So I'm catching up on my celebrity gossip this morning (as you can tell, I'm a really big advocate of hard-hitting news) when I come across this article about Justin Bieber. For those who haven't heard, the poor kid was stormed by fans at an airport yesterday and in the midst of everything, they knocked over his mother and stole his hat. The crazed fans caused so much chaos that Bieber's security guards urged him to cancel his meet-and-great later that day. Earlier in the week, police had to break things up at one of his shows so that people wouldn't be trampled. And the sad part is, this isn't the first time such a thing has happened... to him or anyone else.
I am not writing to protect Justin Bieber, because I'm not exactly a part of his sixteen-and-under fan base, but rather to reflect upon the implications of this. It's one thing to respect the singer for his vocal talents, enjoy his music, and even find him attractive (again, if you're part of that sixteen-and-under fan base!), but to group together and charge after him like a herd of buffalo is just ridiculous. What part of that scenario is acceptable in civilized society? At some point, people allow themselves to become completely obsessed with certain celebrities and franchises, and eventually they let that become their excuse when their actions spiral out of control. The "anonymity" of being a Justin Bieber fan, a Jonas Brothers enthusiast, or a Twi-Hard is just enough to cause people to go completely psycho.
Maybe this is just the psychology minor in me speaking, but I often wonder what causes us to reach that level of obsession. When do we cross that fine line between "I read these books because I enjoy them" and "I'm going to stalk Robert Pattinson, make him turn me into a vampire, and move to Forks"? And what causes us to act so differently than we would in our every-day lives?
Just some food for thought. By the way, if you see Justin Bieber around, let him know that I have his hat?
