Has MTV Ruined America?

I came of age in the early 80's during the infancy stages of MTV. I loved it! Where else could you listen to your favorite bands and actually see them on TV doing all sorts of interesting things to their music? My friends and I would have MTV nights at the rental house we all shared. It truly was "music television".

I grew up and so did MTV. During that time we definitely went our separate ways. I grew into a wife, mom and somewhat respectable citizen. MTV became something so far removed from it's original concept, it's completely unrecognizable.

With my own kids we had to have MTV restriction. When my daughters were in their tween years, I did not want any part of the overtly sexualized, Britneyesque videos to influence my girls. My husband and I worked very hard at teaching them that they needed to be admired for their intellect more than their looks. Old school feminism was completely out of style on MTV where women were cavorted and exploited and made to look like porn stars for the sake of selling a song. But hey, it was their choice to promote their sexuality. They had the power now. Thank-you Madonna!

Fast forward to yesterday, July 31, 2008. It's been sometime since I actually sat through anything on MTV. Since the network doesn't play music videos anymore and has succumbed to reality show fever, I am puzzled why anyone would be interested in watching. Well, I sat watching yesterday and I am still shaken by what I saw. The show was called, Date My Mom. The premise is that three 'mothers', and I use the term very loosely, present themselves to a man and try to sell their daughters as dates to this guy. You follow? The moms are basically pimping out their daughters. Of course pimping is not something to be looked down on in the MTV culture, but it my mind, it was pretty disgusting.

So, the guy takes out each of the moms on a date and has the mom describe their daughter and why he should date her.

Mom #1 went on about her daughters' 'rack' and how she was 'stacked'.

Mom #2 decided to share that her daughter was a free spirit who was more friendly with guys than girls. In fact , said this slightly dippy, stoned looking woman, just a few weeks ago her daughter went out on a boat with nine guys for an over night trip. Now, maybe this scenario was completely innocent and this girl is a bit of a tomboy who likes the outdoors and the open sea. But MTV framed the story in such a way that the whole scenario was a gang bang on the ocean. Snide comments and innuendo followed about seaman. They're so damned clever over there at MTV.

Mom #3 bragged about her daughters booty and promised that if the guy picked her daughter, her daughter would share a 'naked booty' dance with him. Mom described her daughter as eighteen and "she really needs a man!" Yes, because, you know, she's almost past her sexual prime and doesn't have much else to offer.

By this time my blood was boiling and my heart was breaking. How could these women exploit their daughters this way? Why would you sell out your kid? Why would you encourage your daughter to degrade themselves and teach them that their only value is their sexual value? It's one thing to have young women make the foolish mistake of partaking on a show such as this, but to have the implicit approval of their mothers is a new low in the land of low taste. I hate to say this, but life was better for young women pre-feminism if this is what feminism has wrought.

I do have my theory on why these mothers are doing this however. It's quite simple really. These mothers still want to be young. They don't want to grow up and get old. MTV has taught us that young is good, old is bad, so that we have middle aged women dressed in tight skirts, high heels and spouting out lines like, 'you suck', when the guy rejects their daughter. In the age we live in, parents are best friends with their kids because if they're authority figures, it means they're OLDER than their kids, which in turn means, they're old.

In some cultures old age is valued for its wisdom and experience. People who have lived life and withstood the tests of time are revered. In our culture, youth is God and MTV is the prophet spouting the gospel and infecting out souls with its venom. I don't know what it will take to reverse this trend and in fact, I am quite sure, some people would argue it's not a bad thing. I know you don't put the genie back in the bottle once it's out, but my hope is this generation of kids rebels. Rebels like all generations must. Hopefully they will reject this inane network and all of its values. Maybe they will teach their children and in turn their parents.

I have hope for our kids. As for my peers, I have written them off years ago