Let me preface this with linking to my previous posts about Chris Brown. You can find it here:

First Post: https://angirach.wordpress.com/2009/02/22/rihanna-chris-brown-and-fame/

Second Post: https://angirach.wordpress.com/2011/03/27/why-im-finally-mad-at-chris-brown/

Okay; I try not to write about pop culture here too much because I’m not a therapist or psychologist and while my opinion seems like it’s based on fact; it’s not. All we have is what we see, which is heavily influenced by the type of celebrity you are and the type of media coverage you get.

What can’t be denied is that Justin Bieber went from being a so called “American Sweetheart” (I know he’s Canadian, it’s an expression.) to being consumed by the downward spiral of fame that so many of our young, up and coming stars get trapped in. I’ve seen this discussed a few ways; one from the innocent boy who gets into some money and can’t control himself or he’s around the wrong people (by wrong, I mean black / African American folks, as his ties to Usher is strong and that allowed him open access to the AA community at large).

In the past few months he’s done everything from peeing in a bucket in public, to getting caught coming in and out of Brothels, to tagging buildings in Brazil, to having prostitutes release photos of him post coitus and now on to him now being arrested.

I’ll just say the obvious and move on. If he were not previously seen as the goody goody with a promising future and he were not Caucasian, he would be a thug that needed to be taught the most painful lesson. If he were a minority; he would be a thug who isn’t thankful for the opportunities that he’s getting but since he’s not, the media is mourning the loss of a star to the burdens of fame.

He’s being portrayed as a troubled boy who just can’t keep it together because of this new life that he’s been privy to. There are no criticisms of his parents (that I’ve seen), no demonizing him as a person and no talk about how hypocritical his rise and plateau is been. I say plateau because he can still turn this around. Americans love a good success story.

Justin Beiber is fully aware of his reach and influence and he has been using that to his advantage. What he hasn’t realized or at least it doesn’t seem so to us on the outside looking in – is that there is no such thing as privacy and while he may never serve jail time for the laws he breaks he can at least be embarrassed. He was drinking under age and driving but, we’ll see how this pans out.

I’ve heard rumors that he’s planning on leaving music and I think that would be good, even if it’s just for a little while. The thing is, celebrities are people and they are likely to make the same mistakes that a regular person who just came into a shit ton of money would make. Money makes people believe that they are invincible.

I hope that his team and or family will step up and take parital responsibility for this and also be a good measure of support for him. As for JB himself, I hope he finds whatever it is that he’s looking for; whether it be himself or something else. The partial fall from grace maybe a wake up call but I suspect that in the spirit of successful children in the entertainment industry that this will be another slap on the wrist and another movement up the ladder of invincibility.

I just hope that at some point he understands that if this was happening to someone without his privilege, the outcomes would be very different. I don’t feel sorry for him, he’s almost an adult. I’m not worried about him because that worry won’t ever be able to reach him. I do hope that he starts to worry for himself because as a society we’re starting to discard our celebrities when they no longer fit the boxes that they’ve made for themselves. The idea of his purity and harmlessness has got him this far. Let’s see if that gets him pass this.

Protip: don’t let prostitutes take photos of you and post it on the internet. You’re famous.

Also: If you don’t have any friends that are willing to tell you the truth Biebs, I volunteer. You won’t have to pay me or anything.