Stephen Marche in Esquire:
First of all, hello. I've never met you, but I've been reading a lot of your open letters lately. Sinead O'Connor, just recently, you posted your third open letter to Miley Cyrus. That's about three too many, but I want you to know that I understand why you write open letters and I sympathize with your motives. I'm saying that because all open letters begin with this false sense of intimacy and the bogus claim that the writer really wants the best for the person he or she is addressing.
The time has come, open letter writers, to sit back and ask yourself why everybody is writing open letters. You all have your own explanations of course. Sinead, you opened your first letter to Miley Cyrus with the following justification:
“I wasn't going to write this letter, but today I've been dodging phone calls from various newspapers who wished me to remark upon your having said in Rolling Stone your 'Wrecking Ball' video was designed to be similar to the one for 'Nothing Compares' … So this is what I need to say … And it is said in the spirit of motherliness and with love.”
I'm sorry but the spirit of motherliness cannot really be enough of an answer to why you're writing. I think even you can see that attacking somebody publicly for what they're wearing isn't exactly the definition of “motherly love.”
More here.