Why is Lee Min Jung considered a victim in her relationship with Lee Byung Hun? Netizens!

So Netizen Buzz posted an article recently, explaining why Lee Min Jung is considered a victim by netizens in her relationship with Lee Byung Hun, and it’s a quality explanation of the position of Korean netizens.

To put it simply, Korea isn’t very fond of Lee Byung Hun for his past, and many were absolutely shocked and disappointed with Lee Min Jung when she confirmed that she was indeed in a relationship with him. Her reputation will most likely not recover unless she ends the relationship.

Lee Byung Hun’s reputation took its first hit in early 2000 when the first series of ‘X-Files’ were released (a collection of rumors and insider info on all of the top celebrities compiled by reporters, journalists, officials and staff in the industry, etc that was accidentally leaked to the public. It became a huge issue at the time because the X-Files was meant to be used among industry insiders only, but netizens got a hold of it. A bunch of entertainment agencies sued all of the people involved because the X-Files included a list of the people that compiled it).

In his X-Files page, several insiders reported that he was an absolute pervert in bed and that that was largely one of the reasons why Song Hye Kyo ended her relationship with him. He allegedly had a lot of bizarre fetishes and was a huge sex addict (especially with young girls).

Go read the whole thing.

My problem with it? It’s … uh … still the position of netizens. Which is why I say that if you read the comments over there, you’ll see that they’re being just as the delusional as the international netizens they’re hating on who think everything is clean and flawless.

I tackled their relationship in the past, and I alluded to his reputation as a playboy and for enjoying “weird” sex or for having “weird” fetishes, but whatever, I’m not going to shame the guy for it. Probably because I’m not a virgin tween who thinks a little kink in the sex life is rare or weird.

Others? Well, jump to conclusions mat time!

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While allkpop translates mainstream media articles that makes it seem as if it’s a normal relationship, thus making it appear as though any netizens critical of the couple are just idiot haters, the opposite “truth” is compiled out of a ton of supposition, hearsay, and assumption, with little to none of it verified. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that this is a trend that netizens love to use. Why? Because people who want it to be true will run with it regardless. There’s nothing netizens love more than a good conspiracy.

So now take their usual conspiracy theory crap, mix in the kinky sex aspect of it, and top it off with a conservative (publicly, at least) culture, and then you’ll find that people will slut shame anybody, even men. Except the woman also inevitably gets blamed for what her partner allegedly enjoys in bed, and unequally so, because now that she may or may not enjoy sex, it means she can’t be a pure goddess or whatever other nonsense they spew.

She’s seen as a victim. Why? Because based on Lee Byung Hun’s reputation, he’s a pervert. Thus, they’re assuming that Lee Min Jung enjoys all types of “weird” sex and nobody wants to believe that she could enjoy sex, period, much less kinky shit. It’s a very patriarchal society, so the judgment is that if she does enjoy fucking, then she deserves to get shamed for it, because then she’s a “slut” or a “whore” or “impure”. Either that, or she’s being forced into having “weird” sex, thus she deserves pity.

It’s a cocktail of confirmation bias and slut shaming that inevitably leads people to jump to conclusions as if such rumors help them “know” the celebrities in question any more than they did before.

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That’s not to say I’m being critical of Netizen Buzz, as they do an awesome job, but their commenters think they are on this plane above allkpop commenters because they get the “truth”, when the reality is that they just get a different version of a story from … uh … other netizens. Same goes for commenters here or anywhere, if you don’t take all sides into account and think critically about it, what you’re doing is pointless.

There are two presented cases on this relationship that currently lie on the opposite ends of the spectrum. allkpop presents it like those two are spotless. The outspoken Korean netizens present it like Lee Byung Hun is a piece of shit and Lee Min Jung is a slut and/or victim.

Me? The path to reality is generally between the two extremes, which is where I think the facts usually hide. I just think that if you completely buy into the netizen beliefs shown here, you are no better than those commenters at allkpop who believe in whatever fairy tale they’re told.

Cognitive dissonance at its best.

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The best part? The people who accuse me of “not understanding the cultural aspect of it”. Sorry, I don’t consider rights and equality a “cultural aspect”, nor do I think logic and reason are relative to “culture”.

It’s as if they think intelligent Korean and Japanese people sit at home and agree with the masses or something. It’s akin to believing that top voted YouTube comments in an article represent Americans and then claiming that you don’t understand American culture if you don’t defend the shit they say as “the truth”.

Lulz.