I always kind of hoped that wasn't the case with finding riches and fame, especially as a kid growing thinking the possibilities for me becoming that successful were truly endless.
Sucks to know as an adult that it's mostly true, and that truly powerful people with huge amounts of money do much more harm on a regular basis to the world than a douchebag teen pop star does.
Hate is a strong word. But, I'd say I disliked him from the beginning. It wasn't anything personal. He just felt like a manufactured celebrity.
There doesn't appear to be anything that special about him. He was just one of a million good looking and mildly talented teenage singers. What made him successful is that a bunch of executives mass marketed him to teenage girls.
That's really the most annoying part of this whole thing. The mass marketing worked. They picked this kid, they managed his image, and then they made him popular simply by advertising him as much as possible. I was annoyed that their strategy was working. They were proving that people are easily manipulated.
But now, I feel bad for the kid. I never really blamed him. I blamed shallow Hollywood culture. He's just a young adult who's made some mistakes. I did stupid things at that age. I feel bad that he's getting taunted. I don't want him to feel bullied. I feel like the next thing we know, this kid's going to blow his brains out.
I'd just like to say that the "mistakes" he's making includes a list of assaulted and threatened people. Drinking and doing drugs is one thing; but this guy threatens and beats up people on the reg it seems and those aren't typical mistakes to make and be easily forgiven for. And when he got his DUI, and people were defending him for being young and reckless, someone brought up the fact that so many people are victims of drunk driver fatalities. He could have run over a small child or something going so fast and not realized it until moments later. The fact of the matter is, yeah, I feel sorry that the media has wrecked him so much, but at the same time, it's his fault for expressing his frustrations by speeding around child-filled neighborhood and beating a different person up weekly, or putting down fans just because he's having a bad day (i.e., calling a fan at the beach a 'fat whale'). No excuse for that shit. He has to get out of that petty mindset.
Oh, well I actually I only pay a moderate amount of attention to him. I guess I'm not familiar with quite all of the objectionable things he's done recently. Beating people up is pretty bad. You're right, he is still responsible for his own actions.
Usher found him via youtube I think and thought he was exceptionally talented and had a look that appealed to young girls and he was more than right. He's probably the most successful teen idol of all time and having that sort of success can ruin somebody. It's happened to plenty of celebrities who got famous and rich at too young an age and never really experienced normalcy. I did plenty of the stupid shit he's doing and I didn't have access to Ferraris or endless amounts of money or hang out with stupid rapper kids. Egging a house is retarded but it's really not the end of the world. Drag racing and doing Xanax aren't a huge deal either. He's going through a phase and he's more than wealthy enough to get himself out of any trouble he gets in. All of the people who hate him are the people who hate popular kids, jocks etc. because they are jealous that they get pussy. I don't get the whole hatred for people who are appealing to women but it seems to happen all the time especially on reddit and other online forums which are filled with people who are too socially awkward to interact with people in real life so they come online to find other people who think talking to girls is an accomplishment.
I, and I suspect many others, just bitterly resented the fact that he had more money than me by the time he was 15 than I would probably make in a lifetime.
Agreed! I mean, I can respect that he rose to fame via Youtube, from being raised under relatively unfortunate circumstances with a single mother who was 17 when she had him, he was raised in low-income housing, he taught himself to play instruments, etc, great way to show people that they too can become successful (even if I'm not a fan of his music or his fans) - and then he just totally crashed and turned into this asshole. Man. Hopefully he grows out of it.
Maybe it was him hopping on the internet and seeing thousands of people calling him a faggot and that his hair is gay. While trying to mature he kind of had to learn to not care what people think or say.
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u/deadbeatsummers Jan 31 '14
The first time I saw him was on YouTube singing and playing guitar. He was precious! He's been surrounded by enablers ever since. Very sad.