I see what you are saying.
I'm not sure how many people here actually said he didn't know any better either though, or shouldn't have/couldn't have known better.
As far as I can tell, most people bringing up his age are simply saying he shouldn't be damned for it, and that teenagers do stupid shit (despite knowing better.)
People are taking that as a defense of his action, which it really isn't.. it's a defense of what should happen to him now because of it.
I don't think anyone here thinks/wants Justin Bieber punished for these old tapes, vs just a general conscious that what he did was bad without "oh he's only 14, lighten up" and other dismissive quotes. Justin Bieber owned up to the comments and has already started issuing apologies. Whether he means them or not is up for debate, but he as at least admitting he made a mistake and more posters should be too.
The other thing with "teenagers do stupid shit", like other posters in this thread have mentioned, discrimination/offensive ethnic group jokes are on a whole different tier when it comes to stupid shit. Stealing, graffiti, doing drugs, bullying, egging someone's house, etc... Those are things where we should be going "Oh he was only 14, give him another chance" for. Making offensive/hurtful jokes towards an ethnic group is beyond the normal "teenagers do stupid shit" realm, or at least it should be.
Going a bit off topic but in regards to people defending Bieber, there seems to be a disappointing pattern on GAF with posters defending any form of discrimination/writing it off. Paula Deen "She was from a different time". Donald Sterling "He should be free to say what he wants in private". Duck Dynasty guy "He is just following his beliefs". Mel Gibson "He made Lethal Weapon". George Zimmerman "What if Trayvon hit him?". Firefox CEO "It's his money, he can spend it as he wants".
Mean old lady at the grocery story "We don't know the whole story". It would be nice if one day we can get to a point where discrimination happens and everyone agrees "Yeah, he/she fucked up".
The hypocrisy is strong in this thread.
If Dr Dre can be forgiven for beating a woman 20 years ago surely an idiot teenager saying some stupid shit 6 years ago can too.
Dr. Dre was punished for his crimes 20 years ago and had to make amends (PSAs, etc...). He also hasn't hurt another woman in 20 years. Much easier to "forgive" (I honestly don't care that much about Bieber) someone who was punished 20 years ago and appears to have been reformed over someone who we've just recently discovered did something offensive and has been on a career suicide path for months.