"the downfall of society!"

i vividly recall my grandmother uttering those words to me during a visit to india in the spring of 1988. michael jackson was still a very big deal, and mtv was growing in popularity, much to my extended family's chagrin. my grandmother overheard me having a conversation with someone (who i'm sure was related to me somehow) about mtv and exceitedly proclaimed her views on the channel in a half-english, half-tamil blend.

many years later, the views of the "older" generation don't seem to have changed all that much. that split is made more evident in people of my parents' generation who emigrated to the US in the late 70s - there's a strange obligatory nostalgia that longs for a place in time (india of yore) that no longer exists. they, too, blame mtv.

mtv represents to them a palpable generational shift/split - a new generation is now vibrant, visible, and willing to engage with the nuances of global influences. these "new voices" call me up on the phone and, with accents audible, introduce themselves to me as "lisa" or "daniel." the world is not only changing but there seems to be more ways to participate in changing it.

the face of mtv is changing, too. gone are the hours of music videos - now relegated to mtv2, 3, 4... - replaced by hours of reality television, marathons of the original reality show ('the real world'), informational programs, interviews, music news, and award shows. is mtv still ruining society? or does mtv bring to the margins of the center those topics, realities, identities, questions, and issues that we may not always want to hear or know about? if anything, mtv seems to have softened in it's old age. tho, that might just be my clouded vision talking...