The Karina discourse is thoroughly dead.

It got brought up again after she mentioned it on a show (which apparently was filmed a while ago) and gave another vague apology.

So of course people got mad and started to beat the bloated corpse of the horse that is the Karina discourse. ^(I didn't intend for that to rhyme it just did)

Now I'm not here to rehash what Karina actually meant originally, since like I said the discourse is dead, so I'll spare you my opinion of it.

What I'm here to say is this: <br>

• Everything that can be said about this has already been said, and no new information will come out to add new facets to the discussion.

• You will never know Karina's stance on the matter.

• If you're not satisfied now, you will never be.

<br> Why? Karina's responses are not hers. From the moment her managers blew up her DMs telling her to nuke the post, SM took ownership of this problem and relieved her of both the responsibility and privilege of responding to it. You can bet your sorry ass that if *my* very, very public investment vehicle committed a potentially generational PR gaffe during my nation's most turbulent political year of the past decade I would not trust her to sort things out and clean up the mess.

Like, girl we are six months out from a failed military coup. Drop the fucking shovel, step aside and let the professionals get you out of the hole you dug for yourself, ok?

So any responses are going to focus not on what is right, not on SM's stance as a firm (which they don't have anyway, their stance is I LIKE MONEY), and certainly not on how she feels as a person. They will be focused on maintaining the two pillars of an idol group as an investment: fandom and public image, usually in that order. They fundamentally do not care whether she wants a military coup or wants Yoon Seok-Yeol executed for treason, because what they air is going to be the same.

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And there are a few basic idol rules that determine what will air here:

1. Politics matters? Not for you it doesn't. It is never to be mentioned or even obliquely referenced. If you did (what were you thinking you fucking fool), you didn't. If you didn't but people thought you did, well you can get fucked lmao because clarification would automatically be a political statement.

2. Apologies should be delivered exclusively in the form of a vaguepost. Test with past scandals - your apology should also function perfectly well as a cultural appropriation apology, a dating apology, a eugenics apology, and a [sensitive matter to <east asian nation>] apology. If your apology mentions what you did wrong, you are signal-boosting your scandal. Write a new apology.

3. Sincerity and contrition are powerful and indicate a stance. For divisive topics, if you make a sincere apology for one thing, you've just alienated a different part of your fanbase. So project sincerity only for universally-agreed-upon things. Be (appear) honestly sorry you upset the fans. Be sorry you made them worry. Everybody likes when you care about the fans. The actual issue? Aim for tepid, so the fans can delude themselves in either direction, and be brief so you can get to the "I'm sorry for making you guys worry" part.

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^That is why we will never get a 'satisfying' resolution to this. Because getting there involves taking a stand of some kind, any kind, which is fundamentally opposed to the doctrine of inoffensiveness which governs any kind of PR-focused business.

Wish I could wrap this up in a neat little bow, but I can't. All I can leave you with is what you already know, which is that when you ask a question, SM will ask in response "does answering this make money or lose money?"

So yeah I'll see you at the heat death of the universe when they tell us who Karina voted for lmao