I like to think that most millennials got their heads in the right place when it comes to choosing the right people to follow. After all, as humans we naturally tend to idolize those of higher stature because we all strive to become greater people ourselves. However, there are plenty of those who look up to the wrong idols; these ‘idols’ who glorify bad attitudes, disrespect, laziness, opposition to authority or overall negativity to your fellow man. Unfortunately, this doesn’t just apply to millennials. All people do this, some without even realizing it.

So how do you know when you’re following a bad idol? Usually, the telltale signs are right in front of you. Whether it’s the lyrics they preach, the message they spread or the values they hold over other people, the signs are everywhere. There are dozens upon dozens of examples I can use to solidify my point, but I’ll only be listing a few key people as I feel these people have some of the strongest influence over current and future generations to come.

Let’s briefly talk about Vine. No, I’m not talking about literal vines that hang from trees, but the phone app Vine where you can upload six-second videos of whatever you want. This is just one of those crazes that have taken over the world in a matter of a couple of years. What’s hilarious about this app is that it spawned a whole new breed of celebrity and that is called the ‘Vine star.’ Vine stars are much like YouTube stars, except rather than actually taking the time to write, produce and film legitimate content on a weekly basis, these Vine stars just simultaneously sneeze and fart at the same time and come up with a stupid idea for a six-second video and make it within a minute.

“Damn Jordan, why do you sound so salty about Vine?”

The truth is I’m not salty about Vine. I actually love Vine. There are some great content creators out there who actually produce funny material on a daily basis and gawk at the idea of having any kind of celebrity status. Hell, some of these Viners even spread a lot of positive messages (Daz_Black and Logey Dogey just to name a few). Unfortunately, those two Viners don’t draw in nearly as much attention as the ‘greats’ such as Piques, Curtis Lepore, Max Jr, Nash Grier and many others, all of which have at one point or another glorified sexist representations of women, encouragement of side-chick/side-dude culture and in Nash Grier’s case, made horrible comments toward gay people.

Of all these people, I think my specific beef is with Curtis Lepore. He’s got one of the strongest influences over the Vine community and it baffles me how he retains so many fans. I primarily blame ignorance, but I don’t think that’s the full reason. Curtis Lepore raped his unconscious (now ex) girlfriend, Jessi Smiles, and served no time in prison for it. It’s true, go to Google and type “Curtis Leopore rape charges” and you’ll find all the information about it. He got a big fine, but it was ultimately nothing to a man of his stature. Having celebrity status and a hell of a lot of money to back it up, he managed to pay his way out of any prison time and still retained his celebrity status. How is this possible? There are reports of average people every day that go to prison for upwards of 10 years for raping women, yet he managed to get away with just a plea deal of ‘felony assault?' He shouldn’t have been able to get off, but he did and that is the world we live in today. Did I mention he gloated all over Twitter about it? Calling out multiple news sources and saying he wasn’t going anywhere? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think those are the words of a man who feels sorry for what he’s done, but rather a child that just got away with a huge crime. But hey, I guess it shouldn’t really come as a surprise considering Chris Brown viciously beat a woman half to death and got off free!

You shouldn’t idolize these people or support them because they preached these attitudes toward women even before these incidents occurred. They preached them and created this weird sense of acceptance as if it’s funny or OK to act this way. News flash: It’s not funny! And worse, they hardly think they did any wrong considering just how lucky they got off. They are perpetuating a negative and distorted culture where average people think this kind of behavior is acceptable when it’s not.

There is a difference between fandom and idolizing. For the most part, I genuinely think that most of the people that watch/listen to these celebrities are only doing it simply because they enjoy their content. You’re free to be a fan if you desire, but please don’t boost their ego any more than it needs to be. We can’t let these types of people believe that what they’re doing is acceptable. More importantly, we can’t let them spread these distorted views to younger generations, effectively dumbing down humans. When it gets to the point where foreign countries start to make fun of Americans for praising the Kardashians, then you know there’s a serious problem with our priorities. Idolize the right people. Stop boosting the egos of famous scum in American culture. You want real idols? Go shake the hands of the next doctor, paramedic, fireman, police officer or soldier you see. Or just follow other celebrities who dedicate most of their free time to actually making a difference in the world. Has anyone even seen Leonardo DiCaprio’s Twitter page?

Maybe after all of this, I’m being too harsh. After all, humans make mistakes. Should we forgive and forget? Only if the person in question has learned their lesson. I don’t think any of these people have learned their lesson. Stop caring about these people and focus on more important things. And stop letting your kids listen to Miley Cyrus! She’s not Hannah Montana anymore!