It isn't youth culture that worries me

"We all have only one life to live on Earth. And through the television, we have the choice of encouraging others to demean this life or to cherish it in creative, imaginative ways."

- Fred Rogers, "Mr. Rogers," 1929-2003

I know I should just let it go, but I can't. The Super Bowl halftime show, I mean.

It put a burr under my saddle again when I read a letter in a national publication from Tom Freston, chairman and CEO of MTV networks, defending the show - well, most of it anyway.

Let's get Freston's mea culpa out of the way first.

"We are not proud of the crotch grabbing in one of the performances, and it was never intended to be part of the show. And we were shocked and embarrassed about the last split second of the halftime show.

"Janet Jackson has acknowledged in both written and televised statements that the decision to have a costume reveal her breast at the end of her performance was hers alone and that MTV, CBS and the NFL were completely unaware of her plans.

"It was totally inappropriate and unacceptable and it's ludicrous to think we would have knowingly included it."

So there you have it.

The head of MTV was just as shocked and embarrassed as you or me.

That's good to know.

Also good to know from Mr. Freston was that the Super Bowl halftime show "gave us the opportunity to reach the biggest television audience with performances from popular artists, combined with a positive message about empowerment and voting - the key themes of our recently launched 'Choose or Lose' campaign."

Wait a minute ...

The theme of the halftime show was "empowerment and voting"?

I'd have to go back and watch it again - which I refuse to do - but I can't recall anybody mentioning voting.

Sex, yes.

Drugs, yes.

More sex, yes.

Voting, no.

This could explain quite a bit, I guess. Perhaps the halftime show MTV producers thought they put on the air from Houston that Sunday was somehow hijacked in mid-broadcast and replaced by an R-rated burlesque troupe.

But no. Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Kid Rock, P. Diddy. Those were the people MTV said would be on the show, and there they were, doing pretty much what they do on MTV videos every day.

And what do they do on MTV?

Freston again: "From the music we feature to the original programming we produce, the imagery seen on MTV has been freely and enthusiastically embraced by our viewers, primarily 18- to 24-year-olds, whose tastes are as different from their elders as the tastes of 1950s and '60s youth were from the older adult cultures of those times.

"The elder culture doesn't generally like or understand the youth culture of their times: they find it alarming, and even scary. But society has always survived it; and has even in many cases been enriched by it."

Oh, yeah. The fuddy-duddy argument.

That's a shot at us old-timers who were there to not witness the lower half of Elvis "The Pelvis" Presley on the Ed Sullivan Show.

We who grew up in the 1960s and said, "Never trust anyone over 30." Who when our parents complained about "that noise" just cranked up the stereo a little louder.

Nope, we can't dig this hip new generation of kids and their newfangled music. We should just shut up and get over it. We'll survive, says Tom Freston.

Of course we'll survive. That wasn't the point.

The point was that the halftime show was utterly lacking in any kind of creative or artistic quality. Except for a momentary flash of Jackson's breast, there was nothing vaguely interesting about it. It was guilty of the worst of entertainment's sins: It was boring.

I also have a news flash for Freston. Whether it be the 1920s, 1960s or the 21st century, there's never been any question that sex sells. But flashing some skin hardly enriches society.

As for being scared by the youth culture of today, I'm not. For one thing, Jackson is 37 years old. Kid Rock is 33. P. Diddy is 34. They're not even in MTV's demographic.

I'll tell you what does scare me: AdAge.com interviewed several public relations experts who said Jackson's halftime stunt was "extremely successful."

"It is the ultimate stunt," said one advertising executive. "I don't see any downside for her. It fits perfectly with (her) new CD that's about sex."

Another, less enthusiastic exec noted simply "Boobs conquer everything."

He got that right.

Barry Smith is editor of the Nevada Appeal. Contact him at editor@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1221.