"Mike Judge Is My Xanax"

http://www.vice.com/read/mike-judge-is-my-xanax-0000030-v18n11

The title of this interview isn't too far off from my own experience... I started re-discovering B&B partially because there was a point about two years ago where I needed to fall asleep to it in order to keep myself sane...

In this interview, Judge's commentary is insightful as always; but aside from this, I found myself getting annoyed with the interviewer, who chose to present himself as someone not too much younger than me, while mentally about twice my age... I was annoyed enough that it probably merits some quotes/commentary...

...the combination of pop culture’s current state of awfulness and the fact that internet commenting has turned young people into defensive pussies who never have to deal with retribution for their half-formed opinions...

How do you think kids who never watched the original series are going to react to the new show? I feel that the culture of this generation sucks so badly that they may be too far-gone to understand the nuances of Beavis and Butt-Head’s commentary. Or, more likely, I’m just getting old and crotchety.

How about MTV? It’s basically unrecognizable from the network it was 15 years ago, and it seems like only tweens and douchebags watch it now.

Maybe I'm out of touch and naive enough to really believe modern high school and college age people are diverse enough to pull their own weight, culturally... I'll be the first to point out the heavy emphasis on materialism that the media has pushed over the past ten years, evident in the obsession with Paris Hilton 6 years ago, and the Kardashians today, as well as MTV bullshit like My Super Sweet 16... There was materialism in the 80's and 90's too, but just not to this extent... And witnessing the horrible ways in which the 1% waste their money is a huge part of the reason why people around the world are finally angry enough to protest against economic mismanagement...

#OccupyWallStreet in itself proves that this interviewer is hugely out of touch. A lot of young people do stay informed... They're smart, and they do care. And believe it or not, some of those same people DO watch MTV for entertainment, and they DO enjoy shows like Jersey Shore. In fact, some of the smartest and most successful friends that I have adore Jersey Shore and never miss an episode. So I can't really speak badly about it. (However, the Kardashians are a different story... You have to be a reasonably mindless dumbass to gain any sense of entertainment value from that shit.)

I don't think it makes sense to generalize and discriminate against an entire age group just based on MTV. At one point, I might have agreed with this, but many recent experiences have proven otherwise. There have always been stupid people... There will always be stupid people. We haven't gotten any dumber... We're just as stupid as we've always been.

Can Beavis say “fire” again?
Yes, he can say “fire.”
Good. Kids need to burn more shit down these days.

smh... This guy is 29 by the way.

Speaking of YouTube, it’s about the only place where people watch music videos now. I don’t think MTV even shows them at 4 AM anymore.

Do your homework. Both MTV and MTV2 air videos for at least 6 hours every day for people who enjoy waking up to videos, and for insomniacs... It's called AMTV and it's been airing for over a year, from about 3AM until about 9AM every day... MTV2 still airs Subterranean and Headbanger's Ball. 120 Minutes recently returned also, and while it's not nearly as good as it was in the 90's, it's better than nothing. There are also at least three 24-hour video channels: MTV-U, MTV Jams, and MTV Hits. There's also VH1 Classic and Fuse... As you read this, music videos are actually airing on cable TV. I know it's hard to believe...

http://www.vice.com/read/mike-judge-is-my-xanax-0000030-v18n11