Almost 19 Reasons Justin Bieber Isn't As Bad As You Might Think
In my last article, I spent rather a lot of time talking about the importance of citing sources when you state facts, why I hate articles that present things as fact without backing those things up, and I ended up getting sidetracked with Taboola, professional peddlers of links to such swill. Then I promised something unthinkable: in my next article, I would defend Justin Bieber. It's taken me a couple months, but here it is. I'm very sorry.
Before I begin, you deserve some backstory on what this article is based on. On a website I spend time on, someone posted the following list, originally posted here, as an entry titled "This is why I hate Justin Bieber." I immediately recognized it for what it was, having already discussed one on this site before, and I took the time to research all the individual claims made against Bieber in that list. This is my point-by-point response to the list, backed by actual research with cited sources.
- CLAIM: He said rape happens for a reason.
REALITY: He was asked about abortion in cases of rape, at the age of 16, when he couldn't possibly have the maturity or life experience to provide a sound answer. Then, Rolling Stone misquoted him. The full quote is: Well, I think that's really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I don't know how that would be a reason. I guess I haven't been in that position, so I wouldn't be able to judge that. So at 16 he wasn't in favour of abortion, but he wasn't saying that rape happens for a reason. - CLAIM: He wrote in the guest book at Anne Frank's house that he 'wishes she was a belieber' (which is just classless and crude).
REALITY: What he actually wrote was "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber" - basically "I like her, hopefully she would have liked me." - CLAIM: When asked to try being a vegan, he gagged and spat out a vegan steak that had been specially ordered for him.
REALITY: Rather than explain things here, I'll just quote from the print edition of Star Magazine:Hell hath no fury like a pop star without protein! At the insistence of his mentor, Usher, Justin Bieber agreed to go vegan - but the diet, which is free of meat, dairy, and fish, was a disaster.
"His mood took a major nose dive - he was such a brat. Soon everyone was begging him to just eat a steak!" admits an insider. "Justin ordered a tofu steak and tempeh tacos from Real Food Daily in LA, and he was really grossed out. He made a big show of spitting out the food and making gagging noises."
The spy adds that not even his girlfriend, Selena Gomez, could bear her boyfriend's constant complaining.
"She has encouraged the health kick but told him to drop it. She said that being vegan turned Justin into a jerk." - CLAIM: He makes his fans pay tons of money to see him live even though he could afford having all the tickets be 50 bucks instead of 100 for mezzanine seats.
REALITY: Justin Bieber doesn't set his own ticket prices; his label does, along with the venue. - CLAIM: He went to a children's hospital in England and was talking to a nurse who was working there when Justin Bieber visited the hospital. He made them clear an area for him so he didn't have to wait around near the sick children, he then spent about 5 minutes with them whilst the cameras were on and left without so much as a thank you.
REALITY: The only instance of Bieber visiting a children's hospital in England that I can find evidence of is this one, where he broke away from his tour to visit with children, and spent time talking with them and signing autographs. - CLAIM: He attacked a photographer at said hospital.
REALITY: Here's what actually happened: his bodyguard pushed the photographer out of the way, and the photographer started yelling and cursing at Bieber, so Bieber got back out of the car to try to confront him, and his bodyguard stopped him and put him back in the car. At no point did Bieber actually attack him. - CLAIM: He peed in a restaurant kitchen.
REALITY: True. It was into a mop bucket. Drunk people do stupid things. - CLAIM: someone's coworker did security for him once. He faked a really bad asthma attack and made them call the paramedics and then laughed his ass off when they came through the door. His people talked the paramedics into not saying anything bc you can go to jail for that apparently.
REALITY: Actually, the real story is that Bieber was rumoured to have had an asthma attack during an interview on November 25, 2011, and to have been taken to hospital for it. - CLAIM: He also called for a car to take him to the mall and didn't like the color so he sent it back. And then he went to the mall and stayed 5 minutes before saying it was the shittiest mall he'd ever been in.
REALITY: I can find no evidence of anything of the sort ever happening. - CLAIM: He's banned from walt disney world for punching out Goofy.
REALITY: I can find no evidence of anything of the sort ever happening. - CLAIM: Not only does he me make his fans pay tons of money for a concert, but on a school night, he didn't even show up until half way through the scheduled time.
REALITY: While he was late, and that is wrong, it was only by 35 minutes, not "half the concert duration" - CLAIM: He's quoted as screaming 'Fuck Bill Clinton!' to cameras and attacked a paparazzo, who is suing. his mother is quoted as saying she's 'hoping he'll soon mature'.
REALITY: Not everyone likes Bill Clinton. Right now the paparazzi attack is alleged - he says Bieber ran at him and delivered a flying MMA kick to him from 2 1/2 meters away. Oh, and he waited a year to file suit - which probably means he's full of shit. Also, the "hope he'll soon mature" quote is from Usher in an interview on Ellen - not Bieber's mom. He said:"I am hoping for the best. I don't look at it as a negative though. I look at it as a teenager. A teenager having to live his life in front of a camera. Imagine if you had to do that as a teenager."
When it comes to the Biebs' state of maturity, Usher is behind him stressing that he hopes "that he'll continue to just mature." - CLAIM: He spat in an old man's face.
REALITY: Not an old man - a club DJ. And also allegedly. - CLAIM: When he went to Vermont, he was kicked out of every single business he went in. IHOP, Walmart, Hannafords, everywhere. He went to the movie theater and threw a temper tantrum when told he couldn't bring his subway sandwich into the theater, as it was against the rules. He then made a HUGE mess of the theater and had to be carried out by his bodyguard kicking and screaming about how they were all worthless monkeys.
REALITY: A google search for "Justin Bieber kicked out of Wal Mart" turns up nothing but a meme picture - I can find no evidence of anything of the sort ever happening. HOWEVER, it turns out he may be banned from entering the United States if he's found guilty of his alleged involvement in a brawl outside a Hamptons night club. As for the theater-monkey incident, I can find no evidence of anything of the sort ever happening. - CLAIM: He randomly showed up to Disney unannounced and demanded that the entire Yachtsman Steakhouse be cleared- reservations cancelled and all- so that he could eat there. The staff had to call every single one of the guests to tell them that their reservations they had been planning for months were cancelled and wasn't allowed to give them an explanation. Disney also decided that it wasn't fair to their guests and gave them free dinner at another restaurant, which obviously lost them a lot of money and business for that night. So after personally shutting down the restaurant, Beiber comes down in nothing but a bath robe. Like I'm so sorry Biebs was it just too hard to put on pants and act like a respectable human being?
REALITY: I can find no evidence of this ever happening. - CLAIM: I don't hate him because he has a 'girly' voice or because he's gay. he can be gay if he wants (even though he's not).
REALITY: Not a real argument. - CLAIM: I hate him because he's not a good person and he's basically the leader of a teenage girl army (with a couple of older women, teenage boys and older men, but mainly consisted of teenage girls). He can make them do whatever he wants.
REALITY: He is not responsible for which demographic likes him. - CLAIM: He made some of his more 'devoted' fans cut their hair off because some internet trolls 'leaked' that he had cancer, and asked his fans to shave their heads to show their support. A lot of them did.
REALITY: This was a 4chan prank - Bieber is not responsible for it.Again, it was all a hoax. Justin's bodyguard, Kenny Hamilton, denied the rumors on Twitter shortly after they began. But thanks to Tumblr, the rumors spread like wildfire.
- CLAIM: More internet trolls leaked that he had been smoking weed which made a lot of his fans CUT THEMSELVES (which is a serious problem) to stop him from smoking weed under the hashtag '#cutforbieber?' or '#cuttingforbieber?' Those weren't his decision, but he didn't make an attempt to stop them, he didn't deny the rumors, he just let them carry on cutting and turning it into a joke, thinking it was funny that people did these things because of him.
REALITY: Also a 4chan prank. Bieber is not responsible for it. Further, responding to such pranks only encourages more of them to happen, because once the people doing those pranks know they can use it to get to you, they will. So not responding directly is actually the single best thing he could do in such a case.
So out of everything in that list, the only things that are actually proven true are pissing in a mop bucket while drunk, being a brat, and being accused (not convicted) of assault. The problem is that the people who post lists like this don't actually give a shit about whether what they're posting is correct, they only care about getting a rise out of people. The kind of people who post lists like this are part of what's poisoning the Internet and culture in general. So the next time you see a list of random facts like the one I responded to here, make sure you don't take the list at face value, and do your own research. Let's keep the number of mindless followers as low as possible, because they only bring the rest of us down.