Justin Bieber is prudently laying low after leaving a boneheaded remark in the guestbook of the Anne Frank house proving that kids do really stupid things and so he does.
The kid's stupid remark has been a feast for critics around the world but, of the lot, the best must be The New Statesman's Eleanor Margolis who writes, "Bieber is a glorified Furby. Why do we expect him to have views on the Holocaust."
"We need much more of a Henry VIII-style attitude to celebrities - less adulation, and more 'amuse me minstrels and if you're very, very good I might not have you executed.'"
As a Jew and a descendent of Holocaust victims, I’m a kind of a very minor stakeholder in Anne Frank. So did Justin Bieber’s misplaced, slightly clunky, maybe self-absorbed, maybe just awkward comment about hoping that Anne Frank “would have been a belieber” ‘offend’ me? Not particularly. Trying hard to be offended ... still trying. Nope, it just won’t come.
It’s slightly crass and it made me cringe. But it baffles me that anyone would be shocked by a teenager blurting out silliness. There was even something quite sweet about Bieber’s comment. He was clearly moved by the story of Anne Frank. He just had a childish way of showing it. Sort of like a puppy pooing on the carpet then wagging its tail excitedly, as if to say, “Look at what I did! Aren’t I clever?”
You nailed it, Eleanor. Brilliant.
I expect the museum reminds people that in a lot of ways Anne Frank was an ordinary teenage girl who probably would have been Belieber today, even if she had to hide in a attic.
ReplyDeleteIt's that the point of Anne Frank's story. That, at the time, millions of ordinary people had to go through what she did and she was just one example who happened to write it down.
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ReplyDeleteWow. Just wow. If you click on Opit's link be prepared for a surprise.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up, Dana. I won't have links to that sort of shit on this site. I'm glad you caught it because I would not normally follow that sort of link.
ReplyDeleteIt seems some older people think when babies are born they ought to act like grown-ups immediately. Get the point?
ReplyDelete"We need much more of a Henry VIII-style attitude to celebrities - less adulation, and more 'amuse me minstrels and if you're very, very good I might not have you executed.'"
ReplyDeleteThis made me laugh... HARD.
I'm reminded of how cheapened the standing ovation has become :-)
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