The Bieber Trend

I really don’t think there is anything I can say at this point that hasn’t already been said, but I still feel the compulsion to say something. And for those who take self-harm as a touchy subject and find it difficult to discuss or read about, I advise you to close the browser page right now, because I don’t want to make things worse for anyone who is recovering or who is still struggling. Alright, here goes.

For those who don’t know, there was a troll started on 4Chan called “cut for Bieber” in which young girls (and possibly boys, to avoid any exclusion) started cutting themselves to protest Bieber smoking marijuana (which no one has proved to be 100% true yet). It became a trending topic on Twitter entitled #cut4bieber in which people posted the pictures of their cutting jobs for the world to see. I visited the trend page and a lot of it is now composed of fellow Twitter users begging other Twitter users to not follow this trend. There are also a lot of pictures going around that are making fun of the trend, such as people cutting their hair, marijuana leaves, and cake since Justin probably has “the munchies.” I was relieved to see more people “against” the trend on the trend page than people “for” the trend, but the fact of the matter is that there are still Bieber fans out there doing this to themselves.

I don’t think I have to convince anyone of how stupid or serious this matter is, because most of the people I know are decent about these kinds of things, and we’re usually on the same page. But I do want to speak out for the few people who may not be taking this seriously and who may not completely understand it. As a sufferer of depression, it makes me absolutely sick to know that there are people cutting for some celebrity who is now an adult and who, just like anyone else in this country, can make his own decisions. There are people out there who cut because they cannot deal with the emotional pain, and I don’t expect everyone to understand what it is like to hurt that much.

There are those who would argue that there is nothing that hurts more than physical pain, but you’d be wrong if it were up to me to decide. With physical pain, yes, the outside hurts. But you could run into a pole or trip over your own foot and hurt yourself, and you could still laugh about it because you’re a klutz. You could be completely fine emotionally. But for people like me, it is possible to feel so emotionally miserable and depressed that it actually causes physical pain. There are days where I become so lost in my own sorrow that I can feel my chest throbbing, and it isn’t a good feeling. That is when you are truly hurting; when you hurt both ways at the same time. And I don’t know how to explain why cutting is so comforting (although I have not done it before, but have been tempted on several occasions), but I have been told that it releases endorphins. It is also used as a distraction method so that the emotional pain isn’t so prominent.

The thing that really upsets me about the trend is that it was started as a joke. Then someone took it seriously, and all of a sudden, everyone began doing it (and when I say everyone, I mean the people stupid enough to do it). Cutting is not a joke. It is an actual problem for people who suffer from mental illnesses, and the pictures, not to mention the topic itself, has made it difficult to deal with for the people who are recovering from self-harm and who are still suffering from it. It would be like putting an alcoholic in a room full of alcohol. It is just as tempting and triggering for cutters to see these pictures. Not only that, but cutting could actually kill you. There is the risk of losing too much blood and getting hospitalized, and there is also the risk of cutting the right vein in the right direction. The fact that anyone sees physical harm as a joke ought to be shot, because it isn’t something to take lightly, especially for a stupid reason like protesting against a marijuana-smoking celebrity. It would be far more effective to protest by not purchasing music and/or not supporting that artist if you feel that strongly about what he or she has done. But don’t fucking harm yourself for someone else’s choice. You didn’t see anyone cutting themselves when Britney Spears shaved her head or when Miley Cyrus was caught smoking from a bong. So why are you doing this for Justin? What is it about Justin that made this trend so fucking important? He’s a person just like everyone else and has the right to do to his own body what you have the right to do to yours. But the choices he makes for himself should not determine the choices you make for yourself.

Also, parents, please please PLEASE take responsibility for your own children. You control the things that they are exposed to and the people that they find to be role models, but you should not let their role models become their parents, and you should not be outraged by Justin making a (the way I see it, by personal opinion) bad choice. Everyone makes choices, good and bad. We’re all people, no matter how famous some of us may be or may become. But it does not become a celebrity’s responsibility to give up his or her free will and humanity to make a great impression on the people that happen to like their music. It is your job as parents to bring your children up well and to steer them in the right directions, and to actually sit down and talk to them about this kind of stuff. Not only that, but how are you not aware that they could be doing this to themselves? If you’re going to be that disconnected from your child’s emotional and physical struggles, I find that to be very disappointing. No one as young as ten years old should be doing that (although, really, no one should be doing it anyway). But that young? For some stupid celebrity? And damn, watch what they do on the internet! If it weren’t for the internet, none of this would have even happened!

I am not a parent yet, but I for sure wouldn’t want my child to be doing this to him or herself, and I’d like to think that I would have a little more control over what they’re exposed to. So please, sit down and talk to your kids. This kind of stuff is important, and it’s no joking matter.

I find it very difficult to emotionally express my frustration and disappointment. I am disgusted at the trend and at the person who started the troll, and I am even more disgusted that people disrespectfully followed it for no fucking reason. Yes, I said disrespectfully, because it is disrespectful to me, to my friends who struggle with this problem, and to all the other people who have fallen victim to it and cannot find the will to quit.

The trend has disappeared from the top ten trend list on Twitter, which I am relieved about. So thank you, Twitter, for removing it.

I’m done here. I hope my words carried weight.