So little Tallulah Willis is growing up a little too fast, and whose to blame? Why, Perez Hilton of course! Yet again, one (sorry, two) celebrities are lashing out at the gossip glutton, this time for posting photos of Demi Moore's 15 year old daughter wearing too less of something that shows too much, and Demi (along with her partner in crime, Kirstie Alley) are hopping mad.
Little 15 year old Tallulah (yes, she's only 15, as Demi will let no one forget) was photographed at a night club wearing a very revealing top that showed an extreme amount of cleavage, but nothing else. Hilton posted the photo on his site, prompting Demi to throw slanders at him via Twitter, calling him a pedophile and accusing him of violating child pornography laws. Kirstie quickly followed suit threatening to have him "followed" and calling him a child molester.
Now, I really, really can't stand Perez and I am beyond annoyed that Demi has placed me in a position to defend this monstrous media whore, but here we go. Asking all the obvious questions that many seem to be doing lately, #1) Why is 15 year old Tallulah in ANY night club? #2) Where were you, Demi, when your 15 year old was walking out of the house wearing that shirt that showed too much? #3) Why is Demi so quick to blame Hilton for her child's and inevitably her mistakes?
Though this is not a new trend, parents in today's society seem less and less likely to accept blame for their children's mistakes. Perhaps this is the backlash of a time when mothers were blamed for everything (whether or not they were indeed, responsible). However, much like a swinging pendulum, we never quite find the healthy median we need, we simply sway from one extreme to the next, and we are currently in "Its not my fault" mode. Children have seemed to develop from lumps of clay molded by their immediate caregivers to mindless drones influenced purely by outside forces designed to victimize our children and make them do dumb, irresponsible, terrible things.
Case in point: recently a 13 year old boy and a group of friends saw a video on YouTube of a man setting himself on fire for a stunt. Finding this entertaining, the boys decided to mimic it. If you believe the victim's tale, he was an innocent bystander who made a stupid mistake. If you believe your gut, he and his friends concocted a moronic stunt a la Jackass and didn't think it through. All in all, this boy ended up with second and third degree burns. Who was to blame? You bet! YouTube! While the boy's mother chalked it up to lack of parental supervision at a friend's house, some pointed the finger at the popular video hosting site for publishing videos that influential young minds may imitate without comprehending the consequences. I blame idiotic parents who spawn dumb teenagers that can't seem to figure out gasoline and a lighter don't go together. But you can bet, in television interviews and news articles, never was the finger pointed at the victim or his mother. Why would anyone pass up a golden opportunity to blame the media and push for harsher censorship?
Now I'm not going to argue that kids are not influenced by pop culture or the media, but to a certain extent, all it takes is a little parental intervention and a dash of common sense for children to understand that what they see on TV and in movies is not real, and what they see on Jackass and YouTube is not safe. I would love more than anything for real consequences to be shown in these contexts, that children see the broken bones and blood and even death, but since its not bound to happen any time soon, it would be my job to sit down as a parent and explain to my child the reality of these things.
Likewise, when your 15 year old daughter is hanging out at a night club for any reason, it is your job to ensure she is properly dressed. If you don't want her breasts shown off all over the internet, you need to buy her clothes that cover them. If she buys it on her own, you need to be there before she leaves the house to send her skanky ass back upstairs to change, as our mothers have all done to us. If she shows up at the club wearing what she chooses, and gets photographed in it, you need to sit her down and talk to her before you start the mudslinging tweets blaming everyone else for essentially "outing" your slutty daughter. Take responsibility for your own child and your lacking parenting skills. Remember Demi: she put the image out there, someone else just captured it on film.
