MTV, Grow Up

An open letter to the producers, writers and consumers of MTV:

To All It May Concern,

The news is out that MTV has released yet another "controversial" teen drama. Of course this drama, as many other featured shows, includes generous portions of sexual scenes, drinking, drug use, homosexuality and other "typical" teen behaviors. It has earned a TV rating of MA (for "mature" viewers only) and it has stirred up the ire of parent groups and advertisers who find the show offensive and vulgar. The Parents Television Council is calling for an investigation that the show is promoting child pornography.

To all this, MTV responds "Skins is a show that addresses real-world issues confronting teens in a frank way. We review all of our shows and work with all of our producers on an ongoing basis to ensure our shows comply with laws and community standards. We are confident that the episodes of ‘Skins’ will not only comply with all applicable legal requirements, but also with our responsibilities to our viewers.” 

 Right....

First of all, I would like to say, "MTV. Please grow up"

This is getting old. How many "new and provocative" shows will you release and pretend that you are heroically bringing "typical teen behavior" to the forefront of the minds of the world's young people?

Yes, you are getting much press about this new show, which I am sure suits you but it speaks volumes that you do not really care about the youth of the world nor do you know what they really seek.

You show teens engaging in drug and alcohol abuse, misusing their sexuality, fighting and lying. You show them as shallow animals who have no destiny, no origin and no reason. 

You pass off much of this behavior as "freedom and fun" but you neglect to show the real repercussions of these choices that will affect many teens for the rest of their lives.

You make sex, drugs and fame look glamorous and try to pass it off as "normal", yet you fail to connect the dots that the second leading cause of death of young people in America is suicide.

Something isn't adding up.

The youth of the world are not animals who only indulge their passions. Every single person who has ever been created is unique, precious and unrepeatable. In the history of humanity, no one ever has been nor ever will be recycled. Every single person has a divine and mysterious mission, destiny and light to bring to the world.


Life is too short for the darkness of sin.

What appears to be glamorous- binge drinking and numerous sexual encounters- is most likely only a cover for a wounded heart, a heart that cries out to be loved and cared for in safety and truth.

When we do not know who we are, what our bodies mean and what it means to be a man or woman we can easily throw ourselves away, thinking we deserve no better. What is most sacred can be seen as a curse and what is to be cherished and preserved is easily trampled upon and tossed aside.

We were created for more. We long and we yearn for more.

Young people don't yearn for incurable STDs, drug addiction, loneliness and death- the fruits of the "freedom" MTV touts.

Young people do not yearn to be used as tools for someone else's pleasure, only to be discarded like kleenex when lust has run its course. This is, for sure, the only path that MTV promotes. They seem to be incapable of promoting any other path.

The human heart yearns for true love, the kind of love calls a person not to use another but to sacrifice themselves so the other person can live. The human heart yearns for communion, for relationship, for authentic truth and life. 

Why? because we are children of God. We were made in and for Communion and our longings on this yearn are a reminder of where we came from and where we are called to go.

True love always, always brings life.

Do we struggle with lust and sin on this earth? Yes. We will make mistakes and fall? Yes. But the beautiful thing is that that is not the end of the story. Darkness is not the end of the story. The Resurrection has the final say. Reconciliation is always possible and Jesus waits to bring us out of our misery- he lends his heart in compassion to our misery. We were not made for sin and death. We were made for life and love.

The choice is ours. What kind of people do we want to be?

Look within yourself and see. Ask yourself what your heart really longs for.

MTV, your new show does not shock me. It makes me sad. It makes me sad that you scrape the bottom of the barrel and call it typical teen behavior. It makes me sad that with your power and influence, you will lead teens to engage in this type of behavior because of the lies you promote. It makes me sad that you would use teenagers as actors in this show and destroy their soul in the process along with others.

Dont know you know that whenever a person engages in darkness, a little piece of them dies? Perhaps you do know this for it seems your agenda is death. 

You pass this show off as a pseudo-reality show when all it is is pornography.

You say this show is "mature"?


MTV, the young people of the world deserve much better. Don't insult them. 

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Fr. Santan Pinto, SOLT 1948-2011