My Reponse to "Finding Positive Pop Icon Role Models (Like Finding a Needle in a Haystack)"

A lot of people wrote about Justin Bieber this past week. They were all very good, but something about Kathleen's post sparked something in me. Here is my response to what she wrote:

I must start off by saying… who the heck is K$sha and why is she wearing an American flag as a head towel in that picture?

I completely agree that Justin Bieber is not for us. I am 29, and Justin Beiber is not meant for me, in the same way that Dr. Dre is not meant for my mother and Queen was not meant for her mother.

That said, I think your choice of who to compare Justin Bieber to was a bit erroneous because you compare a 17-year-old to two 24-year-olds and a 28-year-old. The age difference is a big factor that needs to be taken into account.

Also, I do not see Lil Wayne or Lady Gaga as any different than Snoop Dogg or Madonna was for me and my peers in the early 1990s. Nor do I see them as being that much different than Mariah Carey and Eminem in the 2000s. In fact, these artists should not be role models for young people for the simple fact that young people should not be listening to their music. Just because they are in the top-40 does not mean they should be role models for children.

Having said that, I am not naïve enough to think that children are not listening to these artists. When I was an 8-year-old boy, I was listening to NWA, Tupac and Run-DMC, so I know that kids are listening to Lady Gaga and Lil Wayne. But that does not mean that they need to be role models for young people. I am sure if you asked the artists themselves, they would say that their music is aimed at older teenagers and 20-somethings, not tweens and under, which is the crowd that Justin Bieber is aimed at.

Justin Bieber projects a very wholesome image that many parents can get behind… but so did Britney Spears. My objection with Justin Bieber is not his message or in his being a role model, it is on the pressure placed on his shoulders. He has to be perfect, and I do not think that that is a fair standard to hold ANY 17-year-old to. The problem I see is not in whom children idolize, but more in the age of the ones being worshipped. Justin Bieber might be able to maintain his clean image, but when Lindsay Lohan made The Parent Trap no one thought she would turn out the way she did when she got older.

Justin Bieber needs to be able to make the same mistakes that every other teenager makes. But with the spotlight shinning so brightly on him, I worry that any tiny misstep will be treated as a major disaster. Just look at the hubbub over Miley Cyrus getting high. She was 18, in the privacy of her own home – or wherever the heck she was – and she did something that a vast majority of 18 year olds do. Yet, because she used to be on a TV show aimed at children, this was treated as a catastrophic event. All of the people who judged her based on this one indiscretion, need to look very hard in the mirror and ask themselves if they would have wanted a camera turned on their 18-year-old selves. I doubt they would. Heck, I know I wouldn’t.

I do not have a problem whatsoever with Justin Bieber as a role model based on his content. Based on his age, however, is another matter. Maybe he will be able to keep it together, but it is possible he could be another Drew Barrymore.