This is Not a Defense

(I'm warning you right now that most of the content of this post is in the links. You should read them.)

Hello, kids, let’s talk about Justin Bieber.

Everyone’s obsessed with him. His fans like his music and think he’s a super babe. Every one else ridicules him because the most outspoken part of his fanbase is young girls and what young girls like is always ridiculed.

People love hating him.

They love hating him so much that they share any little news article about his bad behavior and talk about what a spoiled rich kid he is.

They’re right about that – Justin Bieber is a rich white male who (shockingly!) is apparently oblivious to the privilege he has.

You know what else is shocking?

That nobody has anything real to say about him. The most logic they can pull out of their ass is “he’s a role model to a lot of young people so he should behave better.”

Okay.

But he’s also a person.  A young person whose actions aren’t uncommon. His actions shouldn’t be condemned just because they’re in the public eye for other people to see. They should be condemned because they’re NOT OKAY.

How often do people appropriate Black culture to seem edgier? It’s been happening for ages. Does the mainstream criticize Bieber for using his Black friends as props? Do they talk about his tattoos and why they’re problematic? Do they talk about his obvious efforts to mimic a culture he’s not a part of? No. They just “hate Justin Bieber!!!!!!!!”

Bieber can wear “gangsta” clothes because it’s safe for him to do so the same way that Miley Cyrus can claim twerking. Society doesn’t feel threatened when a White face does things rooted in Black culture. It’s cool when a White person does it, but when a Black person does it it’s ghetto.

So let’s please move the conversation away from one fucking person for everyone to bash.

Stop making excuses for your hatred of Justin Bieber and just acknowledge the fact that you’re probably a bit of an asshole who can’t take someone seriously because a lot of little girls like him. Don’t try to pull reasons out of your ass without doing any sort of research.

Don’t make Justin Bieber into such a joke that his actions aren’t taken seriously.

Don’t fucking make rape jokes about Bieber in prison because rape. jokes. are. never. funny.

And how about we stop perpetuating a certain culture and then bashing the shit out of the products of it?

Stay rad, pals.

((I’ll be honest, y’all. I had half a blog post written about Justin Bieber in the media yesterday, before he got arrested. Then I read really gross responses and this article and decided to go a different direction. Maybe someday I’ll finish the other one and post it but for now this is it.))