Disappointed in the World We Live In.

After seeing the rot that went on at the MTV Award show on the news last night I was left with quite a distasteful sense of the portrayal of life our world is giving to young people today.

This article sums up very well the emotions I felt when learning of the new low Miley has gone to in her misguided pursuit of individualism and fame.

"For the rest of the day, I wondered: 

What kind of people are we?
What kind of culture have we created?
What do we want our children to be? 

No more wondering. Tonight, I weep.
I weep for the little girl who gave us Hannah Montana and became a role model to millions of little girls across America.
I weep for the lostness of a girl who doesn't see herself stumbling around in the dark..."

The article continues, but it is that sense of weeping - just being totally bewildered to the extent of speechlessness - that I felt as I saw this story, and others coming from the show.  Entertainment services feed on this stuff, they dress it up as important news and feed it to our teenagers.  It gives such a warped sense of the world to teens who are trying to find their place in the world.  Life isn't about exposing your body to get attention, or about shedding off every ounce of childishness and innocence to be seen as an individual, or about bitterly belittling ex-boyfriends to show how much power you have.

I think Aston Kutcher said it pretty well at the recent Teen Choice awards (yeah Aston... who would have thought) when he questioned the focus of the lifestyle presented today.

"The sexiest thing in the whole world is being really smart. And being thoughtful, and being generousness. Everything else is crap! I promise you, it's just crap that people try to sell to you to make you feel like less. So don't buy it.  Be smart, be thoughtful, be generous..."