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You didn't answer my question. Who are we to judge what those experiences should have meant to her?
At this point, people are just judging every. single. thing Miley does as some attempt to live this nebulous "thug life" when not even she's saying that.
Frankly it sounds like you're playing into her entire dynamic. By profiting off of black stereotypes but knowing that nobody will call her out because it would come with the assumption that living a "thug life" is a bad thing, or that it represents black culture in general... it's a deliberate ploy and it's been done a billion times before.
She got a tattoo in Detroit and a chain on South Street here in Philly. I fail to see how those are things that "black people" do, or even where she implied that those ARE things that only black people do (and South Street is so far from being a thing only black people experience it's not even funny). The only person making that connection here is you.
Again, you're missing the point. Buying a chain in Detroit isn't necessarily what black people do, but it's what SHE thinks black people do, and thus, she assumes that because it's what black people do, it must be edgy, dangerous, or controversial. And yes, the only evidence I have of her believing this is, oh I dunno, the fact that she's saying all these things. If I can't draw that conclusion from her words, music, and actions, then how else am I going to draw it? Or is Miley free from any kind of judgment or evaluation, making everything she says benign and inconsequential?
You keep saying that we shouldn't draw any conclusions about her character, thoughts, feelings, opinions, politics or agenda from what she's saying (or at least not make grander assumptions about her life), but that's not exactly fair to every other person you've drawn massive conclusions about.
In that entire interview all Miley talked about was the experiences she had when she first got away from her parents and started making her own decisions about HER life. You, and everyone else, are the ones reading more into it than that.
The only thing I'm saying is that EVERYBODY is reading more into it. That's the whole idea. The general public is the one drawing conclusions about her being edgy and controversial, but nobody's looking at this and saying "OH. The reason people think Miley's gone off the deep end is because she's profiting off of black stereotypes, and that maybe our problems with Miley really stem from our problems with the African American community." Because that's what is at the heart of this. People like Miley are (intentionally or unintentionally) using the general public's discomfort around black culture stereotypes and using it for profit. And it's not noble, it's profiteering.
EDIT: I mean, I could see if she said somewhere in her interview "Oh yeah! I'm trying to live this #BlackLife so I went and got a tattoo in Detroit and got a chain on South Street. I feel practically colored now!" You'd have a point. But your argument is basically "Miley has no right to feel independent because of her decisions. And she's insulting black people because she did things that I ascribe to the black experience...like getting a tattoo." Wut???
Didn't she go in the studio and say she wanted to make something along the lines of "black music"? Just because she's not saying it deliberately, publicly, constantly... doesn't mean she doesn't believe it.
And again, she's deliberately abusing black stereotypes (like buying chains and getting a tattoo), not actual things all black people do. Don't twist words. If you wanna call her citing those activities as a testament to her "independence" then fine. I just think she's citing those activities to make people who are uncomfortable with black stereotypes uncomfortable with HER, and it's not for the sake of noble commentary or being contrarian for a cause, but because she seems to genuinely believe that being or acting "black" (or what white folks think acting or being black is) is cool. Edgy. In-your-face. Tough.
She is literally the opposite of progressive.
