Notes

Hi Alex! :3 I’ve been following you for a long time and I have always liked your views on things. I just want to say that I’m not justifying any hate at all, and I’m someone who still supports Tao, but I also think it’s not okay to see people who are mad and upset as just crazy fans that are to put it harshly ‘delusional’ on EXO’s ‘group’ image as you have mentioned, or delusional in general. Lyrics are very indirect, and IF the lyrics were meant to be directed at SM or his ‘haters’, you can’t blame the fans who are upset because they felt like their boys were attacked.

It’s accumulated anger, I’d say even. You said, “I’m just really annoyed at the fans who think exo should be treated better because sm is such a “terrible company”, but then when members actually leave, people get pissed? where is your logic? “ Exactly, there is no logic in that. Because I think most fans don’t feel betrayed just by the fact that these people left the group, as you made it seem. With your tone and choice of words too, I’m sure you didn’t mean it that way but you made EXO-Ls seem like a bunch of emotional teenagers who get upset over the wrong things. When Kris left, they were mostly mad because he left at a crucial time with no notice, making it hard for the members. Luhan left with the least hate, because he took the time to say goodbye and thank you and seemed like he had discussed it with the members beforehand. But what is common in these 3 is their stated “reason” to leave. All left because of health issues. However all three also started promoting on their own basically minutes after they did. I’m not saying they never got hurt or anything, but I’m saying that leaving because of their health was a mere excuse, and technically, it is a lie. I think it’s very understandable for fans to feel betrayed over that. I have seen a LOT of fans being understanding when these people left because of their issues, but they were immediately very disappointed when seeing them start promoting right after because they felt like they were being lied to. Tao, however, out of these 3, through his Dad’s letter, focused on his injuries a lot more than the others. Seeing him leave “to rest” but then walked around LA going to amusement parks and never once did anyone see him at school, isn’t that something to feel upset about, or betrayed, I guess? They feel like they’re being lied to, and I think that’s completely normal in these particular situations, since they basically are. These fans don’t feel betrayed just because the members left and they’re not “delusional” on EXO’s ‘made up’ group image, which you talked about a lot.

Then recently, I believe from reading your answers, your friend in Korea revealed that she saw Tao walking on his two feet just fine and did not go to the pharmacy alone, but rather with a friend. I think you out of all people should know if she was being truthful, because you’re her friend? but I’ve been on her ask.fm and twitter ever since and she had multiple proofs, even proven by her friends how she talked immediately to her friends about Tao after she saw him and how she’s been talking about the issue for months. What made me believe her even more is also because

1. She did not take pictures because she wanted him to have his privacy. If she was just some Tao hater, she would’ve immediately taken pictures of him and revealed this right after the manipulated picture came out. In her conversations with her friends after she saw Tao, she also stated that she “didn’t want to think of him as that kind of person”

2. An EXO-L was adding fuel to the fire on her ask.fm, and if she made that up solely to make people hate on Tao, she would’ve gone with it but instead scolded her for making up stuff.

I felt bad that she was being attacked by Hailangs saying that she was lying when in fact, just before her, other fans had revealed that the pharmacy Tao went to was across the river from where he lived (So I think your friend was just adding up to that as a supporting evidence? But she received all the hate from hailangs since this one came from weibo, and was in chinese, only spread by someone on twitter through screencaps as usual. So your friend is an easier target i guess). Which is somewhere practically impossible to reach on his own. Not on feet, and not even by car because he shouldn’t be able to drive. I think it’s okay for them to be upset by that. Especially when their Suho was out there literally mentioning Tao on every single interview and every single time they won, but Tao went out to manipulate that picture. I think it’s understandable for them to be mad when Tao was lying to their boys in order to get out of the group and still have the public on his side out of pity (Since Suho and the other members actually thought he was resting at home because his injury got worse, and we know this because had they known Tao was faking it and getting ready to leave, they wouldn’t have been mentioning him all along), real friendship or not. As someone who supports Tao, I have accepted the fact that even though his previous injuries weren’t fake, that he did indeed manipulate that picture and his injury did not ‘get worse’ during the CMB era to the point where he couldn’t join promotions. It doesn’t make you a bad fan if you believe in that. And if you don’t want to believe that, it doesn’t make it okay for you to be bashing these people saying that they are lying when you don’t have the evidence that they are. Bashing these people for not having strong evidences as proofs, when you yourselves would probably bash them saying they are sasaengs and did not respect your idol’s privacy if they did have pictures. Let’s not be hypocrites.

Then, Tao started promoting, and even making his own album, supposedly also going to dance practices. To make an album in the middle of all these chaos, you gotta admit making one with controversial lyrics was not a very good move. And again, I’m not justifying the haters, but I think that’s something that you can expect? When Kris and Luhan left, EXO came out with ‘Promise’, which they directed towards their fans. It’s still about the issue, but they focused on their fans, never once did they shade Kris or Luhan or anyone throughout that song. If he wanted to make an album about all this, he could’ve made it without controversial lyrics. He could’ve made it about his future without mentioning the past. He could’ve made it without shading anyone (Which you and one of your followers accept that he did, only believed it wasn’t at EXO). Geez, better, he could’ve just not made it touching any of these topics since it is a sensitive one if he didn’t want people to “bash” or “hate” him because of it, simple psychology, really. And I think it’s not these fans’ fault if they felt like they were being shaded on. We don’t know if the lyrics were about EXO, or SM, or his haters, so I also don’t think it’s okay for you to be saying it’s about SM just because you feel like it is in order to defend or protect Tao. It’s okay to be upset if these fans felt like they were being shaded, but it’s NOT okay to bash him and yknow just all the stuff hateful people do. But with you saying it’s about SM or it’s about his haters, I think that’s… just basically the same thing? I mean, we are all equally clueless, so as much as it’s not okay for EXO-Ls to do that, it’s not okay for Hailangs either. It’s okay for you to feel like Tao is not shading EXO, but it’s not okay for you to be saying that he’s not, because you don’t know that for a fact, just like everyone else. Especially as a fanartist, a pretty popular figure in the fandom, I think that will affect a lot of people when what you said was not based on anything. Even though you didn’t say it in a demanding way it might encourage one of the immature hailangs to attack on EXO-L’s with the thought that you had unconsciously given them (And this isn’t just about the shading thing, but everything else from the previous paragraphs).

I just think someone like you with a lot of followers should be more careful since you do have more power in influencing other people ^^;;

Sorry, I just had to get that out! As you might have felt, this is not just directed to you but also other Hailangs. I know a big percentage of your followers are Hailangs and as someone who supports both EXO and Tao, I hope that this dirty perspective of EXO-Ls would change because it really doesn’t make you any better and I hope through this you can somehow be a good role model for other Hailangs. I had enough of EXO-L’s directly hating on Tao, but I also had enough of Hailangs making it seem like EXO-Ls are just bunch of crazies and emotionals. I also hope you don’t think I hate you or something I really love you your blog and your art! >< Gahh I really hope my message is getting delivered properly and not in a wrong way :c