OMG: The 'death' of Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber is, so my 10 year old daughter informs me, a pop sensation. Actually, her exact words when I asked just who the heck this Bieber bloke who keeps topping the Twitter trending chart is were: Oh My God, Justin Bieber, he's gorgeous. A little more journalistic investigation turned up the fact that in reality he's a 16 year old Canadian who doesn't know what the word German means.

Having listened to a couple of his songs, and I must confess that I'm more a Slipknot man myself so my opinion of Bieber is unlikely to be too high, I fail to see what all the fuss is about - however I would not wish him dead, even if only virtually. It appears not everyone is so generous.

Bieber has been flying high on Twitter, pretty much dominating the trending charts for months on end. Until now, following an apparent tweak to the Twitter trending algorithm Bieber has vanished from view from the social networking trending topics list. Twitter now looks for those things that are 'immediately popular' and representing the moment in time rather than taking a historically popular over a period of time viewpoint. Twitter is, of course, at pains to point out that Bieber has not been banned despite the facts appearing to suggest that he most certainly has been as far as the trending topics list is concerned.

But that is not enough for some people, who simply want to remove all traces of Bieber from their online experience. Look, I can't stand this type of teeny pop cack (being a heavily tattooed old fart into heavy rock this is in no way surprising) but I can cope quite well by simply not taking any notice of Bieber-mania by avoiding those sites where it is likely to be exploited. Others need a browser client extension such as Shaved Bieber which works with most websites, including the official Justin Bieber one ironically enough, and censors all images of Bieber from the browser. It even scrubs mentions of the name Bieber, effectively banning him from the web as far as any user of the Shaved Bieber tool is concerned. Simply save the tool as a bookmark and Bieber disappears from view.

Personal censorship is a reality and you can pretend to be a Chinese government official at long last.

And finally, as I mentioned I'm a huge Slipknot fan so have to just pay my respects to Paul Gray, bassist, founder member and songwriter who really has died at the age of 38 on Monday. Rest in peace, Paul - your music will live forever...

[InsightsDigital]

This is a good observation and we know that once a celebrity buzz winds down on social media, it also indicates shifting interest to another celebrity.

[newsguy]

But the celebrity buzz has not wound down, the social media site has simply changed the rules of the game to prevent that buzz from showing it would appear to me.

[TRIEULINH]

I want to meet jb my life maby won't never meet jb because i am living in viet nam

[lizwetzel]

I have been reading JB related comments and I see a pattern here. THe love and adoration comes from the teeny girls and the hatred comes from the teen boys or from 40 year old perverts pretending to be teen boys or girls.

There is an occasional wonder from old farts, dismissing him.

He is what he is right now. There is no need to dismiss him, your daughter is having a high experience. IF you are a teen boy who dont get love from another teen girl, relax, chill out. Maybe have your hair cut ala Justins hair, then be absolutely sweet. Sooner or later, one of them will find you worthy of a JB attention.

[happygeek]

I don't hate Bieber, in fact I wish him all the best of luck (especially if he ever tours Germany) - but it is interesting how the very name 'Justin Bieber' does seem to polarise opinion. I'm more interested in how far people will go to prevent that name appearing during an online session. Seems a mighty overreaction to me, hence the Chinese state censorship comparison. There's plenty I don't like online, but I don't go to the extremes of using software to remove all traces of it from my view - instead I don't knowingly go looking for it.

As my late father used to say "I hate sex on the TV, I keep falling off" but he also used to say "If you don't like sex on the TV, don't keep watching it" and I think he had a point.

[honestjordan97]

I don't hate Bieber, in fact I wish him all the best of luck (especially if he ever tours Germany) - but it is interesting how the very name 'Justin Bieber' does seem to polarise opinion. I'm more interested in how far people will go to prevent that name appearing during an online session. Seems a mighty overreaction to me, hence the Chinese state censorship comparison. There's plenty I don't like online, but I don't go to the extremes of using software to remove all traces of it from my view - instead I don't knowingly go looking for it.

As my late father used to say "I hate sex on the TV, I keep falling off" but he also used to say "If you don't like sex on the TV, don't keep watching it" and I think he had a point.

- This is what i was looking for. Thank you Guyz

[happygeek]

Wow! Who would have thought that teenage girls could be so vicious? C'mon ladies, I know you all love Justin Bieber sooooooooooooo much but PLEASE try reading what is being said before typing your hate emails and hitting the send key. Yes, that's right, I've had some pretty weird email heading my way since posting this piece. How about these snippets (my replies in brackets)

"You ******* retard Justin is not dead!!!!!!" (I never said he was, but thanks for not reading anyway)

"If you had half the talent of Justin Bieber you would be a much better writer" (At least I know what Germany is)

"Why don't you just die of cancer" (Isn't it way past your bedtime?)

"**** you and *** you again you ******* **** LEAVE JUSTIN ALONE, OK!" (I feel a mind reading session coming on: you are 13 and a Biber fan. Am I right?)

"I wish I could censor you and your bullshit from the internet" (you can, just don't read my stuff - simple)

I have written about many contentious issues before now, courting controversy and expecting a heated response, but never have I experienced the kind of pure hatred and nastiness that my email inbox has seen as a result of this. What surprises me most is that these rather emotional young girls have gone to the trouble of looking up my email address in order to be able to vent their collective spleens. Seriously girls, is it really worth it?

[BABYFACE1100@AO]

can people STOP LIEING :(

[Jblover]

:'(i Love Justin Bieber What if you were him and people were posting bad stuff about u on the internet how would u feel bad CAUSE I WOULD. Who agrees!?!?!?! :icon_cry: