Dear Monsters, I feel the need to express my opinion on something that’s been weighing heavily on my mind for a while. Before I fully explain my thoughts I feel it important to first reiterate that fact that I am a Little Monster through and through and that the love I have for Gaga, the Haus and the entire Little Monster community cannot adequately be expressed in words because it is so great. I’ve had to work up a lot of courage in order to write this post because I realise that tomorrow I may see my face on this site with the “Kill the Bitch” caption underneath it. But I feel that with recent developments on Twitter this morning that now is the best time to write this. It’s becoming more apparent to me that Little Monsters seemed to have developed a somewhat elitist mentality, because Gaga encourages us to be loving, kind and brave we now assume ourselves to be better than any and everyone else, we also have a tendency to destroy anything that threatens Gaga. We believe that we are right and everyone else in the world is wrong and we also have no problem telling everyone else how wrong they are. And as a result we have become the very thing that we cannot stand, bullies. I myself am guilty of this, when I was at the Born This Way Ball in Johannesburg on the 30th of November last year I camped the entire day in the Monster pit queue. I waited for a total of 17 hours in the 30 degree C heat for Gaga. I made some of the best friends ever on that day and I had the best time! But when we eventually walked into the stadium and down into the pit itself, a young girl said “well I like Gaga, but I’m more of a Belieber than a Little Monster.” At that moment more than 50 of us turned on her, shouting that she didn’t deserve to be with us in the pit, that Justin Bieber was a talentless one hit wonder who wouldn’t last long. I’m not too sure what happened to her after that, but I know that we hurt her, that we probably made her cry, that we bullied her because she didn’t have the same beliefs that we do. After the show I tried to find her so that I could apologise for my behavior but I think she’d already left. I feel so ashamed and guilty of what I did especially because I know what it’s like to be bullied, to be made fun of, to be yelled at and to be treated badly at the hands of other because I was different to them. The most disappointing thing to me is that I frequently see bullying within the Little Monster community, on this site. People saying mean things about other peoples art or designs, or stealing posts from other Little Monsters just to get likes and followers on LM.com and Twitter. Before we can do anything else this needs to stop, we have to love and support each other in order to set a good example, otherwise we become just as hypocritical as the rest of society. We need to realise that there are other individuals out there who may not love Gaga, who don’t listen to Gagas’ music, who may not even like Gaga and we need to accept that as their personal belief which they are completely entitled to. We need to learn how not to express hatered towards someone whose own personal preference or opinion differs from our own. We can be brave and kind by taking criticism well and learning from our mistakes, we need to learn how to accept and tolerate everyone even if they don’t accept or tolerate us, that’s how we show our bravery, that’s how we are kind to those who aren’t kind to us. We can’t expect to create a kinder and braver world if we ourselves are not kind and brave to everyone! Now in no way does this post refer to all Little Monsters. There are some Monsters out there who are really amazing and have found it within them to show bravery and kindness even in the most challenging situations; and you are the Monsters I look up to, respect, admire and I aspire to behave in a similar way. Gaga can’t be held responsible for how we behave and conduct ourselves, only we can do that. I’ve made a decision and that is to conduct myself as a Little Monster who is kind and brave, who will accept the beliefs of others even if I don’t necessarily agree with them. To be helpful and supportive towards this community as it grows to be an entity that will change history. I love Gaga, I love the Haus and I love you Little Monsters. I don’t want other celebrities or individuals to say bad things about us anymore, I want the world to see how beautiful we really are but that can only happen when we allow the world and each other to feel that beauty. Paws Up!! Yours sincerely, Lou