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Agust D isn’t BTS. Not all messages are as simplistic and easily digestible and safely inoffensive as “Love Yourself.” Uncertainty & complexity scare people. Moral ambiguity scares people. I wonder, did anyone who wrote to BH actually try to find out what was said in the sample?
Just for accuracy - it wasn’t from the “death speech.” We can’t know now why it was originally included, but since it caused me to do some thinking, as provocative art intends, I’ll share my thoughts. the second snippet appears to come from this one. https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=27629
The Jonestown Massacre was a horrific event that serves as a tragic cautionary tale against allowing others to do your thinking for you, following without questioning, and recognizing that sometimes evil wears a seductive mask, offering something sweet that is poison in disguise.
Jones was a master manipulator who appealed to the vulnerable, the elderly, the black community, by using the language of socialism & the Civil Rights movement. his message of racial harmony & social utopia was even well received by politicians who benefitted from his influence.
The truth was that - in practice - this “utopia” was achieved through manipulation, intimidation, humiliation, abuse, theft, and violence. In practice, historically, communism (which he based his ideas on) has played out this way. Koreans know this all too well.
The popular anti-capitalist trends in stan twitter come to mind — the memes of yoongi himself — and I wonder if he has ever seen them and thought, “you don’t realize what you’re asking for.” There are no simple answers to the problems of social inequality & injustice we all face.
Capitalism is an abusive system founded on & impossible without inequality. Both capitalism and communism are flawed & have historically resulted in - at best - extreme oppression of the many in favor of the few, and in slavery, totalitarianism, and mass murder at worst.
In “Strange,” they allude to the way people on opposite ends of a spectrum truly BELIEVE that their way is the only right way, but ask the question — how different are they really?
In numerous lives lately, they’ve alluded to the idea of ppl who are convinced they are morally correct & yet aren’t. They’ve hinted that they do not want to use their voices to make grand social statements. They are wary of using that influence, knowing the power that they hold.
Honestly, this has bothered me - but that’s because I want them to be loud about the things *I* believe! I understand their hesitancy a bit better when I think abt it from the point of view of people who have a closer understanding of despots & the destructive power they wield.
In using the Jones sermon sample, Yoongi throws out the question. Do you believe everything you’re told? Do you recognize hypocrisy when you see it? Do you ask questions, or follow the bandwagon blindly? Will you think for yourself, or passively swallow the messages of others?
In that particular song he calls out the hypocrisy and manipulative practices of the music industry. But the overarching theme of the album goes beyond fan wars, haters, and success in spite of them, to pose questions about how we respond to our anger, fear, & societal problems.
I don’t believe for a second that he didn’t know what the sample was. It’s an insult to our intelligence & his. I understand people being upset at first glance. I understand thinking it was in poor taste. I understand disagreeing w/him & thinking he shouldn’t have included it.
What I don’t understand is that at the first rush of discomfort, rather than looking more deeply, trusting that one of your favorite artists is not, in fact, attempting to glorify a maniacal murderer — and might instead be posing a provocative and important question...
that is extremely relevant to the current social and political climate (AND THE WAY PEOPLE
ROLL IN THIS FANDOM), people rushed to silence him. That, to me, is absolutely shameful and sets a dangerous precedent.
ROLL IN THIS FANDOM), people rushed to silence him. That, to me, is absolutely shameful and sets a dangerous precedent.
People used another heartbreaking, horrific event & a pivotal movement — HUGELY distracting & diverting vital energy away FROM that movement — to quash Yoongi’s artistic freedom, to block throwing up the question. And I’m truly disappointed that it worked. I am so sorry Yoongi.
