JB Raped?

A lady gave me a ride to jazzercize last Wednesday. The week prior I had shown up just as Somebody To Love was ending (I was ten minutes late so didn't go in). The lady said it was only the second song and I should have just gone in, but she understood. She would have been shy, too. She told me she had seen bedding with Justin's face all over it. Pillows. Pink sheets. That I understood, for girls would like to "sleep with Justin" as boys like their sheets with dinosaurs or rockets or whatever. She told me there was also a line of Justin Bieber make-up for girls. I was shocked. I thought, no, that's too much. That does not make sense.
She said he was getting raped and wondered if he even knew about all this stuff.
Yeah, I said, just put his face on anything and it will sell.

Today, Justin posted on Facebook, that you can get a free ticket to his movie by ordering through 1-800 Flowers.com I checked it out. Options range from $29.99 up to $99.99. But clearly Justin has authorized this marketing technique as partial proceeds to go to his favourite charity, Pencils Of Promise. You not only get a free movie ticket mailed to you, but you also get a free membership to his fanclub.

I was a member of his fanclub for three months. It happened by mistake. I thought it was a pre-requisite to submitting my photo to Jon Chu's movie, Never Say Never (which comes out next week). Clearly, a lot of people including myself were disappointed in the site and the great length of time it took to receive the welcome package. I thought, hmmm they clearly need to hire people, they should hire me. That would be a fun job and I would be good at it. Anyway, it was nice to have an exclusive venue free from haters and having to defend why you like this one particular musician out of - how many other musicians exist? And by the way, you also like the same musicians they like as well. Or constantly explaining why calling someone you don't know "gay" is wrong.

I cannot think of any other artist where this is this fight, this war. Where you know that liking Justin Bieber is at once incredibly commonplace and incredibly looked down upon. The fact is, that people who do like Justin Bieber are perfectly capable of explaining why they like him. However, the people who dislike him lack valid reasons. One person said they don't like having to see his merch everywhere. My first thought was a sarcastic, "Aw poor you!" That's like saying you hate cars and cars are gay because you see them everywhere. Or trees. Or houses.

Anyway, aside from the posters, the dolls don't look like him, and I personally don't have an interest in the merch. I'm sure the shirts are too small and what would I do with a life-size cardboard cutout of him anyway? Put it outside and use it to collect tomatoes and eggs that people would throw at it? The lady? The one who gave me the ride to jazzercize? She also said that there was this gag gift being passed around. That's how she got one of the Justin Bieber dolls. "The gag gift stops here," she said. She's keeping it in the box. She thinks his career will end soon and in ten years he'll be back. I think the opposite is more likely. That he will continue for ten years and then take a break. I have no idea what will happen to him. But I do worry for him. Sometimes I see he's a bit cocky and I worry. Other times he seems more grounded and down-to-earth and I feel okay.

Once Justin said that regardless of your age, everyone liked Michael Jackson. I don't know if that's true. Everyone certainly doesn't like Marilyn Manson. But there's no war about him. So you have to think it all comes down to jealousy. This young kid out of little town Canada put some homemade videos up on Youtube and made it. And sure, there are others out there with more talent than the ones who have made it. But what's the point in being bitter about that? It's life and Justin Bieber's fame snowball is going to keep on rolling whether you like him or not.