First, props to 380-plus commenters on last week's post about the Miley Cyrus-Vanity Fair photo "scandal." Great dialogue, with people on both sides of the issue. This is the kind of online conversation we Web people dream about. Nice work, Pet Rockers!
Second, in the interest of full disclosure, I've been fist-pumping to Miley's song "See You Again" for a while now without ever knowing it was her singing. Oopsies. My bad. Great song, though. Seriously, it's an awesome club song. Watch a YouTube concert video at the end of this post. (I challenge you not to fist pump to the beat.)
Third, I'm still of the belief that the photo taken by Annie Leibovitz wasn't worth all the hullabaloo it generated across this pop culture world of ours. Don't teenagers spend their entire teen years trying to look older than they really are anyway?
Fourth, the most upsetting thing about this entire situation is how people are saying Miley Cyrus is washed up now and it's time for Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato to replace Cyrus as the next tween queen.
Have we really reached such a tragically subterranean level in society that we are now searching for the next young teen girl to corner the tween market?
I understand child stars have been around for a long time (just peep this photo gallery for proof), but this seems way worse than the days of Zach and Kelly on "Saved by the Bell" or Schroeder and Bateman on "Silver Spoons."
Now, we wait for a young teen marketed to preteens to do something some parent in a position of power disagrees with and exploits publicly, then we pounce on them and look for a fresh start and a drama-free clean slate.
It's one thing to do that with adults who are accustomed to such things? But now it's time to mess around with young teens like they're 30-year-olds?
Wow, are we really that sick?
- La Monica
P.S. Here's that "See You Again" video we promised.