The One Thing Worse Than Miley Cyrus' VMA Performance

I am shocked and appalled by what took place on MTV the other evening. Can you believe that such a reputable institution as this, one that has given such shows as Pimp My Ride, Yo Momma, and 16 and Pregnant, would countenance such moral ugliness. OK, but enough with the feigned disgust already! Sadly, I just discovered that even the photo with Will Smith and his children appearing to be shocked at the before mentioned events- it turns out- are completely unrelated. There goes the last bit of my innocence.

At any rate, it has been at least fifteen years or more since I myself would dare go anywhere near this awards show, and I am proud to say that what I know of this one has come to me primarily through media accounts. But let's stop pretending. The sad and pitiful person that Miley Cyrus has become is nothing compared to the pitiful population of people who pretend to be offended by it, only to sop up every last bit like a biscuit to gravy. Please, I don't want to hear anymore about how disgusting it was as many continue to gorge themselves on the beatitude of this train wreck, and then repeat it over and over again like some Sports Center highlight, or rather like some gruesome sports injury.

There is plenty of blame to go around. For instance, what must Billy Ray Cyrus (and his formerly magnificent mullet) have been thinking when he watched this spectacle? Keep in mind it was he who first went along with Ms. Cyrus to that scandalous photo shoot for Vanity Fair when she was fifteen. If his reaction was anything resembling that of a real father, he must have wept and begged God for forgiveness. How sad is it that this young woman is so far gone that she would do something that would forever expose her to the worst kind of glances (pity, disgust, and lust). Publicly speaking, she will never be able to walk down the street again without being remembered as the one who degraded and demeaned herself in front of a world wide TV audience. But hey, at least she stole the spotlight from Lady Gaga. If they dance the limbo in hell, this dubious competition between she and Gaga would no doubt be what it looked like (how low can you go).

Yet what is even more nauseating are all the pundits, the Hollywood reporters, and the regular folks who ingest this stuff like its part of their regular diet. Ms. Cyrus doesn't do this because no one will pay her the slightest bit of attention- she does it because she knows quite well that this is the best way to get it.  It doesn't take a genius to know that in our culture the cheapest and easiest way to turn a head is to show some skin. The problem is since everyone is "showing some skin", you really do in every way have to throw your self-respect out the window and descend to the very bowels of indecency with the rest of the fallen angels from the Mickey Mouse club.

The fact that a woman would sell herself in order to be worshipped is something that I can wholly understand, even if I find it tragic. What I find far more reprehensible is a society that not only encourages young girls to do this, but one that feigns surprise and indignation when they do it, only to invite them to do it again. Miley is our train wreck; she belongs to us. Yet we tell ourselves over and over again that in spite of our bizarre fixation with young girls losing their innocence, as well as the fact that we facilitate their undoing by paying them well for it, we really have nothing to do with it. "Did Miley Cyrus Go Too Far?" blares the headline. "Why yes, and how awful that is, isn't it? I watched the whole thing in an unending loop, and it made sicker each time I watched... I think I'll watch it again!"

Save your disgust and your feigned outrage and actually do something about it. Indeed, if you are really so appalled by what unfolded the other night, then for God's sake, stop feeding this infernal beast. Do all the many Twitter followers mean what they say when they regard her behavior as shameful, or do they just enjoy feeling superior? If we are genuinely interested in expelling this vile little demon of excess, then let us starve it like it nobody's business. Sure it may convulse, foam at the mouth, plead, and make a lot of noise in order to get our attention, but it will eventually slink away if we truly will it. So let us put our disgust to the test by denying it the attention the beast so craves, and let it "twerk" its way back into that God-forsaken abyss from whence it came, along with Robin Thicke, those gigantic demonic teddy bears, and that foam finger that had no business being so far from a football stadium.