Scandal!  Justin Bieber thinks about things and has opinions!  Justin Bieber has views that other people might not agree with!  Justin Bieber loves his home country!  Oh dear, or as Justin Bieber’s fellow Canadians might say, Quelle Horreur!

Now this kid is the star of one of the most popular themes that we are currently selling:  Justin Bieber Party Supplies.   People (mostly ten year old girls) all over the world are crazy for him.   And apparently, an article will be published this week in Rolling Stone that has Justin Bieber on the cover, and an in-depth interview featured as part of the main content.  This Justin Bieber interview promises to finally rip the mask of good-natured teen heartthrob-itude off, and reveal the snarling face of a radical women-oppressing, America-hating anarchist.

Justin Bieber - Rolling Stone Cover

Are you terrified?  Have you started heating up the kettles of pitch, and collecting chickens for the ritual “tar and feathering” to come?  If not, you can start your anti-Bieber campaign by ripping down your posters of him, smashing your CD’s that he has recorded, and organizing angry throngs of people to show up in protest at movie theaters that are showing Justin Bieber: Never Say Never.  We will show this godforsaken young man a thing or two.

Or…

We could all just simmer down.  The idea that he loves his home country of Canada and has some strong feelings about abortion (which last time I checked, everyone did, no matter which side of the issue you fall on) and sex, really shouldn’t be that surprising.  He is sixteen.  Everybody has views at sixteen that will almost inevitably change.  When I was sixteen I thought that I was going to marry Ferris Bueller and that Russia was the Evil Empire.  Nobody has any sense when they are sixteen years old. Most people have no common sense, even when they are twenty years old.  Especially when they are twenty years old.  I didn’t really have any sense until I was twenty five, and that’s probably a fairly generous estimate.  So cut the kid some slack, because that’s what he is, a kid.  The views stated in the article, are his, and his alone. And again (and I really can’t repeat this enough) he is sixteen. Should we really be taking our cues for political and moral stances on hot-button issues from a child? He isn’t a world leader, he isn’t a candidate for public office, he’s a teenage pop star.  Yes he is a role model for kids, but he is entitled to his own opinions.  Let him have them. Let him try his own views on for size and see if they stick. If as a parent,  you are uncomfortable with his opinions, then it’s up to you to talk about it with your kids. If you’re a fan, and you are really offended by his statments; take him off your playlist and go on with your day.  Perspective, people.  That’s what it’s all about.