alright, my thoughts. even though i genuinely don’t think mine is that important.
the facts are:
1. mark wore a shirt with a confederate flag on it
2. a photo was posted online which is how we found out about it
3. people brought this up to upperroom
4. upperroom posted an apology statement that stated they do not tolerate the meaning behind the symbol
those are simply the facts without everyone’s assumptions and added narratives.
now with that being said, i think:
first and most importantly, he’s ignorant as hell for this.
do i think he wore it with malice? judging from his statement. no. i don’t think so. i think it was just a shirt they found thrifting, hence the word “vintage” being thrown around.
does that make it okay? NO. NOT AT ALL.
mark lee is a public figure who is responsible for making sure he knows what he’s representing. and wearing a symbol you don’t know the meaning of is just plain stupid. he can no longer take away the fact that his name and face is now linked to the confederate flag — even though he rejects that he supports it — that is the consequence of his own ignorance.
i’ve seen people saying that mark is hiding behind upper room and/or separating the two, saying that it’s the labels fault. which i just personally think is ridiculous. how do you hide behind a label under your name? how do you blame a label when he is the label?
there is no one to blame but him. and that will be the case for everything in the future as well. he’s the literal CEO now. everything has to be approved by him. every decision, everything he wears, says, writes, does….it all falls on him.
which is why he needs to be careful and take the time to educate himself. now — i’ve seen a lot of people say he should’ve already known considering he spent time in america. but i’ve also seen so many people find out about the flag TODAY. so i do think it’s a bit unreasonable that everyone expects him OR anyone to know american history. if you do then good for you. but some people simply just do not know. it really depends on who you’re educators are and we do not know what he was taught.
BUT even with that being said — do i still think he’s dumb as hell? YEAH, I FUCKING DO! especially in our world now where information is at the tip of our fingertips. IT TAKES ONE SIMPLE GOOGLE SEARCH. he obviously did not do that.
i do think he deserves all the criticism. but at what point does criticism just turn into blatant lies and hateful narratives? there’s been so many takes/jokes made that are so clearly obvious that people don’t really care.
end of the story is - upper room and mark (you cannot separate the two; he is upper room) have taken accountability for what happened, have specifically acknowledged the symbol and apologized.
it’s up to you whether or not you accept that apology. if you do then ok. if you don’t then ok.
now for me, it’s really all up to time — if his apology is real and sincere, i expect things like this won’t happen again. but if it’s not, and he really turns out to be a racist, hateful individual then trust im the first one out the door. i’m not here to sway anyone to make a choice. nor am i here to defend him. i acknowledge that he’s a fucking idiot and i’m hoping he learns from this and make better decisions moving forward.
you guys can come to your own decisions. you’re all adults and you can all choose for yourselves.
some of the comments in cortis most recent lives are gross asf…i saw ones of people telling martin to f juhoon?! there needs to be restrictions on the comments or something because that’s unacceptable yall are forgetting these are still young boys, they may be over 18 but imagine seeing people say sexual things about you and your close friends, i really hope they are able to brush those things off but don’t be surprised if they end up distancing like some other idols have done in the past. it’s so disappointing that idols still aren’t treated like people
+ all the “slap me” comments are weird asf too, i js realised i didn’t include that but even “tame” comments like that are weird
concept of a world tour going from may 2026 till march 2027, we already know there are gonna be more comebacks, an ot6 poster, continuous overworking, more exploiting the boys— right after WTL, they had MAMA and then the (s:v) comeback, album promos THAT ARE STILL GOING ON, teasing a new album, heeseung teasing his solo album while still being unsure of what it is (HE DOESNT KNOW WHAT HIS ALBUM IS GONNA BE ???) and some of you really have the audacity to even think of booking the tickets
they're all so overworked and the very tour heeseung himself had spoiled and now it's an ot6 poster for it. If you were a fan before all this, if you ever supported the boys how could you even think of buying tickets or going to the concert.
like fuck off please. Wake up and see how they're being overworked in front of our very eyes
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