Okay, it’s Friday so it’s okay to post stuff like this.
On Friday, the overrated singer Miley Cyrus tweeted this:
Note, it’s marked “sensitive content,” so you may have to change your Twitter settings to see it.
Well, Cyrus was raised a Christian, and yet the quote above says, “Forget Jesus. Stars died that you might live.” Pretty inflammatory. And, sure enough, the Jebus-lovers started coming out:
As far as I can see, comments are closed now. I think she realizes she made a mistake, at least with respect to her fans (or America as a whole). “Forget Jesus” is about as inflammatory as anything John Lennon ever said.
h/t: the Brockmeister
That Krauss quote actually is beautiful — Sagan and Richard both would have been happy to have authored it, and I don’t think I can think of higher praise.
But who is Miley Cyrus?
b&
Ben, have you been on an extended sabbatical in Mongolia?
I wish!
…but why? What’d I miss…?
b&
What you were lucky enough to miss is “Hannah Montana”, Disney vehicle for Miley, daughter of Billy Ray.
Okay.
…um, who’s Billy Ray…and since when did Disney get into the auto industry…?
b&
Billy Ray Cyrus. “Achy Breaky Heart.” Don’t tell me you also spent the 90’s in Mongolia.
Oh, is he the one who’s responsible for that song?
Never did get into country. I’ve heard some entertaining ballads on the odd radio over the years, but never did feel any burning desire to go out of my way to listen to more….
b&
I like some country. But country is like rap in that, rather than 95% of everything being crap, 99% is crap.
I like both kinds of music: Country and western! 😉
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@ Ant-
That line never gets old!
Both blues and country are about drinking and adultery. The difference is that country is riddled with guilt.
Aargh! I hate that song with a deep and undying loathing. Any time I hear it, it takes an hour of Pink Floyd to erase the memory from my mind.
I have to admit I had no time for Miley Cyrus, purely due to guilt-by-association (which is really a very prejudiced and un-rational attitude I must admit). But this thread has persuaded me to look more kindly on her.
P.S. For Ben’s benefit – Pink Floyd are not a country & western band. You can Google them 😉
…who may have patterned the mullet!
She now records country music under her own name. I’ve only heard one song, and it was pretty uninspired, even by Nashville’s standards.
When it comes to pop culture, Ben makes the other hermits look like TMZ. 😉
…TMZ? Three Mile iZland?? TiMe Zone??? Too Much Zomething-or-other????
b&
Pretty much my point, right there. Now go back to your cave.
Cave? There’s a cave to explore? And it’s all mine?
Cool!
…mind pointing me in the right direction…?
b&
It’s not ah mine it’s a cave.
Follow the signs. They’re quite legible; they’re in Helvetica.
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<thwack />
What’s that?
<thwack /> <thwack />
Something about legitimate mimes falling down the mine to Hell?
<thwack />
Bloody wireless…can’t get any reception worth a damn down here at the bottom of this valley.
Ah, well. Where was I? Oh — yes! Helping the cat with the lizard hunt.
Baihu! Soup’s on!
b&
You know what you get when you throw a piano down a mine shaft, eh Ben?
A flat minor. Hyuck, hyuck, hyuck…
You know what you do when you’re at the bottom of a mine shaft that’s being used for piano disposal?
C# or Bb….
b&
Can’t reply directly to Sasquatch, but…
What do you get if you drop a piano on an Air Force base?
A flat Major…
Equally as bad.
I’m afraid the whole tone of this conversation has left me half-diminished. Bunch of f-holes if you ask me.
Some can’t help themselves but harp on about it.
¡Alto! Or I ask Tony Soprano to beat you tenor twenty times with a bassball bat.
Yeah, I know. Violins never solved nuthin’.
I gather that if the piano were dropped twice it would be a double flat?
Except for the last sentence about Jesus, Carl Sagan DID author it twenty years before Larry Krauss.
Good for her. Her dad is a god-botherer so maybe she’s rebelling. Or maybe she just liked most of the quote and didn’t give much thought to, or didn’t notice, the “forget Jesus” part.
Yeah, my guess is the latter.
I bet she wishes she could forget Jesus right about now.
She’s not new to stirring up response. She became (in)famous for some gay friendly quotes.
Hey, if anybody should be supportive of her bravery, it should be us. Why all the sniping?
+ 1
If she values her career, I’m sure she’ll be out with a tearful and regretful apology soon enough. Truth has no place in a Christian country.
So if you quote someone in entirety, who gave an interesting and educating piece, and they conclude with a joke that might offend someone, then everything they said previously is irrelevant and by quoting them you agree with everything they said including the joke??
Guess I better not quote ignorant people when I am trying to demonstrate how ignorant they are.
P.S. I agree with the overrated part, but she moves up a notch in the respect category for having posted this (briefly).
Concur with your PS.
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Me too.
Me three.
Whoever she is, good for her. Maybe her air-headed fans will learn something.
Not holding my breath though …
A very good point Richard. A lot of young people might be influenced if a celebrity makes it cool to not be religious.
STILL not holding my breath …
Considering the number of celebs that are confirmed atheists, and vocal about it (eg. Ricky Gervais), I wouldn’t hold my breath. I suspect a young celebrity would lose their fan base if they were vocal about their atheism.
Maybe. But recognition of the value in something some atheist says, or clear non-rejection, may be the sort of thing that won’t compromise the core of her Christian following. Christianity isn’t monolithic – you don’t tick off every self-identified Christian with any approving word for some atheist.
It’s a recognition of the coolness of reality. It merits respect and dropping it in a Christian social group is a good and hopeful thing, much as is Imam Abdullah Antepli’s call to fellow Muslims for a reasonable reaction to Quran burnings.
Pity there aren’t more celebs in the music industry who would do the “John Lennon” thing, and put out a message in music that runs counter to the religious waffle that is so strong in country and western! But then again, music is like politics, those that rise to the top are very often cynical opportunists!
I see an “I have sinned” speech round the corner!
I think she took the “forget Jesus” part as what it is, a simple figure of speech. It’s not saying “abandon your faith”, as good an idea as that is, it’s just hyperbole saying how awesome stars are.
She probably just underestimated how stupid her audience is, which is entirely too easy to do. Even if you assume they’re all idiots, they’ll prove you to be too optimistic.
You’re forgetting. Anything sort of the proper intestinal fellation of Jesus is the most unpardonable of sins. Even with your hyperbolic interpolation, Jesus isn’t front-and-center. In most denominations, an offense that grave is worthy of infinite torture.
b&
Hmm… not fellation (sucking) … maybe fisting… 😮
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I see you haven’t read the Gospel According to the Capernaum Centurion’s Servant….
Short version? “All of the above, and more!”
I hear there’s even a chapter on Santorum….
b&
Brilliant!
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The quote is inspiring, it puts it all very beautifully and it makes god look like such an amateur. Why settle for a myth when the truth is so much better. I hope this Miley Cyrus sticks to her first opinion.
Since going to Hollywood, Miley Cyrus has embraced Buddhism. Actress Kristin Chenoweth was raised a Christian Fundamentalist, but since getting into show business, she has embraced a more liberal form of Christianity. Her new television series “GCB” (Good Christian Bitches) premieres this Sunday, March 4 on ABC. Being raised around my fair share of GCBs, I will be watching the first episode.
The small town form of Christian Fundamentalist doesn’t thrive well in urban environments.
Especially not in an urban environment as cosmopolitan as Hollywood.
I can hear a song being written right now: “Don’t quote my tweet, my achy breaky tweet . . . I just don’t think my fans’ll understand.”
Boys….get a rope. =P
The Lord Loves a-Hangin’, that’s why he gave us necks.
It strengthens-up yer vocal cords,
an loosens up yer pecs…
So if you are a heathen, and guilty to the bone,
Go ahead and blame a friend, and you won’t hang alone…
Source, please, oh, please?
If it helps…
https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=The+Lord+Loves+a-Hangin%E2%80%99%2C+that%E2%80%99s+why+he+gave+us+necks.
Thanks!!
A “thin white” one?
+1
Her 15 minutes of fame were over 15 minutes ago. (For which I thank Zeus.)
So, in a desperate attempt to make herself relevant again, she’s going for “edgy”.
Next stop…Celebrity Apprentice.
Or rehab.
I vote for this explanation.
If she was that stupid and/or desperate, she would have gone with a much more inflammatory quote. This one, as inspiring as it is, is kind of on the mildest side of things. Why not go full-on Dawkins? I’m betting she didn’t even know fans would overreact like that.
Or wardrobe malfunction…
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Why not assume she is sincere, and congratulate her for it?
Edgy? This? After the US has suffered through the trampages of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Lindsey Lohan for the last decade?
I think upon looking at her tweets that she posted that because at first glance it looks all sciencey and smart but you could tell that she did not actually read it. Because the rest of her page and pictures just make me want to gouge out my eyes and shout “oh the vapidity” She really does not care. there is a level of tattoo that once crossed can be an indicator of how serious is this person to be taken she crossed it an now Jesus must suffer.
Having a teenaged daughter, I have actually seen Miley Cyrus perform live. I was fairly impressed as she sings songs that are not easy to sing and I feel that she performed them well. The show had rather too many gimmicks for my tastes but was obviously aimed at a younger audience.
On this particular issue, I think that she would be better off coming out as an atheist, if that is what she is, rather than lying to a Christian fan base to keep them onside.
I’m sure that Miley Cyrus (b. 1992) has already earned more money than any normal person needs in a lifetime, so who knows, maybe she has developed an interest in cosmology, and this affair is her way of making a clean break with showbiz.
It worked for Brian May…
It worked better for Brian Cox…
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My inductive logic tells me, therefore, that she should change her name to Brian (or Brianna) and enrol in cosmology
Awesome! Maybe she’ll start making better music now too.
Yes, the Music of the Spheres.
Poor Miley, the first time in her life probably that she tries to be scientific, and she ticks off the xian world.
Considering all the naughty things she has done in public, you might think this would be both mild and even expected, but I guess not.
BTW, she can sing and it looks like she is trying so very hard to get rid of her Disney roots, even though without them her career might never have happened. Did you see how she trashed Disney on SNL?
Sorry, the type of atonal shouting that she does is not “singing”.
She’s consistently flat — AGAINST A BAND!!! She hollers rather than sings. Her vocal range is extremely limited.
Whatever it is that she is, it is most definitely not a “singer”.
I understand that this does not preclude her from being “popular” or even “rich”. I’m just happy that given the average life-span of Disneyfied performers, with any luck at all we won’t have to hear her screechings on the radio any time soon.
True, these days you just have to be famous to become famous. Just ask Kim Kardashian and her family. I think and hope Paris Hilton is finally starting to fade from the scene.
I never thought I would be talking about these people on this blog in any capacity. Is it a sign of the Apocalypse?
Please don’t insult atonality. Her singing may be dreadful; it’s not atonal.
Apart from Pixar, Disney Animation is largely awful. Trashing them gives her some cred.
Video link please?
Let’s not be cynical here. She found the quote beautiful – that says something. Even if she ends up having to apologize later. That will say something too, but more about the society that she find herself in.
Friday Trivia: Billy Ray Cyrus makes a blasphemous appearance in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive as the allegorical serpent who leads Adam’s wife astray.
Mulholland Drive is ostensibly “about” a man named “Adam” who has made the wrong choice and is thrown out of his “home” (Eden). Several characters step in to guide “Adam” to make the correct choice, including a “godfather” (get it?). “Adam” must choose Camilla Rhodes—whose initials are Chi Rho—☧: Christ. After she goes missing from her execution, “Camilla Rhodes” (Christ) goes to “Havenhurst” (heaven) where she meets its manager “Coco Lenoix,” shown to be God. “Adam” catches his wife in bed with a man played by Cyrus. Lynch uses many symbols to show that Adam’s hilltop garden-like home is, in fact, Eden, and that Adam’s wife is Eve, and that Gene the pool cleaner is the serpent. Adam is thrown out of his home—Eden. His wife calls him a “bastard”—Adam has no father—and says, “damn you Adam!” Later, when a mobster comes looking for him and asks if the house is Adam’s, his wife says, “like hell it is.” Adam drives to “Cooky’s downtown”—hell itself, as we are shown later by a signpost. Just as in Christian theology, “Adam” is thrown out of his home in Eden and condemned to hell, unless Adam makes the right choice. Adam must choose Christ = ☧ = Chi Rho = Camilla Rhodes. When Adam does make this choice, we see that he is returned by a “judge” to his home in paradise in the presence of the triune God, including a “Cowboy” who is subtly but unmistakably shown to be Christ Resurrected, the horseman of Revelation 19:21.
Well dang. I had this film on a long list of things to see eventually (to round out the Lynch collection). I think it’s now on the list of movies to give a permanent pass to.
I don’t think the allegory is particularly flattering to Christianity. Nor is Lynch Christian to my knowledge.
No he isn’t. Kind-of Buddhist a-religious mystic dream-state visionary bordering on woo-meister.
Still… stuff that’s overly infused with such allegory irritates the crap out of me. I’m so tired of that story.
Mullholland Drive is the most blasphemous film ever made, as well as Lynch’s finest film. The bum behind Winkies, as well as the “godfather” Castiglione brothers, “Coco Lenoix” (== worthless in French), the apocalyptic Cowboy, Camilla Rhodes (☧), and the silent Mr. Roque are all shown allegorically to represent the various, blasphemous, aspects of the Trinity.
Lynch’s many characters are all blasphemous Gospel allegories: Judas, Roman soldiers, even the Virgin Mary. While banished at “Cooky’s”, Adam is advised to see the Cowboy by his caring assistant Cynthia. Simultaneously, a portrait of the Virgin overlooks Adam as Cynthia speaks. Cynthia is the Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Her jewelry and upraised finger indicate Her saintliness, as in a painting. When Cynthia’s overture to Adam to spend the night at her place is rebuffed, Cynthia says “you don’t know what you’re missing.” Adam, indeed no man, has slept with the Virgin Mary, and hence all men, represented by Adam, are ignorant of this experience, which explains why Cynthia says that Adam–man– doesn’t “know what [he’s] missing.” The blasphemous implication is that Mary is not a virgin by choice, and reminds us of Voltaire’s blasphemy that that God committed the crime of adultery with the Virgin Mary.
It’s a mistake for any atheist to miss this film.
My ears pricketh uppeth againeth. Mulholland Dr. goes backeth on the must watch pileth.
Methinks Thathqwath hath bitthen hith tongue again?
No. Twath a tongue pierthing thethion. I lotht a bet.
I thudder to think how Lyncth potrayth Pontiuth Pilatuth.
The impression I got was that Ms. Cyrus got to the “stars” part and thought that was beautiful. But by then, her lips were tired from all that reading, so she had to take a break and decided to tweet about it in the meantime. I look forward to her follow-up messages as she finishes more of that lengthy text — maybe she’ll get to the part about Jesus before the next music awards come up.
Cant relate to all the snarky comments about her. Maybe she didnt notice the jesus part? Please.. Unless and until she “apologizes” to jesus, maybe we should give the young lady some credit.
You folks aren’t giving her enough credit. She gave an interview a little while ago in which she said, ““I believe every American should be allowed the same rights and civil liberties. Without legalized same-gender marriage, most of the time you cannot share the same health benefits, you are not considered next of kin and you are not granted the same securities as a heterosexual couple,” she reasons.
“How is this different than having someone sit in the back of the bus because of their skin color?” Miley asks.
She also got a tattoo supporting marriage equality (an equal sign on her ring finger.) I’d be very surprised if she apologized.
Am I mistaken, or was she the same woman who got her contract with Disney rescinded because she had a penis-shaped cake for her birthday party?
If so, I must deduce she is really a freethinker and dosn’t give a shit about what other people think about her.
The assumption that she is an idiot seem to me unjustified and probablñy misogynystic. Why would a woman of her age (I believe she is 23) fail to notice the “forget Jesus” bit? Unless you are still stuck with the “dumb blonde” stereotype, already debunked by Jayne Mansfield, who had a genius-level IQ, I see no reason to prejudge Cyrus. She might well be more intelligent than most of us.
If she has indeed tweeted to Krauss, it means she is aware of who he is, which is more than can be said about 99% of Americans. She needs support and friendliness, not cynicism and mockery.
I don’t think intelligence necessarily has much to do with it (who knows how intelligent she really is), I think it just means she’s not afraid to speak her mind. She took a lot of criticism and even a death threat from her fans, (who are probably a high percentage of southern Baptists, as is her father), for her same-sex marriage support but she didn’t back down. She increased her support, in fact. I don’t think quoting Krauss means she’s an atheist, or highly intelligent, or anything of the sort, I think she’s independent. Which is admirable, since she’s only 19.
I didn’t know she was only 19. That makes her even more deserving of respect and support.
” . . . a death threat from her fans . . . .”
Ah, good pious forebearing Christian folk, indeed . . . homegrown Taliban.
Well, to give some benefit of the doubt… show biz types are frequently highly intelligent. One has to be to negotiate the complexities of celebrity… the machine in general. Either that, or you get chewed up and spit out pretty quickly.
I think most are reacting to the aesthetic of the music, the act… the cheesy, vacuous, soul-crushing pap that the machine grinds out day after day. Charges of misogyny are unwarranted, methinks.
And in latest news, Englebert Humperdinck is Britain’s entry in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. I am not kidding. You could not make this stuff up.
(For Ben’s edification, Engelbert Humperdinck is Britain’s answer to Billy Ray Cyrus. Only older.)
I am now most sorry for ragging on someone in another thread for pointing out that Alain de Botton is British. I retract my criticism in deep embarassment. Some things are worse than Alain de Botton.
Actually, I can easily predict that Ben knows Engelbert Humperdinck forwards and backwards, having transposed vocal parts in “Hänsel und Gretel” from alto and tenor clefs to his native Bb trumpet, just to clue the vocalists into how their various parts are supposed to sound.
Of course, if you meant Arnold George Dorsey, then yes… Ben (and I) are completely clueless. (except I happened to have caught it on the Beeb piped through my radio about this time last night)
Perhaps I’m being stupid (again), but I don’t understand Krauss’ part where he says “the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than the atoms in your right hand”.
If we are made up of a conglomeration of “star dust” from several stars, surely all significantly big bits of ourselves would contain contributions from all of these stars? Wouldn’t the odds that one star made up my entire left hand and another one made up my entire right hand be astronomically (so to speak) small?
I’m sure I’m misunderstanding something, though, so perhaps someone here could point out where I’m going wrong!
Yea, verily, thou dost (doth?) make sense about star dust.
BTW, does anyone know, have astrophysicists pinned down whether our sun (and therefore we)came from a second, or from a third, generation star?
You had it right the first time. I do, thou dost, he/she/it doth make sense.
And he doth make sense about star dust. Given the billions upon billions of supernovae that must have occurred since the formation of the Universe, it seems to me entirely possible that every atom in my body originated in a different star.
Sure and he would likely agree but, damn the christian gods, it’s difficult to be concise and perfectly accurate at the same time. Even if it wasn’t concise but lengthy, that wouldn’t likely have eliminated all possible misunderstandings. Please note also that he didn’t say every atom in your left hand came from one star and every atom in your right hand came from a different star. I don’t think he was trying to be deceptive like most christians are, its just that the thought can’t be completely explained without volumes of words. Maybe it was intentional, to get you to think about it and perhaps get you to conclude that there might even have been a third or fourth star, maybe more, involved as well. He could have added the word “some” but that might have been confusing as well because someone might then wonder where the rest of the atoms came from instead of understanding that without star stuff you would have no hands or any other parts of substance. He also didn’t detail how and why complex atoms can only form within stars and weren’t part of the initial universe, perhaps he wanted to invoke curiosity in the reader to fill in the details by finding the answers by studying the concepts. Maybe he figured he did as good as he could given the space he wanted to use. Its not like he made a pronouncement, as in a christian handbook, that the guidance was complete and it would be sinful to check its accuracy.
I don’t think you’re wrong but your expectation might be a bit high for such a short and at the same time beautiful statement.
Ok, thanks. But it’s not that difficult to change. How about, “And some of the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than atoms in your right hand”?
Oh, true and wonderful! All of us are made of stardust! Including Jesus! What an incredible place we find ourselves in.
I’m wondering how her fan base would have reacted had she left out, “So forget Jesus,” but leaving in, “Stars died so you could live.”
You can see the reaction on twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/search/miley%20jesus
Hah, the stupid child thinks science is good and doesn’t care about trivial mentions of Jesus.
Wait, who are we again?