Nevertheless, I did find the story of the ordinary lad who
achieved YouTube fame, well – endearing. I was prepared to say ‘Good luck to
the lad’ and wish him well. I even played a video of one of his songs during a
Sunday sermon once (this one – Pray).
It was this that made some label me a belieber – and if that’s all it takes for
the cap to fit, I don’t mind wearing it.
But recently the media has turned against young Justin. ‘Justice
Bieber’ yelled the headline of the Metro as I passed through the station on my
way to work the other morning. The young singer, catapulted too far into realms
of fame and fortune he couldn’t handle, has been caught speeding, apparently
high and drunk. More scurrilous stories have come out. Strippers. Substance-abuse.
You get the picture.
And it made me really sad, not because I’m Justin’s number
one fan, but because it seems to me there’s something toxic about a culture
that lifts people – in this case a child – to the heights only to smash them
down and gloat when they land on the rocks.
We (rightly) excoriate child abuse, but it seems to me that there’s
a kind of collective, cultural abuse about this kind of thing. Yes Bieber’s 19
now, but he was only a minor when he started his meteoric rise. I don’t think
any young person – indeed any human being, let alone a child – can handle such a
flight. (Remember Icarus?)
I think the boy who wrote ‘Pray’ meant well. I think a
culture that should know better – that says it knows better – should examine itself
before baying for Bieber blood.
I pray for Justin Bieber. But I also want to take my part
in forming an alternative culture; one in which innocence, youth, childhood,
idealism, the gifts of a rising generation – such things are nurtured and
protected, not squandered and spoiled.
No comments:
Post a Comment