Suga had a tough beginning before BTS

The argument

The case for Suga as the best member of BTS rests on a particular standard: not raw talent or popularity in isolation, but how far he has come and what he had to overcome to get there. On that measure, proponents argue, his record is the strongest in the group, because almost every advantage that might have smoothed his path was absent. The obstacles were of several kinds. One of his main battles centres on mental health, which is not something inferred about him from the outside — he has discussed it himself across several of his songs, making it part of the work rather than a fact kept separate from it. A second was familial. He became successful as a member of BTS without the support of his parents, who were actively against his career choice for several months, so the early period in which most artists rely on family backing was for him a period of working against it. A third was physical. As a child he was hit by a car, and the resulting shoulder injury inhibited his dancing abilities — a lasting constraint in a group whose performances are built on choreography. What makes these more than biography, on this argument, is that the outcome did not reflect them. Despite all of it, Suga has found success not only within BTS but independently of it, as a solo artist in his own right. His most recent album reached number one on iTunes charts worldwide, placing higher than the solo releases of any of his fellow bandmates — which is to say he has outperformed, on his own, the members who faced fewer of these obstacles. Because he fought through a tough beginning to reach that point, this argument concludes, Suga is the best BTS member.

Premises

Counter-arguments

While Suga has certainly struggled to achieve his dreams, he is not automatically the best because of this because to declare him as such would discount the efforts that other BTS members have put in to get where they are, and it pits one person's pain against another's. Is Suga's battle with mental health issues greater than RM's, who has also talked about his experiences with anxiety? This argument is harmful and dismissive of the other members' experiences.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Adversity overcome is a fact about a biography rather than a measure of who is best in a group. The premise establishes that the path was difficult, which bears on admiration for the person rather than on the comparison the question asks for. [Rejecting P2] Succeeding both in the group and as a solo artist is true of several members, so the premise does not distinguish its subject from the alternatives the other positions propose. [Rejecting P3] An iTunes chart position measures first-week purchasing by an organised fanbase within a single retail platform, which makes it a poor comparative instrument — and it is offered without a date or a comparison figure for the releases it is said to exceed. [Rejecting C] The counter-argument on record makes the strongest objection: the argument works by ranking suffering, and it does so against bandmates who have spoken publicly about their own struggles, including RM on anxiety. Treating hardship as the criterion requires weighing one person's pain against another's, which is both unanswerable and a poor basis for the judgement.