What Is It About Justin Bieber?

I'm way too old to have any knowledge about Justin Bieber other than that he is some kid from Canada (right?) who is famous because he sings, or acts, or dances. I've noticed, however, that many men have some sort of a serious issue with this guy. There is this man who makes YouTube videos of himself shooting at a huge poster of Justin Bieber. He gets millions of views for those videos.

My sister went to a bachelorette party last weekend. The prospective bride walked around with a huge cardboard cut-out of Justin Bieber for fun. My sister tells me that several men stopped to hit or slap the cardboard version of Justin Bieber. 

Then, today my students were writing their final exam in the Spanish Intermediate course. Part of the exam consisted in listening to a text about Pedro and his friend Elena and their activities and answering questions about them. Obviously, there was nothing even remotely connected to Justin Bieber in the exam. However, I have already graded two exams by male students who used this opportunity to express their intense dislike of Justin Bieber.

What is it about this kid that bugs men so much? Is it that he is so popular with young women in spite of his non-traditional masculinity? Any other explanations?

Babies As Accessories

Julia Roberts is rumored to be next in line to purchase a third-world baby. In her case, India will be the fortunate place that will have this insanely rich person come to select a baby to buy. This whole practice of rich white women scavenging the world for yet another black or brown human toy is beyond disgusting. It is based on a deep colonial conviction that Africa and Asia are there to be exploited by affluent white people in any way they can think of.

There is, however, another side to this problem. Lately, having a baby to drag around and show off has become a sort of a job requirement for all sorts of celebrities. Babies are now marketed as the most fashionable accessories one can possibly possess. Any aspiring starlet only has to start surrounding herself with endless babies to attract media attention and get tabloids to follow her and the poor babies who hardly enjoy being used as props. Of course, a child is only useful in its infancy. Babies are cute and cuddly. They make the woman dragging them around look more youthful. As they grow up, however, they become a lot more dispensable. Nobody wants to market themselves as a parent of a teenager. That would make you look old, and what can be scarier for a celebrity? So an endless supply of newborns is needed. How lucky for Roberts and Co that there are entire continents out there where babies can be procured cheaply and easily. They can keep pretending to be young and fashionable until the day the die.

I agree completely with Jonathan Franzen when he points out that nowhere is the resounding ideological victory won by the Republicans as evident as in this unhealthy obsession with babies. What is especially disgusting is that under the guise of the so-called "family values" people engage in such completely irresponsible and exploitative practices.

Topic of Interest

The statistical counter at my blog tells me that recently the number of visits to this site has exploded. The counter also provides me with the list of most popular posts, so I was really eager to find out which post caused this heightened interest.

No, my friends, it's not what you think. The post that attracted this unprecedented attention is the one that contains the picture of Jon and Kate Gosselins. It's great to see that family values still matter to so many people. :-)

So here is another picture, since people like them so much. :-) Should I now post one of Britney Spears?

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