I am an artist and an alcoholic. Until 5 years ago I watched TV in every waking moment, to avoid doing anything else. When I was dried out I was very restless & couldn't sit still or concentrate on what had previously been rivetting stuff. In short I began to make things again, sculpture mainly. I have nothing against TV if that's what is the turn on - it isn't moral highground - it was just I found that booze & TV provide the illusion of activity where there is none. People often use programs as a conversation initiater - often a sentence will begin "Did you see ---?" Whenever I look at the listings there is really a fair amount of shit broadcast and repeated.
when i was raising my kids in the 70's i noticed that they were having alot of nightmares and when they would watch tv, especially something scarry, they would hide behind couches and furniture. i decided to give my tv away. the nightmares stopped and we started playing games as a family and talking and having alot more quality time together. didn't have a tv for many years, and i loved it. i would get rid of our tv's but my husband is a tv junkie. he leaves the tv on all night long, just for the sound of it. he said he started doing that in viet nam when he was in the military. the tv was the only thing that sounded out the bombs going off all night long. i don't mind watching tv if it's something interesting, or to learn from, but to keep it on all the time is mind warping. hippiewise
Yes that must be tough if you hate it - sometimes it is, or seems to be, a way of preventing an embarrassing silence. How can anyone even contemplate the notion of silence, or quietness - interesting about more family activities - how do you kids view that time from their perspective today? When I was a kid we played quite a lot of card games. Woland
TV is a tool used to disseminate propaganda as well as reduce the productivity of the lower classes. Noone is willing to deal with the real world's problems (in the broader/[inter]national sense) when they can choose to live in the relative safety of things like major league sports, which, like the gladitorial games in ancient Rome, are used to placate the masses.
I think it is such a wonderful tool that is being wasted. There is sooo much education that could be broadcast. There are wonderful things going on all over the world that could be shared in a tremendous way to a tremendous audience...but instead...soap opera's, reruns of what was crap in the first place, mass quantities of drivvle, brainwashing commercialism spouted to children in the guise of cookie crisp cereal(do people actually feed that shit to their CHILDREN???) It amazes me that TV is where most people get large amounts of their information.."saw it on the toob..must be true"... AAACCCKKK!!! Yes, Prof, who knows what lies within us if we choose to ignore it. As Timothy Leary said.."Tune in, turn on and drop out" yes. I know...but it pertains..hahaha My ex was also very addicted it seemed. One Thanksgiving I, of course, had been cooking a wonderful meal all day and he was sittting on his behind in front of that little box...we only had a 13 incher at that time(about 1978) and I called him to the table...that man unplugged the TV and carried it to the table. I said "My gosh, you are so hooked to that thing, you couldn't live with out it" He of course said "you're crazy". I said,"you would go nutz if I got rid of it". He.."no I wouldn't" Me...unplugs TV goes to front door, opens door and heaves TV out into the snow. 20 min later a knock on the door... Our next door neighbor comes in carrying TV and says.."Look what I just found out by the sidewalk". Me..."take it home" That little TV worked for at least 4 more years...you had to tilt your head a bit because the frame had cracked. Moral...you can try to kill the TV...but you cannot succeed as long as there are neighbors around to bring it back to life.
LOL great story Totally agree with all of you. We have a TV in our house (student accomidation), one each and a spare in fact. Which is terrible, I know. Have honestly never watched mine in the whole three months I've been here, don't know why it's even plugged in. Can easily go for days maybe even weeks without any TV at all. Just a habit, I don't watch things unless they really interest me [only watched the TV news, for the first time in years, a few months ago because I didn't have internet or funds for a daily newspaper], or to watch DVDs/movies with my housemates. You're right there is such utter crap on most of the time. Have better things to do (mostly waste time on the net, but meh). If there are things I want to watch they are usually part of series, so will just wait for the DVDs. No commerical breaks that way. When I do have my own place, I will have one TV purely to watch those on, because I like them and used responsibly and with intelligence I can't see the harm. Is it possible to just keep a TV for that purpose, not rigged up to receive a signal or anything?
Yes teepi Who knows what lurks? Tim Leary was not all wrong - It's sad that he became so Uncorked!! - Although that's the view I formed from where? TV of course It seems that when tycoons get rich as Cresus they often buy TV - Radio stations - Newspapers etc. Control of the means of communication is the first priority of any revolution. That's why the internet is so valuable
Just finished a book for class which contrasts TV with nature. Bill McKibben's The Age of Missing Information. He compares a day spent in the wilderness by his home to a day of TV. When I say a day of TV, i mean everything. He has friends tape all programming on every TV station he gets. As for TV, he sees it as a tranquilizer which doesn't make us that much happier, but it does put off our problems for another half hour. A lot of different themes and alot to think about. I'll never watch the box in the same way again; I'm thinking about giving up cable. Difficult to do while at college. Really cool book, highly recommend it for folks who sense something wrong with television but cannot articulate it.
By strange coincidence I can across 'Over-nite sensation' A Frank Zappa MOI album from circa 1968 one track sums TV up perfectly it's called "I'm the Slime" Woland
