Our fandom is so sadly toxic right now. Not just the last 24 hours, it's been devolving for a looong time now. Something fans don't often realize is there are some deep, painful hurts in our past in this fandom. Pain that is often only visually resolved but not wholly.

Then a precious soul makes a post that is meant to be fun/happy/uniting & instead it literally becomes a complete cluster f*ck. Everyone looks around trying to figure out why. Why people say hateful things & alternately why there's so many people putting on battle armor.

The reason is the past hurts in the fandom. There's so many dynamics at play, so many that might not make sense. Even as a veteran fan, it doesn't even make sense to me sometimes, but the root of it is in the past. The "opinions" AND the responses are knee-jerk in a lot of ways.

Jump was not formed the way most of the groups are. Their formation literally destroyed multiple BELOVED groups. People CRIED at their debut. Horrified fans of the groups that had just been disbanded wept while Jump was singing their hearts out when those curtains fell that day.

And it wasn't just the fans who were mourning, it was Jump themselves. They were thrown out there & immediately faced with a ton of adversity both outside of Johnny's & within as it came to the reality of what their own debut meant in terms of the other Juniors & their positions.

Rather their debut being a joyful happy occasion it was wrought w/uncertaintly, heartache, & unintended betrayal. Suddenly, some of their peers were backdancing for them. Groups they had belonged to were instantly thrown into chaos with an uncertain future. Jump were helpless.

YabuHikka were told by Johnny this was the ONLY way they'd debut. Yuya/Daiki/Inoo were told that they were not strong enough to front a group. Keito with 0 training was thrown straight from boarding school to Idol. Yama/Chii/Yuto were BABIES thrust into "fronting" this new group.

They didn't even know they were debuting. They'd all been tossed in & out of so many temporary units they thought this was another one for the vollyball promos. They had no idea. They certainly didn't realize the magnitude of what was happening & what it would mean long term.

Fast forward to the day of Dreams Come True PV filming & the director throwing Yama-chan into the center position. Yama did something that was practically unheard of. He questioned the director, thinking there was a mistake. There was no mistake. He was made center & HE HATED IT.

BTW, for all of those who literally blame Yama-chan for being center, please note--center position was already there. Yuto WAS the center. Yama didn't CREATE the center position or ASK for it. He was PLACED there. He didn't have a choice anymore than Yuto did. THEY WERE BABIES.

They were children. Period. Blaming Yama for anything is akin to saying that the ADULTS in this situation handled things properly & the BOYS didn't. Which is total BS. Throw in the Morimoto situation, the dark years of Jump without work/releases, mismanagement & growing pains...

Then compound it with Yama's absolute DISDAIN for the way the world embraced HIM & not all of JUMP and you can start to see the plot unfold. Yama was given work when the others weren't. He worked his ass off & used EVERY chance he had to promote Jump, to point back to them all.

Then came his solo. He told his manager that if this was the plan, then when he'd finished the activities he was committed to that he wanted to QUIT. He had NO desire to be a solo artist, he was a member of JUMP. If he couldn't be that, then he didn't want to be an idol at all.

During this, there were so many growing pains in Jump, most of them honestly played out in front of fans, sometimes in the present time, sometimes years later when they shared the reality of what they were going through back then, either way, we know.

Regardless, one thing they have all said, repeatedly, throughout every span of time is that they are brothers. They are united, they love each other, and all of them want the best for one another, want Jump to be the best they can be, and they are 100% there for each other.

ALL of the members have supported the center position, including Yuto. They ALL have discussed at length who Yama is to the group and what role he plays and that THEY want him in that position. Yet, Yama-chan NEVER wanted it & DEEPLY struggles even now about it.

The moment he had enough clout to make demands he did so, then we saw HIM producing of their work--and we saw a new dynamic that featured BETTER distibution of lyrics, ROTATING centers in both songs and dances, and PROPER promotion of ALL of the members of Jump. YAMA did this.

The year before Keito announced that he was going to school, ALL of the members EXCEPT Keito had solo work. That was the first time in all of those years that it had happened, it was AMAZING, and I can't help but think this was one of the biggest driving forces for Keito.

Maybe he couldn't become the best singer or dancer? But what could he offer? He could act, specifically, he could become an accomplished actor, perhaps to do stage work! When he was unable to contribute to the betterment of Jump? He acted decisively, ensuring his best to Jump.

Each member, through all of these years has faced their own mountains...have ran head first into obstacles & roadblocks. Yet, they've been honest about the struggles, shared them with us, given us insights to understand, & I'm SO proud of each of them for where they are today!

So, yes...if I see "Yamada is an overrated center" or "Jump is the same with or without Keito" or "Inoo is lazy" or a myriad of other hateful comments and complete disrespect, I'm quite literally screaming at my screen in frustration. I'm appalled and indignant at this mentality.

I don't have to defend this, I can let JUMP do it themselves as the members LOVE/SUPPORT each other. JUMP wants Yama as center & PRAISE him. Keito's a VITAL member! Inoo is NOT lazy, they acknowledge his struggles & support him! For every negative, I can provide Jump's response.

Differences in feelings/thoughts will be true for us toward various members, but when a line is crossed, we should not support that behavior. We should NOT NORMALIZE bullying ANY of the members in any context any more than we do ANYONE in the fandom. We need to do better!

When opinion turns to attacking members? Our fandom should not accept this kind of hurtful behavior. To treat JUMP as anything other than NORMAL PEOPLE in the context of hateful messages/bullying is to DEHUMANIZE them & make them a "product", not people. They deserve better.

Doing otherwise is to remain complacent, & the words stand as a reflection of us all. Fandom is a community, & when we allow bullying whether fan to fan or fan to idol, we fail both JUMP & ourselves. I love this fandom, but also you drive me insane lol Let's be better than this!

Spread kindness & love, don't be combative! Don't be hateful to those who you disagree with! Then you become the thing you're fighting against! Instead, for every negative, make a positive, spread joy in place of hate, kindness for disrespect. Shine as brightly as our boys do!