Justin, you’re already getting tons of flak for your comments and actions during your visit to the Anne Frank House on Apr. 13. We know that you don’t mean any harm, but now is the perfect time to educate yourself on the horrible tragedies suffered by Anne and millions of other Jews in the Holocaust. We know you can be better than this.
Justin Bieber – you slipped up big time when you visited the Anne Frank House on Apr. 13 and wrote in the guestbook, ”Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber.” Your note has already exploded into a major controversy, and it’s not hard to see why — to relate yourself and your fans to one of the worst cases of genocide in history is insensitive, ignorant, and totally offensive. But instead of scolding you, which the masses have already begun to do, I’m going to stand by you and encourage you to take this most recent mistake, learn from it, and finally grow up.
Justin Bieber’s Anne Frank Controversy — He Knows Better Than This
First of all, it’s great that you used your time in Amsterdam to pay respects to Anne Frank and the home where she and several other Jews hid from the Nazis for two years before being found and eventually killed. This to me shows that your heart was initially in the right place (because lord knows there’s plenty of other less reputable things to do in Amsterdam). But you really need to educate yourself before stepping on such hallowed ground. Your note about Anne being a Belieber and the way you blithely threw up random gang signs while touring the house just show that you weren’t fully aware of the situation.
Justin Bieber — Don’t Mock Anne Frank, Imitate Her
Anne Frank was only 13 years old when she and her mother, father, older sister, and several other Jews went into hiding from the Nazis. Anne and her family spent over two years living in seclusion in small hidden rooms of Anne’s father, Otto’s office building before being discovered by Nazi police, imprisoned and transported to concentration camps. Anne, her sister and mother were sent to Bergen-Belsen, separated from Otto, who was sent to Auschwitz. Anne’s mother died of starvation at the camp just 20 days before its liberation. Anne and her sister both died from typhus in 1945. Otto was the only Frank to survive the concentration camps, and he passed away in 1980.
All through this time of awful persecution and horror though, Anne never gave up belief and remained optimistic, as we can see in her beautifully written diary. “Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart,” she wrote. ”I don’t think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains.”
The Anne Frank House is one of the most moving symbolizations of the Holocaust, where over six million Jewish people were systematically murdered by the Nazis. Anne Frank, her house, and her moving diary (which is pretty much on every middle school’s required reading list) are tangible testaments to this horrible tragedy — they are reminders so that something that awful will never happen again. To walk around in that house showing anything but respect is totally inappropriate. I’ll assume that you knew not what you were doing, because I truly believe that you’re a good guy and that you don’t want to hurt anyone.
The Anne Frank House Responds: Justin Bieber ‘Didn’t Mean Bad’
When the Anne Frank House was asked about this incident by BBC Hague, they stated, “He’s 19, it’s a strange life he’s living, it wasn’t very sensible but he didn’t mean bad,” and I totally agree with that. You’re young. You live a fast life under an unimaginably large spotlight. You probably don’t want to think about such serious things like the Holocaust.
But part of growing up is educating yourself and coming to grips with the fact that life can be horrifically dark. You can’t ignore these things anymore, Justin. If you want to grow up to be a respected man, you have to prove that you’re capable of showing the proper respect.
Justin Bieber: It’s Time To Be Responsible
From now on, make sure you fully understand the things you do and say, and make sure you’re not trivializing such serious things, or else you will alienate large portions of your fanbase — and probably large portions of your friends.
And you’re always talking about how you want to be a good role model for all of your fans. The best way to do that is to simply be a respectful, good person with a positive set of beliefs. You have over 37 million followers on Twitter — that’s a blessing and a responsibility. Believe it or not, Justin, you have more power to educate and make good impressions than most people in the world.
Anne Frank should be your role model, Justin. Her unrelenting optimism in the face of the genocide of her people is so beautiful, and it’s a message that you should embrace and preach to your loyal fans. You can turn this controversy around by educating yourself about Anne Frank and passing down that knowledge to your many Beliebers.
What do you think, HollywoodLifers? Let us know.
– Andrew Gruttadaro
More Justin Bieber Controversies:
- Justin Bieber Will 'Get Through' Marijuana Controversy — Insider
- Justin Bieber Apologizes To Fans For Starting London Concert Late
- Justin Bieber Reacts To Sizzurp Controversy — 'Dont Believe The BS'
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