I’ve been seeing a lot on social media lately about rumors that Kim Jong Un might be dead, or be in critical condition. There’s also talks that his sister Kim Yo-Jong might take over. There are also talks that she will be a lot worse for the North Koreans than Kim Jong Un. I’m not going to delve too much into that. If you want to know more about her, here is a biography about her from biography.com
https://www.biography.com/political-figure/kim-yo-jong
What I will talk about, however, is the fetishization of her I’ve been seeing lately on social media, and how she’s being compared to a cute anime girl. In my honest opinion, that is very creepy, and for a number of reasons.
Firstly, fetishizing anyone you don’t know is simply just creepy. By obsessing over them to the point where there is creepy fan art being made about them is just weird, and a little bit obsessive. This is not to say that you can’t find someone attractive. However, when you obsess over how someone looks, especially someone you don’t know, it just comes off as weird. This is especially true for people who fawn over the looks of celebrities. Celebrities are people, too, and they should be treated as such. By obsessing over celebrities, especially when it comes to how they look, that behavior can be damaging to one’s own mental health, and that could possible lead to stalking, harassment, or worse. You most likely don’t know the celebrity you are obsessing over, and even if you did know them or meet them, chances are, you don’t have a personal connection with them. Even if you did have a personal connection with them, obsessing over anyone is not good. All it does is stress people out, and if it is bad enough, it can lead to some really toxic behavior.
Secondly, by comparing Kim Yo-Jong to a cute anime character, that is downplaying the atrocities that her and her family are responsible for. Anime is a form of entertainment. The anime shows that some of these “kawaii” anime girls are from are from slice-of-life anime, a lot of which comedic in nature. They are meant to raise your spirits and give you some laughs. They’re not meant to be taken seriously. By comparing Kim Yo-Jong to one of those slice-of-life anime characters, what it does is make her not seem very threatening. It makes her seem like an innocent girl who is quirky and can do no harm. That mentality is dangerous, and by viewing brutal dictators/dictatorial commanders as anything other than dangerous, it cheapens the lives of those who were lost, and it downplays the severity of the threat that they pose to not only their own nation, but to other nations as well. North Korea has made threats to the US and surrounding nations in the past, and they already have nuclear missiles in their arsenal. Even though they may not pose much of a threat to the US as of yet, they are still a threat to their own people, as well as to the countries that surround them. Kim Jong Un may have tried to ease relations with the US, South Korea, and other nations, but Kim Yo-Jong may not be as willing to negotiate. At such a young age, she has risen through the ranks all the way to Vice Director of the Workers’ Party of Korea Propaganda and Agitation Department. In April, she becamenan alternative member of the Politboro of the Central Committee. These are two very powerful positions to hold. Kim Yo-Jong is not a person to be reckoned with.
Right now, with the coronavirus pandemic plaguing the world, and Kim Jong Un rumored to be in critical condition, there is a lot of uncertainty everywhere. The last thing we need to be doing is downplaying the potential threat that a regime change in North Korea can pose to the North Koreans, who have suffered under the Kim dynasty for generations. We need to be aware, we need to be on guard, and most of all, we need to take the situation in North Korea seriously. Comparing dictatorial regimes to anime characters is the furthest thing from mature. Real life is not like fiction. There are real world consequences for our actions. Sure, there can be parallels that can be drawn from fictional events and events happening in real life, but at the end of the day, events that happen in fiction stay in fiction. Fiction is scripted and there are no consequences in fiction, because everything has a written ending. Real life does not work like that. In real life, there is uncertainty and turmoil, and we have to be aware of everything we say and do.
Now, am I saying people can’t enjoy anime or draw anime characters? Am i saying people can’t make jokes, memes, and drawings poking fun at North Korea? No, of course not. Heck, I enjoy watching anime and poking fun at serious topics. What I am saying, however, is that there is a fine line between not being obsessive and being obsessive. There is also a fine line between poking fun at something and downplaying something. People can still make light of troubling times. In fact, i think it is a very therapeutic way of handling tough times. However, people still need to take troubling times seriously, and if they go overboard with jokes, silliness, and immaturity, then it makes them look as though they are not taking those concerns seriously.
According to mashable.com, the phenomenon I had talked about above is called “stanning.” The article can be read here.
https://mashable.com/article/kim-jong-un-yo-jong-fancam-horny-stan-simp.amp
According to Google, stanning means being overzealous or obsessive over a celebrity or public figure. Stanning is unhealthy for one’s own mental health.