He is a male Lindsey Lohan or Miley Cyrus.
David
"If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it
costs when it's free
"If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it
costs when it's free."*---P. J. O'Rourke*
On 1/25/2014 2:32 PM, [email protected] wrote:
***Faith & Reason* <http://cathylynngrossman.religionnews.com/>
Bieber âEUR~BeliebersâEUR^(TM) and the pitfalls of pop star piety
Cathy Lynn Grossman
<http://cathylynngrossman.religionnews.com/author/cathylynngrossman/>
| Jan 23, 2014
YouâEUR^(TM)re up on the screaming headlines Thursday: Justin Bieber
arrested, caught DUI drag-racing.
Now, wipe that smirk off your face. LetâEUR^(TM)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
âEUR" Christians with money. He struck angelic poses while parents
âEUR" happy to indulge their pre-teens with someone who seemed so
wholesome âEUR" slapped down their credit cards for show tickets and
iTunes downloads. His 2011 movie, âEUR?Justin Bieber: Never Say
Never,âEUR? was promoted to pastors and faith-based groups.
Why do we buy into pop starsâEUR^(TM) pubescent piety?
Perhaps, IâEUR^(TM)m just too jaded. A superb religion journalist,
Cathleen Falsani, found a sincerity worth exploring in her book,
âEURoeBelieber!: Fame, Faith and The Heart of Justin Bieber
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cathleen-falsani/belieber-excerpt_b_972241.html>,âEUR?
published when he was 17.
She set out to âEURoepeel back the veneer of celebrity and take a
closer look at Justin as a person and as a cultural phenomenonâEUR¦
âEURoeWhat 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
âEUR" for any evangelical Christian, and Justin most certainly is that
âEUR" is the humility with which he communicates his beliefs and the
boldness with which he expresses GodâEUR^(TM)s love for everyone.âEUR?
Now, heâEUR^(TM)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: âEURoeThereâEUR^(TM)s nothing worse than a
rock star with a cause âEUR¦ But celebrity is currency and we want to
spend it this way.âEUR?
ItâEUR^(TM)s certainly not easy to be a celebrity in popular culture
and still be taken seriously as a person who practices a religion
âEUR" Christian or any other faith âEUR" in word and deed.
Former teen star Kirk Cameron, of âEURoeGrowing PainsâEUR? 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 âEURoeunnaturalâEUR? and his views on
the end of days. Cameron now calls himself âEURoea Hollywood
freakâEUR?
<http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/04/18/kirk-cameron-prime-time-hearthrob-hollywood-%E2%80%98freak%E2%80%99> for
speaking out.
We evidently prefer believers to keep it simple: âEURoeYay, God,âEUR?
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
doesnâEUR^(TM)t mean thereâEUR^(TM)s no imprint of belief in a heart
no one can read on a police report.
HeâEUR^(TM)s too young to drink and drive (and drag-race) but old
enough to find a road to redemption âEUR" 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 âEUR" or from âEUR" faith?
===============================
*Selected Comments*
WWJD? Egg the neighborâEUR?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 âEURoecommitted ChristianâEUR? and you
will buy anything! =)
Bieber was always selling the typical image of âEURoenon-sexually
threatening teen idolâEUR? that music producers love so much. The
typical marketing so parents wouldnâEUR^(TM)t find it objectionable
when their kids buy the songs and the âEURoefanwareâEUR?. Public
displays of âEURoepietyâEUR? and good âEURoeChristian virtuesâEUR? 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 canâEUR^(TM)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 âEURoewhat is wrong with them?âEUR? 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 GodâEUR^(TM)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?
IâEUR^(TM)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. BeiberâEUR^(TM)s self-destructive behavior as cool, interesting,
or something to emulate.........
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