A lifetime ago, when I was writing about rock'n'roll for a daily newspaper, I had to watch and then write about the very first MTV Video Music Awards.
And the scandal of the night? The fact that then-newly-minted star Madonna bumped, ground and otherwise humped the stage while singing her hit of the moment, Like A Virgin.
The outrage was such that you'd have thought she performed a ritual sacrifice of kittens onstage, instead of merely dancing suggestively.
Yet here we are, more than 50 years into the sexual revolution sparked by the invention of birth-control pills -- and that Puritan ethos still holds incredible sway when it comes to popular entertainment.
Was I shocked at Miley Cyrus's VMA performance? You're damn right I was. I didn't watch it live (I had something urgent to attend to, like plucking unsightly hairs from my ears) and only read enough to get the gist of what she'd done. Then I tracked down a link to her performance and tried to watch it.
But I couldn't stomach more than 30 seconds before I had to turn it off. Shocked and appalled, I thought to myself:
Why is this minimally talented, mildly attractive young woman a star?
This commentary continues on my website.