I am not an evil person, believe me. I’m just simply stating my opinion on a trend that has seem to take hollywood by storm. I don’t hate Miley. I don’t know her but I’m sure she’s a very nice girl. But when you’re in the public eye and have millions of children following your every move, your next move has to be your best move.

My daughter is 4 years old, and loves Hannah Montana. She wants to do everything Hannah does. Children cannot differentiate between Hannah and Miley. To them, there is no difference.

My daughter saw the magazine and asked, “Why does she look like that?” along with a number of other questions I had no idea how to answer. So back to my original point. The purpose of this post was not to hurt Miley. It was to point out the effect of one’s behavior on those children who are too innocent to know what it all means.

Canadian Cinephile,

I think it is almost impossible to change the NORM in the world. To do that, we would have to stop time and force the billions of people (via telekinesis or some other humanly impossible effort) to think otherwise.

Yes, a lot of things do fall back on the parents or other role models that play a part in a child’s life. But with Miley’s (and any other famous person) status, aren’t they role models too?

It’s all about good judgment, and being wise when making decisions that can affect your future and how others perceive you.

You can tell a child the diffence between real-life and make believe but people form their own opinions on situations. You can tell a child to not touch a stove because it’s hot, but are they going to listen? Nine times out of ten, the answer is no because they want to see themselves. To children who don’t know better, Miley (or Hannah) has more authority in the lives of children then their own parents. You can tell a child that it’s bad to drink and it’s “Yeah mom, whatever.” But let Hannah (just using her for the sake of my point) say the same thing and it’s, “Yeah, drinking is soooo NOT cool.”

So is this thinking going to change anytime soon? Probably not. To your point, we can see that when more people vote for American Idol than they will for President, or give more money toward locking kids up than investing in their futures.

Teenage drinking, teenage sex, and teenage drug use, sadly, are becoming the NORM in North America. And I wonder if our obsession over these issues and our attention-granting to celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan doesn’t do more harm than good.

Chances are there are many parents in the United States and Canada that pay more attention to the exploits of a Miley Cyrus than they do to their own kids. How else could they contain their deluded attitude towards teen sex and teen drug/alcohol use? It’s happening and turning a blind eye towards it and simply “blaming Miley” for her “post-sex hair (wtf?)” is doing little-to-nothing to improve the relationships parents have with their kids.

Whatever happened to role models being parents, relatives, family friends, and so on. America truly started to slide downhill when we looked to celebrities to raise children and let parents off the hook. Now, the United States is in such bad shape that the economics force parents to work two jobs just to make ends meet. There are tons of single parent families and LOTS of domestic abuse. These aspects create a system in which kids cry out for help and parents ignore them or simply pretend and choose to fantasize about a “better life” as a Hollywood celebrity. America has gone from being a nation of producers to being a nation of consumers and that consumption includes Hollywood’s trash.

I don’t want to get off on a rant here (too late!), but I’ve seen SEVERAL such mindsets as you portray and have sat by silently. We’re asking people like Miley Cyrus to have good “morals?” Why? What difference does it make? If she wants to pose for “topless” photographs, let her. Kids should be educated to learn what the industry, Hollywood, and entertainment is all about. Telling them that there’s a BIG difference between Hannah Montana and themselves is a huge first step.

I think it is we, the public, who help establish the “Hollywood trends.” We grant bad girls attention, LOTS of it, and they discover that a tanking career can quickly be rejuvenated with a few headline-grabbing incidents. Our thirst for celebrity and our desire to see these young men and women fail, crash and burn, or simply without their panties is aiding and abetting a culture in which this type of behaviour is, in fact, NORMAL. Miley’s right on that one if you properly frame it in context.

So it is the general public allowing this framework to exist. Kids are kids and there is little to no difference between Lindsay Lohan today and Marilyn Monroe yesterday. The big change is in how much attention the average citizen pays. When there are more voters for American Idol than for President, you know something’s wrong with the social culture and Britney isn’t to blame.

We are. It’s time to take responsibility and to stop asking “management teams” to help make our ridiculous obsession with celebrity more palatable for our kids.

Calling Lindsay’s and Britney’s behavior normal? Well, that says a lot about Miley and her morals. I don’t think its normal to flash the public of your goods because you didn’t want to wear panties (Britney) or to drive with your infant on your lap unrestrained (Brit again) or to try to get your kids teeth whitened (Brit) or get caught with drugs (Lindsay) or pass out drunk when you aren’t even supposed to be drinking because you’re not legal (Lindsay) or think its cute to pose with your house arrest bracelet showing (Lindsay) or be in and out of rehab like its the the thing to do (both Brit and Lindsay).

Yes, Ms. Hannah Montana, Disney’s It Girl, thinks that this is normal and should be expected. All Miley’s statement did was prepare me to see her follow the not-so-hot Hollywood trends.

http://hannah-montana.magnify.net/