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Thinking about Zhong Chenle on 7/25/19

Here’s a story for you. 

I’m sure you all know what racism and cultural appropriation is. Yes? Okay. We’ve got that out of the way. 

Do you know when it’s silly and unjust to make claims about it? Because some people don’t. 

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Mars: NCT Dream's comeback... Did. You. See it?

Saturn: NO. I'M NOT READY. I'M TRYING TO POSTPONE IT BECAUSE I WANT TO LIVE!!!!! just spoiler a little so I know what waits for me......

Mars: Haechan being Haechan, not-so-baby Jisung, artist Renjun, boxer Jeno, vocalist Jaemin, and precious, smiley Chenle. bUT THEN ALSO- HOT CHENLE, AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO, BECAUSE HE'S MY SON THAT I'VE WATCHED GROW UP SO MUCH. Also, people making a big deal out of Chenle's hair because the stylists decided to put it in a "scandal-worthy" hair style. 😒 Like- Chenle's not even out of his teens yet. Can you leave him alone? It's the same thing that happened to Chris (Stray Kids) a little while ago. It's ridiculous.

Saturn: .... don't. Touch. Chenle. Or I kill everyone. MY BABY IS UNTOUCHABLE. My god, people always find something to complain about. They can't enjoy anything. ANYTHING. I want to punch someone.

Mars: I know! It's terrible! It also feel so targeted, since he's a foreign member. Like- people! He doesn't have to prove himself to you. And even if he DID, he's earned his place ten times over!

Saturn: I swear, I activated "instant killer mood". First of all... IT'S JUST BRAIDS. B R A I D S. They ALWAYS do shit like this. Always. It's tiring and as you said, he doesn't have to prove anything.

Mars: I totally agree with you! They're b r a i d s. People shouldn't be so touchy with things like that! I think the first thing that people think is that it's "disrespectful" to the black race because it's a hairstyle that a lot of black people have, but I don’t see anything bad to try a hairstyle. As I said, it's not his choice what his hairstyle is, but even if it WAS, people couldn't stop him from having it! If he wanted it, he could have it. It's his body, not ours.

Saturn: I know black people have a lot of issues with this (not have the freedom to do their hair like they want) but fuck, it's just braids. At least once in a lifetime everyone just braid their hair... so THE WORLD IS FUCKED? I don't think so, it's just a hairstyle. Say it louder please, maybe others will understand. I'm so pissed because I know him, he'll feel guilty FOR NOTHING. babe, you're okay okay? You're perfect.

Mars: Exactly! I don't think it's something to get up-in-arms about. Like- Chenle wearing braids isn't him saying, "I think black people should be slaves again". It's JUST hair. When did the world become so petty as to care so much about a hairstyle? Style can be changed, but the impact you make on people's hearts with cruel words can't be changed. In the end, we're all just people. Flesh and bones. We all live, we all eat, we all drink, we all all breathe, we all die. We're just going about it at our own pace. But life is short, so I greatly pity people that use their short time on this planet to stir up trouble and make others feel bad.

Saturn: You have perfectly explained the point. I think it's the social medias fault and how generations have grown differently. Ignorance is the icing on the cake. They complain about a hairstyle but they don't talk about problems in Syria or that every 3 seconds a child gets sick of AIDS in Africa. I mean... I'm not saying that they should be political/environmental/etc activists (or if they are, it’s good! Trying to change the world is wonderful) but at least don't fake to be someone who cares about a race when maybe you're the first to see a POC and make racist remarks. Hypocrisy, I think this is the exact term to express contemporary society! Social media worsened the situation 'cause they give the courage to the rabbits to pretend to be lions and attack others without really putting their face on it.

Mars: I completely agree with you. The analogy at the end was perfect. "Rabbits trying to be lions". People are filled with bravado these days, and it would be so much better if people just took a step back and realized themselves. It's okay not to be super aggressive and into everyone's business. Focus on yourself, and maybe you'll find that you're a much nicer person than society makes you. People really do feed of of each other's energy, so I think it's a good goal to spread as many positive vibes as you possible can in your lifetime.

Saturn: Unfortunately, society inculcates ideas, ideals, situations that they consider right but that unfortunately are not. We live in a world of fiction where popularity is based on likes to a photo and not to the kindness that maybe someone showed to a needy lady. It's horrifying to see how static and cold we have become, don't you think? As you say we should all think about ourselves, improve ourselves and then see how the world improves as a result.

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Now clearly, neither of us are black. Neither of us know what it’s like to be black, but we know what it’s like to be people. And guess what, all people go through some really bad crap at some point in their life. They go through death, pain and weakness in mind and body—we all feel pain, just the same; race, skin-color, culture or language set aside. 

If someone speaks English and someone else speaks Japanese, that doesn’t make them less likely to connect as people. They could have loads in common. It just means that it takes a little more effort to understand, because there’s a certain barrier in the way. Language. But! That doesn’t stop the people, once they’ve come to understand each other a little more, from being friends. 

I think we could all use that. A little more understanding. Not such a sudden hop, skip and jump to judge. It’s like the universe’s habit. 

Now, it’s easy enough to bring up the past of slavery, and that’s true. That’s not going away, what has happened in the past. But guess what. As a Caucasian person, I don’t have slaves. My parents didn’t have slaves. My grandparents didn’t have slaves. My great-grandparents didn’t have slaves, and neither did my great-great-grandparents. 

I’m a ballroom dancer, and a great percentage of my partners are black, and they’re lovely people that I adore dancing with, and they’ve never once held a grudge or said a bad word to me. We’re friends.  

We’re all too stuck living in the past, and we keep pushing each other around because of it. We’re nothing better than playground bullies, and I hope there comes a point in time when we can stop. 

I’m not doing this to sound preachy or pretend I know everything about the world. I’m just sharing the knowledge I have in my head and expressing my opinions. Whether or not I’m right or wrong is up to everyone else’s opinions.

Believe it or not, this whole thing—this whole rant—is just because I, and we, love, adore and appreciate Zhong Chenle of NCT Dream. See? Now that’s a connection.

~Rant by Mars 

As for the situation of black people regarding their freedom to use a certain type of hairstyle, yes it makes me very angry. I know some girls with wonderful hair who have to ruin it with iron flats and products. It’s unfair, on this I agree perfectly with those who raise the issue. 

I don’t agree, however, in attacking a person who has no say in what unfortunately must wear (or in this case the hairstyle). Anyone who has made negative comments, offending Chenle is equal to those who call a child with down syndrome an abominion or who insult a girl just because she may have a better job than his boyfriend. 

The point is, Chenle is a Chinese guy in Korea. This is already a huge problem, because he found himself faced with a huge linguistic and cultural barrier to deal with in order to realize his dream. He fought hard to get that job. Sleepless nights, hours of practice, not being able to see his family, being alone. Now you will say "This has nothing to do with wearing cornrows, which like any hairstyle in the tribes represented a social status, since he isn’t a black person”. 

It has something to do with it, you're just being racist. 

Social, political, cultural racism. Racism lives in every single situation and unfortunately we are aware of it, but we don’t act on every situation that provides for it. How you insult white people who wears an African hairstyle (when black people are unable to do so) isn’t right. It would be right to insult the system. The system that has forced people with FREEDOM to be deprived of them. 

Chenle is as deprived of freedom as a POC is deprived of wearing a hairstyle or is seen as a gangster just because of the color of her/his skin. 

I'm Italian and those few times I've gone abroad the only thing I've heard is "Oh, the mafia!" As if my nationality was unavoidable by what crime has committed. But no one defended me. Why? Because I’m a Caucasian person. My skin is white. So I am untouchable to them and every offence is right? No.  We live in a world where offenses have become free, where society imposes ideals and people must absolutely follow them, where people who think with their heads are labeled as "weird”. 

We should be kind, honest and open-minded. We should offer our hand not to spit on the other. We should. It's scary, but at this rate we'll kill ourselves for a simple look instead of hugging each other.

- Rant By Saturn

[ringsofsaturn-heatofmars-blog]

Thinking About Samuel Arredondo Kim on 7/17/19

We wanted to share a quick story with you. A story about two people on different sides of the world, with different mother tongues, who share compassion for the same subject. In fact, it’s deeper than that, because the “subject” isn’t a subject. It’s a person. 

It’s Samuel Arredondo Kim, a seventeen year old boy who’s incredibly talented in music and bringing a smile to your face. He’s a previous contestant on Produce 101, turned solo artist. Even if you don’t know Samuel or you just don’t care for him, we would appreciate it if you would take a moment or two to read this and hear our thoughts about recent events regarding Samuel. 

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Mars: Also, dude... I think I have an idea for our first posting on Safe With Us. Do you know Samuel, the solo artist from PD101? His father was just murdered. And people are making jokes about it. I think that'd be something we could really speak out about and make some type of stand for. It's not right at all, and I've been crying for the past 10 minutes.

Saturn: What? Oh my God, I didn't check the news.. that's horrible. And yeah, I think we should speak out about it and stand by his side. I'm speechless.

Mars: Poor kid... He's only seventeen. I know first hand the changes that a death in the family has on a person and I'm just... Wow. As you said, speechless.

Saturn: I'm disgusted that people actually joke on it. I lose faith in humanity knowing there's people like that. I know that too and I wanna hug him. He didn't deserve it.

Mars: Precisely. There is something to be said about people who make light of it... We should definitely give thought to what we'd like to say about it, and then we can post it to the blog.

Saturn: Of course. I'm still speechless but we can collect our thoughts and write them down. I hope people who make light of it never get the same treatment and lost someone dear to them. How can they joke about someone's death? And for which reason? Samuel is a kind, talented, hardworking, and precious guy and someone MURDERED his father. And they joke about it. It's disgusting. Humanity? No, people like that don't deserve this title. This is something I really want to say. I hope Seventeen are near to him right now since they saw him grow up.

Mars: I hope so, too. You know... I feel like this is actually a great way to phrase the whole thing. The way you and I talk to each other? It's comfortable and real, so it may be the best way to phrase it. Just talk to each other and put that to virtual paper.

Saturn: I think it IS great. We are always carefree while talking to each other and use this a way to talk to other people is a great idea. Since I haven't saw their joke on this, can you tell me what they have said?? Just to "understand" what kind of problem there's into these people's "brain".

Mars: They said stuff like, "Maybe if Samuel's dad had stanned *insert name* he wouldn't have been killed/wouldn't have died". It's like... It was (reportedly) a HOME INVASION, for goodness sake! His little sister—whom he adores—could've easily gotten seriously hurt or killed herself. It's terrible to joke like that. It's a death of someone; a human being. It should be treated with respect and support for the Arredondo family.

Saturn: Are they fucking serious? Are they fucking joking like this? For what? A fucking group? I'm not blaming the group of course, but these people took it too far. Joking like this.. it's disgusting. Of course if I stan a group I will be immortal, OF COURSE. no one could touch me, because yeah I stanned the right group! My god, their minds.. I can't believe it. They're so childish, ignorant, and rude. I just wanna slap their faces right now. I think people don't care anymore about others, about human being itself. It's just "yeah I'm better than you, lol". Seriously, I hope Samuel and his family are getting the right comfort in this moment.

Mars: Agreed. It's a disheartening situation, for sure. Sometimes, I just wonder how people can be so cruel. I wonder how they don't realize the impact their words have. Especially on the internet! That foot print lasts forever! It'll always be floating around somewhere in the world, and someone will stumble on it again and again. Even if they end up regretting their words, they'll never escape it now. Those words—regrettable or otherwise—are here to stay now, and they can't stop the consequences. This is where the phrase "think before you speak" comes in, people!

Saturn: You know what? They do realize the impact but simply they don't care. Humanity is losing too much. Their humanity, their reason, their hearts. It really scares me if I can be honest. People are cruel, period. They like it, that's the fact. They like insult others to feel better. They LOVE to put shit on others you know why? Because in that way THEY FEEL superior. I feel disgusted. They don't even know that phrase dude, they're dumb as fuck.

Mars: It certainly does feel like that, but I think that's why what we're trying to do is so important. We've gotta show that humanity still has some kindness and sense. We have to show that not EVERYBODY'S first instinct is to judge. I think being some of the few people in the world that care to give support and comfort to someone, even a stranger, is a really important thing. As you've said before: "We're important", so let's do something good with it, yeah?

Saturn: I couldn't phrase this in a better way. You summarized my thoughts and you're right, we need to show there's still someone who really cares about people and others' feelings. I believe that if we can step a little maybe others will follow our steps, I hope so.  We have to do our best and we're to do it.

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So, the best way to summarize is: compassion is a universal trait which many people nowadays decide not to use. It’s a sad, disheartening thing. If you’ve made it to the end of this, it would be a wonderful thing if you could become one of the people who exercises compassion. Be comfort in the smallest of ways. The world will get a little prettier that way, we like to think.

Maybe you think so, too.