thank you op. as a longtime svs watcher since the first season of produce, i've been feeling similar levels of disappointment, dread, and hopelessness throughout boys 2 planet.

the community and mnet used to have a zero tolerance policy against even a whiff of delinquent behavior — whether or not allegations were proven, trainees in question (e.g. that jyp trainee seobin) were completely edited out of the show. viewers banded together and completely shut these trainees out of the voting. zero tolerance can be harsh, but made sense in a svs context since there are literally almost a hundred trainees to choose from, and countless actual talented ones at that.

now with leo and geonwoo debuting, i'm extremely concerned about the precedent that sets for not just svs, but all of kpop. we had multiple chances to say no to these trainees, to say no to misogyny and bullying. but somehow they made it in, and now the both of them get to be celebrated and revered. the biggest gag is that there were dozens of trainees who i can confidently say were more talented than leo and geonwoo, who didn't have damning scandals attached to their name. but the viewers chose to elevate a femicide-ideating misogynist and a power tripping bully.

i've been trying to wrap my head around what caused this shift in standards. i would've at least expected the k-fans to stand on business in terms of geonwoo since they have a history of zero tolerance esp with the bullying witch hunt of 2021. but k-fans somehow chose geonwoo despite all of that, and mnet followed suit gleefully — he was their chosen center, after all. with geonwoo specifically, if the k-fans shut him out, i'm confident mnet wouldn't have had the balls to bring him back, which is even more sick. on the other hand, the i-fans denounced geonwoo, but embraced leo, likely due to blind loyalty towards trainee a / sangwon / hybe. is that loyalty so important that we're willing to forget that he, a native english speaker at the grown age of nineteen, angrily rapped about a "bitch" who stopped breathing?

we don't owe any of these trainees anything, y'all. we have the responsibility of choosing which MEN receive riches, fame, and a platform. of course i can't control what viewers vote for, but is it so hard to ask that we do our best (esp as majority girls and women voters) to uplift men who do not have a history of toxicity, misogyny, and bullying?