“To fall in love with someone’s thoughts - the most intimate, splendid romance.”

— Sanober Khan
(via loveage-moondream)

no one suffers more than girls who are a bit like their fathers

the south korean government strung BTS along for years like “well maybe we’ll exempt you from mandatory service ;) maybe we won’t ;) maybe we’ll give you alternative service ;) olympians and violinists and ballerinas always get exempted for what they do for south korea’s image but for the seven guys who bring in over $3.6 billion USD to korea every year, let’s wait and see” despite BTS saying over and over they don’t want any special treatment

………….and then BTS does their world expo concert last week with over 100k people coming to busan, the whole city turning purple and becoming a big BTS festival, etc and the south korean gov was like “well let’s see how big this is and then we’ll decide once and for all about military exemption :)” but then at this concert BTS performs an old b-side with the lyrics “fuck you, i don’t care / you can’t control my shit” and less than 48 hours later they announce they’re not waiting for the government to decide anything and they’re enlisting normally starting later this month

and now the articles like this are rolling in:

and the official government account for south korea’s current administration goes private:

and earlier this year, a far-right incel was elected president in south korea, so people are saying BTS refusing to cooperate with this administration and making them look so bad is extra fun

since everybody’s talking about south korea’s mandatory military service because of BTS, now seems like a great time to say that forced conscription is always morally wrong, and 90% of the world’s imprisoned conscientious objectors are south korean men who refused to join the military. despite the UN, human rights groups, and the south korean general public saying a mandatory draft with no alternatives is unethical, the current far-right administration and their new incel president have said they will be making LESS exemptions in the future because of declining birth rates. 

the choices for south korean men are literally: join the military for 18 months, flee the country before they’re age 24-ish (they don’t let men who haven’t served yet leave the country once they’re around that age, because of the possibility of them fleeing), or go to prison for 3+ years, where they’re given prison labor so it’s like they’re “serving” south korea anyway. the south korean government also keeps a public database of draft dodgers, assumedly so they can be publicly shamed for the rest of their lives (and it affects future employment, of course).

currently the only exemptions are for “cultural merit” (olympic athletes, asian game winners, classical musicians and dancers, etc, hence why people thought BTS would fit in this category because it’s all about who brings prestige to south korea internationally, and BTS literally accounts for 1% of south korea’s entire annual GDP), mentally and physically disabled men, certain STEM programs where they can work as engineers instead of serving, firefighters, and some extreme examples like “this guy is the only doctor in a small town” or “this guy’s wife just died and there’s nobody else available to raise their young kids” — and it’s a big open secret that the sons of wealthy businessmen and chaebols mysteriously always get exempted for one reason or another, of course.

the cultural merit exemption rule was written back in the 1960s, before kpop and kdramas and all that ever existed, so in the last decade or so, a lot of people have been calling for an expansion of who gets exempted and how that rule’s defined, while others say giving celebrities special treatment is unfair. i don’t know if i even have an opinion on this because i’m so anti-military i’m just like.. exempt every man, dissolve the military, fuck it all — but: in the past, enlisted celebrities like kpop idols and actors have faced such extreme levels of bullying, sexual harassment (including other soldiers taking pictures of them in the public showers to sell online), and more, to the extent that just a few months ago, shinee’s taemin was transferred to a public service role because of how much the harassment and bullying he was facing was affecting his mental health.

the south korean military is literally known for its bullying, hazing, violent homophobia, corruption and favoritism with superior officers, high suicide rates, and more — but i digress. fuck the military and fuck the south korean government :) not for BTS, but for every south korean man forced to serve a country that does not give a fuck about them

amazing

Daphne du Maurier 'Rebecca' / Beyoncé 'Haunted' / Iris Murdoch 'An Unofficial Rose'

god the women you put on earth to look at pictures of snoopy are being forced to work