https://www.escapistmagazine.com/twice-chaeyoung-wears-swastika-shirt-qanon-apologizes/
K-Pop Twice Member Accidentally Wears Swastika Shirt After Accidentally Wearing QAnon Top
I can give her the benefit of the doubt on both of these, but surely there's somebody on her team who would catch it.
...is what I'd say if I hadn't actually lived in Asia before.
If they're in another asian country that isnt as exposed to western culture, maybe.
south koreans should know better
I was in Japan, and I can promise you that nobody knew or cared what English was written on their shirts, like, at all.
I'm not sure that's particularly relevant to whether 20-somethings care about understanding the meaning of random cool-looking foreign text on their clothes, but sure.
That's... no, that's not how anything works. There's a lot of assumptions and leaps of logic to get from point A to point B and they're not really in line with reality at all.
99% of the time, when a Japanese person wears something with English writing it says something like, "I BELIEVE TRUTH is the Love that is Belong." Like, for all they know it could be some Nazi shit, or it could be like, a quote from the Unabomber, or Stalin, or Ted Bundy. But it doesn't matter because to them it's completely meaningless gibberish. It's not that they're specifically ambivalent about the possibility of it being some Nazi shit, it's just that they're ambivalent about the meaning in general.
Nazis don't occupy anywhere near the same amount of cultural significance pretty much anywhere outside of the West. Also, most Japanese people (especially young people) aren't nearly as engaged or expressive regarding politics as Westerners.
If an American bought a shirt with random Chinese characters saying "Cao Cao was great" you wouldn't go looking through what part of American history would cause Americans to be more sympathetic towards Cao Cao than Liu Bei, you'd think, "They probably have no fucking clue what their shirt says, and don't care."
Yep usually the stuff that is offensive is the Rising Sun flag, which is still used :japan-cool: .I know many Japanese people doesnt like imperial japan, but its still bizzare that Nazi symbols are banned in Germany while the Japanese governement is allowed to fly that flag even though Imperial japan do fucked up stuff like Unit 731, Nanjing, or the entire "comfort women" system.
Don't these pop idols have highly cultivated personas? Is she supposed to be the edgelord member of the group or what? Why do these accidents keep happening to the same girl?
People are often very careless about that sort of thing, so I'm inclined to chalk it up to coincidence. I suppose it could be a thing where someone knew it would generate press but also that 99% of the audience wouldn't care or see it as an honest mistake, but it could also just be an honest mistake.
Particularly with the one in the photo, there's nothing that would cause anyone to give it a second glance unless they recognized it as being associated with Q, if they even knew what Q is. Not every person in the world is cued in to American politics enough to recognize that.
Lol I highly doubt she cares about Buddhism. It’s likely some bougie brand shirt like Vetements or some shit and she chose to wear it because she’s rich
Sure she probably doesn't care about buddhism, but if swastikas were more associated with buddhism than with nazism here in the west (as they are in parts of Asia) then you'd see people wearing swastikas all the time.
Also, Nazis were allies with Imperial Japan, the Korean far right adopting Nazi imagery just doesn't make sense.
I don't think people in east Asia automatically associate swastikas with Nazis. They're just another shape, like stars or squares or something. They're used on Buddhist temples or a pattern on fabrics.
the Korean far right adopting Nazi imagery just doesn’t make sense.
That never stopped the eastern european far right
I'm always willing to give non westerners the benefit of doubt in regards to ignorance of right wing motifs (well the Qanon bit more than the swastika). Like so not only are you constantly getting bombarded by western bullshit, you're also supposed be aware of all the hidden layers?
Yeah I've been on trains in China and seen middle aged men wearing shirts that say stuff like Daddy's Little Princess. Sometimes it's just gibberish too, like I've seen shirts saying things like random strings of letters like XGJAYBNMV. Some people just wanna wear a shirt that has mysterious foreign writing on it
Idk if it's as prevalent, but some Americans definitely wear shirts with random gibberish in Japanese because they like the aesthetic
Back when I was learning hanzi and kanji more often, I met a college classmate who had the character 力 emblazoned on his arm. White guy. I ask him, "So, what's with the tattoo? It says power" trying to make conversation, and he looks at me like I just insulted his mother, his jaw drops. He replies, "It doesn't say power at all. It says strength."
I didn't talk to him after that. I've also met people who had tattoos of characters that don't say anything at all, like completely fictional characters made of random strokes
One of my Japanese friends tells the story of a white Midwestern exchange student at his university who one day proudly showed off his new Kanji tattoo. My friend looks at it and asks him "what's it supposed to say?"
White guy looks confused and says "it says, 挑戦 (chousen) - Challenge".
My friend nods and says "Yeah it does say chousen, but the Kanji is 朝鮮 - North Korea."
That was the last time my friend ever saw the exchange student. He thinks he withdrew from the exchange program out of shame.
This is the best. I also think it's interesting how the North is Chousen and the south is Kankoku. It reflects the Korean thing of Joseon vs Hanguk.
Do you know if communists in Japan would possibly call South Korea by like 南朝鮮 (minami chosen)? Reflecting how north Koreans call the south 남조선 "namjoseon" instead of Hanguk.
and why would his jaw drop, those are basically synonyms! it's not it translates to "american who eats cheeseburger"
Well I did overhear him explain it further to someone else later, it was something to do with a brainwormed white person evangelical Christian something. Some kind of Bible verse quote.
Better than getting a tattoo of that foreign language
Imagine if some random white kids just started using far right symbols ironically.
Like, can you see some Brooklyn hipsters doing the "Grey Wolf" at each other ironically? Or repping some Mexican cartel
Honestly we’re probably gonna see an incident within two years where some edgy post-hipster living in the white part of Bedstuy gets beaten up for wearing a CJNG hat
Thinking back to how a lot of people in the punk scene used to have swastikas and shit.
I heard they're affiliated with that one political group named after the people who did the Armenian genocide
Who would have thought after years of American colonization and evangelizing
If you wanted real shock value you would’ve worn an Andy Warhol mao shirt
How in the hell can Amerikkkan "culture" be romanticized in any capacity? It's just corn syrup, incest, and nazism.
Americans have conquered the world with SEO. You're literally just googling "How do I look American?" and people in Q jumpsuits pop up.
what’s the Asian country with a crap ton of Hitler stuff for whatever reason they like the aesthetic. I’m getting similar vibes from this
Is there any reason why or is it just the same way people get kanji tattoos they don’t understand.
I don't know why exactly it has had such cultural impact and staying power, so I won't speak on it. though I am sus of it considering Thailand was an Axis power and basically Japan's only ally in Asia during the war.
