Read on Twitter
Lots of talk over K-pop stans going political on Twitter yet there is a reason why the whole "never have I thought I would stand with K-pop stans" meme was most people's initial reaction. Let me tell you why it was as a reporter who's been covering the scene. (1/14)
I was assigned as a K-pop reporter in late 2018 and had little knowledge about the fandoms prior to that point. But what I've learned over the years is that they are largely progressive & politically aware, on top of their next-level dedication & organization skills. (2/14)
A lot of people seem to think that flooding the Dallas Police Department's 'snitch' app targeting Black Lives Matter protests with fancams is the first time K-pop Twitter went political but it's far from it. (3/14) https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolinehaskins1/dallas-police-kpop
K-pop stans have been donating to charities & raise awareness of social issues online for a while now like the time it helped spread the word on the death of two students that sparked protests and calls for safer roads in Bangladesh. (4/14) https://twitter.com/pearlxnee/status/1025997933445926912?s=20
Or the time ARMYs funded over 35,000 lunches by donating to a charity in London after spreading the word of James Corden. (5/14) https://twitter.com/magic_breakfast/status/1222920159851094018?s=20
Their latest example of online activism was to drown out right-wing/racist hashtags which apparently has taken a lot of people by surprise. (6/14) https://www.insider.com/kpop-stans-flood-spam-whitelivesmatter-hashtag-fancams-memes-2020-6
The Chilean govt was one of the first to recognize the fandom's power as a political influence as their report said the fandom is "frequently mentioning human rights violations and criticizing the silence of the media or blocking social networks." (7/14) https://www.newsweek.com/chilean-government-blames-k-pop-recent-protests-1479151
One of the reasons why I think many people are surprised by how political of K-pop stans is the overall media coverage and dismissive/skewed views of K-pop on platforms like YouTube, both left and right. (8/14)
Though it's getting better among entertainment-focused publications, many Western media outlets still see K-pop from the Western gaze, perpetuating exhausting tropes like it's "government propaganda," if not busy focusing on the dark side like suicides and sex crimes. (9/14)
With that kind of coverage that lumps everyone together in the multi-billion dollar industry, from hard-working artists to sex offenders, from creatives to worst cases ever all under the term "K-pop," it's no wonder one-sided hot takes like these are easily found. (10/14)
On Youtube, things are often taken out of context with a text-to-voice reader to depict K-pop as this soulless manufactured government-backed soft power machine, again lumping everyone together and victimizing the artists. (11/14)
YouTubers like Ethan Klein hating on K-pop and then using the "dark-side" narrative to protect themselves from backlash are a recurring theme, as well as people on the internet, mostly men, stereotyping the fandom as "gullible young girls." (12/14)
"K-pop is cancer BECAUSE fancam" has also become the new talking point on Twitter because of instances where fancams were inappropriately used. But I've seen many people use that excuse just to spite the fandom w/o having to deal with accusations of racism. (13/14)
And I say all this to say that, despite the bad rep, K-pop fans are a pretty smart and social-media savvy bunch and I'm just glad to see them finally getting the recognition they deserve. 
(14/14)
(14/14)
+Another thing I’ve observed but failed to mention more clearly earlier is the largely female, diverse & LGBT makeup of the fandom, which is often on a collision course with online communties that are male dominant/less diverse/more right-wing.
