I confess this most recent article was spawned by observation of fangirl behavior, however rather than rant, I decided it would be far more productive to address "myths" that fans like to use in relation to antis, and to disprove them with logic. :)
No doubt, you've heard the talk before about antis, us antis specifically. What we must be like. What we do with our time. Our "obsession". Our lack of lives. The secret "love" we must feel for SNSD because we dared dedicate site to their going away.
It's unfortunate that all antis get lumped together because I do firmly believe in the notion of a "civil anti". Is every anti civil? No, but neither is every fan sane and sensible. If there is a scale along which each fan finds his or herself, there is also a scale along with every anti-fan finds his or herself. So make no mistake: No one fan or anti-fan is alike.
And with that, let us address the top five myths that antis find thrown at them, often unjustly.
5.) Anti-fans have no lives.
Like all myths on this list, it paints all antis with the same brush, and attempts to apply a very simplistic stereotype to all antis. The "no-lives" myth dares to suggest that antis are only capable of spending their time bashing the artist they don't like, haunting their "anti lairs" and plotting deviously while twirling their mustaches.
This myth is ridiculous because it attempts to dictate to complete strangers how they spend their free time. It even assumes the anti HAS free time. Who knows? STAND, for example, is made up of antis, however, not every SNSD anti is a STAND member. We may have something in common, but that certainly does not make us a "hive-mind".
Many people have a common interest that binds them, however, no sane person would decide that members of a group were all a certain way based on a single common denominator. That would be like saying that all smokers also drink, all fans of baseball like the exact same team, or that all people who drive cars dislike bikes. Absolute statements are rarely (if ever) true, so when you make them, you're almost guaranteeing the invalidity of the point you're attempting to make.
This myth is no exception.
And realistically, disliking a group does not require that large an amount of energy or time. It's merely an emotional response. We have them as humans to many things. And yet, the average person is not crippled or forced to come to a complete stop by the things we do not like. We talk about them, but that does not indicate paralysis; it indicates discussion.
4.) Anti-fans secretly harbor love for the people they are antis of.
It's not impossible that some people are secret fans of groups they claim to hate. But then, the correct definition for such a person is a "poser", not an "anti". It's also not impossible for someone to go from liking a group to being tired of the group, to hating them...to liking them again. Human emotions are strange, and so are humans. However, it's usually a safe bet that if someone is an anti of a group, it has nothing to do with "love", at least not for that group.
There is no secret love; an anti dislikes a person or group because he or she wants to, for his or her own reasons.
You would not accuse a fan of secretly hating a group. Anti-fans and fans are opposites, and so you would and should expect an opposite reaction from each group.
3.) Anti-fans are mean people who bash and insult every chance they get.
I have seen antis behave this way, and I've seen antis who didn't. Some antis really are mean people. Some antis are only mean to fans of whoever they're antis of. And some antis are quiet people who don't like trouble. You can't take one anti and make their actions, thoughts, and habits the representation for a very large group of people. That's just ludicrous.
Before you assume all antis are mean, stop and think: Does it have anything to do with YOU?
Often, upon learning someone is an anti of a group they like, fans themselves become hostile or bias, even if it has nothing to do with the original conversation.
If you do not antagonize, insult, or interrogate the anti, it's quite possible they will remain polite and civil. Otherwise, if you behave this way...is a negative response so surprising?
2.) Antis feel the way they do because of jealousy.
Some antis really are this shallow. But not ALL. Some people are capable of forming complex opinions without it having anything to do with insecurities in regards to their physical appearance and or charms they may lack. Sometimes, disliking someone is a matter of "external forces" (the person(s), their fans, their actions, etc.) rather than "internal forces" (self-loathing, insecurity, desire to be like the person, etc.)
This is one of the more persistent myths, partially because in Kpop, jealousy tends to be the motivator for negative behavior in relation to idols. Just look at sweeping and immediate netizen reactions should a popular male idol take an interest in a female (even if that female does not return those feelings). She is harassed, threatened, and stalked. How could you not assume this was caused by anything other than fans being jealous?
HOWEVER, it has nothing to do with being an anti. To be an anti is simply to dislike someone or hate them. The reason for being an anti and the definition are certainly not mutually exclusive, and often, it is a matter of individuals acting based on their own thoughts and wishes. One person may be an anti because of petty jealousy and resentment. Another person may despise the person or persons for their behavior and actions. Another person may despise the person because of how they were treated by that person and or their fans. And still another reason for someone else.
Finally, jealousy tends to cause more immediate emotional reactions. Booing, for example. Jealousy cannot motivate people to plan and carry out boycotts in cooperation with groups they normally don't get along with. That's righteous indignation.
Indeed, there are many emotions that motivate antis. You cannot pin it on one thing and expect it to be true every time.
1.) Anti fans are mentally unstable...
I must confess that after reading about the anti who fed poor unsuspecting Yunho of DBSK super glue, I honestly believed this one myself. Many people do. Anti-fans are seen as crazy fangirls who plot acts of violence against artists and wait for the moment to strike. And when they aren't doing so, they're imagined as alone in a dark room, drooling onto their keyboards, obsessing over the people they hate with the most terrifying and ferocious hatred.
In retrospect, this is the most ridiculous myth I've ever heard. Largely because it fails to acknowledge the fact that like there are crazy anti-fans, there are crazy fans, at any moment in a certain situation, the two can very well be one and the same. A crazy fan may decide that they anti someone because that person is too close their idol, and wish that person harm.
So then, we have crazy fans. Is the existence of sane anti-fans now so unreasonable? Nope. Disliking someone doesn't make you crazy. If that were so, the entire planet is bonkers. It just means you don't like them. Nothing more or less.
Having negative feelings about a person or group does not mean you are a nasty person in need of help; you just don't like the group.
It is within your right as a human being to express emotion towards and to react to whatever you will (so long as you don't act to hurt anyone). Suppression and denial is far more unhealthy. Expressing honest and reasonable feelings? That's normal human behavior. The positiveness or negativeness of the feelings is irrelevant.
So feel free to remind anyone who suggests that being an anti automatically makes you "weird" or "unstable" that unless they are a brilliant psychiatrist able to completely and accurately analyze you in a single sitting, be it via the internet or in person, they don't know what they're talking about and should think twice about the labels being casually tossed around.
So what are the FACTS about Antis?
The only absolute truth about antis, like any group, is that there ARE NO ABSOLUTES. There's no one profile, one type, one set of anything. Yes, we may have something in common, but defining an entire group by that one thing is a waste of time.
In the end, you'll be more informed about a person if you do not focus solely on the fact that they happen to be an anti. Take a cue from the anti. Does he or she use their anti-status to define who they are as a person? If not...then why should you?
Five Anti-Fan Myths (And Why They're Myths).
No doubt, you've heard the talk before about antis, us antis specifically. What we must be like. What we do with our time. Our "obsession". Our lack of lives. The secret "love" we must feel for SNSD because we dared dedicate site to their going away.
It's unfortunate that all antis get lumped together because I do firmly believe in the notion of a "civil anti". Is every anti civil? No, but neither is every fan sane and sensible. If there is a scale along which each fan finds his or herself, there is also a scale along with every anti-fan finds his or herself. So make no mistake: No one fan or anti-fan is alike.
And with that, let us address the top five myths that antis find thrown at them, often unjustly.
5.) Anti-fans have no lives.
Like all myths on this list, it paints all antis with the same brush, and attempts to apply a very simplistic stereotype to all antis. The "no-lives" myth dares to suggest that antis are only capable of spending their time bashing the artist they don't like, haunting their "anti lairs" and plotting deviously while twirling their mustaches.
This myth is ridiculous because it attempts to dictate to complete strangers how they spend their free time. It even assumes the anti HAS free time. Who knows? STAND, for example, is made up of antis, however, not every SNSD anti is a STAND member. We may have something in common, but that certainly does not make us a "hive-mind".
Many people have a common interest that binds them, however, no sane person would decide that members of a group were all a certain way based on a single common denominator. That would be like saying that all smokers also drink, all fans of baseball like the exact same team, or that all people who drive cars dislike bikes. Absolute statements are rarely (if ever) true, so when you make them, you're almost guaranteeing the invalidity of the point you're attempting to make.
This myth is no exception.
And realistically, disliking a group does not require that large an amount of energy or time. It's merely an emotional response. We have them as humans to many things. And yet, the average person is not crippled or forced to come to a complete stop by the things we do not like. We talk about them, but that does not indicate paralysis; it indicates discussion.
4.) Anti-fans secretly harbor love for the people they are antis of.
It's not impossible that some people are secret fans of groups they claim to hate. But then, the correct definition for such a person is a "poser", not an "anti". It's also not impossible for someone to go from liking a group to being tired of the group, to hating them...to liking them again. Human emotions are strange, and so are humans. However, it's usually a safe bet that if someone is an anti of a group, it has nothing to do with "love", at least not for that group.
There is no secret love; an anti dislikes a person or group because he or she wants to, for his or her own reasons.
You would not accuse a fan of secretly hating a group. Anti-fans and fans are opposites, and so you would and should expect an opposite reaction from each group.
3.) Anti-fans are mean people who bash and insult every chance they get.
I have seen antis behave this way, and I've seen antis who didn't. Some antis really are mean people. Some antis are only mean to fans of whoever they're antis of. And some antis are quiet people who don't like trouble. You can't take one anti and make their actions, thoughts, and habits the representation for a very large group of people. That's just ludicrous.
Before you assume all antis are mean, stop and think: Does it have anything to do with YOU?
Often, upon learning someone is an anti of a group they like, fans themselves become hostile or bias, even if it has nothing to do with the original conversation.
If you do not antagonize, insult, or interrogate the anti, it's quite possible they will remain polite and civil. Otherwise, if you behave this way...is a negative response so surprising?
2.) Antis feel the way they do because of jealousy.
Some antis really are this shallow. But not ALL. Some people are capable of forming complex opinions without it having anything to do with insecurities in regards to their physical appearance and or charms they may lack. Sometimes, disliking someone is a matter of "external forces" (the person(s), their fans, their actions, etc.) rather than "internal forces" (self-loathing, insecurity, desire to be like the person, etc.)
This is one of the more persistent myths, partially because in Kpop, jealousy tends to be the motivator for negative behavior in relation to idols. Just look at sweeping and immediate netizen reactions should a popular male idol take an interest in a female (even if that female does not return those feelings). She is harassed, threatened, and stalked. How could you not assume this was caused by anything other than fans being jealous?
HOWEVER, it has nothing to do with being an anti. To be an anti is simply to dislike someone or hate them. The reason for being an anti and the definition are certainly not mutually exclusive, and often, it is a matter of individuals acting based on their own thoughts and wishes. One person may be an anti because of petty jealousy and resentment. Another person may despise the person or persons for their behavior and actions. Another person may despise the person because of how they were treated by that person and or their fans. And still another reason for someone else.
Finally, jealousy tends to cause more immediate emotional reactions. Booing, for example. Jealousy cannot motivate people to plan and carry out boycotts in cooperation with groups they normally don't get along with. That's righteous indignation.
Indeed, there are many emotions that motivate antis. You cannot pin it on one thing and expect it to be true every time.
1.) Anti fans are mentally unstable...
I must confess that after reading about the anti who fed poor unsuspecting Yunho of DBSK super glue, I honestly believed this one myself. Many people do. Anti-fans are seen as crazy fangirls who plot acts of violence against artists and wait for the moment to strike. And when they aren't doing so, they're imagined as alone in a dark room, drooling onto their keyboards, obsessing over the people they hate with the most terrifying and ferocious hatred.
In retrospect, this is the most ridiculous myth I've ever heard. Largely because it fails to acknowledge the fact that like there are crazy anti-fans, there are crazy fans, at any moment in a certain situation, the two can very well be one and the same. A crazy fan may decide that they anti someone because that person is too close their idol, and wish that person harm.
So then, we have crazy fans. Is the existence of sane anti-fans now so unreasonable? Nope. Disliking someone doesn't make you crazy. If that were so, the entire planet is bonkers. It just means you don't like them. Nothing more or less.
Having negative feelings about a person or group does not mean you are a nasty person in need of help; you just don't like the group.
It is within your right as a human being to express emotion towards and to react to whatever you will (so long as you don't act to hurt anyone). Suppression and denial is far more unhealthy. Expressing honest and reasonable feelings? That's normal human behavior. The positiveness or negativeness of the feelings is irrelevant.
So feel free to remind anyone who suggests that being an anti automatically makes you "weird" or "unstable" that unless they are a brilliant psychiatrist able to completely and accurately analyze you in a single sitting, be it via the internet or in person, they don't know what they're talking about and should think twice about the labels being casually tossed around.
So what are the FACTS about Antis?
The only absolute truth about antis, like any group, is that there ARE NO ABSOLUTES. There's no one profile, one type, one set of anything. Yes, we may have something in common, but defining an entire group by that one thing is a waste of time.
In the end, you'll be more informed about a person if you do not focus solely on the fact that they happen to be an anti. Take a cue from the anti. Does he or she use their anti-status to define who they are as a person? If not...then why should you?
I'm a psychology student and I know for myself that I don't harbor any secret love for those plastics. Maybe a very deep contempt and hatred buried deep within my sub-conscious but never love.
