While I wouldn't say that it ISN'T WRONG to debut minors, I think that some people overreact when it comes to the topic....
These netizens argue that the kpop world is too tOxiC for minors, but they go on to fatshame and bully them. One second they're like "14 is too young to debut" and another they're like "14 is old enough to know that bodyshaming & cultural appropriation is wrong and that they should help a manager when they drop a cake". Are they too young or not?!?! Worst, what happened to Garam.
It may be true that trainees feel pressured to debut early nowadays because 20 year olds get called old, (there ya go, more examples of cyberbullying), but it'd surely have been their dream to be an idol or else they wouldn't train at all? It's their responsibility and not just the company's. Besides, all of these diets + rules and dating-bans that companies install only exist because of FANS. (However, I disagree that Hybe should've saved the other 5 lesserafim members by kicking Garam. Hybe is just at fault as fans imo. I'm not sure how the scandal went but they (idk if Hybe or someone else) really only put out a few lines of the school report and not the full story. We didn't even know EXACTLY what Garam did but argued that "a grade 5 is higher than the grade 4 someone got for shoving the cigarette down someone else's throat. I always thought that "THEN WHAT DID SHE DO?!" because I knew that scaling wasn't always fair, and died when Garam was kicked because she DEBUTED and got accepted into this school. I'd hoped she'd remained for her talents. In the end, I was right. 5 was normal and the "victim" had received an 8, so we really didn't know the ½ of the story. After all, injustice is how the girl who killed her r*pist in revenge got higher than Cho Dosoon. (Bad example but you get the point. It's always when they try to avenge themselves URGH.). Hybe might've defended her in the beginning, but Hybe had the evidence to clear her and DIDN'T USE THAT. She had to LEAVE the company and get cropped out of her documentary for that.
Even if science proves that minors don't "think properly" and that child criminals often regret/forget, some people still underestimate how kids can grow up. They act like children can't make their own decisions. Some argue that other child industries have laws that protect minor labor and kpop doesn't, so why don't they PUSH FOR THAT instead of trying to get the minors to leave?! I bet they don't want to work harder (yes true, kpop stanning/streaming isn't a job) and defend the minors so they stick to the easy route. Instead of owning up to their toxic behavior of writing fanfic and hating, they want to shield the baby minors from the harsh world instead of helping them face it or trying to change the industry for the better.
I definitely disagree with boycotting an idol just because they're a minor and can't control their age. Boycotting would literally make the idol's life harder so it'd be hypocritical to say that "environments are too harsh for young and immature idols to handle". I've seen the comment that "refusing to boycott minors because they'll 'debut minors anyway' is a give-up mindset". So they really find that method very helpful/influential huh? The minor debuted to achieve success and these know-it-all adults are ruining it for them. But excluding the current minors to prevent FUTURE minors only makes the futile actions of netizens harm the CURRENT ones as they act as if EVERY minor is the SAME because of their age. (December 2022 update:) The BBC boycott makes sense on the other hand even if "it'd be cruel to boycott an idol's hardwork".. It's because the company benefits more than Loona per success and the members have proven to have been discontent because they've filed lawsuits. It's good to have become success (You never know what's going on between an idol and company.) I also saw the comment "hOw iS iT ouR fAuLT foR tRyinG?" (🥺) in response to someone saying that it'd be everyone's fault if LOONA didn't achieve freedom even after the boycott. It's like they're using the "I TRIED" card because that IS really all they can do about loona's mistreatment. (IG it's true that every artist/company depends on the fan's streams/purchases.)
