MTV MUSIC TELEVISION(R) GETS SERIOUS THE NEWS SHOW 'STRAIGHT FROM THE HOOD' LOOKS AT WHAT LIES BENEATH LLENGES ITS VIEWERS TO STOP EASILY ACCEPTING EXTERIOR IMAGES. THOSE INNER-CITY IMAGES WE SEE ON THE NIGHTLY NEWS AND CHALLENGES ITS VIEWERS TO STOP EASILY ACCEPTING EXTERIOR IMAGES.(Life & Leisure)

Byline: DIANE WERTS Newsday

It's a hard-hitting spot - this commercial-break message featuring an old white woman with a young black man's voice coming out of her mouth. She's talking about "the colored people taking over the white people of this nation" - "A lot of people are afraid of what will happen to them in a non-white America.

"Are you afraid?

"Are you lying?"

Pretty hard to just groove on the next Snickers commercial after this assault on complacency.

So who's shaking up the scene?

MTV.

Yep, the folks so often lacerated for their preoccupation with split-second images, sexual stereotypes and fun, fun, fun. They're into confrontation these days, too, with a campaign that challenges viewers to stop passively accepting exterior images and start actively examining what lies within their own souls.

"Free Your Mind" is the successor to MTV's red-hot "Choose or Lose" election-year campaign, which made the channel a centerpiece of the '92 presidential campaign. Between music videos from …