in the time following the announcement of heeseung's departure from enhypen, engenes have become very divided on how to move forward. in the days following the notice, belift was cunning with their strategy. they kept their silence and waited things out as people inevitably started disagreeing on the course of action and the fandom descended into chaos. at first, the fandom was united with the protest trucks, petition, projects, etc. however, in due time, things got super out of control. in the immediate frenzy, some engenes went as far as calling the national pension service, harassing producers and staff, and harrassing many other fandoms. these actions really damaged both enhypen and engene's reputation in a way no one intended for. in korea, reputation is extremely important, so what some engenes did could cost the members immensely. aside from this, people have taken this as a green light to disrespect and invalidate the other six members and their contributions to the group. the members are seeing it too. jungwon literally had to request that engenes stop spamming in the comments of his lives because they were so persistent. call me too woke but i just can't help but side eye people who are saying "enhypen is seven or nothing" or acting like heeseung is the be all end all of the group and the group is doomed without him. it almost sounds like saying you think the other members are nothing which is very weird and i will stand on that. on the other end there's people who have taken it as a sign that they can stop hiding their dislike for heeseung and trash talk him freely now, even expressing relief or joy that he's no longer a member. absolutely sick. all of this combined is creating a toxic, stressful and harmful environment for both enhypen and engenes. in the frenzy after the announcement, people are shocked stressed, and many are not thinking clearly. but even in this state, words have meaning and they are powerful. the members are also people and they can see the discourse and the horrible things being said about them. it has gotten to an extreme point and i think we must consider if what we're doing as a fandom and encouraging one another to do is helping or hurting the members long term. we are thinking about what we want as fans, but we must first and foremost think about the members. they are the ones under the most pressure right now and we need to be there for them. some fans are continuing to protest and boycott, while others are slowing their efforts and have decided that they will continue to support enhypen as a group and heeseung as a soloist, but they will no longer actively boycott or protest. imo, people have valid disagreements on how to proceed and i can see both sides. but ultimately, regardless of what side you stand on, we should support the boys no matter the path they take. while i will no longer be actively promoting tags or projects as i disagree with the way the end goal has shifted and the way engenes are acting, i will continue to call out belift for mistreatment, reaffirm my love for the members, and push for their best interests. i think at the end of the day, we should all remember that we are not each others' enemies. belift is all too happy to see engenes turn on each other and forget what's important—ensuring that all seven enhypen members are safe, healthy, and fulfilled. this was really long but i felt that with how the situation has changed it needed to be put it out there. if you read till the end, thank you. forever sevEN-
