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Anyone pointing out that it's factually wrong, and the average r-slur won't get it anyway, is downmarseyd lol.
/r/neoliberal is just /r/politics lite
The Wheel of Time Season 3 - Official Trailer
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Do you hear that sound? The creaking and groaning? That was the sound of all of the people who played this game 30 years ago rising from their coffin to defend its honor.
I don't think it is worth it gramps as this game has aged so poorly it should be laid to rest with you. And I'm not just talking about the graphics or overall polish, there is barely even a game there.
There are almost no decisions to make in terms of your build. Almost optimal stat choices can be described in anywhere from a sentence to a word depending on which one of the 3 classes you chose (hint the magic user puts points into magic). Even the fights barely have you making any decisions. Early levels with the warrior have you sitting in a doorway wacking who ever comes in range while later levels have you chugging potions because dodging is 100% impossible. Playing a mage is more interesting as you have a sizable selection of spells but half of them are just Blast Baddie Fire or Blast Baddie Ice and you just find which one is better and stick with that.
The one place where user choice does come into play is the itemization. You get many different magic items throughout the game which can have pretty interesting upsides. Its not perfect and it definitely doesn't make up for the rest of the game though.
That isn't to say the game is all bad. The visuals aren't perfect but some of the enemies have pretty cool death animations. But even the best of this game isn't especially good, there are hundreds of games that have better visuals, fallout 1 is a good example of another sprite based isometric game that looks much better.
Also the Sorcerer is BIPOC, DEI much? 
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No idea what I'm expecting here in terms of advice tbh.I was involved with a man who I regarded as my soulmate, things were looking serious. We talked about marriage and the future.
He was from a Muslim background in the Middle East. I'd always been interested in his religion (Islam) and had been studying it. After a couple of years with him, I took the step of converting. Everyone in my family and friends were supportive as they knew it was my choice. There was never any pressure from him.
After converting, we scaled back on the physical side of things and both said it would be best to get married. I was all for this, loved him to bits and wanted my life with him and believed he felt the time.
Unfortunately, his parents back home in his native country had other ideas and wanted an arranged marriage to someone of their choice... After months of trying to make them see reason, he wasn't strong enough to stand by me. So I ended our relationship as I could see it was going to end in tears.
I feel so alone in Islam now. I live in a small semi rural area with no mosque, no community to speak of and I've been shying away from wanting to move on. I feel at a crossroads. There's no chance of meeting a Muslim man here. I feel so lost without him, although I feel ending it with him was the right thing to do as he'd never go against his parents' wishes. Even though he was almost 30 and well-educated.
I'm no so much looking for a husband.. It will take me a long time to get over losing him. He was the first man I ever really loved and imagined a life with. I'm just feeling a bit isolated in terms of being "the only Muslim in the village" so to speak. It's a small and very "white", middle-class community. My ex and I met at uni in a big city, where it's more common to see other Muslims and different nationalities.I'm feeling so many different things, feel like he's thrown me under the bus. I made so much effort and sacrifice for him, changed my whole way of life and even aspects of my diet and appearance. Yet he couldn't even just stand up for me (with his parents) when it mattered. He claimed to be in love with me (I was his first), yet didn't feel able to have any firm discussion with his parents about marrying me and going through with it.
I feel that being Muslim, this would put non-Muslim men totally off me. Especially with all the negativity around the religion in the media and so on. I don't even have anyone to do Ramadan with, or even talk about the religion.
tfw only muslim in the village 
also he absolutely knew he was eventually going to marry someone else, but as she said, they were engaging in the 'physical side of things' and moids will be moids if you let them do that
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A friend of mine has skin cancer and was about to start a clinical trial at MD Anderson after his other treatments did not work.
— Eric Koch (@EricDKoch) January 24, 2025
Trump's decision to temporarily halt funding for medical research also applies to clinical trials.
His treatment is now canceled. pic.twitter.com/7L8cxrwND5
Who else is single this Valentine's Day? 
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My cat is my Valentine this year 
Why are YOU single?
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I'm in my mid 40's. When I was younger I had a mentally r-slurred cousin. I would often see other r-slurred people in public too. What was up with them? Were they severely neurodivergent? Brain damage or traumatic brain injury? It wasn't Down syndrome because they have always been around too, like Corky. But I never see the classic r-slurred people anymore. They were a lot of fun.
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Most Based Comments
Basedness: 🔥🔘🔘🔘🔘
Basedness: 🔘🔘🔘🔘🔘
They don't even want freedom for themselves. What they want is the people they dislike to suffer more than they are. They know they'll lose things they love from all this, but as long as those dirty non-christian gays, or trans, or blacks, or immigrants are having a worse day than they are, then they will be happy. It's worse than you think. It's all about seeing how many people they can make more miserable than they are. (80)
Basedness: 🔘🔘🔘🔘🔘
Angriest Comments
Angriness: 😡😡😡😡😡
Angriness: 😡😡😡😡😡
Angriness: 😡😡😡😡😡
Biggest Lolcow: /u/pgrechwrites
Score: 🐮🐮🔘🔘🔘
Number of comments: 4
Average angriness: 🔘🔘🔘🔘🔘
Maximum angriness: 😡😡🔘🔘🔘
Minimum angriness: 😡🔘🔘🔘🔘
NEW: Subscribe to /h/miners to see untapped drama veins, ripe for mining! 
autodrama: automating away the jobs of dramneurodivergents. 
Ping HeyMoon if there are any problems or you have a suggestion 
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Africa isn't exactly known as an intellectual hub, though the continent has produced several successful academics. For anyone interested in receiving the best education possible on the continent, South Africa is the ideal destination. This has been both positive and negative. On the plus side, immigration into the country for academic purposes has allowed the country to attract some of the best talent on the continent. On the downside, it makes entry into university tougher, as it means you're competing with the entire continent for limited spots.
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-africa
When looking at the best universities on the continent, you'll notice that it is dominated by South African universities, with the University of Cape Town consistently taking the top spot. Over the course of my academic career, I've interacted with a few of the top universities and I'd like to share the most entertaining controversies that have emerged from them.
Some of you don't like suspense, so I'll list the three universities I'll be discussing before I begin. I hope you enjoy the read.
3. Rhodes University - #RUReferencelist
2. Stellenbosch University - Pissgate
1. University of Cape Town - Decolonsation
With each university, I'll be asking you a key question. I'm writing this after taking some promethazine pills so I'm feeling warmly sedated. Consequently, this is the theme song for the longpost:
Rhodes University - #RUReferencelist
As I've mentioned in passing a few times on the site, I attended Rhodes University for most of my academic life. I was attracted to the university because it's located in a small town and it has a reputation for being a liberal university with a notorious party scene.
You'll notice that Rhodes University isn't on the list of top African universities, and there's a reason for that - Rhodes does not partake in any ranking system. The university is quite smug about it, and it claims that it has influenced other universities from around the world to do the same.
https://www.ru.ac.za/latestnews/adecadelaterrhodesuniversitysayswetoldyousoonrankingsobsession.html
In reality, from going to a few universities in SA and spending plenty of time at Rhodes, it's pretty obvious that current year Rhodes is easily trounced by most other universities. The school and the town it's in have been on a steep decline in the last few years and it shows no signs of slowing.
But I'm not here to rag on Rhodes. I'm here to discuss #rureferencelist. I've mentioned this movement in passing in other longposts, but I'll outline it again. As you know, South Africa has a r*pe epidemic, and academic settings aren't immune to this plague. During the 2010s, many female students at Rhodes complained about being r*ped by men, and the university not doing anything about it. I don't doubt that this is the case, as there were a few times dudes in my residence would tell me about their sexual escapades and sometimes, what they described was r*pe. In my opinion, a lot of men commit r*pe without knowing it. Some of it is a product of just being ignorant about consent and boundaries. S*x is a social act, and the skills to partake in the activity in a harmonious way with others requires learning and experience.
In 2016, the women of Rhodes decided they had had enough. Anonymously, a post was made on the popular Facebook group RU Queer Confessions, Questions and Crushes. The post featured a list of about a dozen male students accusing them of r*pe and domestic violence. Women then gathered in a humungous mob and went to various male residencess to find those accussed of r*pe. On that night, I was in my residence room (it was a single room I had to myself) and I was hitting my bong. This was when marijuana was still illegal (it was decriminalised in 2018), so I had to be careful about it. Imagine my shock when stoned me suddenly heard loud banging on the residence building's front door and I peered out the window to find an angry mob of women. For some reason, the weed had me paranoid and I thought they were coming to get me for smoking weed! Fortunately, I wasn't their target, but there were 3 men in my residence who were.
They managed to kidnap some of the men on the list and I'm not quite sure what they did to them, but I'm sure it was unpleasant. The university condemned the protestors, claiming that it was wrong to publish the reference list and accuse men of r*pe publicly when they hadn't been tried legally. The women did not like that, and they continued to protest. On one day they took their shirts off. I'm not sure what the logic for the shirtlessness was. Sorry I can't provide more clearer pictures. I used to have them all on an SSD but I lost it and the images seem to have been pretty much scrubbed off the internet.
The #rureferencelist received international attention, but the university which, as I've said, has a liberal persona, surprisingly stook to its unpopular decision to condemn the protests and the reference list. An interdict was obtained to put a stop to the protest which, of course, meant the use of police force. Following this, the university took disciplinary action against the girls, resulting in many of them leaving the university.
One of the people who was punished was Yolanda Dyantyi, who was found guilty of kidnapping, insubordination, and defamation. She was excluded from the university, which is a big deal because that goes on the record, making it next to impossible to find enrolment in a different university. When this happened she went on social media to complain and claim victimhood. I googled her to see what she's up to these days, and holy heck she's STILL going on about it, like literally hours ago.
Big Question: How do you interpret the shirtless protesting?
Stellenbosch University - Pissgate
So I'm currently studying at Stellenbosch University where I'm completing my PhD. I'm enjoying the university and I think it has very, very competent educators and the academia standards are much higher than at Rhodes.
In truth, these two universities are pretty much the complete opposite of each other. While Rhodes has a liberal persona, Stellenbosch takes a more conservative approach. This is in part due to the fact that it has lectures in both English and Afrikaans. This has made it quite the popular school among Afrikaaners, which is a conservative segment of the population. The school also has a reputation for being racist. When I was a wee young high school student choosing what university I wanted to go to (this would have been in 2012), I didn't even consider Stellenbosch because of its reputation.
I'm studying remotely, so I've never spent significant time physically at the university. Consequently, I can't say whether the claims are true or not. However, I haven't experienced anything remotely approaching racism in my interactions with the university. If anything, they seem to take the "colour-blind" approach instead of focusing on identity politics. This is quite different to Rhodes where identity politics is the be-all end-all.
One event that stirred up discussions about racism at Stellenbosch in recent years is #pissgate. This story involves two main characters: Babalo Ndwayana (a BIPOC) and Theuns du Toit (a mayo, I'm guessing Boer considering that last name). After a night of heavy drinking, Theuns returns to the residence and enters the room of Babalo where he proceeds to urinate over his laptop and study material. Babalo records the incident on his phone, and on the video, you can tell Theuns is quite wasted.
The video was distributed, resulting in widespread condemnation and protests. I mentioned race previously because this was interpreted as a racist incident. Theuns was expelled from the university, and Babalo pressed charges against him. Don't take this mean that Babalo was out for blood, as he was actually quite sympathetic towards Theuns.
On Reddit, you can see the heavy debates on Reddit over whether the incident was racist.
Big Question: is Theuns a racist?
University of Cape Town - Decolonsation
Technically, I did attend UCT but it was not for a degree. I just did a short course and obtained a qualification in copywriting. I do wish I had attended UCT instead of Rhodes. I have a cousin who went there and it's clear that she benefitted greatly from going to such a prestigious university. It's bullshit that 17yos have to make big decisions like picking a university when they're so young. I didn't consider shit about rankings, just "muh artsy school good!". Seventeen-year-old me was dumb. That promethazine got me drowsy as heck now, but we're going to fight through until the end. We're almost at the finish line.
A topic that has frequently arisen in recent years in the South African academic scene is the concept of decolonisation. The argument is that we have an education system shaped by the West and its worldview and ideals, to the exclusion of indigenous knowledge. This is a product of colonialism. Hence, to truly be a decolonised State, one must restructure the education system and implement one that better suits the needs of all identities, especially those BIPOCs.
Personal thoughts? Well, they're not wrong in their assessment. However, this becomes problematic once you take it to the STEM side of things. How does one decolonise mathematics or physics? Well, some have tried, as you'll soon learn.
In 2016, a discussion panel on decolonisation was held among students. In the video, we see a woman passionately talking about how necessary it is to decolonise the school. She argues that to do this, we need to completely do away with science and start from scratch. She states that among those who practice witchcraft in Black culture, they believe it is possible to send lightning to strike someone. How could science possibly explain this?! It can't and that is because science doesn't take into account Black perspectives. Not everyone in the room agreed with her, with one man stating "it's not true!". The boy was scolded by the leader of the panel and she made him apologise. I beg of you, please watch the video. It's got absolute bangers in there.
The video clip went viral, leading to many laughing and making especially fun of the idea of abolishing it. Of course went viral on Reddit and it was used as proof that woke nonsense had infiltrated everything (I don't remember whether "woke" was the word used in 2016). It got so big that even Thunderf00t dived in!
Big Question: Is science denialism for brainlets, midwits, or geniuses?
Conclusion
Darn, a BIPOC about to dose off. I'm outchea nodding like a mfer, fr fr. I can't think of much to close off. Thanks to whoever recommended that I play The Stanley Principle. It's a great game, so unique, and I'm thoroughly enjoying. I'm going to wait before I dive into The Beginner's Guide because I want to do it while on LSD, which I'll do at the end of January 2025.
Tune in next time when I attempt to define postmodernism.
.webp?h=10 "Nuzzles, pounces on you, UwU, you're so warm!..")
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Now that we are freee, let's all admit that everyone loves titties. Titties are great. Hers are great. God bless titties.
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— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 16, 2025
A Uber popular YouTuber has editors?!? Egads!!!
.webp?h=10 "Top Hat (black) - Traditional. Classy. Elegant.")
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i havent posted in a while but my favorite event happened again, the independent thinkers at the `farms decided to discuss an article headline, from "instant update news"
"I'm Human Too!" - Trans Activist's Outrage After Gynecologist REFUSED To See Them
The local transgender farmers are not happy
"erm... do you have a source??"
"looks real to me"
!nonchuds !chudmoment @The_Homocracy
@BWC
@pizzashill discuss
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usernaw
: allahkbar
about their drinking
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We've looked at Daily Mail comments on drinking in the past in Daily Mail commenters have better opinions than boozers and alcoholmisia combined, let's see how they react to the latest evidence that drinking is 
bad for you.
Overall, researchers found having just one alcoholic drink a week raises the risk of suffering from about 19 health conditions compared to not drinking at all.
These included a higher risk of colon and esophageal cancers and of liver cirrhosis.
Dr Kevin Shield, who was involved with the report, told DailyMail.com: 'It's important to note that our report found that no level of alcohol consumption is completely risk-free.
'The analysis results show that, among drinkers, the lower their alcohol consumption, the lower their risk of mortality.
'Conversely, as alcohol consumption increases, so does the risk of mortality. So when it comes to alcohol use, less is best for health.'
Let's look at the comments:
I hate the way that old boomers write online.
etc etc etc
GOOMBLE INSIDE 
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what is freestyle chess?
it is a variant created by the legendary racist bobby fischer where the last rank is shuffled up, tossing the opening prep out of the window.
FIDE, the big boss of chess, thinks they're the only ones who can use "World Championship". Freestyle Chess Players Club wanted to call their tournament a "World Championship" too, but FIDE wasn't having it. They told players to sign a waiver to stay cool with FIDE events if they played in Freestyle.
Things got spicy with both sides throwing shade. FIDE's CEO, Emil Sutovsky, said Freestyle Chess was just protecting the elite players. Freestyle Chess hit back, saying FIDE was pressuring players and even called for the FIDE president to step down.
After all the drama, Freestyle Chess agreed to drop "World Championship" from their promo stuff for the next 10 months. This was a move to keep things chill for a bit.
they are planning tennis like tour and F1 like point system.
the first Grand Slam 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Weissenhaus is going on rn. semifinals would start from tomorrow. would you like to bet?
tourney drama
magnus initially performed mediocre during the round robin phase, leading to people declaring him washed. currently he's playing games at 98% accuracy while eating fruits (banana)
caruana is rumored to have studied all 960 opening maps and has put the current FIDE world champ Gukesh in his place through straight upperhand matchups
sindarov, the last minute entrant, runner up of the qualifier has been upsetting people left & right. he even chose the tough matchup hikaru (the legendary streamer) for the quarterfinal, shocking everyone. currently playing the tiebreaker
prince ali, the topper of the round robin. current playing vincent (the weakest pick) and is losing lmao. edit: bozo lost
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On tonight's episode:
We begin the NewJeans Saga. Join us for a brief look at the history of the major players in the scandal, as well as the opening volleys of a feud that could alter the landscape of pretty ricefoids shaking their hips on stage for ever.
Who is MHJ?
What exactly is, a NewJeans?
Why do I keep using Twice for the OP?
Find the answers to all of this and more, right after these messages from our sponsor:
Now, back to our regularly scheduled programing.
Christmas Thread Theme
Introduction
On the morning of November 28th, 2024, an official representative of the superstar Kpop group NewJeans announced that the members would be holding a press conference to address the ongoing dispute with their record label, ADOR. Two weeks prior, on November 13th, the group sent a letter notifying ADOR of numerous issues that they considered to be breaches of their contract. Per a (standard) clause in the contract, ADOR had 14 days to respond to and ameliorate these breaches. If it failed to do so, NewJeans would have the option to terminate their exclusive contract, without penalty. With the 14 day deadline set to pass at 12:00 AM KST, November 29th, it seemed premature to call a press conference. However, the group was planning to board a plane to Japan in preparation for promotional activities later that evening, and expressed their wish to update their fans on the situation before ADOR could take advantage of their travel to control the media narrative.
They know what they did
And so, at 8:30 PM, the members of NewJeans and a PR representative met with the press to announce their response to ADOR's failure to rectify the alleged contract breaches. What followed was a bizzare press conference that saw members claim their contract was terminated and that they:
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were no longer under contract with ADOR after midnight
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would not need to pay a termination penalty
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would begin seeking other oppurtunities while finishing scheduled events with ADOR
And the really bizarre part...
- would not seek to confirm the termination of their contract via legal action.
This, of course, raised numerous questions amongst the entertainment reporters present who have a solid grasp on how contract terminations work. I'm sure the dramatards in the audience who understand contract law, or are capable of tying their own shoes, have many of the same questions. Thankfully, the girls took some time to take questions from the press.
An excerpt from the press conference. Did you understand?
Always a good idea to check the specifics after terminating the contract
Leaving the world with more questions than answers, the members of NewJeans boarded a plane to Japan to resume promotional activities, setting the internet ablaze with discussion of what was in the future for NewJeans. Well, in order to predict the future, one must first understand the past.
And that past can only be found...
...In the K-Hole.
The Main Players
HYBE
The illegitimate love child of Kim Jong-Un and Xi Jinping Bang Si-Hyuk
HYBE Corporation, initially founded by Bang Si-hyuk in 2005 as Big Hit Entertainment, is the largest of the big 4 record companies in Kpop, with a market capitalization almost 4x greater than that of their next largest competitor, JYP Entertainment. Their success is directly tied to that of their most popular group, BTS, who during their heyday, generated more GDP for South Korea than the Korean domestic airline industry. This great financial success provided Big Hit Entertainment with the opportunity to acquire numerous smaller record labels including Source Music, which would later go on to debut the girl group Le Sserafim, in 2019 and Pledis Entertainment (Seventeen and Formis9) in 2020
With these new labels under their belt, Big Hit Entertainment restructured itself as HYBE Corporation in 2021, structuring all of their various sub-labels underneath the new Hybe Label division. During the years proceeding the re-structuring, HYBE developed plans to debut numerous gril groups, and leading these plans was the former Visual Director for SM Entertainment, Min Hee-jin (MHJ).
Min Hee-Jin
Born in 1979, MHJ began her career in Kpop as a graphic designer for SM Entertainment (one of the other big 4 companies in Kpop) in 2003. Eventually she was promoted to creative director, where she oversaw all visual branding for a number of SM's gril groups, including Girls Generation, Red Velvet, and f(x). Her impact on the industry in this role was massive, as she shifted artistic direction within the industry towards the idea of more experimental "concepts".
You can think of a group's concept as the overarching theme of the group, impacting everything from album art, photoshoots, music videos, and costumes to public behavior and even the type of music the group produces. The concept of an artist can remain static for years on end (think of how Motley Crue have always been party boy rockstars), or change over time (compare the early music and style of The Beatles to their later work.)
Leaving SM in 2018 due to burnout, it wasn't long before she found herself hired by Big Hit Entertainment to oversee the rebranding to HYBE Corporation. It was also announced that MHJ would be the creative lead for multiple new girl groups, as well as the producer for a label that HYBE would launch in the next few years. MHJ took part in initial planning for a new girl group with Source Music, but in 2021 HYBE established the ADOR sub label and named her as the CEO. The first act to debut under ADOR would be the girl group MHJ had begun developing with Source Music, NewJeans.
NewJeans
Upcoming January 2025 Vogue Korea cover featuring NewJeans
Auditions for Mhj's new girl group began in 2019 under Source Music. Initially planning to debut in 2021, this was pushed back to 2022, ostentibly due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. Officially debuting on July 22nd of 2022, NewJeans quickly became one of the biggest acts in all of Kpop. Their achievements speak for themselves:
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First idol group in history to occupy the #1, #2 and #3 spot on every chart in Korea for 3 consecutive months with Ditto, OMG, and Hype Boy
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NewJeans surpassed 5 billion total points on Circle Digital Chart in only 64 weeks, second only to BTS (53 weeks)
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First girl group to ever chart 5 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in the same calendar year in K-Pop history
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Set a Guinness record for fastest artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify and also became the fastest Korean act in history to reach 3 billion streams
Newjeans debut single and MV, Hype Boy, released July 22nd, 2022.
This groups massive success on the charts led them to become one of the most sought after brand endorsements in the advertising industry , with them eventually going on to work with Nike, Coca- Cola, McDonald's, Apple, Levi's, and Calvin Klein. NewJeans was so successful on this front that In April 2024, Forbes Korea reported that the group had earned ₩30 billion (~$20 million) in advertising in the course of a single year. to put this in perspective, Patrick Mahomes had total estimated off-the-field earnings of $25 million in 2024.
You know you've made it big when even your slop meal gets to go on tour.
Hanni
The Vietnamese-Australian member of a Korean girl group's English male name is Harry.
Born to Vietnamese parents in Melbourne, Australia, Phạm Ngọc Hân's (20) first experience in the entertainment industry was as a member of the Australian kpop dance cover group AEMINA. In late 2019, she was the only person to pass the Plus Global Auditions, the first set of auditions for the girl group that would become NewJeans. Hanni is widely considered to be the best vocalist in the group
Minji
Marcus the Cleanup Queen
Born in Chuncheon, South Korea in 2004, Kim Min-ji began training with Source Music in 2017. She was likely the first member selected for NewJeans, as she was the anonymous face of the Plus Global Auditions that selected Hanni. Often acting as the de facto leader, Minji is the oldest member and one of the best dancers in the group.
Dani
Her male English name is Demitree.
In 2005, Danielle Marsh was born to an Australian father and Korean mother in Newcastle, Australia. Moving back and forth between Australia and South Korea as a child, Dani's first experience in show business was as a child actor in South Korea. She began her kpop career as a trainee at YG Entertainment ( the last of the big four Kpop companies), leaving the company and joining Source Music in July 2020. Probably the most popular member internationally, Dani is a talented vocalist who provided the Korean dub of Ariel for the live action Little Mermaid movie.
Haerin
This Kang's name is Stephen
Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Kang Hae-rin dropped out of middle school in 2020 at the age of 13 to begin training with Source Music, later earning her GED. A taleented singer and dancer, Haerin is also a global ambassador for Dior.
Hyein
(Male name) Collin is the reason we need pedobear.
Lee Hye-in was born in Incheon, South Korea in 2008, making her the youngest member, or maknae, of NewJeans. Getting her start as a child model, she also was a member of a kid's group called U.SSO Girl from 2017-2018. She later went on to star on a YouTube children's channel called PocketTV. She eventually joined ADOR as a trainee in 2021. Despite being the youngest member of the group, Hyein has the most showbiz experience in the group.
Now that we've had a chance to meet the stars of our story, we are finally able to see where the NewJeans/ADOR drama truly began. But first, it's time for a...
Cookie Break
After the success of their debut single Hype Boy, NewJeans quickly followed up with the lead single of their self-titled debut EP, Cookie. As @0BS3SS10N mentioned in the comments of our previous episode, there was something a little off about this song.
With most of the song in Korean, the lyrics, once translated into English, are something else:
Now, these lyrics wouldn't be too bad in and of themselves, at least compared to western music, save for one small problem; the majority of the group was underage when the song was released. At the time of release, Dani and Hanni were 17, Haerin was 16, and Hyein was 14(!). Only Minji was over the age of 18 at the time. This generated a great deal of controversy in western markets due to the sexual tone of the lyrics.
https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/wdclrx/newjeans_cookie/
A solid summary of the drama
As @ftincel touched on above, the scandal was complicated by a report of a pattern of weird, borderline pedophilic behavior surrounding MHJ. She had numerous pictures of underage girls and a 15 year old Brooke Shields on her Instagram, and had also been accused of over sexualizing underage idols while at SM Entertainment.
HYBE, ADOR, and NewJeans themselves argued the song was actually about burning a CD for someone (to bake a CD is a euphemism for burning a CD in Korea) and that the translator who worked on the MV above had mistranslated the lyrics. Most Westerners didn't buy this, pointing out that two of the people in the group (Dani and Hanni) were native English speakers. However, as is common with scandals related to Kpop idols, there were plenty of fans who were ready to eat up the cover story.
https://old.reddit.com/r/NewJeans/comments/wkle0q/serious_discussion_thread_the_cookie_and_min/
Let's see what /mu/ had to say at the time:
You know it's bad when even 4chan thinks you've gone too far
I think this is a compilation of translated comments from Korean sites. If not, someone needs to investigate this guy.
With all of that background info and the Cookie drama out of the way, we can begin our story in earnest.
The Beginning of the End
The Audit
On April 22nd, 2024, bombshell news dropped that HYBE would be launching an internal audit of ADOR and it's executives, due to concerns that MHJ was trying to attract investors to take the label independent. At the time, HYBE owned about 80% of ADOR, with the remaining 20% being held by ADOR executives, predominantly MHJ.
HYBE alleged that MHJ and a VP at ADOR, identified only as Mr. L, were working in collaboration to "free" ADOR from HYBE. The scheme included Mr. L passing classified info about HYBE to MHJ. Mr. L had previously worked with HYBE, most relevantly during its IPO, before being transferred by the company to ADOR. Once HYBE became aware of the plan, the audit was triggered, executives electronics were examined, and plans to remove MHJ as CEO of ADOR were initiated.
Illit
For her part, MHJ released a statement alleging that the audit was an illegal attempt to oust her as CEO In retaliation for her accusing Illit, a new Kpop group under HYBE's sub-label, Belift Labs, and their producers of "copying" NewJeans.
https://www.koreaboo.com/news/min-hee-jin-official-statement/
April 23rd and 24th
The next day, April 23rd, HYBE responded that it had clear evidence that MHJ had been planning to take ADOR independent long before Illit had debuted. The main piece of evidence for this was an unreleased internal document detailing MHJ's plans.
https://m-en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20240423006400315
On the 24th, various ADOR executives tried to distance MHJ from the discovered internal document, but a report from Dispatch (basically the Korean TMZ) revealed that she had almost $73 million in put options on HYBE.
April 25th
The Next day, April 25th, HYBE made public it's initial findings from the audit and stated it's intention to report MHJ to the police.
A leaked conversation between MHJ and another ADOR executive, A
In response MHJ called her own press conference that day, which ran for almost 2 hours.
the entire press conference summed up by mhj lawyers pic.twitter.com/3qrfngiz3H
— 𝓪⁷ (@JlNSONYEONDAN) April 25, 2024
During this press conference MHJ touched on a number of topics, including:
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Reiterating that the only cause of the audit was an internal complaint she filed over Illit's "plaigerism"
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Complaining that her shareholders agreement that she signed with HYBE was unfair and currently being renegotiated.
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Alleging that she was promised NewJeans would be the first of HYBE's new girl groups to debut. Instead Le Sserafim was allowed to debut first. (Remember this one, it will be important later on)
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Claiming that she would take legal action against HYBE for seizing her and other executive's electronics
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Stating that all of ADOR's internal discussions about seeking outside investors and breaking away from HYBE were merely jokes
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Tacitly admitting that she would consult a Korean Shaman to help make business decisions (again, more on this at a later date)
The entire press conference is a trip, and this all is just a snippet. We'll do a deep dive into the press conference and it's after effects next week, but for now, let's see how the internet reacted:
Reddit Reacts
Warning:: May contain spoilers for future parts of the saga.
https://old.reddit.com/r/kpop/comments/1ca2gc4/hybe_launched_audit_into_ceo_of_newjeans_agency/
https://old.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/1ca90ty/hybe_initiates_audit_of_adors_management/
https://old.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/1ca90ty/hybe_initiates_audit_of_adors_management/
/mu/ Reacts
That's all the time we have for this week, but I hope that I was able to whet your whistle for the drama we have ahead, because theres quite a bit of it.
On next week's "In the K-Hole"
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A deep dive into MHJ's April 25th press conference and auxiliary accusations!
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The parents of NewJeans speak up!
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New legal challenges!
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And much, much more, all next week!
I hope you enjoyed this episode, as well as your upcoming holidays. A very merry Christmas to you all and yours...
... From the bottom...
... Of the K-Hole.
- box : wtf I love Protonmail even more now
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Original post in /r/protonmail, where the CEO responds to the controversy:
https://old.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/1i1zjgn/so_that_happened/
Excerpt from Yen's comment:
This is not going to be a popular opinion, but on the specific issue of antitrust, Democrats fell short. In 2022, we campaigned extensively in the US for anti-trust legislation. Two bills were ready, with bipartisan support. Chuck Schumer (who coincidently has two daughters working as big tech lobbyists) refused to bring the bills for a vote. In the aftermath of this failure, great people like former Democratic rep David Cicilline left congress, leaving few strong voices for antitrust left in the Democratic party. In the meantime, at a 2024 event covering antitrust remedies, out of all the invited senators, just a single one showed up - JD Vance.
Redditors:
Today /r/privacy, in a removed post, Redditors continue to seethe.
https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1id1lo5/proton_ceo_responds_to_backlash_after_his_post/
One particularly amusing comment chain where people are scarmbling to find a service that isn't in the hands of a chud:
https://old.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/1id1lo5/comment/m9vi9tu/?context=8
Sardines with more soyseethe:
https://old.reddit.com/r/SubredditDrama/comments/1i2q6a9/comment/m7gq8v5/?context=8
I'll Go Back Home
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🇺🇸 Trump describes the US in 3 words
— Zlatti71 (@Zlatti_71) February 20, 2025
- ukraine_watch pic.twitter.com/6KInzkAiHG
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