Pop Culture Plague

The infection starts slowly but it creeps to your insides and there is no cure. You hear about it through other people and think, it'll never pollute me, I'm safe. Then you are exposed to it on the streets or at work, basically only public places. Still you know that you are being careful not to fall prey to it: you avoid people who have it, you participate in healthy activities, you even ignore the many news stories about it just in case the thought of catching it makes you more vulnerable to it. But you can't avoid it entirely because it's everywhere. It seems like everyone's either got it or about to succumb to it. Then you're suddenly in a position where you can't avert it any longer, you are completely immersed, and you find out that you've actually caught Bieber Fever.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not in love with the kid (sure he's cute and has some kickin' dance moves but I wouldn't try to seduce him or anything). I actually don't like that many of his songs. But when a slightly ethnic kid at my school performed "Baby" at the talent show last year something about that performance finally broke down my He-Actually-Has-A-Song-Called-Eenie-Meenie antibodies. Some of you might think, Elspeth, of course you were going to fall in love with him. You have a record of getting overly excited about teen heart throbs (think Zac Efron), but I tried to not like him, I really did. Maybe it was the room full of children singing out their love that struck me in the emotions heart, or maybe I was prone to succumb, but either way I've caught it and I don't think there's any way to go back.

Why you might not respect me anymore (as if the above paragraph wasn't enough):

~ I have contributed to Bieber's bank account

~ I plan on seeing the movie about him (Never Say Never)

~ And my influence has created at least two more feverish fans

A few points that might put a few pieces of respect back:

~ I only own one of his songs (Baby)

~ I don't follow him on Twitter or am friends with him on Facebook

~ I've only seen the music video for the song I own

~ I haven't looked up interviews or pictures of him

~ And I probably will never write another post devoted to him

The way I see it Bieber is basically living the American Dream (yes, I know he's from Canada). He put the work in by making all those videos of his songs. He found the right audience and was discovered by someone who could make his hopes a reality. And now he's super rich and can hire someone else to do any real work he needs done. Also, he gets a bad rap, I mean he was birthed from the internet, achieved the desire of everyone who puts anything public on the web, and now those people can't do anything but rag on him. I can't help but admire his success, but more than that, I can't help but dance my heart out to his song.