This gif will be the only non-text thing is this post. If you're from any Western country and are under the age of 21, this post will probably trigger your safe space or whatever the fuck you pansies call it these days.
Over the past decade, the Hallyu escaped its confines in Asia and spread throughout the globe thanks to YouTube and social media. This brought a diversity of fans from other countries. Along with that diversity, there were some bad things that arose, and the chief focus in this article are some fans claiming that K-Pop needs to diversify its members. It's not a majority opinion, but it is an opinion that is growing, seen by the acceptance of a black member into Rania. (What people don't seem to grasp is that adding the black girl was simply a publicity stunt to bring attention to a flopping group). For K-Pop to continue its appeal, I believe non-Asians need to be excluded so that K-Pop remains enjoyable.
Non-Asian foreigners would ruin K-Pop for me in an instant. For example, take your typical college freshman. This person has grown up in the "me me me" generation and has no concept of understanding others. This person has grown up being praised for being mediocre, or even worse, terrible, and being awarded for it. With no work ethic, this person expects everything to be handed to him or her. A self-entitled wank stain would not cut it in any Asian country, let alone Korea. He or she would expect to get the same amount of attention as Yoona or Suzy by putting in the same amount of effort as Hwayoung. Do we really need more Hwayoungs in K-Pop?
Along with being entitled, the typical Westerner would look down on Korean society for not being a socialist sanctuary that you see in Europe. Everywhere I go on the Internet for Korean-related entertainment, I see people bitch and moan about how Korean society is different from Western society and how it should mirror Western society more. These are the people who claim to be tolerant as long as you agree with them. Disagree with them and they're all up in your ass. A person with this mindset would cause major discord within a group full of Asians.
By believing his or her culture is superior to Korean culture, this person would not even attempt to assimilate at all. Being the monolingual, entitled Westerner that he or she is, they would make a futile attempt at learning Korean and expect to be praised for their shitty Korean skills. Once his or her severe lack of fluency is pointed out, this entitled dickwad would go off on a tirade of how Koreans triggered his or her safe space while completely ignoring that in order to function in Korea that he or she would need to be able to speak Korean at a conversational level.
While I think the person himself/herself would cause major strife within a group, the bigger issue is whitewashing K-Pop. The majority of non-Asians that try to join K-Pop agencies are white kids. White people already have everything in the West, so why do they feel the need to infiltrate K-Pop? Asians can't even be cast as Asians in Hollywood, as white people often take those roles. As if that isn't enough, white people want to be in K-Pop as well.
Asians in the West don't get represented very well. Growing up, the only Asian actor that I can recall that was able to be cast in non-stereotypical roles was John Cho. For just about everything else, an Asian person had to be a martial artist or the "Dragon Lady" that wants the white cock. For sports, Ichiro was the only Asian sports player I could even look up to. For many Asians, one of the best things about K-Pop (and Asian entertainment in general) is that we can see Asians being portrayed as a normal person in movies and dramas as opposed to caricatures. We can be fans of musicians and idols who look like us for a change.
There are people who want to take away one of the few things that we get to call our own because they feel entitled to. A non-Asian would not assimilate into a K-pop group, and last I heard, the music industry was dominated by whites and blacks in America with little to no Asian representation. We don't need Westeners trying to colonize K-Pop like they have everything else.