Theory about Biases

[u/hbmc117]

So I’m a baby ARMY (around a month). When I discovered BTS, I was at home recovering from surgery. I’m an older ARMY (in my 40s). I quickly realized my bias - JIN. Now, I didn’t have anyone to talk to about my new obsession so I was bursting when I finally went back to work.

Luckily I work at a school, so I quickly found the ARMY pre-teens and we started gushing. I’ve never seen them so animated! They asked me who my bias was and I told them. They all shrieked in judgment and collectively tried to convince me that liking Jin is weird and that Jungkook was the ONLY one worth talking about. (Teenagers, LOL)

First of all, I was shocked bc I didn’t know how popular Jungkook was and that a Jin bias is a bit of a minority (maybe?). My solo discovery into the BTS realm led me to believe the only obvious bias was Jin.

During this hot discussion, I saw one girl jumping down my throat. I asked her what she thought. And in a totally serious tone says - “It makes sense that you like Jin, he’s the oldest one and you’re the oldest person at this school.” Brutal! She proceeds to tell me that older people like Jin and young people like Jungkook.

So tell me - is her theory true? Do you’ll think that younger ARMY lean towards Jungkook and older ones to Jin?

[u/[deleted]]

I have a young preteen in my house, so I know that none of their hot takes are good ones. But her bias is Jimin and she gets all 🥴 when we talk about him, whereas I do not have that reaction when I talk about my biases, Yoongi and Tae, the second oldest and second youngest. My daughter loves Jimin the most because she says he’s so funny and she thinks he’s very handsome.

There may be some correlation between younger fans biasing the maknae line and older fans gravitating towards the hyung line, but I’ve seen just as many ‘older’ women bias Jungkook especially. I personally don’t see any rhyme or reason to how people choose their bias, because there’s no telling in the beginning who will resonate with you.

Coming from an American point of view where we don’t have such strict societal views about age, the age difference between Jin and Jungkook isn’t notable. Jungkook will be 25 (international age) in Sept and Jin will be 30 in Dec. ARMY also spreads far wider than just middle school. It’s proved time and time again that the fan base largely consists of adults with adult money.

[u/hollye83 → u/[deleted]]

I believe pretty strongly that the older you get, the less dramatic you are about celebrity crushes, at least for most people. Its still a crush, but I think now, in my 30s, I just have fun with it. You have plenty of context for where these feelings belong in your life and are completely aware that you're not in their dating pool or whatever. When I was a teen crushing on JT, man, was I intense about it. Its not bad, its just part of growing up.

[u/hbmc117 → u/hollye83]

This is so true. The intensity of their energy was crazy!

I remember several years ago at my school I walked by a few Middle school girls crying. I was concerned so I asked about why they were upset. Bawling bc One Direction broke up.