She’s Just Being Miley… What Our Facebook Feeds Say

First a disclaimer: I won’t stray too far from the ‘green’ theme on today’s blog post. Just let me take a minute to get there.

Yesterday, my Facebook news feed was filled with Miley Cyrus updates. At lunch, I dropped off a huge bag of donations at Goodwill and then went inside to peruse. (Did I mention I scored a $3 unused french press?!?) As I was enjoying the thrift shop like Macklemore, I overheard one shopper’s tirade about how Cyrus’ ‘career is RUINED” and she is an absolute terrible human being. This morning on the Today Show, Matt Lauer & others once again discussed if “just being Miley” crossed the line yet again.

OK, I understand that Miley was performing the “song of the summer”, which is essentially about getting laid. (In the ‘equal rights’ category, does anyone blame Thicke for his lyrics? Did everyone block their memories of Britney Spears wearing a snake or the Janet Jackson/JT superbowl moments?)

I won’t get into my full opinion on this issue, although I can’t quite understand why anyone over the age of 15 watches the MTV music/VMA/movie awards. But there is something more disturbing here.

The Onion summed it up pretty well: as the day journalism was overtaken by Miley Cyrus. CNN’s top headline was twerking.

I now would like to bring in the important question: Why?

WHY do people not put these rants and energy complaining into important issues? Like GMOs. Regardless if you think GMO’s are horrible or great for feeding the hungry, why do corporations have to hide what’s in their food? What if our Facebook news feeds were flooded about how GMO-labeling was shot down in California? And supporting states like Washington, so that if food has so many labels between gluten, organic, grain-free and more, we can add ONE more: GMO or GMO-free.

How are our Facebook newsfeeds not blown up that literally, the arctic ice is continuing its way to melting completely, setting records for the past 10 years consistently. Shouldn’t we be pissed about this? Can we talk about how our children and grandchildren will actually be affected when cities are flooded in the next century, instead of how our children are affected because a pop star is (once again) almost naked and gyrating?!

Voicing Our Opinion.. Effectively

With how effectively we can share our opinion between emails, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram and more – why don’t we start putting energy into topics that matter? Funding our schools. Cleaning up our streets. Knowing what’s in our food. How to get local and healthy food to low-income families. Adding a simple bill to stop using bad-for-the-earth products like plastic bags and Styrofoam?

Perhaps my parents did a good job of instilling values growing up (Thanks Mom- I know you’re reading!), but seeing Britney Spears parade across stages with less clothes each performance has barely registered on my memory radar. But what has made an impact on my life is remembering winters where snowstorms gave us snow days, days when I didn’t have to worry whether my cereal had GMOs, pesticides or high fructose corn syrup, and loving the Coca-cola polar bear because it was cute.

I just hope that one day; the general population will get motivated by the things that actually matter. After all, this week is the 50^th anniversary of MLK’s “I have a dream” speech, where one man dedicated his life to equal rights. We don’t all have to be a complete activist, but why can’t we put our social media rants into positive things we believe in: equal rights, equal pay – or taking care of our environment.

But given what people take away, I’m sure someone will instead share this post and talk about how I don’t think Miley Cyrus’ performance was horrific….

 

 Photo: Billboard