I've said it a zillion times and I'll keep on saying. The day MTV starts showing videos again, regularly, consistently, is the day I'll start watching again.

When did the authors of this open letter think all this creative stuff happened? It was always about salesmanship, ultimately.

What really changed was not Empty-V, but the morality of American business and salesmanship. Television of the 1950's and 1960's had controls (the long-dead NAB Code) and laws (fraud, antitrust and other laws designed to control business behavior).

After Reagan started demolishing those laws, all of broadcasting descended to a cheap commercial level. They were still selling stuff to people, but the businessmen felt no reservations about selling people crap or outright lying to them.

Without any external demands to be moral, and without any internal morality, of course Empty-V pandered ultimately empty style to the gullible young. Why should they grow up when no one else is willing to, from the White House down?

MTV is one of the most widely watched networks around the globe. It's translated into 18 languages and provides time for local carriers to showcase music of the country it's being shown in.

Unfortunately, it's also giving people a good long look at America's culture of vapid commercialism and self indulgence.

While I have nothing against partying madly in Cancun or getting naked in a hot tub, there is no balanced presentation of American youth being socially aware, intelligent, serious beings. Presenting only the basest of our actions to cultures that in many cases have stricter religious and moral customs is doing a lot of grassroots harm to our global image.

No wonder religious fundamentalists in the third world see America as a place of sin and depravity with no redeeming value.

Dear Jon and Zeke,

Please stop. For the good of Salon, please stop what you're doing.

Let me explain what I mean.

There was time when Salon published articles that used facts and investigation, or heaven forbid, original reporting. But now it publishes ranting opinions unleavened by insight, recycling conventional wisdom.

I'll be the first to admit that some of these rants are entertaining, but are they worth more than the rants in (free) blogs? I think not.

Maybe that's why every article seems to generate so many of these letters. But as someone who is also 25, let me offer a piece of constructive advice: Change the channel! Even a low-end basic cable package offers dozens of channels; if you're a typical 25-year-old you probably have hundreds of channels on digital cable. Change the channel and watch something productive. Or nothing at all. If you don't watch, the corporate titans will change their programming, just like they did when the ratings were low and no one watched the "cutting edge" programming you bemoan.

Like you, I'm 25 and still searching for better quality writing for my money. Help me.

The only thing MTV ever did of value was Beavis and Butthead, which was great because it ripped into the non-sequiteur postmodern stupidity which is inherent in the pop video form. Maybe there was no way back from that naked lunch moment of realisation. Maybe MTV has been deluding itself that Paris Hilton deserves a second of airtime anywhere, although she and Ritchie probably are the new Beavis and Butthead, sans the insight.

First, I agree with Jason C.'s post. Salon has gone downhill in a time when it should be thriving.

Second, I didn't know anyone still watched MTV. It wasn't cool even back when I was in high school ten+ years ago. If I want a music video, I'll download it. If I want random tv entertainment, I'll check out YouTube. If I want to see whiny teenagers gyrate to bad music... oh wait, I'll never want to see that.

There have been complaints about MTV's damaging influence since its inception. Remember the protestations about the vulgarity of "Like a Virgin" and David Lee Roth's bikini-clad, gyrating friends? How about the controversy over Ice-T and NWA videos? Neil Young's rant about commercialism, "This Note's For You?"

If you can remember these things, then you're too old for MTV to care one whit what you think about its programming. Yes, I too am appalled by "Sweet Sixteen" and the turn "The Real World" has taken, but so what? (The fact that I even know these programs exist is embarrassing enough.)

Since most other network and cable TV channels offer just as many examples of prurient entertainment, I guess you should switch over to PBS. Now try to get an adolescent...or anyone...to join you.

It was interesting to read a rant from 25 year olds who view what makes Mtv annoying through a different lens than someone old enough to have watched it debut.

When Mtv started it was a visual radio station. Jocks, news, videos and those great tiny to short films as filler. It was amazing, perfect for what was then called the "short attention span generation."

Then they introduced programs. At first it was specialized music shows and interviews not unlike regular radio. I guess Mtv had trouble selling ads without specific shows to pin them to or having original content to sell and syndicate was just too tempting or, as I suspect, the desire to act like other TV was too strong. I've also heard they were concerned about channel switching but this was because a) too many dull high rotation videos and b) if people switched away, they also switched back.

Now there's no fucking music videos on Mtv. They even created seperate channels - VH1 and then Mtv2 for the music videos and those channels started to fill up with shows.

There's another reason, of course - Mtv is not about the shows, but hyper packaging. Any new movie or product can buy huge blocks of tie-ins and product placement on the channel. Although one would think a mix of short videos would make this easier than traditional shows.

What amazes me is how Mtv seems not to have noticed the internet generation at all, except maybe with Wonder Showzen and hiring that girl from YouTube: Shorter attention spans still exist. Mtv could go back to playing a cacophany of videos and mini shows and it would look like YouTube. Wonder Showzen looks the most like that. People would love it - instead of crushing marathons of real world bullshit, which must be expensive to produce, have 10 minute excerpts.

Advertisers now get mix videos. It's a new generation of ad reps as well. They don't necessarily need half hour shows - in fact, a constant mix more easily tricks viewers into watching.

Of course, at the top Mtv is run and owned by people old enough to have been watching the channel from the beginning, and they will tell you it's just impossible to go back to that line up because it just doesn't work etc. etc. Mtv is now too old to be itself. Too bad.