Shallow much?

I'm sure everyone and their cats know the most recent world disaster. The earthquake, following tsunami, and the problems with nuclear reactors (and I've read an allusion to but not news itself of, a whirlpool?) in Japan right now. I am a sort of Japan-fan myself, what with one of my life goals is to be able to visit Japan at some point so I was shocked with the news.

Even though, I have to take this chance and admit that the first thing I thought was, "Are Arashi and my other Johnny biases safe?"

Yes, it does sound shallow. Horribly, horribly shallow. Thousands of people are dead and the first thing you thought about was your idols?

But when you think about it, and one person in a forum I follow pointed out more eloquently than I can ever hope to, is that, I actually know these people. Superficially yes, but it doesn't mean that I don't love them. And before you say anything, no, I'm not trying to justify anything. That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm just wondering why my knee-jerk reaction would be to think "Are Nino, Jun, Sho, Aiba and Oh-chan safe? What about Ueda? What about -insert other Johnny's artist here- ?" and so on before I think "Oh my god, loads of people are dead! That is so sad!"

So what I think is; it's because I have a vested interest in them? I love them and want them to be safe. Not because I want them to be alive so they can continue working and being a source of entertainment to me, no. It's because I genuinely wanted them to be safe. And even their families to be safe. Out of the millions of people in Japan, the first people I thought about were my biases. Then I thought about Rai's foster family. Then other lj-ers in Japan whom I don't know but have heard of through fandom.

What actually brought about this post was a post made by another arashi fan. I had been thinking about the shallowness before, but I had not thought to actually write about it until I read her post. I'm not particularly eloquent but, I'll try.

She said that after the initial shock of hearing Japan's disaster, she was slightly put-off by fandom's response of only thinking about the safety of their respective idols. Causing a flood of posts stating the confirmed safety of not only Johnnys idols, but other Jpop artists, Jrockers and even manga artists and seiyuus (voice actors). Even some reports of the state of some Johnny idols houses. And it was like people in fandom were holding these lives more than they would hold the lives of other normal people in Japan. It's true actually. She has a very valid point.

In the end, maybe it’s because we’re human? And this is a rather fatalistic view of life and human behavior but I think humans will always respond more to what interests them, what has an immediate relation towards them. I’m sure many would disagree but that’s what I think. People will always think about themselves first. Because these idols have a relation to me, because I want them to be safe, then I think about them first. I do not know the thousands other actually dead or suffering, I feel sorry for them, I wish them well, but that’s it. On the other hand, I want my idols to be safe. I want to know they are safe. I want official confirmation that they are alright.

But then again, what’s amazing is though, after the initial flood of posts about the safety of various idols and artists, there was another wave of posts about donations and auctions being held to raise money. What I think in a way, this shallowness and this kind of human interest has a good side as well. Because of this initial interest, people are actually trying to help. The response has been kind of amazing (from the view point of a virtual outsider anyway, but still). Because this interests me directly, I am helping.

Haha, a lot of people will disagree with me on this. I’m not up for a debate though, so yeah, don’t bother? This is my opinion and analysis on why I reacted the way I did. Why I’m sure hundreds of other fans reacted the way I did. I’m just putting this out there. I’m not saying this is a bad thing though. I just want to know why.

This argument (?) is everywhere. You can tell I’m not a particularly eloquent person. Much more when it comes through something like a screen. But if you get something from this, either an opinion of how weird I am or an argument of the values of celebrity (which may have ended this post three paragraphs ago) or a view on humanity, I’m glad.

And another thing, a few hours after the initial news, there was info from a fan that Fuji TV stated Arashi are safe. Followed by more information on the other groups I follow. I won't lie and say I wasn't immediately relieved because I was. I was instantly (and am still) very glad to know that they are safe.

But let’s not forget about the others as well. Let’s not forget about the millions devastated by this tragedy. Lend a helping hand. Do it in your own way. Who cares in what way.

Pray for Japan.

akunona

p/s: This is the first time I’ve ever posted about a world tragedy. Why? Because I love Japan, it has something to do directly with me, thus I am interested. I am not a very good person am I?

Also, I may come to regret posting this. LOL

picture source here