There are three things I never thought I’d find myself defending:

The Holocaust.

The NRA

Justin Bieber

But last week it emerged that certain Bieber fans are particularly enraged and disappointed at published photos of their idol apparently holding a blunt.  Far as I’m concerned, all this proves is that he’s a normal 18 year old (perhaps a late bloomer, but normal just the same).

And by the way, am I the only one who thinks this “joint” looks suspiciously like the butt of a Marlboro?

How did these devoted fans register their disappointment?  By taking to Twitter –  #cut4bieber – and encouraging fans to cut themselves in protest.   It has become the top U.S. trend on Twitter.

Talk about peer pressure.

When I was a kid, you simply got called a “fag” or a “pussy” if you didn’t do what the rest of the cool kids were doing.  I’d use the old line, “if Justin Bieber told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?” with my own kids, but it’s only because my kids have a healthy revulsion to Bieber and his “music.”

Doesn’t the poor kid have enough to sweat already?  Puberty?  Fame?  Zero privacy?   He doesn’t need to worry about whether doing normal teen stuff will cause other teens to butcher themselves.  No wonder he’s smoking weed!  Shit, give the kid some oxy and valium, too, just to take the edge off.

Enter the voice of reason: pop star Miley Cyrus retweeted a message saying “#cut4bieber?  Cutting is NOT something you joke about.  There are people who are actually suffering from self-harm, this is so disrespectful.”

Miley and Justin in better times.  Far as I’m concerned, things went downhill when he dropped the jaunty cap for a more “grown up” look.

Turns out Miley has one massive, mega-important point: the whole thing was a hoax.

Someone posted the suggestion that Bieber fans stage this mock protest on the website 4Chan, which describes itself as “a simple image-based bulletin board where anyone can post comments and share images.  Feel free to click on a board that interests you and jump right in!”

It’s not the first time someone on 4Chan has jumped right in on the topic of the Biebernator, but it may be a tad more tasteless:

A tad, anyway.