Wasted Wednesday: Miley Cyrus - Why I don't think she is as crazy as she appears

Allow me to start off this blog by saying that I have never been a fan of Miley Cyrus.  When Hannah Montana was a show, I could not stand her.  It was a combination of me hating the show, hating her singing, and hating that so many people bought into how awesome she was.  Okay, so maybe I was a bit of a hater.  I admit it.  I will now also take the time to say that I saw Miley in the Nicholas Sparks movie, the Last Song, and thought her acting was god awful.  It wasn't until a few years ago when I saw her in a music video titled The Big Bang (Rock Mafia) when I began truly began to see her in a new respect.  The music video told a story and was artistic, plus it wasn't made just to have Miley in it.  She was not the star but a side character and I loved it.  Not long after, I saw a graphic posted online comparing Miley to Taylor Swift.  Curious, I read the post.  I don't remember the exact words, nor do I have the graphic to post in this blog, but the basic point was that people call Taylor Swift an angel even though she writes hate and revenge songs and has been with tons and tons of guys while people calls Miley a slut even though she has been with the same guy and engaged for so and so years.  I know Miley and Liam are broken up (haven't heard much about it to be honest), but this was a post I saw probably over a year ago.  My point is that Miley has always been getting hate and I can be included in that.  But this all comes down to the fact that we don't view celebrities as people - we view them as objects.  Miley is extremely talented and I had come to see that after all those years of despising her.
During the summer of this year, Miley began going a bit crazy.  I am not counting her chopping her hair off or anything like that.  I am talking specifically about her performance at the VMA's (which I still haven't seen by the way) and her Wrecking Ball music video.  It was hard not to know about Miley's performance at the VMA's.  I would check Tumblr and Twitter and there would be tons and tons of posts about her.  It was a tweet by Eugene Cho saying:

"That so many would be outraged by #MileyCyrus and yet, so apathetic by what's going on in Syria, Congo, & North Korea...is truly outrageous."

It was a bit of a slap in the face but I hadn't tweeted about Miley or Syria so I felt I could be excused

(and decided to find out what was going on in Syria).   Then the whole Wrecking Ball incident happened.  I watched the music video - it was pretty horrifying - and found that I actually liked the song.  I read some YouTube comments saying that the song seemed to be about her ex-fiance Liam and as the video progressed, Miley stripped herself of clothing revealing not only her body but herself as a broken person as if being hit by a wrecking ball.  The video depicts her vulnerability.  That is one way of looking at it though there are people who will say that is BS.
With all of this Miley stuff going on, I began to think about child stars and wondered why it is always them that go crazy.  Just look at Macaulay Culkin and Lindsay Lohan.  But then there are child stars that are doing okay for themselves like the golden trio Harry Potter actors Dan Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson.  All five of these people grew up with fame yet their fates are far apart and I knew that statistics would not help me with my questions about Miley.  I began to think about what her childhood must have been like - living with a famous father, being destined for talent, having to deal with millions of fans after being on a TV show, having the pressures of being on a TV in general, having her "dating" life advertised to the public for criticism and observation, etc.  I remember when I was fourteen and posting a video of me singing on YouTube.  I am not a good singer but I wouldn't go as far to say I am awful.  I am just okay...but my video did not get any positive feedback.  The only comments I received were saying rude things to me that I prefer not to restate on this blog.  I felt so terrible that I removed the video and have since never done anything of the sort again.  I was upset about reading two or three mean comments.  Imagine being Miley and have millions of negative comments written about you daily.  Yeah, it sounds like it sucks.
I came to the conclusion that Miley was not crazy as people were saying.  Sure she was acting out (because no other sings act out - Lady Gaga, Madonna, Katy Perry, Rihanna, need I say more?) and sure she is another seemingly classic example of broken child stardom - but I don't think that either of those points to her going off the wall.
About a month ago, my thoughts were confirmed when someone posted another graphic - this time quoting Miley about the TV show Breaking Bad.  The comment says:

"America is just so weird in what they think is right and wrong. Like, I was watching 'Breaking Bad' the other day, and they were cooking meth.  I could literally cook meth because of that show. It's a how-to. And then they bleeped out the word 'f***.' And I'm like, really? They killed a guy, and disintegrated his body in acid, but you're not allowed to say 'f***'?"

I've only watched the first two or three episodes of Breaking Bad and so far, I am not hooked but repulsed and wracking my brains wondering, why is this beloved again?  Hearing Miley's quote was a bit refreshing but also had a good point about America and this weird way in which we make sense of things.  Miley is spot on with her quote.  Why is it that we can have shows about illegal drugs that teach people how to make the drugs and yes the F-word is bleeped out.  Seriously?
My point is - I don't think Miley is as crazy as everyone thinks.  It seems like she is maybe trying to tell us something in the only way she knows how - by performing and acting.  That was how she was raised.  I have no doubt that she has a good head on her shoulders but I hope that she knows how much her actions are influencing the youth of America and I pray that she is able to deal with her issues and not worry about what the media says about her.