ENOUGH ALREADY!!!

Damn I'm tired of hearing about Miley Cyrus! All week I've seen memes, tweets, and Facebook posts on her performance on the MTV VMA's. My first thoughts when I saw her twerking on R&B singer Robin Thicke was "who cares?". Apparently America care a great deal as Cyrus' performance has turned into a referendum on what is wrong in our country. Whether she is viewed as not being a good role model, a shining example of the over-sexualized images advertised to our youth, or that she is profiting off of the shaming of Black culture, Cyrus has been the talk of the week. Who knew that a skinny white girl could do all of that while simultaneously bastardizing Black culture at the same time. To some, Miley's twerking conjures up images of the infamous blackface performances of yesteryear. I for one will not fall into that trap. If it is true that Miley wanted to distance herself from her Disney clean-cut image by adopting a persona that espouses the worst virtues of the Black community, than let her have it. If we as Black's feel like she is buttressing the Jezebel stereotype of Black women, what does that say about us?

I doubt Miley Cyrus' mind was thinking that provocatively. She's twenty years old. All I cared about at twenty was parties, girls, college life, and asserting my independence from my mother. Few twenty year olds have the foresight to think about the repercussions of their actions, hence the phrase "youth is wasted on the young". Her performance has sparked much outrage, but will it spark action. How can we complain of the Jezebel stereotype persisting when we support the numerous show that glamorize that lifestyle? How can we blabber on about how she is a bad example for kids when we dress them in clothes that are growing more scantily clad by the year? Instead of being pissed about Miley, we should be outraged at the possibility of engaging in a war with Syria in light of their attacking civilians with chemicals. Be outraged that stop-and-frisk could be coming to a city near you. Be outraged that the possible outcome of raising the minimum wage to $15/hr won't mean raises for everyone! To hell with some white girl stealing "our dance"! It's not like she made a mockery of a traditional African, Indian, or Asian dance. She was selling an oversexualized image of herself to promote her album, nothing more!

So what will happen in the end? With the 24 hour news cycle, this story will simply go down in history until next week's shocking even hits our timeline. That in a nutshell is the saddest part about this topic. Remember the outrage after the Trayvon Martin verdict? I have not heard a peep about it for a couple of weeks now. Remember the outrage over the Aussie baseball player that got murdered out of "boredom" in Oklahoma? I have not heard a peep about that either. Cyrus' album will either sellout or flop. Either way she makes money and goes on with her life. Meanwhile, the economy is still stagnant, war is imminent, corruption and violence persist, and racial and socioeconomic prejudice reigns supreme. Yet all we care about is some girl making a fool of herself on TV? When will enough be enough?