Now that we have had a few days to think about Miley Cyrus’ controversial, raunchy performance on MTV’s Video Music Awards, maybe we can see a silver lining in this story. It seems that the overwhelming majority of viewers who tweeted their reactions to the show expressed shock and outrage. Perhaps this means that we have finally reached rock bottom and are now fed up with indecent words and actions that are being passed off as entertainment.

Syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker sees a glimmer of hope for our society. She writes, “In free societies, the call to civilized behavior is strictly voluntary. Like democracy, it has to be willed by the people by community consent. To that end, Cyrus inadvertently may have performed a public service. Provocation for the sake of provocation is rarely provocative. When all things are permissible, then permissiveness loses its allure. And the pendulum always comes back.”

Here’s hoping she’s right.