Ah, I get what you're trying to say now awol. I'm not one of those who mentioned Rihanna here but I'll put in my two cents nonetheless...

The fact that some people like to compare the two does not automatically mean that anyone is "threatened" by anything. It's absurd the idea that fans of an entertainer would feel "threatened" by another entertainer. What exactly would they be "threatened" by? I, as a Lady Gaga fan, have nothing to lose from Rihanna outperforming Lady Gaga... so I'm not quite getting that idea that i should be threatened by something. Also, even if i did have a personal vested interest in seeing Lady Gaga outperform Rihanna, there is still the obvious and clear gap in the talent levels of the two artists. Look up the songwriting/composing credits, musical background, current album/singles chart positions and the quality of live performances of both, then come and say if you think Lady Gaga should be threatened by Rihanna.

I get what you are trying to say is if Rihanna's worth as a songwriter, singer, artist and entertainer is so far below Lady Gaga's then why the need to put them in the same sentence and category... but they are contemporaries as far as their level of popularity right now, and their "edginess", so they in fact ARE in a similar category image-wise. I think it's a fair comparison for the people (presumably teenagers...) who just want to compare superficialities of image and level of fame without looking deeper into their artistry.

Comment sections on music blogs such as this are all about, discussing, assessing and comparing talent. Don't read so much into it when people do just that.