Thursday, January 23, 2014

Why All the Bieber-Hating?

Justin Bieber got arrested early today. We all know. E! News had his smiling mugshot plastered all across their set. He's been trending on Twitter and Facebook all day.

And yes, it's fascinating and sad and not surprising. 

What's actually concerning is the amount of senseless bullying going around social media.

Putting him up for a ProActive commerical, comparing him to Miley Cyrus without make-up
, and the countless memes of the Biebs on the receiving end of... well... prison life...

Why?

Is it really schadenfreude? We love seeing these perfect people crumble?

Look, I'm not a fan of the kid. His songs are average. But I've been a young tween in love with pop stars before (BSB for life, yo) so I can respect that.  I don't know if he's really talented. Not really my thing. And over the past year or so, he's been getting into scraps, exhibiting poor behavior, and clearly trying to break from his younger public image.

Not to get all "Leave Britney Alone," but honestly, he's a 19-year-old egotistical brat and he's acting as such. A lot of 19 year old boys have the same complex, we just don't hear about them because they aren't a public personality. I'm not defending him. He screwed up. Drag racing in a residential neighborhood while stoned? Not cool, dude. Definitely not an ideal role model, but neither are the people posting and reposting those humiliating images. What if that were your son? I know, I know, your kid would never be caught dead doing something that stupid. The fact is, lots of kids screw up. They get in trouble. It's part of being a kid, no matter how involved your parents are or aren't.

Instead of defacing this kid, maybe we should remind his young fans that what he did was wrong and he's lucky nobody got hurt. Celebrities are not role models. Parents are.