Idol culture and bias against the unknown

(This is originally a reply to a forum post asking for controversial music takes but I wanted to post it as a blog too since more people need to hear this)

Idol culture is not as bad as people make it out to be and it's no different than any other part of the entertainment industry.

Most people only see the negative of it because they never interact with the culture itself and their only exposure to it is popular works that exaggerate the negative parts of it for plot.(Oshi No Ko, Perfect Blue etc.)

When people never see the culture outside of these popular horror/drama works they assume that's all it is.

They also act like all these women in the idol industry are braindead and are forced to work in it or tricked into working in it. Most idols are people who were infatuated with idol work from a young age and have been working day and night to make their dreams a reality.

Yes, they know all the work they will have to put in

Yes, they are aware of the rules of the culture

No one told them these after they became idols, they knew long before they officially became idols.

They're accepting all of it to make their dreams a reality. To be a star that makes others happy. 

"But it's parasocial to assume they're doing this to make others happy!" is a pathetic complaint I've seen so many times.

That is the point. Yes, it's parasocial. They are in fact working to make others happy. There are lines of work in the entertainment industry that are far less work intensive that they could have chosen. But this is their dream, they want to make you happy. As much as you love idols, the idols love their fans just as much. Without fans to cheer for them, they'll just be singing into the void.

Acting like all idols hate their work and are forced into it is extremely disrespectful as it discredits their years of hard work and passion, and is extremely misogynistic thinking literally all of them are stupid and don't know what their dream job entails.

Also all contracts have a time limit, no one is enslaved for life or something like that.

And yes, older people can be idols too. There's plenty of examples with ample fans. Most people quit not because they're not desired anymore but because they usually can't move as well, want to swap industries or simply just want to settle down.