It's The End of The World As We Know It.....And I Feel Fine

The Twerk Heard Round the World.

Well, something happened recently and the world (shockingly) did not end; Miley Cyrus acted like a five dollar hooker in a venue that celebrates five dollar hookers

Why did American expect anything different from the VMA?  And why was anyone surprised by anything that Hannah Montana did?  I think this has become a Pavlovian response for our society.  Take a moldable kid with stage parents, straight jacket them into a factory model for youth and tween entertainment, stifle them for about 15 years, shake and presto!  At about 20 years old they turn out to be out of control demented media/attention hounds purposely doing ever more "scandalous" things to change their "image" and "chart a new course".  And we respond so predictably.  Outrage, angst, why oh why did you do this to us Miley as if this were a personal assault on 350 million US citizens.

Let's break this down then.  What happened at the VMA was both predictable and expected.  The VMA is a forum where the outrageous is simply rageous and such behavior is not only tolerated but expected.  There will always be some desperate "artist" trying to make a statement or "chart a new artistic (autistic?) course".  This year it was Miley.  She is simply following in the disturbed footsteps of Brittany and Madonna.  We have become a society whose senses are so saturated that it takes such behavior just to get our attention. And that will wane quickly.  In less than a month we will be saying "Miley Who".  Those who were scandalized by the sad, pathetic, bizarre display are being a little hypocritical since she telegraphed this one.  New aggressive hair style, more sexualized clothing, lyrics and videos with a "hard edge".  We should have seen this one coming a mile away.  And it should have produced nothing more than a yawn and shake of the head.

But now her course is pretty well set for the next few years.  Here is what I predict.  MC will continue down the scandal road until she hits a wall in about five years (drugs, alcohol, police, violence some type of addictive or self destructive behavior).  At this point she will have an "awakening", realize the "error of her ways", get some professional help and possibly disappear for a year or two to emerge a little while later with yet another "new image"  By the time she is 30 she will probably have come nearly full circle (she has too much talent not to come back some how) and again be in front of us pulling a Sally Field ("You love me, you really love me!").  The whole while, her father will be supporting her; what else can he do?  To call his daughter a spoiled brat attention whore who needs to be smacked with a rolled up newspaper would be to admit that he failed as a parent, and most parents can do that.

No I don't have a crystal ball just a good memory.  I have seen this cycle too many times in the past for it not to come true again.  It doesn't have to be that way but sadly it probably will end up that way.  So what do I think?  It is irrelevant what I think but if I must weigh in, I am not scandalized, I am not upset, I am not surprised.  I am sad and resigned to a pop culture that rewards the extreme and superficial as it sacrifices young talent.  We get what we pay for.


Just sayin

:)