International Korean pop sensation BTS on Monday have launched their new ‘Permission to Dance’ video, in which they dance through the chambers of the United Nations while advising their billions of fans to ‘keep the good vibes’ and’ don’t worry, because when we fall we fall. know how to land. ‘”
The outing has garnered a lot of attention, not just because that’s what happens when your fandom refers to itself as an ARMY (aka “Adorable Representative MC for Youth” – and yes, you’re right to say that it should be ARMCY, what can I tell you, pop star fans don’t follow Strunk & White), but because the group released the video from the United Nations floor at the end of their presentation to the General Assembly.
Yes, you read that right. Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook all stood in matching black suits in front of the ambassadors of the united nations of the world to share a video in which they hold dazzled microphones and a sexy mug for the camera during dance from the speaker’s podium up and out of the room. V even lifted his heels in the UN lobby, guys.
Although I cannot name a single member of the group on my own, they really touched this 52 year old Jesuit.
I know, that sounds ridiculous. The UN has a rally like this once a year for a week; we remain in the midst of a pandemic that paralyzed the world for 18 months and is now devastating some countries more than ever; we have to deal with a worsening climate crisis and a thousand other things. UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the group assembled today that the world is facing “the greatest cascade of crises in our lifetime.”
But of course let’s give seven Koreans in their twenties 10 minutes who want us to believe they’re still teenagers and shot this dope video on one of the biggest sites in the world.
Here’s the thing, though: as the seven young men stood in front of the assembled congregation, dressed in costumes that somehow made them feel like they had just raided their father’s closet, pointing to collages. of fan-made posts that were way too small for anyone to see, they actually had something to say. And while I couldn’t name a single band member on my own (one staff member must have pointed out to me that V is the one that always puts a “V” on his eye), they really got to this. – One year old Jesuit.
Much like Greta Thunberg three years ago and Malala Yousafzai in 2013, the members of BTS took the opportunity to stand before this gathering of world leaders to talk about what it’s like to be a young person today. hui. They spoke of feeling “puzzled and confused” over the past two years, shared the sadness that so many of their fans had felt at the thought of having canceled important events in their lives, and described their own. “Overwhelming feeling of fear”.
BTS members took the opportunity to stand before this gathering of world leaders to speak clearly about what it’s like to be a young person today.
“I shudder at the thought of mourning the earth,” J-Hope (Jung Hoseok) said.
But faced with these immense challenges, the members of BTS urged the assembled assembly not to give up. “I hope we don’t see the future as gloomy darkness,” V (Kim Taehyung) said. Speaking of his own generation, he continued, “We have people who care about the world and are looking for answers. There are still many pages in history about us. And we shouldn’t speak as if the end is already written.
Contrary to the typical presentation of American celebrities, there was nothing performative in the delivery of these young men. On the contrary, they were a lot like the young fans who adore them – vulnerable, serious and so emotional that the UN staff doing the simultaneous translation themselves started to get excited while they were translating.
Responding to the idea that some refer to their generation as the ‘lost generation of Covid’, RM (Kim Namjoon) replied, ‘I think it is an exaggeration to say that they are lost just because the paths that ‘they borrow cannot be seen by adult eyes.
A more appropriate name, suggested by Jin (Kim Seokjin), was “The Welcome Generation”: “Instead of fearing change, this generation says“ Welcome ”and keeps moving forward. “
“We have people who care about the world and are looking for answers. There are still many pages in history about us. And we shouldn’t speak as if the end is already written.
RM agreed: “If we believe in possibilities and hope, even when the unexpected happens, we will not get lost but will discover new ones.”
If it’s not already clear, I’m old, so old that when I hear the term “boy band” I instinctively want to sing “Backstreet’s back, okay”. And like many of my generation, I am very worried about the future of the next generation and also overwhelmed by the horrors of the present. I want us to fight climate change as hard as possible, but first I want everyone to be able to walk into the stores without worrying about the possibility that it could kill them, and also it would be nice if our leaders could trust not to foment violence or tyranny. When it comes to global crises, it’s proving difficult for my increasingly soggy brain tissue to walk and chew gum at the same time.
In the face of all of this, there is a sort of silent desperation that sets in – not the “We’re doomed” of crazies shouting around street corners, but an “I’m giving up, what’s on Netflix? ? Listening to BTS, it reminds me that there is a whole different way of seeing the future, one that, despite all the facts to the contrary, remains optimistic, precisely because of the incredible people there will be, people like my nieces and nephews and yours, too. The future can in a way be a disaster, just like the present is, just like the past was. But I also have reason to hope, as RM ended the group’s comments at the UN, that “in this dawning new world we can all say, ‘Welcome'” and work to make things better.
Perhaps in this time of uncertainty, fear and doubt, it would be worth recruiting young people like BTS, Thunberg or Yousafzai to officially join the Pope in the cause.
It has long been a strategy of the Catholic Church to turn to young people to help evangelize their parents and their communities. There is just something about truth-telling youth that is easier to hear and harder to ignore. The faith of the members of BTS is more than a mystery. ARM[C]The members of Y built theories which, based on the fact that V had a Spotify playlist with an air of Hillsong, that he must be a Christian, or that Jimin could be a Catholic because he went to an unnamed Christian boys’ school.
But when it comes to their message of hope for the future, they look a lot like our own Pope Francis. “May our struggles and our concerns for this planet never take away our hope”, writes François at the end of “Laudato Si”. And also, as if maybe a BTS fan himself: “Let’s sing along as we go. “
The Vatican has no better spokesperson for both our faith and our planet than the Pope. But maybe in this time of uncertainty, fear and doubt, it would be worth recruiting young people like BTS, Thunberg or Yousafzai to officially join him in the cause.
“All it takes is a good person to restore hope,” Francis reminds us in “Laudato Si ‘”. Today it is clear to me how good seven well-meaning young people can do. In addition, they offer the possibility of a few sick synchronized dance steps.
