the STAND agenda

STAND

Strong 'Til All Nine Disappear

STAND has been up and running as a forum officially for a little under a month at time of print. We have been asked many questions about running a forum solely dedicated to the disbandment of a group, the questions are valid and our reasons are plentiful. Although we reserve the right to express our opinion and are not obligated to answer those questions, we have chosen to.

Some of the main reasons are as follows...

STAND chooses to look for the peaceful disbandment of SNSD and does not support any immoral and indecent actions. We are a new breed of anti-fan. The Civil anti-fan.

Gone are the reasons of old, and the stereotypical characteristics of an anti-fan. Most of us on the Admin panel have never previously dreamed of being anti-fans and have in fact looked down upon them in the past. That is because those antis have indeed been of the variety that are immoral and indecent. We were inspired by the fans present at the Dream Concert, Cartel. Initially choosing to boycott a group in a peaceful manner as opposed to a violent and more physically harmful means.

An image laced with indecency and deceit

One of the first reasons that can put you off such a group like SNSD, is their image. Before you even look in to them in depth you find something deceiving and obscene. One must look at SNSD objectively (unlike the way their fans do) to notice it. SNSD are quite plainly put, marketed to young girls and 14-18 year old boys. There is no doubt they have odd stragglers from other demographics, but on paper that is who they are meant for. On the surface they are cute, bubbly and clean-cut, yet once you look deeper you see, everything from their dance moves, facial expressions and their outfits are chock full of sexual connotations. The lollipops, the bending over dance moves, the high kicks, the childish behavior, their debut with their midriff tops and mini-skirts, they all scream sex. It's utterly abhorrent. Don’t get us wrong we know that image has been used before, Morning Musume are an example from neighbouring Japan. But you need to know that this is Conservative South Korea, this music industry is also an escape of some international fans from their own sex-obsessed music culture. SNSDs entrance in to the industry has also opened the paedophilia market and older men are perving openly to these so-called "innocent" girls. The image also, characterizes them as representatives of their Generation. "Sonyeo" is a term for a young unmarried woman, a role model for the younger generations. What kind of society needs a role model that characterizes women as only sex objects?

The backing of SM Entertainment

Honestly speaking, if this group had debuted under any other label, they would have withered and disappeared long ago. The simple fact that SME is debuting them almost guarantees them a certain level of success. SME has for years provided the Music Industry of successful entertainers, and is a heavyweight amongst the industry, holding the largest share in the market. A trend setter almost, strategically finding different ways to gain more income and attention, basically if anyone looks to profit from the industry they must take a leaf out of Lee SooMans book. They found a niche market for a fan base that they could exploit as they have with the "Sonyeo" fan base (many of their other stars are followed by these "Sonyeo"), and they don’t seem to care less the effect it has on the younger generation. Simply put, these girls are being exploited in to objectification in every meaning of the word. The image of "cute but provocative" is quite disgusting when you think of it as an example to young children. And its even more disgusting that SME is backing it, as these younger generations do not know any better and SME are well known and respected. Thus these young children will eat what they are fed.

Barring the image that they have no control over, the members themselves do nothing to redeem themselves

Being so-called "puppets" as most Popular Culture Artists are, one can usually sympathize when the artist, their personality, aura, natural charm can outweigh the negativity of their image. And then they can gain more fans that learn to respect them, but that is not a possibility with these girls. International fans sometimes cannot get their head around the "respect" issues, you need to look back in to the past, in to a conservative culture that every nation has had at one point or is still following. It is a serious matter even in the language itself. When your engrossed in a certain pop culture it is always wise to look in to the society and its traditional culture as it holds meaning in everything that you are entertained with. Especially South Korea, humility, respect, modesty is a major factor in any traditional or modern household. The language itself has levels of respect to certain people. So, when these girls who are self-proclaimed representatives of the 'Girls Generation' do not adhere to tradition, it is an enormous problem. The older generation (excluding the dirty old men) have been outraged and insulted that these young girls are not respectful and are meant to be examples of the younger generations and role models to them. Also their actions are immature and negative, they’ve been known to swear on air and to insult popular celebrities openly, those of which are their seniors (sunbaes). Those who denounce it are obviously ignorant and disrespectful themselves to not even take the culture in to consideration, and their interest in the industry is only on a shallow basis. Also, a bad message is being sent to the younger generation when nearly every member had to go under the knife in order to be "acceptable" enough to enter Show Business. It is bad enough with all the other celebrities, but these people who are representatives of the young demographic are sending and further cementing the idea that you do not need talent, but only good looks ascertained through operations to get far in life and be successful. No offence to those that think that they are talented, but in a professional point of view, these girls have nothing exceptional to add to the music industry. At least other SM artists have substantial talent to back them up besides looks.

Switching of characteristics of fan and anti-fan.

We are speaking of fans in South Korea, and not international fans (even though sometimes it is relevant to them too). The characteristics that were mentioned before of anti-fans in the past, who still exist to this day, it seems that in SNSDs case the roles have switched. An example was the antics exhibited in the 2008 "Dream Concert", where after a silent demonstration held by "Cartel" towards SNSD, and most importantly SM Entertainment, resulted to physical abuse from SNSD fans towards TVXQ!, Super Junior and SS501 fans, who were said to have been leading the demonstration. For those of which that doubt that this has happened, I can only tell you from someone following the society itself (As mentioned previously if you are absorbed in a certain group or pop culture it is wise to follow its traditional culture and society. That allows you to truly appreciate it and fully experience it.), violence among the youth is a big issue today in South Korea. Especially among the young fanboys that unfortunately are following SNSD, it all goes back to their image, the "innocent" image turns these boys in to overly defensive maniacs, who would use violence in defence of them. That is the biggest problem, even if it didn’t happen it makes sense, and its scary how true to life it is. They are very much polluting the industry. That very Fan culture which we base as international fans all our love to and we owe half of our fandom to, without our Korean fan counterparts we can't get access to any of the things that entertain us. Those fans are being affected and their fandom is threatened. These SNSD fans have been known to openly provoke other fan clubs online, constantly starting "fan wars". They threaten stars and fans alike, and this can only be blamed on the very image that SNSD portray, they are violent, immoral, reckless, verbally and physically abusive. A very threat to the fandom itself. It also goes down to, "Like idol, Like fan", if their idol cant do something as simple and as second nature in their culture as respecting elders, there is no limit to what they are capable of.

In conclusion, our Agenda is

To play our part in supporting the National fans in their quest to regain a more peaceful fan culture. We owe them everything in terms of our own idols, their comfort in their fandom is our comfort. Our support in such a hard time as fans uniting for a cause that they truly believe in, can only be seen as priceless. SNSDs advantage is unfair to their own label mates, their disrespect is unrivalled and their fans' lack of morals is dangerous to those on the receiving end.

The fact that LSM is disregarding fans and their beliefs is despicable. The company has for years been mistreating fans and exploiting them and SNSD was the last straw. Their obvious 'paying off' and 'favoritism' is an insult to the industry. The simple fact that his niece is in the group and that she only trained for a year in the sole purpose of debuting with SNSD is proof in itself. SNSD are handed everything on a silver platter while everybody else had to work their way to the top, and also other artists under the label are disregarded and set aside for them.

The fact that they are setting a bad example. We are all for a more wholesome Kpop industry, the ones we experienced as youngsters, as are the National fans. Kpop is one of the few industries that still lay great value to tradition and preserving the innocence of children, and it is one of the reasons plenty of international fans have turned to Kpop. There are other groups and individuals that are more extreme but at least are not marketed to young children.

We as a united front represent those that seek peaceful means in disbanding SNSD and do not agree with using immoral language and or behavior towards any individual, let alone a public figure. We cater to all people that are anti-SNSD but lay strict rules against any immoral/unnecessary language and references to death or parenthood. Those are the reasons we despise the SNSD fans to begin with, why sink to their level? We want to represent a better industry, society and better breed of anti-fan. We strongly believe in our cause and will not step down until we achieve it, no matter what any say or however they try to convince us or force us to stop. We respect opinions and we understand that some will never understand why we are doing this, nevertheless no one has a right to tell us we are wrong. We invest as much time as we please, anti-fans are the opposite of fans, we both hold strong emotions towards particular artists. Saying we have no right to do this, only contradicts yourselves, your mere investment in typing those words tells us that we do, those that feel a threat to us will show us that by bashing us. We stay true to our word, and we will Stand Strong 'Til All Nine Disappear.

About Anti-SNSD Fan Culture: Anti-Fans are Jealous of SNSD

One of the most common accusations against anti-fans is that anti-fans are jealous of SNSD. Naturally, this is a common and almost legitimate argument to fall back on because SNSD is from the same company as DBSK and Super Junior, both of which have a very large female fan base. Furthermore, regardless of any plastic surgery, the SNSD girls aren't really that ugly in my opinion, although beauty is in the eye of the beholder (for example, I think many of the users here would disagree with me ^^).

Therefore, defensive SNSD fans feel that they have a sound argument when they accuse DBSK and Suju fans of hating SNSD just because "they are close to the oppas that you wanna marry." Of course, this incenses the situation even further and is kind of a low blow; I am a girl and I think that one of the things all girls hate to be called is desperate.

But the matter of the fact is, most of the people who know about SNSD--the very root of their fanbase, right when they first started out--probably found out about SNSD because they were already aware of SM Entertainment, DBSK, Super Junior, and other class acts like Zhang Liyin and The Grace. Even if they were not a fan of any of these groups, per se, they were probably aware of them because of all the hype there is about them in Kpop--who can ignore the rabidly screaming fans during an artist's performance and not wonder how they'd garnered such fervent admiration; it would probably deserve a Wikipedia or a Youtube search at least--and from there, their eyes would probably perk up when they spotted a piece of news about SM Entertainment's newest group, their newest project...

So, SNSD does owe a good part of their fame to their seniors and their fans, who kept the buzz up (unintentionally, perhaps; for example, my two friends who are really into kpop boybands (DBSK, F.T. Island, Big Bang) discuss it together all the time, and one day they were talking about SM and the new debut girl group, and who was sitting alongside them but kiddy old me, guffawing, "9 members?? for serious??"...and then I went home and googled), and while I'm sure it is true that if a DBSK member showed up on any random fangirl's doorstep (the rabid kind, the shy kind, the interested-but-only-check-'em-out-every-once-in-a-while-kind; it all goes) and proposed marriage, they would probably accept on the spot, no dates necessary. If not for the dude's singing chops and personality, then because he is famous, and I'm sorry to say that girls, but we like a romp and a bit of glamour now and then, huh?

But despite all of this, at the core, Anti-Fans are not jealous. Most of us have resigned ourselves to the fact that we are never going to marry or date these people; it would be nice just to see them perform in person. If we do harbor those kinds of romantic dreams, well, they're dreams, we understand--you don't see anybody declaring "Hero Jaejoong <333 I'm going to meet him and he's going to fall madly in love with me in the .03 seconds he sees me at the airport" except as a joke. This is common to all singers' fandoms, even SNSD; they're singing love songs for Heaven's sake, usually in the second person, don't use the premeditated effect as an insult.

Instead, SNSD's closeness to popular boy groups and scandals like Taesu and Jessica/Donghae probably create the impetus for fans of those groups to go online, find out more about SNSD, judge for themselves whether the rumors are true, and see and learn about the person whom everyone thought could possibly be so-and-so idol's girlfriend. I think intense fans in particular would take the news with a grain of salt; they would not want to believe that their idol is attached. But with the expectations they place on their idol's girlfriend, they would tend to be skeptical of whoever that person is and would probably expect them to be pretty above average (so yes, there are some relationship dynamics involved, I concede that, but not to the extent where "antifans suck because they're really just jealous bitches" is necessary).

And in encountering SNSD...well, it'd probably induce some head-scratching. Not because they're ugly or anything (again, what I think), but because of their songs and their image, which are kind of contradictory.

The girls are singing about meeting someone "at the end of my wandering", "don't tease me 'cause I'm young", "kissing you baby", all really sweet stuff, a bit like DBSK "Hug" and SuJu stuff like "Happiness", but SNSD is different because, erm, that's kind of all they do. SuJu has sexier stuff like "Don't Don" and DBSK songs now include lyrics like "I really wanna touch myself". *cough cough* Also, SNSD's style--short skirts and what I really can't stomach, bare midriffs, no pun intended--are inserted amidst all this syrup, and it just comes off looking skewed. The subliminal messaging is almost lewdly blatant to teenage girls, maybe not to younger girls and fanboys, but definitely to teenage girls, who are at the point in their lives when they want to be noticed, and not just in a "cute" way either, except that they can't be too obvious about it or look like they're trying too hard because society disfavors female sexual overtures...but SNSD's flavor kind of circumvents the rules. Their image is definitely fresh and innocent, but coupled with the skin they are showing, it's meant to be kind of sexy too, and in real life it just doesn't work that way. Teenage girls understand that you can't have both, hence the "SLUT!!" parade.

To many teenage girls, the SNSD girls just don't seem like potential friends. With their image, they don't seem to have the same desires or wants, and coupled with the fact that they are earning a living while doing what they love--if you want to make an accusation of jealousy, this is the right reason--and that their individual personalities aren't easily discernible (see Park Kyung Lim Wonderful Outing and UFO Interview to glean the girls being shy, awkward, and confident at the wrong times; also, there are just so many of them!) and often relatable to in the way that "Oh, I act like that when I want to impress someone, yup", which they can do now with more assured ease because these are girls and not boys, and then all the bad rumors there exist about SNSD, many of which haven't been cleared up in a cohesive article by the fans if they aren't true, and the fact that thousands and thousands of fans actually got it together long enough to boycott them with silence (the logistics of it!), and Schadenfreude, well, they aren't going to get much sympathy from the largest fanbase of all, young teenage girls.

They're not jealous. SNSD is just not friend material, and it's okay not to be friends, but if a person's personality is not just neutral and boring but also overbearing* and rude**, then that person's status elevates from being "not a friend" to being that person whom people dread spending time with and talk about behind his/her back.

Case in point: Wonder Girls' larger female fanbase.

Wonder Girls were chosen by both girls and boys as an idol group that they would want to usher in the New Year with. [source] SNSD was chosen by the boys only. (WG was also apparently first among the boys, SNSD came in a close second.)

Wonder Girls' image is pretty straightforward. "Irony" was supposed to be sexy, "Tell Me" funny, and "So Hot" both sexy and funny. There are no midriffs showing in "So Hot." It's a subtle sexy, and it's something that both boys and girls can laugh at--"Tell Me", too, with So Hee acting as Wonder Woman and that flasher and all the girls staring in fawning admiration at So Hee when she saves them. The lyrics match too.

Meanwhile, SNSD MVs are usually filled with closeups of the girls doing cute things, like running around under a mushroom in Alice costumes or popping up with cute expressions (go to 1:24 and 1:26 in the Girls Generation MV where Yuri does some truly weird things). Except in Into the New World, there's not much of a coherent story.

*In UFO interview (Part 4/05 on youtube, at around 1:20), Jessica answers the question, "Do you think you are all angels?" with "Yes, angels, because we are all pretty and kind." Granted, that entire show was embarassing questions, but I reckon Jessica could have left the first part out. Then, on arirang radio interview, Tiffany said that "SNSD has 9 beautiful girls" when giving a description of their group. I think "talented" or something would have been a more fitting thing to say, but they decide to focus on looks. (Come on, if your classmate was the star of the school play and was trying to get you to come watch, would a reason she would give be, "Because my costars and I are gorgeous"? That may be the case with movies starring Angelina Jolie and stuff, but it's not like you go around and proclaim that--I can tell that Angelina Jolie is hot stuff just by looking)

** Correcting Kim Ji Suk's English and the long list of stuff
on the "Why did it happen?"

INTRODUCING STAND

STAND, Strong Til All Nine Disappear.

Welcome to the STAND official blog.
Stand refers to the International anti-SNSD movement.

This blog represents all fans united in their disregard/dislike of SNSD. We all have our personal reasons for not supporting such a group and will in time, express them here together in this blog.

Articles posted in this blog will be from various members of the STAND community. That is the First International Anti-SNSD Forum available for access at: http://standintl.motionforum.net/index.htm

All STAND members as well as staff contribute to this blog through the forum! Though staff hold the right initially to edit the articles and withhold them for the future. The posts will always be property of the STAND movement.

Looking forward to a better future,
while enjoying the beauty in unity!
Together we stand in a world free of SNSD


Until next time,
STAND staff