hi! I remember you talked about jimins watch showing jungkooks birthtime during his Weverse live (I might be wrong), so I was wondering what you thought about the time jungkook posted the picture on Weverse? Do you believe it’s related to Jimin?
Yes, I did write about Jimin's watch. I let the spirit of Columbo possess me because I wanted to have some fun. I think it's important to frame our writing because it's usually the key to understanding someone's position on a particular topic. Maybe it's not always obvious for everyone (impossible actually), but my intention was to treat it as an exercise in fun writing about kpop shipping, without taking it too seriously. And in that context, I also mentioned Taemin and Minho so it turned into this close to ridiculous speculation about rich idols and their faulty expensive watches.
Now, about the time Jungkook posted the photos. Short answer, I don't care enough about it to write an entire post. I also want to mention that I hate math. So much. I do know the basics, but my hate is profound and the last thing I want to do is having to work with that.
I think there's some nuance here which I love. I love it quite a lot, in case it wasn't obvious. So, as much as I have no interest in math and numerology, I am capable of acknowledging that Koreans do and idols use it in various situations. Official content makes use of it. Maybe they release something at an hour that indicates a group anniversary or members' birthdays and so on. It's a thing.
I also read the posts which do all the calculations. Sometimes it looks like they add the numbers in a way that is part of confirmation bias, other times looks legitimate. I know K-jikookers jumped on JK's post immediately.
Now, should we condemn it, as some voices are making it really clear? The criticism of jikookers who do this comes in the form of them supposedly acting like taekookers, which I think it's an exaggeration. Engaging in a type of shipping practice, aka focusing on numerology, is something that happens in all fandoms and all ships in kpop. (Even swifties are doing math and major western publications are reporting it). It's one thing to not agree with it, and another to narrow it down to one shipper group when it actually applies across all fandoms.
Also, there is this false impression that jikookers are doing it more now because of a supposed lack of "content", which in turn makes them act like taekookers. It's again false and easily proven by doing a bit of research. Everyone in the fandom with a focus on shipping in general and/or jikook would know that such analyses have been made for years and have always been part of the shipping culture. It has nothing to do with abundance/lack of content. It's all out there, we just have to look for it. Perhaps it's harder to see it on tumblr and twitter because many old accounts are gone, but youtube might be of more help.
In conclusion, I think that the time when the photo was posted is open for interpretation. It's not something that I would do, as I have no interest for, but numerology is a known concept steeped in cultural practices in which companies, idols and fans alike participate and which is easily transferable to international fans. The way in which they apply the math might differ or not.
