[QUOTE=Siam Sam]
I’ve never heard of Hannah, Montana. Is there a big concert there? Like Woodstock?
[/QUOTE]
She’s a kid’s TV show character, from what I can tell.. Never heard of her before we went to the US in March, and I’m only aware of the name because there was Hannah Montana stuff for sale at Disneyland. Since my fiancee and I don’t have kids, that’s about where my interest in the subject ended, so I can’t say I’ve heard any of the music etc.
So people can stop making stupid jokes here is her Wiki Entry.
She is the daughter of country music star Billy Ray Cyrus and a popular Disney TV and music personality for children around 13.
Really people. One Joke is enough and remember sarcasm doesn’t work as well typed.
Jesus Christ. Her real name is Destiny Hope Cyrus. That’s some serious adversity she had to overcome to get where she is…
[QUOTE=etgaw1]
She is the daughter of country music star Billy Ray Cyrus and a popular Disney TV and music personality for children around 13.
[/QUOTE]
Good thing Billy Ray Cyrus is from Tennessee, that’s a hanging offense in Montana.
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki]
…Having said that, while I can see your point, if the private boutique never explicitly stated their judging standards, and simply left it as something along the lines of “best as chosen by our judge(s)” ISTM that their judges are free to claim that fabrications are verboten. I certainly wouldn’t assume that fictional “essays” were what they were looking for, myself, unless they specifically said so in the rules. …
[/QUOTE]
No, judges would not be free to make such a claim. They are bound to make their decisions according to the entry criteria. Well, at least that’s MY assumption, and some years back I was a judge for public radio programming up for awards in that field. It’s not like we took an oath, but we were instructed to read the entry criteria and to base our judgements on them.
And clearly, by whatever agreed upon standards they set, she won. I would be extremely doubtful that the corporation went back to the judges and got them to rescind their vote. Most likely management did it unilaterally, and selected the essay with the next highest score or number of votes to be the alternate winner.
Again, not having actually seen the written rules it’s hard to say, but if the only requirement was an “essay”, and the mom has sufficient gall, there’s a fair chance she could take the company to court and get a judgement.
[QUOTE=brazil84]
Good point, but it’s still bad karma.
[/QUOTE]
Can’t argue with this.
[QUOTE=neutron star]
This might be something approaching a valid point, if, when asked about the details of the story, the mother said “Oh, that was fictional.” She didn’t, though. She gave a name, rank, and a date and cause of death…
[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure of the context in which she made those claims. She probably had to sign some form of legal document to allow the prize to be given to her daughter, because as a matter of law minors usually can’t enter/win such contests without parental permission. So if she signed an affidavit that the essay was a true story, the company had every right to rescind the prize, but that would be based on the mom’s lies in the legal document, not the child’s essay. OTOH, she might have made up the crap in response to some other form of inquiry, not related to eligibility for winning the contest.
It sounds to me like the company changed the rules retroactively out of embarassment.
Hey, this would make a good story for a future episode of the TV Show.
Miley and her brother lie to win a contest and get sucked into a web of lies. Hilarity ensues. After a heart-to-heart with Daddy Billy Ray, Miley realizes that the Right Thing to Do is to return the prize and 'fess up. Miley learns a Valuable Lesson. Diogenes, care to take a crack at writing it?
It is contemptible, but the contest sounds like “Queen for a Day.” Apparently there was once a game show in which women would describe their hard-luck lives, and the most pitiable would win valuable prizes. I wonder what the criteria for the essay contest were.
[QUOTE=neutron star]
Jesus Christ. Her real name is Destiny Hope Cyrus.
[/QUOTE]
Blech. My wife and I are both from the South, so that gives me the right to say, “What the hell is wrong with these people?” My wife went to school wth a girl named Misty Dawn [lastname].
Unfortunately, “doing whatever it takes to win” could take the place of “Don’t Tread On Me” in this country as our national motto. It’s not like the woman doesn’t have plenty of role models for this, from our top politicians down to the worst of the game show contestants and the person who shoves kids out of the way so he can get his mug on morning TV for five seconds. Civility, decency and honesty are rapidly becoming just words that end in “y”.
Is her father truly serving in Iraq? Is her father even in the picture?
If her father is serving in Iraq, I can see a frank, short discussion with his wife when he comes home.
ISTM, the RO in this incident is twofold, one more serious, one more frivolous:
First, the use of a fabrication about a soldier fallen in battle. Yes, it would also be deplorable for a mother to enlist her kid in fabricating a hard-luck story about ANY loved one in order to obtain an economic consideration. It could be Dad getting killed in the War Zone, mom getting cancer, big brother going to jail, etc. and it could be concert tickets, trips to Disneyland or a scholarship.
However, in our specific cultural context, using the story that Dad dies in Iraq (or even better, that he died in the 9/11 attacks and she never got to meet him – someone must have used that one at some point of the past 6 years…) is considered specially censurable because those specific scenarios of tragedy have been invested by current public opinion with an extra level of Thou Shalt Not Take In Vain. At least for us civilians not in elected office. (*)
Second, there’s the bit that it’s tickets to the &^%$# Hannah Montana Show. Because if we’re gonna teach our children to “do whatever it takes to win”, Good Jesus on a Rollerskate, do it for something worth it 
* We know what kind of person you are, we’re just haggling price…*
(*)BTW, sort of related:
[QUOTE=SSG Schwartz]
First, Soldiers should take pride in what they do. They should do the job that they do because they want to be Soldiers. I will accept the extra tax free pay that I get for being placed in harms way because that is what Congress has decided that I am worth for taking that risk. Getting out of traffic tickets, getting free drinks, and the like I don’t know that I agree with. Using the death of a Soldier to get show tickets should be seen as bad taste.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, Sarge – it’s one thing to show proper respect and appreciation, and to take the circumstances seriously, it’s quite another to annoint it all with some sort of magical mythical aura that can be used as a tool to gain advantage in totally unrelated aspects of our lives. I’ll willingly pay for a round of your drinks as a token of appreciation, but if you run the red light I ain’t paying your fine 
[QUOTE=SSG Schwartz]
…Using the death of a Soldier to get show tickets should be seen as bad taste…
[/QUOTE]
Say whatever you will about it, America is the unquestioned superpower of bad taste.
By the way, I pit credophiles who swallow any tale of woe without skepticism.
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim]
Again, not having actually seen the written rules it’s hard to say, but if the only requirement was an “essay”, and the mom has sufficient gall, there’s a fair chance she could take the company to court and get a judgement.
[/QUOTE]
Somehow, I doubt any jury would find in her favor, no matter what the judge’s instructions on the law were.
[QUOTE=EddyTeddyFreddy]
Somehow, I doubt any jury would find in her favor, no matter what the judge’s instructions on the law were.
[/QUOTE]
So she goes for a bench trial, then.
Or, she takes her satisfaction in the same way that the $65 million dollar pants suit guy did: Drive the boutique out of business.
[QUOTE=brazil84]
By the way, I pit credophiles who swallow any tale of woe without skepticism.
[/QUOTE]
I would like to think a six-year-old wouldn’t lie about a DEAD PARENT in a contest entry essay. I would like to think a parent wouldn’t push a six-year-old child to lie about a DEAD PARENT in such an essay. It’s so wrong on so many levels, I don’t think it would have occurred to me to fact check before awarding the prize (such as it was) if such an essay was the winner. After all, what kind of lowlife would do this?
Oh. Mom. Great example there, Mom. Please get your tubes tied. You don’t need to reproduce any more.
I’m just guessin’ there’s a lawyer in the family.
[QUOTE=neutron star]
Jesus Christ. Her real name is Destiny Hope Cyrus. That’s some serious adversity she had to overcome to get where she is…
[/QUOTE]
Rather prescient on Billy Ray’s part, as she’s become quite the meal ticket…
[QUOTE=Vinyl Turnip]
Rather prescient on Billy Ray’s part, as she’s become quite the meal ticket…
[/QUOTE]
Or she melted his achey breaky heart…
The mother’s actions are despicable. I wonder how dear old Dad feels about being killed off for concert tickets? I pity this kid who is growing up with fucked up values. One day, if there is justice, this kid will turn on dear Mama and then we’ll see how Mama likes it. :rolleyes:
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki]
So she goes for a bench trial, then.
Or, she takes her satisfaction in the same way that the $65 million dollar pants suit guy did: Drive the boutique out of business.
[/QUOTE]
If I were the defendants’ attorney I’d insist (as is my right) on a jury trial. I suspect the evil lying mom can’t afford the upfront costs of pursuing a suit against a corporation, though, and what lawyer would think this was a contingency-fee winner?