The American Spectator

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Miss Teen USA

5.12.08 @ 12:01AM

MILEY MONTANA
Re: Judah Friedman's In Defense of Miley Cyrus:

Judah Friedman has got to be kidding: "A few racy pictures"? Miley Cyrus is fifteen years old. The pictures included a suggestive one with her father Billy Ray Cyrus, for Pete's sake! Parents are supposed to help their children avoid making mistakes, not facilitate them. Brooke Shields' mother was very careful to protect her daughter when she was a child and teen star. In stark contrast, today we have the parents of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and the aforementioned Cyrus who exploit their children and don't give a fat rat's posterior for the consequences. And it's the internet age, remember? My 8 year old daughter who is a big fan of Ms. Cyrus hears about her tawdry behavior from her friends in school who pick it up off the internet, and I have to explain why it's wrong to a child who should not even have to hear about this garbage.

No, Mr. Friedman, we don't destroy our heroes, we merely enable them to destroy themselves when we accept and even celebrate their poor behavior.
-- Paul DeSisto
Cedar Grove, New Jersey

I couldn't agree with you more. I have been about to explode over how parents and the media have been blowing this out of proportion. I am a 21 year old girl who looks up to Miley with how well she has handled her fame, and the leaking of her "racy" pictures, and her apology for the VF shoot. I guess since I am not a parent or overly sensitive I can see this for what it is: a girl growing up in the public eye, just trying to be herself and have a good time without harming herself or anyone else. Thank you for pointing out that she is learning and growing, as I have been thinking the same thing all along! Her backless photo wasn't a big deal. We've all seen more exposure from 12 year olds in the weekend Mervyn's catalogs, so what's the big deal? You're also right that parents should sit down and explain this to their children, and have them understand that it's okay for them, too, to make mistakes, because they will. And that we should build up Miley because making a fuss out of her falls will only send the message to our youth that it's NOT okay to make mistakes. Maybe by pointing out and dwelling on the mistakes of others we only fuel their self destructive behaviors anyway? Just a thought.

Again, thanks for an enlightening point of view on this mess.
-- Sarah

Judah Friedman is missing something important in his treatment of Miley Cyrus. He assumes that singers, mercenary athletes and similar people are people worthy of attention, emulation and idolization. He's dead wrong.

He writes: "The second someone has that [hero] status we destroy them. No longer can children watch a show and just dream of becoming a singer; they now also have to think about the fact that their hero is a fake and somehow she isn't who they thought she was."

Why is it good or even desirable that children grow up idolizing performers? A performer, after all, is someone who specializes in presenting illusions and making them seem pleasant. Why not hold up for public praise people of serious and substantive attainments -- the engineer who designs sturdy buildings, the priest who comforts the dying in a hospital, the doctor saving lives or vaccinating children? Lawyers, priests, doctors/nurses, engineers (what used to be called the traditional "professions") all deal with real-world situations involving substantive human problems. On a more modest level, a manual laborer -- a mason, a technician, a waitress -- can be held up, idolized even, as an example of good living if they work hard and solve real human problems in their own working life.

On the other hand, a performer, no matter how "talented," is at most a menial, a servitor who makes his or her living providing a distraction from reality and man's real conditions of life. At best, they are frivolities; at worst, they are net detractors and subtractors from the social order. (See, for example, Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. The prosecution rests.)

Calling someone like Miley Cyrus a "hero" is an even more blatant offense against clear thinking. A hero is "a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for brave deeds and noble qualities." How on Earth does a 15-year-old posing semi-nude qualify as distinguished? How are her actions noble or brave? A combat soldier in Iraq (no matter how you feel about the war) has courage. An aid worker distributing food in Myanmar has noble qualities.

Miley Cyrus is no "hero." The overwhelming majority of her fellow "performers" are not, either.

Certainly the "entertainer" deserves (and will have) a place in society. Let them work, let them earn their livings, let them exercise such talents as they may possess. But please, please don't tempt our children to limit themselves by giving these people attention and status they do not deserve.
-- Mark Schaeber

Forgive me. I am an older person who knows little about what youngsters like and adore. I have watched the Hannah Montana phenom. All well and good until I saw the exorbitant prices Disney charged for one of her concerts. Parents were scrambling to buy the tickets for their little girls. It gets better. One mother lied about the death of her husband in Iraq to gain sympathy and a free ticket for her six year old daughter. Is that Miley's fault? Maybe not. Disney knows a good thing when they see it and is more than willing to charge these prices. P. T. Barnum said it's outrageous. Miley's parents agreed to a photo shoot of their daughter. I saw the photos and in my old decrepit thought process said to myself, "something is wrong with these pictures." A little too pouty and suggestive to me. Is the criticism fair? The criticism should be directed to her parents and Disney. Is Miley a hero? No. A hero is a person of distinguished courage or ability, admired for brave deeds. The "heroes" in this are Disney and Miley's parents. They showed their "heroism" by having their young daughter pose for "sexed up" pictures. That takes "courage." If anything, Miley was used by the people who should have looked out for her. She should set an example for young girls. I guess I'm old fashioned. I would not want my daughter to see the pictures of Miley. I'd direct her attentions elsewhere.
-- Clasina J. Segura
New Iberia, Louisiana

So WE should stop tearing down our hero? WE? Seems to me the decision to take those erotic photos was HER decision, not ours.

Once again, no one has personal responsibility for anything---and people like Judah Friedman are helping to keep it that way.
-- Garry Greenwood
Gearhart, Oregon

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