Mainstream Hate - How You Can Help It

[Fanta Grape]

A thread has recently been put up with a single youtube link and a line to go with it. Northing harmful, just a joke from South Park about Justin Bieber. The video itself? Meh. The response? Woah.
It seems that anyone in the Western world who knows of Bieber can be put into three general categories:

a) Someone who likes him
b) Someone who hates him
c) Someone who hates who hates him

Now this is a very broad topic so feel free to apply this to any major pop culture franchise that's generally looked down upon by the more sophisticated side of the community; your Twilights and your Transformers.

Now as for the people who actually like Bieber's music, good for them. As long as you acknowledge it for what it truly is and not having the words "omg bieber is soooooo talented" drooling down your mouth, more power to you. As for the people who hate him? Well unfortunately, that's going to be split into another two categories: people who hate him because he's easy to hate, or people who hate him for what he symbolises and represents. As for the first one, if you're doing this because you think Bieber is girly or that he's too popular, then the people in group c are totally legitimised. It's purely on the most shallow level you can complain about, and if you're spouting, "Bieber is so unoriginal," before setting your ipod to Linking Park, then please, for all of us, stop it. But what about the people who hate him for what he epitomises? I should assume a large chunk of you, including me, think that his music is vacuous, superficial, not too creative and often at times just uneducated. Well, just stay quiet about it. If someone asks you about him, be honest and state your argument. Laugh at jokes about him, but don't make them up. And for those of you who are complaining about the ones who dislike him, well... try to be less harsh.

The most common line I see for these kind of things are, "Stop talking about it, you're just making him more popular instead of giving him a bad name."
True? Maybe. Depends. But whether it be a fact or not, there must be some grounding for the line, "Any Publicity is Good Publicity."


P.S. If you don't have an opinion, and if it's not affecting you in anyway whatsoever... what difference does it make?


http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.244494-Justin-Bieber-Died-last-night-D-joy-to-the-world

 

[Fanta Grape]

If you don't have an opinion, and if it's not affecting you in anyway whatsoever... what difference does it make?

(This line has been added to the OP)

 

[Crazy_Dude]

What about option number D?

D) People who simply dont care

 

[Julianking93]

Interesting view here. I completely agree with what you said as most of it is true, though, you forgot to mention there's always the people who simply don't give a flying fuck about anything like this.

This can really be applied to anything though, not just Bieber and his stupid music. Anything that is popular will always have this reaction and there will always be the irrational ones on each side. Those who hate him because "OMG HE SUX!!!" and those who dislike him for what he represents; the shear stupidity of popularity and where mainstream culture is in the world at its current time.

 

[2fish]

Ok here we go:

1. it isn't linkin park right now i have it on random it is Rammstien.

2. I "hate" beiber in the same way I hate twilight or anime. I don't usually care until the fans go fucking crazy and annoy the shit out of me. I tend to hate the fans not the medium. Yes I know not all fans are fanboys so it is not a blanket hate.

3. You are asking fanboys/girls or anti-fanboys/girls to be less harsh...HAHAHAHAHAHA

4. People will forget about him soon after disney drops him unless you are a serious fan.

5. I wanted to end on an odd number so now it is playing Trust Company. God I love Pandora!

 

[AcacianLeaves]

Things that are popular aren't necessarily popular because they are good, oftentimes they're popular because they are accessible. Anyone can 'understand' Bieber. You don't have to understand music theory, harmony, showmanship, melody, etc to 'get' it. I'm not saying that everyone who likes mainstream entertainment is an idiot (I can certainly understand wanting to just turn off your brain and not have to think too hard about every little thing), but its popular for a reason and that reason is rarely due to talent. Mostly its marketability and accessibility.

The negative reaction is often due to people who feel like their favorite game/artists/movies have been cheated out of much deserved success in favor of the less interesting, more marketable mainstream product.

 

[ThoseTwoDudes]

I hate him for what he stands for: The whole squealing fangirl thing. Basically, humanity is like a mountain. Before civilization, we were at the bottom. As we grew in intellect, ethics, imagination, independence, all that stuff, we ascend the mountain. At the very tip we ascend to utopia, or at least get to climb another mountain for gods or something. The fangirls are like people in your climbing party, when you are nearly at the top, dragging you down because they are too afraid to climb fast. This is a shit analogy, I know.

 

[Owlslayer]

Yeah,i don't really care. I once listened to one of his songs, didn't find it good.
But i don't hate it. He's just a kid who got lucky, good for him. He's earning loads'o'money.
I can sorta understand that some people might hate him, but I'm baffled by some people who go over the top with their hate. All this "Kill him!" etc stuff. Yeah, that south park thing was funny, but killing someone in real life? dude. Not cool. But i guess that's just random people ranting on the web.

 

[BonsaiK]

there must be some grounding for the line, "Any Publicity is Good Publicity."

Yes there is. I actually get to see figures on shit like this, and "hate publicity" makes an artist's profile and sales skyrocket.

I hate him for what he stands for: The whole squealing fangirl thing.

Actually Elvis Presley (plus many other 1950s rockers of his ilk) and The Beatles were where the squealing fangirl thing started, Both of those artists have huge amounts of respect these days.

 

[Subzerowings]

1. it isn't linkin park right now i have it on random it is Rammstein.

2. I "hate" bieber in the same way I hate twilight or anime.

Why do some people always change the "e" and the "i" around?
I hope I'm not offending anyone, but seriously why?
Due to the frequency of these mix-ups I don't thing they're just typos.

On topic: I honestly don't care about his music. It just seems so utterly bland to me, just like the rest of the "mainstream" music.

 

[Le_Lisra]

And slobs like me who haven't heard of him because they don't listen - and live on the wrong continent.

 

[Stasisesque]

And slobs like me who haven't heard of him because they don't listen - and live on the wrong continent.

Hadn't heard of him myself until fairly recently. Then again, I'm also the same person who only discovered what Twilight was earlier this year.

But Justin Beiber/Bieber/Whatever seems like a nice enough lad, his music is definitely what I would've listened to at the age of his target demographic, so I understand the hype there. I'd not choose to listen to his music nowadays, but I'm not going to turn the radio off if he pops up. Assuming I recognised it.

 

[ParadiseOnceLost]

Why I hate is I don't like pop music, I never had. I enjoy listening to some hard rock or metal. My problem is even though I avoid pop music like the plague I prolly could name quite a few artist who make it including Justin Bieber while people look at me like I am from Mars if I say that I am listening o the new CD by Charred Walls of the Damned. My hate is really for all things pop music because of the way it is relentlessly crammed down my throat even though I enjoy other genres of music much more, and Justin Bieber makes pop music.

 

[Brutal Peanut]

I keep forgetting he exists until someone brings him up, whether love, hate, or don't care.I don't follow after him at all, and I don't hate or love him, so I guess I fall into the 'Don't really care' option. I don't wish him dead, I just keep wondering why a majority of people who rage-hate him, continue to follow his every footstep and actions so closely. Just to hate him? Just to fume? That can't be healthy.

He's just another boy sucked into the continuous pop-icon trend. He will soon be a nobody or move on to something else, and there will be another to take his place; whether a single person, or a group that nearly everyone will 'love', 'hate', or 'not care about', all over again.

It's a never ending cycle of screamy girls, fuming obsessive hatred-fueled anti-'mainstreamists', and people who just don't care. *shrug*.

 

[True Nero]

I've said this numerous times, I'm not a huge fan of the kid, we can only expand the limits of our minds by listening to the opinions of others. we don't have to agree with it, but it definitely helps us to listen.

but that's just me.

 

[Jumping_Over_Fences]

I, like a lot of people on here, just simply do not care about him. These pop fads happen all the time, it is nothing new. Just give him a few months/a year and most people will probably forget who he is. At the very least his popularity will start to wain. It doesn't seem like that is possible now, but just give it time.

I saw the same thing in the 80s (yes I actually lived in and remember the 80s) with New Kids on the Block. I saw it in the 90s with N'Sync and Backstreet Boys. Nothing about this is different from what happened to them and countless others. They eventually all just simply disappear.

Hating someone you don't know just seems like a huge waste of time. So what if people like him, it doesn't affect you in the slightest. For the fanatics out there, you may not know it now, but you will look back on all this and laugh, or just be incredibly embarrassed.

 

[runnernda]

To be honest, I have no idea who this kid is. I couldn't pick him out of a lineup, and I don't think I've ever heard any of his songs.

To be honest, I don't understand what it is about anything that could make boys or girls shriek like they've been shot or whatever. I have things I like--even things for which I'll call myself a fangirl --but I don't think there's anyone or anything I like so much that it could make me scream when I'm around it.

 

[The Funslinger]

I'm very particular in my music. I don't like pop music, rap, metal, punk or mosher or whatever. I'm not a fan of Beiber's music, which I personally find painful to listen to. Not really a reason to hate the guy himself, but when he said he was the Curt Kobain of this generation? WHAT? That's what pissed me off.

As a person, he could NOT be more different from Curt Kobain, their music is totally different. Justin Beiber is in an already defined genre, where as Kobain was a trailblazer for "grunge" music. I don't really listen to grunge, but still. Most importantly, he's been through nothing like Curt Kobain, who was fairly controversial in his time.

A lot of people don't like Beiber, but not over any form of controversy, but just because from some point-of-views, he's very easy to hate, for somewhat similar reasons some dislike Twilight, or think such and such a group of people are idiots.

I hate the music, not the person, it's just this particular view of his is just very self crediting and says a lot about how he sees himself and how he wants to be.

 

[ChaoticKraus]

I am of the opinion that if something is popular, it has to have some sort of quality to it. Now i might not like it, but there's probably a good reason for that. For Bieber i'm not really included in the target audience. So i don't really mind him very much. But then again my personal policy are to not judge things, which are something people in general love to do.

What i DO find irritating however is seeing the massive amount of negativity spewed over anything popular these days. From COD to Twilight to Pop music. Sure you might think it's bland or commercialized or overly accesible etc. But do you really have to ruin it for all those who do enjoy it? You're just being an asshole by hating in public. You might say it's shoved down your throat but conversely you're shoving down your negativity, elitism and suggestions of better stuff down the throat of everyone else. You can barely go to a youtube video these days without finding comments about Justin Biebers penis.

I don't think it will stop, but in the end it probably doesn't hurt them either. They get more publicity so you are just helping them in a way. Like that big campaign to make the "Baby" video have more dislikes than likes. That's basically free promotion for him.