Lessons from Jonghyun’s death
Hello everyone! First of all, my deepest condolences to Jonghyun’s friends and family. As a fan, it’s really hurts to hear this news. I couldn’t even imagine what his sister or Shinee members are feeling right now.
Next, to the matter of Jonghyun’s reasons for his heart-breaking suicide.
As we all heard, he thought that he wasn’t talented, he felt old and he couldn’t do anything about it. While the fans clearly see that he was a talented and capable man.
We all look up to him. We saw his smile, his charismatic self even with all those obstacles that were thrown to him through his 10 years of being a celebrity. He was so amazing in our eyes.
We just saw the good sides and we couldn’t notice how much he had suffered. We put him and any other celebs on pedestal that we didn’t notice how great of a burden it was.
Now i’m not going to continue with “It was our biggest mistake…” No. It won’t solve or change anything. Instead, I’m going to continue with…
Be Kind. Everywhere. Even on the Internet where you can say something hurtful anonymously.
Yes. Just that. Be kind. When you find something you don’t like, unless you have something useful or constructive criticism to say (try to see the difference with negative comments), just turn away. There’s nothing to gain in bullying.
Scroll through Jonghyun’s social medias and you will find bad comments here and there (or worse, everywhere). Now I know that some of you might think that, as a public figure, hurtful words being thrown at him is something akin to daily occurences. That he was trained to smile and accept anything said to him but he still couldn’t say anything back.
But no, people. No. No one deserve hurtful words as daily occurence. Even if he’s public or galaxy figure. Why? The simple answer is because
In the end, we are all humans.
The annoying version of the answer is you can try to find the definition of public figure. But you won’t find any definition that says “a public figure is someone who should accept any hurtful, hate or inappropriate comments, voluntarily”
Being a public figure doesn’t mean that he has to accept hate. Being a public figure doesn’t mean he welcome all the hates directed toward him.
Now, to the next question. What do I do with people who say something hurtful to others, or specifically, my idol?
I get that it’s hard to hold your wonderful fingers back from typing even more vicious reply. Like dude, I can roast waaaaay better than that.
But hold it! Don’t step down to the same level as those… insensitive people. Remember we are all the same kinds. You roast pigs or chickens or beef. But you don’t roast human. Don’t be inhuman.
Reply with more elegance. Reply like the educated person that you are. I’m going to offer you an example.
Maybe something simple like “I’m amazed by the time that you dedicated to comment on this person’s post. This person that you don’t like. Are you sure you’re a hater?”
See the difference with “F*** you! I bet you can’t even sing! And btw I saw your profile pic, you’re so ugly as *censored*”
Wow. Talking about heaven and earth.
So with your way of replies, it will affect the idols that you admired too. People will see that this idol have a good-mannered fan. Your idol, your role model, will be seen as good too. See my point? You’re nice, your role model is nice too.
Alright, my rants are getting too long. To close this post, I’m gonna give you a reminder.
Before you start fanwars, before you say something hurtful to others, before you give some baseless accusation,
Remember! Everyone is fighting a battle that you know nothing about.
