Disney Princess ‘ raped’ by eyes of America

We’re responsible click by click, view by view

“I hope my daughter turns out like Miley Cyrus,” said no one ever, at least not since the Video Music Awards.

I may be the only person in the nation who hasn’t yet watched the video of Miley humiliating herself ( iPhone- toting elementary and middle schoolers included). But, like the rest of the nation, I haven’t missed the headlines, photos and commentaries.

Last night, while I was putting my 18- month- old daughter to sleep, I was thinking about Miley and the reality that not long ago, she was a baby in her own parents’ arms.

From a young age, Miley became a role model for a generation of girls. Now, through our national response, we have told these girls, “This is what it takes to stand out in our society. This is what you need to do to be popular, liked and successful.”

Young ladies, if you want to be noticed and talked about, you’ll need to get as naked as possible and behave the way sex slaves are forced to in countries where women are chained to beds and beaten.

There’s an old saying that you can know a lot about a man by the way he treats his animals. It’s equally true that you can know a lot about a society by the way it treats its children. In your society and mine, somehow Miley grew up thinking the best way for her to be seen as a serious artist is to act like an intoxicated call girl. MILEY NOT TO BLAME That she thinks this of herself is sad. But, she’s 20. Many 20- year- olds make choices they regret. The real blame lies not with Miley, but with the producers and media gatekeepers who are abusing her and taking advantage of her to make their money. Equally to blame, if we are honest, are the millions who have gawked — and in so doing, voted with their eyes and mouse clicks.

If only we could say that the photo of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, mouths gaping, was authentic and symbolized our national response.

Who did this? How did we get here? One click at a time. Our mouses, TV remotes and phone screens generating the soft applause of millions.

The satirical publication The Onion may have best summarized our group culpability. In a facetious piece, a national “news media executive” explained why Miley’s raunchy video was featured on its coveted front page.

“All you are to us, and all you will ever be to us, are eyeballs. The more eyeballs on our content, the more cash we can ask for. Period. And if we’re able to get more eyeballs, that means I’ve done my job, which gets me congratulations from my bosses, which encourages me to put up even more stupid bull---- on the homepage.”

More than any commentator, that line from The Onion captured this season in America’s cultural decline. We are all, every day, voting with our eyes — through technology that makes us feel like nobody else is watching or affected.

And how has America voted? For a drunk girl at a frat party humiliating herself in a desperate need for approval. We vote for this in our mainstream news and on the basic cable channel our young people watch after school. FRAT PARTY NATION And now, like at a frat party, any of us who say, “This is too far. It isn’t right to treat her this way.” Well, we are the prudish party poopers.

So be it. I’m not ashamed to say, “This is too far,” when a misguided girl offers herself to be raped by the nation’s eyes — and our leading news outlets call it the story of the day.

Miley Cyrus was once somebody’s little girl. Her VMA ordeal — and the fame and fortune it will generate — remind me of a Scripture passage in Peter. It says that Lot “was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.”

If your soul is saddened for Miley and for our society, then vote with your eyes and your mouse by Liking or Sharing this on Facebook. E- mail it. Tweet it.

Let’s vote with our eyes that we respect and love our daughters, that their value is more than their body. They are smart and capable and valuable because of who they are and not because of the sex acts they simulate.