_Faith & Reason_ (http://cathylynngrossman.religionnews.com/) Bieber ‘Beliebers’ and the pitfalls of pop star piety _Cathy Lynn Grossman_ (http://cathylynngrossman.religionnews.com/author/cathylynngrossman/) | Jan 23, 2014
You’re up on the screaming headlines Thursday: Justin Bieber arrested, caught DUI drag-racing. Now, wipe that smirk off your face. Let’s talk about why we paid attention to him at all. He had a little voice and a big hook: Way back when Justin Bieber was a mighty sensation on concert circuits, his marketing targets were CWM – Christians with money. He struck angelic poses while parents — happy to indulge their pre-teens with someone who seemed so wholesome — slapped down their credit cards for show tickets and iTunes downloads. His 2011 movie, ”Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” was promoted to pastors and faith-based groups. Why do we buy into pop stars’ pubescent piety? Perhaps, I’m just too jaded. A superb religion journalist, Cathleen Falsani, found a sincerity worth exploring in her book, “Belieber!: _Fame, Faith and The Heart of Justin Bieber_ (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathleen-falsani/belieber-excerpt_b_972241.html) ,” published when he was 17. She set out to “peel back the veneer of celebrity and take a closer look at Justin as a person and as a cultural phenomenon… “What I discovered by listening to him closely, reading thousands of Twitter and Facebook posts, scores of print and broadcast interviews from all over the world, was that the way Justin expresses his faith is consistent, authentic and heartfelt. But more unusual — for any evangelical Christian, and Justin most certainly is that — is the humility with which he communicates his beliefs and the boldness with which he expresses God’s love for everyone.” Now, he’s 19 and peeling rubber in a rented yellow Lamborghini, _drag racing in Miami Beach_ (http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2014/01/23/justin-bieber-arrested-for-drag-racing-dui-in-miami/4792013/) before dawn Thursday and flunking a street-side sobriety test, according to a police report. Are his global followers, the Beliebers, still around to read this and weep? Do they even care or have they moved on to other idols of self-expression? (Miley, anyone?) Maybe they have found Bono, who once said, as Falsani noted: “There’s nothing worse than a rock star with a cause … But celebrity is currency and we want to spend it this way.” It’s certainly not easy to be a celebrity in popular culture and still be taken seriously as a person who practices a religion — Christian or any other faith — in word and deed. Former teen star Kirk Cameron, of “Growing Pains” fame, grew into adult faith, became vocal about his evangelical commitments and starred in many a Christian-market movie. Then he was blasted for remarks about homosexuality as “unnatural” and his views on the end of days. _Cameron now calls himself “a Hollywood freak”_ (http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/04/18/kirk-cameron-prime-time-hearthrob-hollywood-‘freak’) for speaking out. We evidently prefer believers to keep it simple: “Yay, God,” but no specifics. Even better: The appearance of faith. Justin Bieber clearly gave up the appearance of faith long ago as he raced from pious teen to celeb-trash headliner. But that doesn’t mean there’s no imprint of belief in a heart no one can read on a police report. He’s too young to drink and drive (and drag-race) but old enough to find a road to redemption – in or out of religion. Will he? Will we pay attention? Did you ever choose a religion or change your religion or desert it because an entertainer led you to — or from — faith? =============================== Selected Comments WWJD? Egg the neighbor”s house? Drag race at 4 am? Swear at a cop? Party at a Brazilian whorehouse? Act like a spoiled, entitled punk? How exactly is Bieber living a Christian life? Seems to me he used a religion that he has no commitment to as a marketing tool, which is a pretty crappy thing to do. Give me a rapper or a good old-fashioned hard-partying rock and roller over the Beeb any day. ------- Gawd, Christians are so gullible! Throw a couple of dogwhistle phrases at you guys, talk about being a “committed Christian” and you will buy anything! =) Bieber was always selling the typical image of “non-sexually threatening teen idol” that music producers love so much. The typical marketing so parents wouldn’t find it objectionable when their kids buy the songs and the “ fanware”. Public displays of “piety” and good “Christian virtues” are great for building up a public image but seldom ever grounded in reality. What you are seeing now is what happens when a celebrity does something that professional image crafters can’t control. ---------- A Celebrity is not a Celebrity without the fans that cheer, push, prod, leer, expect, reject, pay and boycott them. Just like every other teen star turned wrong, we must look at him with a mirror to our faces. We made him in our image. All that he is and has become is a reflection of what we, the fans, want him to be. Being a Celebrity is a hell on earth, disguised within a wealthy, adoring heaven. Ask any teen celeb who has successfully made it out alive, and now lives in obscurity. They will tell you, with the angsty look of an ex-addict describing what drugs did to them, about how hellish it is. We, the fans, with all our money and our love-hate, are that hell for them. Mcauley, Brittany, Miley (the list could go on and on): What is the common thread for all of them? Is it not us? Is it not how we consume and dispose of them, leading them and their handlers to crank up the dysfunction and drama until we will pay ($$) attention to them again. When, every 2 months or so when something happens like this, we are tempted to ask “what is wrong with them?” Perhaps we should look at ourselves and ask what is wrong with us. Because we make them who they are. We make them in our image. Until by God’s grace they can escape the prison of desire we lock them in and find their way to obscurity again. ------------------ Being a wealthy, famous media celebrity is hell on earth? I’m not buying it. Its just being whiny over poor behavior and choices. When a celebrity chooses to use their wealth and influence to indulge themselves rather than anything socially constructive, they are not to be pitied. The ones who are most angsty are those who did not understand the realistic limits of their talent. Pitied only to the extent one pities hubris and the ironic. There is an instant solution to the troubles of fame and fortune. Stop promoting yourself. The public moves fast to the next big sensation. As for blaming the audience, you are the consumers. It would not be consumed if it did not fill some kind of need. ---------- ...the girls in my youth group very much look up to him and readily excuse his bad behavior. My concern for them is that they would accept Mr. Beiber’ s self-destructive behavior as cool, interesting, or something to emulate......... -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
