Screen Capture from "Who Owns My Heart?" by Miley Cyrus

Miley Cyrus’s New Video Makes Her ‘Every Parents’ Worst Nightmare’ – As the late comedian Bill Hicks might say, “Miley Cyrus has become another fevered ego tainting our collective unconsciousness.”

Cyrus’s new video “Who Owns My Heart” has caught the eye of the Parents Television Council, which has been familiar with her since she was “Hannah Montana” on the Disney Channel.  The PTC has condemned the 17-year-old Cyrus for her sexualized performance in the video, where she crawls around on a bed and is groped by some dude while wearing a revealing outfit.  That’s how they’re hyping up this thing.

But see, I’M a parent and I’ve been hearing about Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus for years, too!  So, I checked out the video for myself and I think that one has to be really uptight to find something wrong with it.  And if someone DOES find something wrong with it, I suspect it’s really only a reflection of what is wrong with them.

The truth is that Ms. Cyrus can not be Hannah Montana forever if she wants to remain a rock star/diva.  She’s going to be 18 relatively soon.  And so, she has to find a way to divorce herself from the kid persona of the past.  While her choice to become sexualized is a bad one, the reason for doing it is to divorce herself from her Hannah Montana persona.  TBut like I said, there could’ve been many ways for her to do separate herself from her Hannah Montana alter-ego that would be more respectable.

In any case, I’m sure the condemnation from the Parent Television Council can only be a good sign to her and her agents, because they and their children are no longer her target audience.

But that isn’t to say it’s caused some awkward moments for me as a parent.  Recently I was at a barber shop, waiting for the wife to get her hair done.  My daughter and I were perusing some celebrity magazines (that’s all they had) and we came across a photo of Miley Cyrus dressed in a skimpy outfit.  My daughter, upon seeing this, looks up at me and says, “Dad, why is Hannah Montana dressed like that?”

I’m usually not shy about explaining things, so I just said, “She’s trying to show that she’s a grownup now, probably because she sees her time as a child star is just about finished.”

Of course, since my daughter is still a little tot, my explanation fell on deaf ears.  So, I re-explained it and just said, “She doesn’t want to be Hannah Montana anymore.”