Why Miley Cyrus Matters

Last updated on: September 4, 2013 at 9:26 am by David Hayward

Why Miley Cyrus Matters 2013-09-04T09:26:15-04:00 David Hayward

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Buy this original drawing for $250. Email me at haywardart at gmail dot com!

When it comes to human nature, some consider me wildly optimistic while others revile me as morbidly pessimistic. When it comes to people, I consider myself a realist: we are capable of great good; we are also capable of inestimable evil.

Miley Cyrus continues to be demonized while Robin Thicke is beatified.

When I posted this popular cartoon last week, “The Public Stoning of Miley Cyrus”, the comments confirmed to me that sexism, misogyny and rape-culture is alive and well on planet earth. I repeatedly insisted that the drawing and article were not about Miley Cyrus’ performance but about our reaction to it. The issues around her performance itself were not my focus. This is about us! So it was disappointing to receive so many comments bent on turning the light back on her.

Another of my popular posts, “Why I Wouldn’t Attend Pastor Steepek’s Church” churned up most comments rabidly supporting the use of shame to motivate members of churches to do good. I naively assumed that when people realized that shame was the primary tool used by that pastor to get his church to do what he wanted them to do, they would reject it as not only inappropriate, but damaging. Nope!

These further confirmed my suspicions of human nature:

People are going to believe what they want to believe. No matter how convincing an argument is, it usually doesn’t matter. The brain is the strongest fortress in the world and it cannot be taken from the outside. It has to be taken from the inside. We ourselves must change our own minds. Few of us do.
Everything matters. When people lamented that the important news about Syria was overshadowed by unimportant Miley Cyrus, I saw it as a moment to learn that the way we treat one person is the way we treat every person. I believe our attitudes about Cyrus predict our attitudes about Syria and the world. Like my post about shame revealed, if we have weapons that will help us achieve something we perceive as good, we will use them. If we believe we can use it, I believe we will use it.

When Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who was shot by the Taliban for promoting education for girls, we rightly interpreted this as an indicator of the Taliban’s attitudes about its role in the world and its attitudes about us. How they treated this girl is how they would treat us.

The same principal applies to ourselves. The way we treat Miley Cyrus is the way we would treat nations. If we feel we have the right to stamp out what we believe is evil in one young woman, we will feel we have the right to stamp out what we believe is evil half way around the globe. If we believe we have the right to think we are better than Cyrus because we don’t do this or that, we will believe we are better than other nations or cultures or races because of what we believe are our superior differences. How we do one thing is how we do everything. How we love her is how we love them. My heart is the single source of all my actions.

Our response to Cyrus and our response to Syria are two simultaneously presenting symptoms. But like any decent doctor would do, we should suspect these two symptoms are related and investigate to see if there exists one deeper malaise as their common cause. To consider the apparent shallowness of our culture as unrelated to the apparent importance of our politics lacks the necessary self-awareness that could save us, our world and our planet. Our culture is our politics!

Miley Cyrus matters because everything matters.

cartoons

david_hayward

miley_cyrus_cartoon

miley_cyrus_robin_thicke_cartoon

nakedpastor

why_miley_cyrus_matters

Previous Post

September 3, 2013

your expectations my cage

Next Post

September 5, 2013 failure isn't always failure

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category art cartoons cartoons 2 freebie music one minute message podcast Sophia teaching technology thought

Select a Month February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 March 2006 February 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Job Moses Solomon David