Miley Cyrus Takes Words From Teddy Roosevelt For New Tattoo
By Jessica Grabert 4 years ago
Quotes are important to understanding historical figures: a person’s wit, his or her cadence in speech, or even a jocular or inspiring ability to capture attention in a room full of people or in a page in a book. The quotes humanity has saved that have lasted throughout generations of people and changes in viewpoints are often so important I have never been able to understand how people can just plaster 800 of them on Facebook pages, striving to make someone else’s quote embody their own lives. Singer and actress Miley Cyrus has taken someone else’s words a step further, embedding them into her own skin.
In 1910, former President Theodore Roosevelt gave a speech informally known as “The Man in the Arena” talk, a speech that spoke about great men suffering long and hard in the hopes of achieving something big, bold, and lasting. I get why Miley Cyrus might want something like this plastered all over her arm in the form of a tattoo—after all, the speech was so inspiring it was repeated to the South African Rugby team in the fifties to rile them up enough to pull through with an unlikely win. However, it’s the point Cyrus seems to be trying to make that encourages the vomit at the back of my throat. According to Today, her tattoo takes a snippet from the speech that takes a shot at her critics.
"So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
With all of the half shirts the “Party in the USA” singer favors, I’m surprised she didn’t end up with a belly tattoo. Regardless, as much as I get what Cyrus is striving for—she won’t let the critics of her salvia video, her partying issues, and her quick engagement get her down, yada yada, her triumphs or failures within her mind and with her critics have nothing to do with a man like Roosevelt, who, by the way, founded his own political party. Roosevelt was the type of man who braved his own death to come to the nearly-done-for McKinley’s aid by driving a buggy down a steep mountain in the middle of the night. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore, and it hardly makes the pop star look impressive to compare herself to the man (or his ideas).
Besides, I didn’t really believe the 19-year-old star would be such a supporter of the President who shot a multitude of endangered animals. I hope she gets a fucking panda for her next tattoo.