Hi can I ask your opinion on why objectively bad idols can come up positive in some readings? I'm not going to name names to protect my peace and yours.. but there's a few idols where everyone knows they have done very problematic things or hold problematic beliefs (racism, homophobia ykwim) but still come up rather positive in readings?
Is it just bias of the readers coming through or is it that these more objective things can be hard to pick up on?
i think i'm going to do my best to explain in detail since it seems to genuinely confuse a lot of people and has become a pretty common question, but for that reason this answer might end up pretty lengthy, so i hope you don't mind reading all of it lol
the basic answer is that people are multi-faceted, meaning everyone has good and bad to them, and sometimes the bad is just something people view as objectively unforgivable. but secondly, it's important to understand that people who are homophobic or racist see themselves as being right, they don't really see what they're doing as wrong and therefore will not necessarily come up as malicious. a lot of racists or homophobes are also not actively going out and harassing gay people or who they're racist against - they just think it, talk about it amongst their friends and go about their lives as if that's not weird. so for example, a racist white person can come up as someone who loves their family, is sweet and generous to their loved ones, puts others' needs first etc. and you wouldn't even know they were racist unless you outright asked or did a dynamic (compatibility) reading with them and a person of colour (and you would see how they're prejudiced).
but another reason is definitely who is doing the reading, the main one is definitely bias but another overwhelming factor is people simply not being able to pick up on it. you know how writers are given the advice, "write what you know" well i believe the same should be applied to readers - "read what you know". in my experience, it's really hard for white people and people from homogeneous countries to pick up on racism in general since they are not experiencing it, can't see it and are racist themselves. so this all factors into how readings turn out.
lastly, it's important to put things into perspective in general. for example, when it comes to most kpop idols - they are koreans from a homogeneous country, they are all definitely some level of racist because that's just how that works, but whether they would come up as racist or not would more so depend on how purposely racist they are. them just being ignorant and uneducated will not really be that easy to pick up on (in my opinion and experience), since they don't necessarily have bad intentions. however, an idol that hates travelling overseas because they hate seeing foreign fans and mocks them behind the scenes is definitely more likely to show up as racist if you were to ask.
so to sum up your question, these things are not hard to pick up on but they may be for some people, even if they try to be unbiased. and as a side note, the most common way i see racism or homophobia coming up is inadvertently through dynamic readings (but you can really always outright ask and get your answer).
