When Renegades Become The Establishment

An open note to MTV, who produced the halftime show for the Super Bowl last night:

The 50 or so teenagers I was watching the game with last night felt pandered to and demeaned by Justin Timberlake's actions with Janet Jackson. Truly, they didn't think it was cool or shocking or anything like that...they just were bewildered. And, they thought the lip-syncing was cartoonish.

Don't take yourselves too seriously, MTV. Back when you really were the Merchants of Cool (and my generation wasn't wise to your methods) you could do that stuff and get away with it, but this generation is savvy...the same way mine is about politicians and government...because we see through the attempts at manipulation.

Keep it up...and the result will be that you make yourself irrelevant. But I wouldn't pay that team of researchers who study teen trends every six weeks to tell you that teenagers really like stunts like that (okay, granted, they aren't all that much above some of the purile humor stuff like Jackass...they are teenagers) when they are totally out of context.

Pay them to sit with my teenagers and watch an event you produced in this context. The sounds you'll hear are the ones I heard: "Did he just...ummmm...you're kidding, right?"