High Expectations

It is interesting and infuriating to watch every tempest in a teapot come and go. For many people, there must be a lot of of minor controversies to mark the time in between the major ones. I would just as soon forget about the interstitial ones, but it just doesn't seem to be in the cards. Since everyone else must have them, I'm not able to escape them myself, so I'm always trying to find something in them to be stimulated by.

At the heart of the current scandal is Justin Bieber. I don't think I've heard any of his songs all the way through myself, but I'm sure I don't have to explain him. If you are unfamiliar, suffice it to say that he's a young pop singer of considerable popularity. Here is what happened. Bieber visited the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam, professing to be very moved by it. He also speculated that Frank herself would have been one of his fans. To my knowledge that's the extent of it.

People are awfully mad. I suppose that it's inappropriate for a celebrity to insert himself into things like that. I wouldn't say a thing like that, or at least I'm sure I wouldn't now. Then again, I'm a grown man and not somebody who got accustomed to unrestrained global adulation at an early age. Justin Bieber is 19 years old and encounters almost no one but rabid fans and other hoping to curry favor. I would hardly expect him to constantly employ good judgment.

I always have been different, and this seems like just one more example of it. It's odd to me that people should have any standard of contact for someone very young who appeals to an even younger demographic. I guess it's a kind of lousy thing he said, but I don't imagine that he knew any better, and I wonder why people assume that he should. I was dumb as rocks at that age, and I would be sorry to be judged for my conduct of the time. Am I alone in this?