EDITORIAL TASTELESS PERFORMANCE SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW WENT WAY TOO FAR.

``SHOCKING'' is the word that many have used to describe Janet Jackson's breast-baring performance in the dreadful halftime show that marred Super Bowl XXXVIII.

But executives of CBS and the National Football League can hardly get away with their expressions of shock and outrage.

Jackson has made a career of exposing herself and her grinding - and grating - performance with Justin Timberlake should not have surprised anyone involved in the halftime fiasco. Did they think MTV producers were going to come up with a show suitable for the millions of children who likely would be watching the nation's biggest sports event?

Sex sells - that's a fact that can't be denied. It's a time-tested sales gimmick, the obvious way to grab a disinterested audience's attention.

Even now, four decades into the sexual revolution, our society remains obsessed with sex. It's why the Super Bowl was dominated by ads for impotency drugs and other businesses using scantily-clad models.

Television has pushed the standards to their limits and finally toppled any pretense of respect for common decency with the Super Bowl's tasteless exploitation.

One billion people around the world got to see American culture at its tawdry worst. Sadly, cheap thrills obscured a thrilling football game, but perhaps it will lead to some recognition among advertising and network executives that there are limits to the public's tolerance.