THE PUBLIC MIND: MTV HELPS DESTROY AMERICA'S VALUES

An Open Letter to

Cape/Jackson Cable TV (TCI):

Eddie Rabbit, country-western singer/entertainer, was quoted in Southeast Missourian as follows: "MTV promotes the most violent acts in front of our children ... If parents saw someone around the corner from their house peddling hardcore pornography to their children, they'd have them arrested. That is what MTV does and it's wrong."

Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) spoke to the U.S. Senate: "Most rock musicians and actors in music-videos emerge as sneering, anti-social, unkempt, undisciplined and arrogant punks, male and female alike." He further said that the "central message of most of these music-videos is clear: human happiness and fulfillment are experienced by becoming a sociopath and rejecting all responsiblity."

Believing the above to be right-on-the mark, plus my own observation, I concur with the American Family Association's proposal to eliminate MTV from our basic or extended cable packages. If the owners/producers want to use it at all, put it on as pay-per-view, HBO, ENCORE, etc.

Get it out of our homes where it's not wanted and reduce our rates we should not be forced to pay for something so despicable to us and destructive to our society.

Finally, Beverly Sills, writing in January's Reader's Digest, laid it on the line: "You can freely sing about the joys of violating a woman's body in monstrous inhuman detail ... our kids ... are relentlessly and systematically desensitized to almost every form of disgusting behavior ... A civilization rises on the strength of its values, and what we are talking about here are values. Lost values."

Also, columnist Clarence Page after discussing (in Southeast Missourian) the violence of rap-groups such as Public Enemy, Ice Cube, and Guns N' Roses concludes: "Unfortunately, violence sells. Perhaps instead of criticizing only ghetto youths for perpetuating the cruel myth that violence is an acceptable remedy, middle class America also needs to take a closer look at its own values. We might surprise ourselves." AMEN!

Will E. Wade

Jackson