is so true - one's anonymous, faceless presence online often leads to more extreme behavior that isn't truly representative of the person's real opinions. Also, it still takes a certain type of person to launch hateful comments at a celebrity on the internet. I'm not talking about the occasional comment on a blog - I mean the netizens who go out of their way to hate on celebrities every opportunity they can get. Most netizens just don't do that, so I really don't think you can use them as an accurate gauge of public opinion regarding their specific demographic (which isn't all that specific anymore).

Every Korean person I've talked to about Kpop always says that the public in general doesn't care that much about the industry - they like some of the songs, some of the idols, some of the dances - but beyond that, they don't give two flips about what's going on in the Kpop world. These people are still part of the consumer base. They still download songs and watch videos and watch these idols on their favorite tv shows. But the level of obsession, whether positive or negative, needed to get that person online to post feedback simply isn't there. So for the companies involved in promoting idols to take what feedback there is, and use it to measure their idols' success, is still at this point a bizarre idea.

[asnindie.livejournal.com]

Maybe people need to get thicker skin, if one moron is hating you all the time do you really want to bother with them? I lay the blame of the Journalists and the Agencies themselves, if they didn't give so much weight to the opinions of some rather poisonous people then perhaps the idiots would get the message and stop. So what if some morons are calling so and so fat, does the agency need to be so pathetic and force someone to lose weight, it adds an inflated sense of worth in those individuals. They can't control their own lives so they pass judgement on the lives of others and pointless hate, we all know antis, sad individuals.

And doesn't society have alot to do with it? Korea tends to judge rather harshly and is obsessed with image, it's still not as awful as say the toilet paper that are US magazines with their ageist, fat shaming crap though. Didn't Perez Filthton call Adam Sandler's baby fat? I guess in the US people tend to not take it too seriously, or idk people aren't so harsh or judge too much.

[bishieaddict.livejournal.com]

I still don't understand why dating is a scandal

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Apparently in Korea idols are marketed as girl- and boyfriends of their fans and thus if they start dating they are seen as cheating their fans. As a westerner I find this idiotic and insanely short sighted concept as it basically kills your career way too early on (just look at what happened to Se7en).

[very-pinku.livejournal.com]

It's really sad esp if those celebs wanted to be well liked because they were bullied before in school and such, but bullied once again even more being in the spotlight.

I think the differences between Western media and Korean media is that one flaw is seen as detrimental for Koreans. Like Lee Seung Gi's image will go down the drain if, he had a 'flaw' that they could nit pick on. Because he keeps himself pristine with probably a lot of effort, he is perceived as 'well liked' by the people. While with Hollywood, I feel like sometimes they take the hate into something humorous or positive to make a better image about themselves.

For example:


In a way, I like hollywood celebs because I'm sure they care about what others say. But they aren't that apologetic or controlled with those comments.
They still keep a fun bright image, which seems more fun than a robotic being that is created every line.

[episkia.livejournal.com]

lee seung gi's said countless of times he isn't as great as everyone considers him to be but it's like the public are blocking their ears and screaming NO YOU'RE PERFECT, which must be so much stress on his shoulders considering him sitting listening to a lecture at uni is considered 'more perfect model behaviour in his super busy schedule'. him picking up rubbish makes a news article for goodness' sake. hyun bin is another example, i guess. good pr helps.

which is interesting if you compare him to other actors such as jang geun seok or yoo ah in. they're catered more towards a younger audience i guess, but still, they acted like assholes in front of the camera (i mean, as themselves, not as a drama character) just enough in the beginning that people roll their eyes at their behaviour but don't go any further to curse them. (i'm obviously generalising here but that's what i get from general public sentiment.)

it's as if it's easier to start rock bottom and climb up (easier if you have talent or respect for what they actually do: same goes for big bang) rather than start off on the highest pedestal bc when you drop it's a drop to hell.

[perfume.livejournal.com]

Although the article explains reasons k-celebs are so scared of online slander, but somehow it still doesn't explain why people take netizen comments as public sentiment. Why do media outlets automatically "brand" someone as unlikeable and companies believe it? Why are Koreans so seemingly gullible when it comes to information published online?

There's so many social, cultural, psychological changes that may have to happen before SK can move on from this hyper-criticism and bandwagon mentality. I blame the lack of counter-culture tbh.

[supplanter.livejournal.com]

I figure many kpop idols probably have self-esteem issues. And odd priorities. I've been watching Teen Top Rising 100% and it is... bizarre. Partly because of the set-up. But it's kind of like, I know not being able to attempt a challenge sucks and means this episode has basically been a huge waste of time 100%, but are you seriously getting teary-eyed because you've missed out on the opportunity to try getting a high-jump record? IS THIS REALLY WHAT YOU WANT TO BE KNOWN FOR BEFORE YOU EVEN DEBUT.

(lol, the blatant "and this is how news is manufactured in the kpop world!" bit is funny too. I figure it must be a totally insular universe and outside of it no one gives a shit if group X failed to pass a mock elementary school exam or if actress A has an awesome S line.)

[supplanter.livejournal.com]

Anyway, I can't think too highly of SK's critical thinking ability if it's really true that a bunch of ppl thought Uee were actually a bitch because of that character she played early in her career (?).

(The other thing that supports my suspicion is that T-ara's music is still selling well, even though the general public doesn't really seem to give a shit about them, and in spite of the Hwayoung thing. Not that the general public will like song X no matter who puts it out; packaging matters and exposure through CFs help, but I figured most ppl wouldn't care about whatever little scandals occur and would just take to the music if it were marketed well enough.)

[yoochunsgirl.livejournal.com]

Im sorry but if they cant take the critisizms and hate then they shouldn't have become a celebrity.
Being a celebrity means being in the public eye and they should know before signing up its not all rainbows and butterflies. Not everyone is going to like you and support you and there will be people who will 'be mean'. If they can't handle that then they shouldn't have become celebrities. And its not like as if there werent celebs before them who went through that shit i mean none of them can say 'oh we had no idea some people were going to hate us!'
I hate it so much when celebs complain about paparazzi and hate comments! You knew what you were getting yourself into so stop bitching about it.

[episkia.livejournal.com]

i think i agree with the second one

there's less of a reason to have comment with ~UNNI SO FLAWLESS~ than bitch and complain why you don't agree with the article of the idol - people are more easily fuelled by hate

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

Agreed about a lot of people not seeing celebrities as real people.

[soft-daisy.livejournal.com]

I agree and don't agree. Ia, celebrities are human and journals shouldn't blow up one or two netizen sentiments into something that might be regarded as public sentiment. At the same time, I keep thinking about what Sooyoung said...if she thought too much about criticisms from the public, she probably shouldn't be in that career in the first place.

idk

[spacecadet0.livejournal.com]

Reading this, all I can think about is when P.O. was hospitalized for a mental break down after the Block B Thailand scandal. It must be rough to get that much hate from people.

[aleash1989.livejournal.com]

Korea is a collectivist society, so of course overall public sentiment is important. I see that at one of the reasons why the reporters write articles the way they do there. We also need to remember, like other people have stated, that celebrities are human too and hurtful words will hurt no matter who you are. It doesn't matter if you go into the entertainment world knowing how the public reacts. I have read articles about there are some people believe that the entertainment world in Korea is rainbows and unicorns. Why a couple of years ago 50% of all kids wanted to be idols!

" 'This netizen leaves a comment on every article related to me saying that he hates me. What about me does he hate?' "

Seeing the same person's comments over and over again would bother me too because that wouldn't be a random person anymore at that point.