Wednesday, July 23, 2008

She's just being Miley

God, I feel awful about all the rubbish Miley Cyrus has to put up with. Yes, she gets some of he "rockstar" lifestyle a lot of people really want, but she also takes a lot of rubbish from people and comes out the other side smiling, it's commendable on her part.

For example, it appalled me when I started hearing that mothers were "outraged" at Miley for some "racy" photos hacked out of her MySpace. Before we get to the ridiculousness of condemning her for photos meant to be private, let's address the issue of their existence and content full stop.

Trust me on this. I'm 16 and I socialise with a lot of girls of my age. Very few girls who use MySpace don't have similar pics. It's quite common and not unreasonable. People seem outraged that Miley's doing it, even though she's not alone. Why is that? Because she's famous, a role model?

Wake up. Miley's a kid still too. She's 15, you can't hold her to the same moral standards as, say, Barack Obama. What Miley chooses to do in private to explore her childhood is her business. Let Miley be Miley.

Setting thta aside, let's return to how the pictures got made public. It's not like Miley posted them on her official site, she had them in a private area of her MySpace. A hacker obtained them to prove he could hack MySpace. Miley's the victim here, not the fans. MySpace failed to protect her privacy, the hacker violated it.

Okay, so now someone's probably asking about the infamous photoshoot. Oh please. That's the least erotic magazine photoshoot I've ever seen. It's clearly an admittedly mediocre arthouse peice. It's hardly going to lead young girls to go and strip off. And besides which, even if they did copy it, they'd still be covering themselves, so what does it matter?

To stay with the righteous outrage, I wan to know what it is that makes prents think it is Miley's job to raise their children. Miley has better things to do than police the coverage of her so you can ignore your children. If you want your kids not to see hose pictures, keep an eye on them. I've heard many say "I can't be there all the time, what do is ay to them if they do find the pictures?"

That's flat stupid. You explain that Miley took those pictures in private and only wanted certain people to see them because they're not things you should show or do in public. You tell them it's not something they should imitate, that Miley didn't want it imitated, that's why she hid it. Tell them they'll understand when they're older and that Miley/Hannah Montana as she appears normally is still a good role model.

Well whaddya know? I addressed the issue without telling a lie or hurting feelings.

So that's the key takeaway from all this, it's your job to control the message, not Miley's. In private, let Miley be Miley. In public, she's the very picture of a perfect role model and that's what matters.

The other stuff Miley has to endure is more insidious. I'm talking here about the adults who viciously insult, demean and defame Miley for no reason other than common malice.

I mean, honestly. What has Miley Cyrus ever done to deserve that? She's personable, nice, well-behaved and friendly. It's not like she's Britney or Linsay Lohan. She's Miley Cyrus, I can't easily think of a more inoffensive celebrity.

It's annoyg, it's kind of worrying, it should stop.

She's just being Miley.