A Chunsa’s Rant

Sometimes we tend to keep quiet about certain things because saying too much might worsen the situation. But there are times when one has to release some bottled up feelings to unload a burdened heart. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do now.

I am a fan of Park Yuchun, a Chunsa. But before I am a fan, I am an ordinary human being. I am a human being who believes that God has bestowed in me, as He had bestowed in ALL human beings, the heart to differentiate between right and wrong. And I know that in spite of all that, humans are not perfect, we never were and we never will. But because of that precious gift instilled in us, there will always be that voice telling us when we are doing something wrong. And we should know that hatred poisons that heart. I’m so sorry for the random comparison but I can’t help but compare it with black lungs. Coal miners usually get black lungs through long exposure to coal dust. It’s tragic, but they don’t seem to have a choice. It’s their livelihood. I imagine hatred and meanness would cause a blackened heart. The more we hate, the more our heart turns black. But unlike the coal miners, we have a choice. We have a choice to not hate. We have a choice to not be mean. We have a choice to be decent human beings.

Before I continue, let me first put out some disclaimer. I don’t presume to know in depth (or otherwise) the laws in South Korea, the culture of South Korean media, nor the Korean people in general. What I’m going to write in this post is just my own personal opinion, my rant if you will, based on my observations, using my human common sense and judgment. And I’d like to reassure you that I am no flighty teenager, nor am I someone whose head is not screwed the right way. I was never interested in celebrities, until Park Yuchun, that is. And I’m pretty sure he is the last celebrity I will ever be interested in.

From June 13 to this day, a little over two months already, what has really happened? Who has come out as the real offender? Who was wronged? Who was the victim?

No. 1: Irresponsible and unethical journalism: Nobody knew the truth at that time, only Yuchun himself and woman A, the first accuser. But the media took it upon themselves to broadcast and plaster Yuchun’s face on TV and all over South Korean cyberspace, without knowing whether the accuser was telling the truth or not. They could not even afford him, in the early days at least, the anonymity of a letter in the darn alphabet or a silhouette photo with a big question mark. Why? Because he is a celebrity? But other celebrities who have had scandals were somehow protected from exposure, at least in the early stages of investigation.  But why not Park Yuchun? Is it because he is a huge celebrity? Is that it? Because people will take pleasure in the downfall of a big celebrity, never mind if he is innocent? And since sensational news cause viewership to skyrocket, so why the hell not? Never mind if a life is ruined? From the very beginning that JTBC broadcasted the sensationalized news, it had been a frenzied circus of hatred and malice hurled at Yuchun. Lies were fabricated right and left and taken for truth. Letter after letter in the English Alphabet turned up with their own lies, using the same story, with different dates. People – netizens and the public – just jumped in on the bandwagon of hate and malice. Any and all would throw in their meanest two cents and call it freedom of expression! And anyone not on the bandwagon was called delusional, crazy, a fan. Defenders would get blocked from certain sites, or called names such as Park Yuchun apologist, rapist supporter, or the most common: stupid, brainless, delulu, bitch.

You not only wronged Park Yuchun, you wronged all those rational thinking people waiting for the investigation results first before they formed their opinion and those fans who decided to stand by him while waiting for the truth to come out. They did not ask you to support Yuchun. They just wished you to refrain from hurling insults and calling Yuchun names while the facts about the situation were still unclear, while the police were doing their job!

No. 2: Guilty until proven innocent. Or rather, guilty EVEN IF proven innocent! Whatever happened to basic human rights? Even persons charged with penal offence have the right to be presumed innocent until proved otherwise. That is the law of the land. It is a universal declaration. Park Yuchun IS NOT an exemption to that rule! South Korea is NOT a primitive country that shouldn’t know and practice that maxim. He was not even summoned by the police then but he was already guilty in your eyes! Was it easier to believe he was guilty rather than think, Heaven forbid, that the female accusers were lying? Because why? Women don’t lie? Come on!

But if it were ‘easy’ you wanted, wouldn’t it have been easier to wait for the police investigation to tell us who was guilty or who was lying? It would have been easier on the conscience, anyway. But no, Yuchun was hounded by media like a criminal. And you netizens cheered the media on. You were so blood thirsty for those unconfirmed, defamatory news. You took malicious glee in condemning him in this despicable trial by media.

No. 3: Wasn’t it character assassination? The media coverage from Day 1 up to when the police investigation was in progress, have been relentless. Phrases like, “The police said…” or “Someone from the Gangnam Police said…” were often on the news. But nobody questioned who it was from the police who gave out those unconfirmed information. Nobody was interested in the source. Who cares if it was the telephone operator in the police department? Nobody was named, but everything the media spouted was taken to be the truth, taken as coming from the authorities. They were not interested in evidences; they were not concerned with justice. Sensational news was always the order of the day. But comes the final result of police investigation, when Yuchun was CLEARED OF ALL ASSAULT CHARGES, where were all the media who were shoving microphones on his face? You are not interested anymore because the authorities say he is not guilty and it’s official, not just rumor; and you cannot embellish it with lies. You’re not interested to tell the public the truth because it will make you look stupid: because you’ve already assassinated his character. And because you think the truth doesn’t sell. You think news about his innocence will not help increase viewership or clicks. Is that really all you care about? Is that what MEDIA is all about? Well, shame on you! Now all those ignorant people who thought him guilty are still ignorant about the truth because you chose not to do your job, to inform the public of the truth. Such irresponsible, unethical practices should be condemned. You shame South Korea!

No. 4: You psychoanalyst, you have a special place in my heart. I have a tremendous respect for health professionals. But I could never respect someone like you, who calls himself a psychoanalyst (who should know and consider his social responsibilities) and SPECULATES on someone’s mental health, someone who is not even your patient, and makes it public by posting it on a community site. Casually suggesting a mental health diagnosis on someone you have never met, never spoken to, never mind performed analytic work needed in psychoanalysis, and making it public, is not only irresponsible and unethical, it is despicable. So what was your agenda? Or need I ask? And what was your basis again? A f*cking random drawing from years ago! From that drawing and from a random interview, you arrived at your conclusion that he has a bathroom fetish, that he must have been traumatized while potty training. This is so cringe-worthy, Mr. Psychoanalyst! It deserves to be flashed in the toilet. And you deserve to be sued, is what!

And to the program that aired it on TV, particularly you writer-nim, of course we know your agenda. You are more concerned with creating buzz rather than acting professionally and doing your job with integrity. What can we expect from people like you except trash.

Doesn’t psychoanalytic work involve LISTENING to a patient for a period of time (some even takes years!) and trying to understand how his mind works? Have any of you ever listened to Park Yuchun? Have you ever talked to him? Did you know that that guy could come up with a short poem from just 3 unrelated words in a matter of minutes even when he was young? Or that he could come up with a new word just by looking at a dish? So him saying he thought of the words ‘conversation,’ ‘sigh,’ and ‘bathroom’ when hearing the word ‘beautiful’ is not something to go all Freudian about. Come on! He is an artist, he is a lyricist; he writes songs! But even non-artists could love bathrooms too. I am no artist, I have an ordinary mind, and yet I love bathrooms, beautiful bathrooms. Sometimes I read my books in the bathroom! It’s the first thing I check out when I get inside a hotel room. Does that mean I have a bathroom fetish? SMH at you both, you unprofessional, unethical persons!

No. 5: To the TV show that specializes in “slip-of-tongues,” distorted facts, unconfirmed information, one-sided stories and half-arsed apologies after damage has been done. I don’t know what to say to you. “Bring better broadcast in the future,” is what you promised. Then why didn’t you broadcast that the female you interviewed was caught lying through her teeth and has been brought to the prosecutors? That would have somehow made up for your first (intentional) blunder. That would have been better than the apology you posted in some obscure corner of your site.

No. 6: Lastly, to the ones who should have stood by him or at least kept quiet while the investigation was on going, but were one of the firsts to condemn him and drop him: DC JYJ Gallery. What a sorry excuse for a fansite! You dumped him when everything was still in chaos, when nobody knew what was really happening, when we were all hurting so bad for him and worried about his well-being. And you had the audacity to say your youth had been trampled on? 🙄

A respectable man in his 50’s said when his wife told him about it, “Is that how fans behave? Aren’t they supposed to support him now?” He is a non-fan of course. He doesn’t know about fandoms. But he knows what it means to be decent. Do you, DC JYJ?

I’d really like to know how many members this fansite have? And how many voted to drop Yuchun? I’m an accountant; I want figures. Because I’ve seen people comment on Twitter that they did not agree with what the admins decided on. Was it only decided by the admins then? How many were they? Five? Ten? Fifteen? One hundred? One thousand? And the media took that as a huge chunk of Yuchun’s fanbase? You.Are.So.Way.Off.

The truth is out. All the lies have withered. It’s time to make amends, if one’s heart is still able to distinguish between right and wrong, if we choose to be decent human beings.

To C-JeS, you know we will always support Yuchun and we will wait for him. But you alone are in a position to do what has to be done. I know you are under a lot of pressure and stress too, and you have other artists to take care of. But you have to do what’s right for Yuchun. He deserves that. He worked so hard half of his life to reach where he is today. I have faith that you will not allow it to just go down the drain. And I have faith that you will make those people be accountable for tarnishing Yuchun’s name and trying to ruin his life. You have to fight for him, C-JeS!

To Our Dear Yuchun,

You have proven to the world countless times the strength you have within you. It’s time to prove to the world once again who Park Yuchun is, the caring son, brother and friend, who receives nothing but praises from seniors and colleagues. If this time a light doesn’t appear at the end of the tunnel, by all means, let us go down there and light the bloody thing ourselves! We will be beside you all the way. Count on us. You will always have us, your Chunsas.

“All the strength you need to achieve anything is within you. Don’t wait for a light to appear at the end of the tunnel, stride down there…and light the bloody thing yourself!”
― Sara Henderson, From Strength To Strength: An Autobiography

 

 

By: Jellybean

Korean Translation by Uttunfan  here

Chinese Translation by Kloudzh  here

Japanese Translation by Uttunfan here

Thank you so much, Uttunfan and Kloudzh, for painstakingly translating this post, for giving up valuable time for it.  Thank you for wanting to translate it, in the first place. My most sincere thanks to you both. 💙💙

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