I am sure we have all heard about the Beebs latest stunt. He was recently arrested for a DUI in Miami and on top of that he is underage. And yes it's easy to make fun of him, he is kind of a big dummy sometimes... but let's try something else instead.
I found this article on NPR yesterday and it really hit home for me. Why is our first move to automatically make fun of celebrities that are struggling and are in trouble instead of our first thought be to help them? In the NPR article they show this clip of Craig Ferguson from a few years ago when Britney Spears was going through all her crap. (The clip is about 13 mins long, but it's interesting and it is good.)
Now, I am not trying to make people feel guilty for drinking or feel guilty for making fun of celebrities when they do dumb things. For me this isn't even really an issue of JBeebs, he is just the latest celeb to do something dumb with alcohol... it's more the issue of how we deal with alcohol and alcoholism as a society that bothers me. We make jokes about alcohol and treat it so carelessly; but then we shun alcoholics and make people feel embarrassed when it does actually become a problem for them. Alcohol and addiction is a serious thing - so let's treat it like one. It is an illness, not something to laugh at. I am not an alcoholic myself, but it runs in my family and it is something that hits very close to home. Alcoholism not only affects the person struggling with it, but all of the people involved in an alcoholic's life. I think maybe it's time for us to all start taking it more seriously...but what do I know?
PS. If you ever want to read a beautiful book on addiction pick up Beautiful Boy by David Sheff or Tweak by David's son Nic Sheff.
And since I don't want to get too serious on this post today, I still want to leave you with a #backthatazzup song. Obviously, we have to go with the Beebs.
