BTS Has More Influence on U.S. Politics Than People Think
BTS has been taking over the world these past few years. Since their debut in 2013, the group has attracted fans all over the world, including a huge amount in the United States alone.
Although the BTS members are South Korean citizens and merely entertainers, not political figures, they actually have considerable influence on U.S. politics. After all, entertainment and politics do sometimes intertwine, so read on below to see how BTS has been able to find their way into the U.S.’s political atmosphere.
A Congressperson recently showed support for BTS
Marilyn Strickland, who was recently elected as a representative for Washington’s 10th district, was spotted wearing a BTS mask during the freshman orientation for 117th United States Congress.
Strickland is of Korean and African American heritage, and she is one of the three Korean American women elected to Congress in November 2020.
NASA added BTS to its playlist for an upcoming moon journey
Another part of the U.S. government has people showing support for BTS as well.
In 2019, NASA announced it would add three BTS songs to the playlist for its lunar journey, which is planned for 2024. According to the Korean Herald, the famous space agency revealed it had chosen the songs “Moonchild,” “Mikrokosmos,” and “134340” for the playlist.
In June 2020, NASA talked about BTS again in a tweet. According to Allkpop, after a fan wrote on Twitter that NASA should give member Jin the moon, NASA responded, “The Moon already belongs to everybody, even Seokjin.”
BTS supports the Black Lives Matter movement
Despite doing a lot of work in the U.S. these past few years, the members of BTS often stays away from discussing political issues in the States. However, back in June, they decided to use their voice to speak out in support of Black Lives Matter.
“We stand against racial discrimination. We condemn violence. You, I and we all have the right to be respected. We will stand together,” BTS tweeted.
The group also donated $1 million to the Black Lives Matter movement, which has spread from the U.S. to several other countries as well.
However, despite linking themselves to a political movement, BTS has said that they are not trying to be political activists. Many fans also agree with the group, noting that their tweet and donation to Black Lives Matter should be interpreted as support for human rights and anti-racism efforts.
K-pop fans have been using their social media power to troll white supremacists and Donald Trump supporters
BTS has amassed an enormous and vocal fan base known as ARMY. Similarly, other K-pop groups have their own passionate fans as well. The presence of K-pop fans on social media is simply astounding, and these fans been using their power to troll white supremacists and Donald Trump supporters.
These past several months, K-pop fans have descended upon hashtags like #WhiteLiveMatters and #QAnon, where they spammed K-pop pictures and GIFs to drown out the original messages in those hashtags.
When the Black Lives Matter protests sprung up across the country this past summer, K-pop fans also sided with the protestors. Many fans downloaded the iWatch Dallas app, which was used for people to report illegal activities committed by protestors, and spammed it with K-pop content until the app encountered “technical difficulties.”
Additionally, K-pop fans also teamed up with other social media users to falsely reserve tickets for a Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in late June. This was meant to be an effort to troll the president and keep a number of his supporters from attending the rally. The rally ended up having many empty seats, which reportedly made Trump “furious,” according to NBC News.
