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Tuesday, May 21, 2013
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(RANTING JUST BECAUSE I DON’T KNOW)
I keep seeing Japanese wota buying an insane number of copies of this election single. And you know what? I’m envious. I wish I could support my oshimen to the point where I make such financial sacrifices for the sake of her publicity.
Yes, I understand that the sousenkyo is yet another ploy by Aki-P to get the group into the media and to make an absurd amount of money and break CD selling records and stuff like that, but it’s important to remember the significance that this event has for the members. Unranked members spend the night in tears, and even ranked members find themselves moved to tears by the results. In a lot of the members’ speeches each year, they thank the fans for their support which is why I believe that the members view the sousenkyo as a very important event in which they are putting their own positions in the group into the hands of the fans.
Of course, it’s not necessary to vote and there’s a certain degree of self-serving satisfaction that comes out of it rather than more altruistic feelings of support for the members. But the pure feeling of joy when your favorite member(s) rank and you know that you helped put her there is something that I imagine is unforgettable.
To once again return to the topic of finances during the sousenkyo, to a lot of people it may seem unfair that some fans are able to purchase so many more copies of CDs than others which therefore gives some members a very unfair advantage. But what’s to stop you from working hard to make enough money to do that too? The sousenkyo is my motivation to work hard so I can… well…. spend a shitload of money on something as arbitrary as this, and to make at least one girl in the world a little happier. I honestly believe that if anyone works hard and develops the right mindset, they can make as much money as they want. And the money they earn is a symbol of their efforts, just as sousenkyo vote counts and overall popularity represent the members’ efforts.
Choosing between 10K USD to sousenkyo versus 10K USD to a charity is a hard decision though. What makes sousenkyo worth it? From a utilitarian view, nothing really. But like I said, good sousenkyo results gives the fans a lot of joy too. It’s just like spending money on another hobby. And for some people, spending such an amount of money on a hobby is nothing at all relative to their overall income, so they still have plenty of money to dedicate to charity work. That’s the type of person that I yearn to be. Money doesn’t exactly bring happiness, but there’s a lot of important things that can be done with it in this case.
And on another note, even when donating to charities, there are so many charities and only so much money that an individual can give so it’s all about selecting who you will be supporting with your money. There are just so many things that you can compare the sousenkyo to and I don’t think that much good comes out of it because it’s such a unique event (props to evil genius Aki-P).
Just as sousenkyo motivates members to appeal to fans more, therefore bringing in more fans in the long run, it also motivates the fans to work hard to pay for more singles as well. So for everyone involved, I believe that the sousenkyo represents a strong source of motivation for self-improvement. And is there anything wrong with that?
