Entertainment

8-Year-Old's Open Letter to Bieber Is Simple & Sad

by Kaitlin Reilly

It's a sad day to be a Belieber. (Though, to be fair, lately it's kind of always been a sad day to be a Belieber, hasn't it?) Justin Bieber's DUI arrest isn't particularly shocking news to anyone who has been following Justin Bieber's most recent antics, but it is saddening to at least one of Justin's fans. An 8-year-old girl from Ohio penned an open letter to Bieber , explaining her disappointment in his actions. Her mother shared it with Fox411. Here it is:

Dear Justin Bieber,

I'm very disappointed. It breaks my heart that you were in jail for just one night. I loved most of your songs. I dance to them a lot! So many things have changed this year. This is the biggest one yet! Why did you do it? Why did you race cars? What made you do it? Didn't you know it was a bad thing to do?

You had such a great life! I've read your books and watched your movies. You had something special. But you gave it up for drugs. My whole life I have been warned about drugs! And now my idol has started taking them! There are many drunk people in the world and you have become one of them. That's sad to me! I think you should be disappointed in your self. Just take a minute to think about what you did.

Sincerely,Serafina

It reminds me of my own childhood celebrity obsession with Britney Spears, and my disappointment when things started getting crazy with Brit. Stars like Justin Bieber are scrutinized so heavily by the media that it's easy to forget that they do have people who look up to them — young children who enjoy these celebrities more for the work they produce than the TMZ scandals they are involved in.

Sure, Bieber's DUI seems like the kind of the thing that would eventually happen to the guy who egged his neighbor's house and peed in a restaurant bucket while screaming about Bill Clinton (I still don't get it, I don't think I ever will.) But what about for the fans too young to care about the tabloids? What information are they exposed to about Justin Bieber?

If they're ingesting magazines geared toward their age demographic, they're getting the fluffiest of the fluff — it's no surprise that fans react like this when they talk about Justin Bieber. Young kids see Bieber as cool, fun, and talented because that's the image that's he constructed for himself, with the help of mentors Usher and Scooter Braun, of course. Just watch one of his perfume commercials and tell me that he isn't being marketed to people as the wholesome fantasy boyfriend you've always wanted.

At the end of the day, this 8-year-old girl is upset because that fantasy was broken. She doesn't know the scandalous Justin Bieber yet. She isn't aware that he's known as the biggest d-bag on the music scene because of his obnoxious actions. It's sad that her vision was crushed, even if it had to happen sooner or later.

Justin Bieber is an adult now and can do whatever he wants with his life, but maybe he should remind himself that he does have fans who see him in the best possible light. Yes, it may be a carefully constructed, not-so-accurate portrait, but anything is better than what he's doing right now.