Politicians are Not Your K-Pop Idols
Take off your rosas-colored glasses for sec.
Photo source: K-Pop Stans 4 Good Governance (formerly known as K-Pop Stans 4 Leni)
By Allie Gagalang (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)
March 20, 2023
If you’re a K-Pop fan, I’m sure you’re familiar with how K-pop fandoms operate. You know the fancam culture, the mandatory merch collection, and of course, the concerts — be it virtual or live, even if it would sometimes entail flying to a different country just to witness your Idols perform. If you’re like me who’s been in this since 2007, you’ve probably owned albums that contain photo cards and have probably shelled out a few dollars for a lightstick. As a fan, sure, it’s a thrill to go out of your way to support your biases and wear the colors and emblems of your fandom with pride, elevating you to super fan status. It’s always fascinating to see such a movement in the entertainment world.
But can you imagine such behavior being replicated in another arena that is… politics? Well, that sort of makes sense because campaigns essentially aim for a solid following to be a success (paired with an abundance of its own version of “merchandise”). But when policymakers are shipped more than the policies they ought to represent, a major self-awareness should be in place among the electorate. Loyalty and stans are all fun and cute ‘til it infiltrates a system meant to deal with problems as serious as climate change, gun control, poverty, racial disparity, or overpriced sibuyas. Because when it comes to one's political colors and allegiance, a bias must constantly be questioned.
Now, I know what you’re thinking! Fandoms can be political too and some of them have used their collective power to transcend their bubble of entertainment and special interests for a cause they also passionately believe in. Case in point: stan Twitter RSVP’d seats in the Trump Rally just before the 2020 elections and didn’t show up to make it look like it really wasn’t well attended. We could absolutely count that as a regular yet evolved form of political activism. Personally, I think we should be able to leverage this more. But such a movement is different from political fanaticism.
“Loyalty and stans are all fun and cute ‘til it infiltrates a system meant to deal with problems as serious as climate change, gun control, poverty, racial disparity, or overpriced sibuyas.”
In 2017, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a humble bartender from the Bronx started her campaign for a congress seat in the 14th district of New York. She was elected in 2018, and at age 29, she became the youngest woman to ever serve the United States Senate. Her liberal socialist stance on legislation, especially in environment, immigration, and tax policies, was what made her popular, especially with the younger generation with idealistic views. Not to mention, she knows how to use her smartphone to amplify her platform by utilizing her social media, unlike her ancient colleagues. During the pandemic, she played Animal Crossing and Among Us with her fans. She was a hit with the Instagram generation. At one point, she had more social media followers than Joe Biden. To her supporters, her words were Bible even if it was considered a little bit naive.
You can say the same thing about the MAGA (Make America Great Again) crowd. They are not naive per se but they revere Donald Trump as if he’s the second coming of Christ. If you don’t agree with me, then just watch The Supporters — a mockumentary that showcases the incredible influence of Donald Trump over such a wide group of people. Religiously subscribing to his lies is just the surface of how deep his cult following goes. They go as far as producing merchandise that portrays the former United States President as Rambo or even Jesus Christ!
Don’t get me wrong. Admiring a politician for sharing the same views as you does not make you a cult follower. In fact, it’s completely normal. The very point of democracy is electing officials that represent your community and designate them to be the voice for your community’s issues. The problem though is that those elected officials become heroes of some sort, as though whatever they preach is the word of the law, and they are treated as kings, put on pedestals rather than public servants funded by our own taxes.
This brings me to the rosas-colored glasses that Kakampinks wear. I get it – you feel that Leni Robredo was the one who got away. Before she was the Vice President of the Philippines, she was the bus-riding, tsinelas-wearing, justice-driven grassroots human rights lawyer with maternal instincts to boot. On paper, she would have been an amazing President for a country that desperately needs an entire economic and political revamp. But this doesn’t mean you have to romanticize the failure of her Presidential candidacy or keep painting her as a saint. You have got to hold off on making condescending comments about the masses who voted for the other guy, and you have got to quit following her and her daughters around, waiting for them in airports like you’re some Filipino version of TMZ and the Robredos being that girl group with recent Billboard top-charting tracks.
“And you know…. the thing about the one that got away is… it was simply not meant to be. They come into our lives but they are supposed to go. It was happy while it lasted. So you thank the person. And then you let them go.”
The weird fancams of politicians — worse, of political offspring — have got to go.
Following them on their vacations has got to stop.
Treating them like celebrities has got to be a thing of the past.
They’re not trying to get you to stan them. They’re trying to make your life easier using our tax money.
Atty. Leni simply lost the race. Failure is not easy to accept and I empathize with you on that. But there has to be an honest admission of the failure because that’s the only way to bounce back in order for that failure to not be futile.
And you know…. the thing about the one that got away is… it was simply not meant to be. They come into our lives but they are supposed to go. It was happy while it lasted. So you thank the person. And then you let them go.
At some point, The One That Got Away must cease to be romantic in order for us to find The One. Perhaps, finding that person won’t happen anytime soon for our country. But getting stuck with the person who has already served her purpose in our lives doesn’t make our journey to a better government any faster as well.
Furthermore, if we look closely and practice the same self-awareness we so require from the loyalists, we’ve been mocking Marcos supporters for being loyal to the bone to that dynasty. We laugh at how they exaggerate the contributions of their patriarch to the country, and we ridicule them for donning their red shirts. But aren’t they becoming our “Shadow Selves” because we might be showing the same tendencies with the way we have supported or continue to support the now private citizens that are the Robredos?
We put our favorite K-Pop idols on a pedestal because that’s the only way for them to exist. They are assembled by their agencies and their personalities are designed for us to only see the superficial and keep the ugly parts behind the curtains. They are made to be perfect and idolized, as uncomfortable as that may sound. They will keep the façade going and create catchy tunes to entertain you and siphon money out of you.
Politicians are not supposed to operate the same way. The very existence of a politician is to serve their constituents, and create more opportunities for people so they can make more money instead of losing them. We should stay unbiased so that we can criticize their decisions when it doesn’t work for us.
There shouldn’t be anything remotely similar between a K-Pop idol and a Politician. They are at two ends of the spectrum and their function in society is entirely different from top to bottom.
In saying that, how do we then stop ourselves from falling into the mirage of political fanaticism?
“The very existence of a politician is to serve their constituents, and create more opportunities for people so they can make more money instead of losing them.”
The first step is admitting you have a problem. All of us. And I wish to send this message more to the Pink fandom which always boasts of being the “better” voters and proud of being on the right side of history. Not gonna argue with that. If there is one thing I know to be true here, your basic intentions were never unquestionable.
But perhaps, the ultimate test to really being “better” is to first admit that we also have the tendencies of that false loyalty in us. And before it gets worse like what happened to our 31 million countrymen we tend to criticize constantly, I now challenge you that in your next pagtindig, retire those rosas-colored glasses and replace them with clear ones. That way, we could roll up our sleeves once more and get back to work together, as one solid people of a Motherland that we shall forever stan.
