Justin Bieber with regards to Anne Frank

[Surianne]

Way back when, a friend of mine was ridiculously obsessed over the current 'teen heart-throbs' of the time.  Her family went to Europe.  I don't recall if she toured the house itself or just an exhibit on it, but it affected her.

When she told me about it, she said, 'I know we read the book in school, but it never really clicked that she was an actual person.  And I was standing in that place looking around her room and thinking how much she and I might have had in common.  She was just a kid, the biggest worry of her life should have been whether or not was going to be the 9th caller and get the NKOTB backstage passes not 'if I sneeze right now is someone going to hear and get my family killed'"?

I am going to assume, charitably, that Mr. Beiber's train of thought was going on a similar line and just derailed at 'poorly expressed' station.

That's what I was thinking, too.  To Beiber, the music of his peers *is* his music.

[Hillia]

Pretty sure he meant himself, The Great and Wonderful Justin Bieber.  The shadowboxing in the cellar didn't help promote an innocuous interpretation of his remarks.

[kglory]

Justin's mother has clearly not taught him respect for Jewish people:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Bieber

"While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 videos by accident. Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, and finally contacted Mallette, who was reluctant because of Braun's Jewish religion; she remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!... you don’t want this Jewish kid to be Justin’s man, do you?"[19] However, after praying with her church elders and receiving their encouragement, she permitted Braun to fly Bieber, then 13,[11] to Atlanta, Georgia, to record demo tapes.[19] A week after arriving, Bieber sang for R&B singer/songwriter Usher.[27]"

In light of this, I don't find it shocking that he treated Anne Frank's house with such irreverence.

[Millionaire Maria]

Justin's mother has clearly not taught him respect for Jewish people:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Bieber

"While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 videos by accident. Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, and finally contacted Mallette, who was reluctant because of Braun's Jewish religion; she remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!... you don’t want this Jewish kid to be Justin’s man, do you?"[19] However, after praying with her church elders and receiving their encouragement, she permitted Braun to fly Bieber, then 13,[11] to Atlanta, Georgia, to record demo tapes.[19] A week after arriving, Bieber sang for R&B singer/songwriter Usher.[27]"

In light of this, I don't find it shocking that he treated Anne Frank's house with such irreverence.

There is a world of difference between objecting to someone's religion and objecting to their ethnicity.

[ishka]

Justin's mother has clearly not taught him respect for Jewish people:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Bieber

"While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 videos by accident. Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, and finally contacted Mallette, who was reluctant because of Braun's Jewish religion; she remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!... you don’t want this Jewish kid to be Justin’s man, do you?"[19] However, after praying with her church elders and receiving their encouragement, she permitted Braun to fly Bieber, then 13,[11] to Atlanta, Georgia, to record demo tapes.[19] A week after arriving, Bieber sang for R&B singer/songwriter Usher.[27]"

In light of this, I don't find it shocking that he treated Anne Frank's house with such irreverence.

There is a world of difference between objecting to someone's religion and objecting to their ethnicity.

I don't understand what you mean by this.  Are you saying that she "objected" to this man being of the Jewish religion rather than to him being Jewish?  I'm honestly confused and asking for clarification.

[Millionaire Maria]

Justin's mother has clearly not taught him respect for Jewish people:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Bieber

"While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 videos by accident. Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, and finally contacted Mallette, who was reluctant because of Braun's Jewish religion; she remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!... you don’t want this Jewish kid to be Justin’s man, do you?"[19] However, after praying with her church elders and receiving their encouragement, she permitted Braun to fly Bieber, then 13,[11] to Atlanta, Georgia, to record demo tapes.[19] A week after arriving, Bieber sang for R&B singer/songwriter Usher.[27]"

In light of this, I don't find it shocking that he treated Anne Frank's house with such irreverence.

There is a world of difference between objecting to someone's religion and objecting to their ethnicity.

I don't understand what you mean by this.  Are you saying that she "objected" to this man being of the Jewish religion rather than to him being Jewish?  I'm honestly confused and asking for clarification.

It seems obvious to me that she didn't want someone of a different religion to have so great of an influence over her son.

[Fleur]

Justin's mother has clearly not taught him respect for Jewish people:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Bieber

"While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 videos by accident. Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, and finally contacted Mallette, who was reluctant because of Braun's Jewish religion; she remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!... you don’t want this Jewish kid to be Justin’s man, do you?"[19] However, after praying with her church elders and receiving their encouragement, she permitted Braun to fly Bieber, then 13,[11] to Atlanta, Georgia, to record demo tapes.[19] A week after arriving, Bieber sang for R&B singer/songwriter Usher.[27]"

In light of this, I don't find it shocking that he treated Anne Frank's house with such irreverence.

There is a world of difference between objecting to someone's religion and objecting to their ethnicity.

I don't understand what you mean by this.  Are you saying that she "objected" to this man being of the Jewish religion rather than to him being Jewish?  I'm honestly confused and asking for clarification.

It seems obvious to me that she didn't want someone of a different religion to have so great of an influence over her son.

Bigotry is bigotry. Bieber gets no pass from me, and there is a very, very small step from disapproving of Judaism as a faith and as an ethnicity. In fact, I'm not so convinced it is a step at all.

[mechtilde]

Hang on- this isn't Bieber himself expressing these opinions. I don't think we can hold him responsible for Malette's actions.

[Millionaire Maria]

Bigotry is bigotry. Bieber gets no pass from me, and there is a very, very small step from disapproving of Judaism as a faith and as an ethnicity. In fact, I'm not so convinced it is a step at all.

Faith is a choice, ethnicity is not. It is bigotry to object to someone's ethnicity. It is not bigotry to object to someone's religion. I know many, many people of all kinds of different faiths who do not want people of other faiths having a heavy influence on their children. That's not bigotry it's a parenting decision. For the record, it's a parenting decision that I take issue with, but that doesn't make it level with racism.

[nolechica]

I don't agree with Justin's mom's views, at all, but he was 13 at the time, so I'm not holding him responsible.  Pretty sure Scooter Braun and Usher have more influence than she ever envisioned.

[Roe]

Beiber is a spoiled child. The fact that he is young is no excuse for such behavior. Period.