BTS To Appear With Joe Biden At White House To Discuss Anti-Asian Hate Crimes

[Autumn Variations 5,035]

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The K-pop group BTS is headed to the White House, with plans to visit President Joe Biden to discuss anti-Asian hate crimes and celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month.

Details have not been announced, but the visit of the South Korean pop sensations will take place on Tuesday, the White House said.

“President Biden has previously spoken about his commitment to combating the surge of anti-Asian hate crimes and signed into law the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in May 2021 to provide law enforcement with resources to identify, investigate, and report hate crimes and ensure that hate crimes information is more accessible to AA and NHPI communities,” the White House said. “President Biden and BTS will also discuss the importance of diversity and inclusion and BTS’ platform as youth ambassadors who spread a message of hope and positivity across the world.”

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[Kristina 17,003]

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[Chris 59,289]

 

[Princess Aurora 31,769]

Good for them  

[jrdn 26,670]

I don't get why they invite celebrities to this sort of thing.

[Wonder 12,849]

10 hours ago, Billie Frank said:

I don't get why they invite celebrities to this sort of thing.

Because statistically speaking people are more likely to listen to something that comes out a celebrity's mouth than they are a politician or an activist's mouth. Politicians are very aware that the general public only pays attention to what they say and what they do when it comes to major events and moments in history. For things that aren't major news stories, they mostly go unnoticed. Today with how much division there is in politics, this is doubly true. They will bring in celebrities because celebrities, even if they have spoken about political affiliations publicly, are viewed by the general public from a far more neutral point of view. 

Beyond that, this is also a way to appeal to young people who may not yet be of voting age but will be soon. They're more likely to pay attention to and be influenced by celebrities they like than they are a man in his 70s who's been a politician his whole life. If they can appeal to the upcoming electorate now, then when they are old enough to vote they will be far more likely to vote for the party that they saw their favorite celebrities rubbing elbows with. In this case, they will also sooner back and support a cause because it's being represented by their favorite celebrity and not peddled by a politician. 

Lastly, BTS are actually in a position to offer the Biden administration some unique insight into this. They are an incredibly popular group but they have not always been welcomed in America with open arms, and in some ways they still aren't. While they haven't been hate crimed (that I'm aware of), they have without question faced the same sort of racism that leads to those sorts of attacks and with the status they have, they're able to tell their story and assist in brining in some much needed first hand perspective on this particular issue. 

TL;DR this is the oldest political tactic in the book.