Boxed In By an Idiot Medium

[Zoneboy]

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Television is called a medium because it's seldom well done - Fred Allen

ONLY 7 per cent of homes in Afghanistan have a flush toilet. But 19 per cent have a television.

It's a remarkable statistic considering owning a television was a crime under the Taliban less than a decade ago.

The "liberated" Afghans are now engrossed in much the same TV drivel that seduces the rest of the world -- soap operas, talk shows, imported crime dramas, cooking shows and, of course, Oprah.

There's even Afghan Star, the nation's version of Australian Idol.

There are more than 1.7 billion TV sets in the world, including 400 million in China. Watching TV is probably the most common pastime on the planet.

It certainly is the primary medium through which we see the world.

You might wonder why, because so much television is blindingly awful.

Writer Clive Barnes said television was "the first truly democratic culture" -- the first culture available to everyone and entirely governed by what people wanted.

"The terrifying thing is what people do want," Barnes said.

Television keeps the masses occupied. It is, as American architect Frank Lloyd Wright observed, "chewing gum for the eyes".

It's insidious. Especially the commercials.

US humourist Erma Bombeck said her children, when young, refused to eat "anything that hasn't danced on television".

Bombeck said by the age of six, an average child watching TV could learn skills such as how to prevent wetness all day long and get the laundry twice as white.

TV program maker Rod Serling said it was hard to produce a television documentary that was both incisive and probing when, every 12 minutes, the program was interrupted by 12 dancing rabbits singing about toilet paper.

TV certainly has the potential to produce worthy material. But it mostly doesn't. Instead, it comes up with a crass format and flogs it endlessly.

Imitation, as someone once said, is the sincerest form of television.

TV blurs reality. TV substitutes an artificial world in place of the real thing. It's most often a sanitised illusion created by about 300,000 coloured dots that aim to give us quick gratification. It titillates, manipulates, is addictive and sucks up time like a black hole.

People say they find watching the box relaxing. What's so relaxing about filling our heads with mindless rubbish?

There is some evidence the flickering light of the TV puts people into a sort of trance state where images and ideas pass into the brain without the normal censure of reason.

Imagine TV content in the hands of a tyrant. It would be a perfect tool of coercion, brainwashing and manipulation.

The reality is, of course, that TV content is largely in the hands of people who don't care what they feed you, as long as it sells.

Thus, we are served up the soft-porn shows such as Californication, the talk shows that use racism as humour, the sad madness of Jerry Springer and gross consumerism.

TV makes stars out of the mundane. It's unlikely that Princess Diana, Paris Hilton or her misbehaving Y Gen friends would have become so important without TV exposure.

"Television is not the truth," said pioneering TV writer Paddy Chayefsky.

"Television is a god-damned amusement park. Television is a circus, a carnival, a travelling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion tamers and football players. We're in the boredom killing business."

Ironically, perhaps. one of Chayefsky's best known scripts was for the satirical film Network, about a TV newsman who avoids being sacked by announcing that he will blow his brains out on air.

Even the man who invented the television technology wasn't a fan of the medium.

"The bloody thing works," said Philo Farnsworth in a telegram after the first successful TV transmission.

Like the inventors of the atom bomb, Farnsworth came to deeply regret what he had wrought.

"There's nothing worthwhile on it," he once told his son.

"We're not going to watch it in this household."

[dawsongirl]

I love TV, and there are good things on, but I do agree that a lot of it is crap and to blame for this influx of pathetic celebrities.

Having more than just 3 channels didn't help either really.

[Mr. Television]

Originally Posted by dawsongirl

I love TV, and there are good things on, but I do agree that a lot of it is crap and to blame for this influx of pathetic celebrities.

Having more than just 3 channels didn't help either really.

I agree. I like Tv too but it's far from perfect. We might have a lot more choices now as to what we watch but their's a lot more junk on it then ever before. I long for the old days. lol

Great article Zoneboy.

[OH Nuts!]

Regarding TV, take the best and leave the rest!

[Janice]

As corny as that "Family Table" campaign is that TV Land has been airing for years, there's a lot of truth to that. When I was a teen, I remember getting mad that the tv was on in the kitchen while we were having dinner. These days, I get aggravated if I have to compete for my husband's attention while he watches sports, The History Channel, Fearnet, or whatever. My mother called tv the idiot box. I think it often hampers communication between people.

[TJL]

Comparing the invention of TV to the invention of the atom bomb?

That's pushing it a bit.

I guess the author desn't see the television as a bringer of news, information and education.

No, we all just watch Springer and Temptation Island.

There's good in every medium, be it TV or music or literature. You praise what is of good quality, and hope that quality spreads.

[Brian Damage]

Originally Posted by Janice

As corny as that "Family Table" campaign is that TV Land has been airing for years, there's a lot of truth to that. When I was a teen, I remember getting mad that the tv was on in the kitchen while we were having dinner. These days, I get aggravated if I have to compete for my husband's attention while he watches sports, The History Channel, Fearnet, or whatever. My mother called tv the idiot box. I think it often hampers communication between people.

That's an excellent point, growing up, we were only allowed to watch a couple of hours of tv a day. I think if you watch too much television, it can take the place of talking or playing or whatever. TV is a great invention, no doubt, but so is interacting with other human beings. lol

[waichingliu81]

well, speaking as a brit, tv in the UK is just as bad as it is in the States. there is just as much garbage on the cable and satalite channels over here as there is stateside. very rarely do you find anything worth watching. its all mind-numbing crap, reality tv to name for example. that's why i watch all the old shows either on dvd or on the internet via sites such as youtube to name.

interesting article btw

[Ireneparalegal]

Originally Posted by Janice

As corny as that "Family Table" campaign is that TV Land has been airing for years, there's a lot of truth to that. When I was a teen, I remember getting mad that the tv was on in the kitchen while we were having dinner. These days, I get aggravated if I have to compete for my husband's attention while he watches sports, The History Channel, Fearnet, or whatever. My mother called tv the idiot box. I think it often hampers communication between people.

For me, growing up we turned off the tv in the living room or just lowered the sound so we were not distracted by the sound of what was on. I love the memories of us sitting there as a family and eating and chatting away.

Nowadays, it is not like that, but I try to re-create that memory by eating at the table with the tv off. From our kitchen, our living room tv can easily be seen. But, with everyone working different schedules, I tend to eat either alone or with my five year old son. We sit there and I chat with him abt school or something he loves, like trains or Orcas. On the rare occasion when my boyfriend is eating dinner (on his days off) he will sit at the table and watch the tv. It annoys me. I have kept the tv off, but he will want it on. I tell him the tv will go on when we are done eating.

[coffield3]

Originally Posted by waichingliu81

well, speaking as a brit, tv in the UK is just as bad as it is in the States. there is just as much garbage on the cable and satalite channels over here as there is stateside. very rarely do you find anything worth watching. its all mind-numbing crap, reality tv to name for example. that's why i watch all the old shows either on dvd or on the internet via sites such as youtube to name.

interesting article btw

Im the same! glad to see a brit with the same taste!

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by TJL

Comparing the invention of TV to the invention of the atom bomb?

That's pushing it a bit.

I guess the author desn't see the television as a bringer of news, information and education.

No, we all just watch Springer and Temptation Island.

There's good in every medium, be it TV or music or literature. You praise what is of good quality, and hope that quality spreads.

True, there are a lot of educational programs on channels such as the History Channel, Discovery, the Weather Channel, TLC, etc.
Also, breaking in with severe weather warnings has saved lives.