Think Progress: Miley Cyrus Instead Of Pope Francis For 'Person Of The Year'

A mental breakdown in blog form.

This is one of those painful to read Lefty thought barfs that you can just tell was probably all the rage around the Think Progress bong this morning. The author is more than likely basking in the warmth that the exertion of patting oneself on the back brings.

As is almost always the case with any media mention of Pope Francis these days, his name is dropped solely so the commentator can share her/his vision of what the Roman Catholic Church should be. To the enduring credit of the Roman Catholic Church, it never pays attention to such things.

The author then makes what I am sure is a coherent case for the overwhelming cultural relevance of Miley Cyrus.

But whether or not you like Cyrus’ music, whether or not you find the video for “It Can’t Stop” appropriative or her performance at the Video Music Awards vulgar and racially insensitive, or whether you buy her suggestions that she’s self-aware and making her sexualized presentations deliberately ugly, it’s undeniable that Cyrus inspired incredibly important, and often rewardingly complex, conversations about the state of our mass culture this year.

“Appropriative” is failed novelist for “appropriate”, for those keeping score at home. But I am sure it sounds super lofty if you run with a crowd that had “incredibly important” and “rewardingly complex” discussions about culture that were inspired by an out-of-control twenty-one year old who is trying to distance herself from the Disney image that made her rich and famous by turning the Slut Meter to 11.