Chinese quality controls

 -Aprillen-:

@Xylune The crazy fandom is in part caused by the repressive government. Fans, especially female fans, who are unhappy with their situation turn all their frustration to engage with idol culture, and if lots of things are boiling under the surface it can sometimes get very excessive. But it's also because of a certain type of fandom culture. Sadly, the government will then use this excessive and destructive fandom behaviour to motivate even more repression. It's a vicious circle. 

I always assumed that avoiding political discussions may result in some sort of indulgence in other things, such as the entertainment industry, as the attention is being shifted to it. On the other hand, we can see somewhat similar issues in South Korea, where social media wars are rather common as well. So I doubt it can be fully blamed on restrictive politics. However, I haven't really researched these things before, so I can't comment a lot on it. Still, it's a very interesting topic. In my teens and early twenties I was part of a music fandom for a Finnish band, and even there people developed some strange behaviors such as parasocial relationships. If I look at the KPop fandom nowadays, it probably can't even be compared - not to forget about the development of social media over the last decade. It's fascinating - and likely scary. Anyway, I can imagine that living in a country where social media are mainly focussing on entertainment, it could fan the whole thing even more compared to other countries. 

Its disbandment day for the Anti-Censorship Liberation Army who can now lay down their weapons and return to civilian life.

May all the conspiracies you fight against in the future be similarly bloodless.