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Comment by TRiG_Ireland | Hacker News Reader

> We cannot attribute any moral judgment to Bieber as a human being; we can only answer the moral question as posed in the song.

As a semi-off-topic little rant, why do we always assume that pop singers are singing about themselves and their own experiences? Can a song, as a work of art, not have an independent existence, much as a novel may? Pop, rap, and maybe country songs are all now assumed to be about the artist themselves.

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Last time at a karaoke I sang a song that translates to "we're hitchhiking".

Little did the audience know that I wasn't hitchhiking at all and neither were they. I was just standing there, singing.

The question might be asked "why would we assume the singer isn't singing about themself?" In modern pop music it's become it's become standard that the "character" an artist "plays" when they're performing or writing is themself; there's no suspension of disbelief like with a play where there's an entire context around knowing that what you're seeing is a portrayal. Same with a book or movie or other works of fiction, and with those forms of media it's clear when you're seeing or reading fiction or non-fiction.

In a sense, some artists write novels and some write memoirs.

At least in metal music we usually doesn't assume the artist sings about themselves.

Fortunately most artists are neither fighting dragons nor worshiping satan.

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