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TechnoratiA Powerful, Massive Protest: Diminish the Corporate Media's Power by Turning off Your TV for Good!
It pleases the Bush administration that the majority of Americans will not hit the streets of D.C. to protest their unconstitutional war crimes. They haven't time, but they would still like to do something to end the suffering. Well here's a way to significantly stop the corporate criminals that run this war without so much as stepping outside your home:
The mainstream media networks are not interested in educating the public. They are financially supported by the worst criminal polluters (oil & coal) and war profiteers (weapon contractors).
The corporate media network executives' goal is to dumb down the society. And to some extent, they've succeeded. That's why they're going after the web with a nasty vengeance because the web is the last vestige of democracy where people can learn the facts about the crimes that the Bush administration and their cronies are committing.
Thus the most effective way of diminishing the American Oil Thugs' power is to shut off the corporate media networks and read your favorite website news instead, like CommonDreams.org.
"That's all very well," you may argue, "but unrealistic because people rely on their TVs for entertainment and news. Furthermore, occasionally, an informative program will air from Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann or HBO films."
True, there are some good moments, but even Olbermann's show is 60% scandal sheet with MSNBC's intent of mingling fact with tabloid. I prefer to read or listen to his commentaries on the web. As for HBO, you can support their films when they appear in DVD.
If a million people here and a million people there began to shut them off, it would immensely weaken the corporate media's influential powers. In fact, millions of people have already made this decision by turning to DVD's, books, newspapers and the web for news and drama.
It seems absurd to complain about Paris Hilton and tabloid trash if you continue to watch the network news. If it makes you angry, then do something about it! Turn off your TV for good. If you use satellite or cable — STOP PAYING FOR IT. Trust me, you won't miss it. Indeed, you'll realize that it's a liberating experience because you'll no longer be contributing to the very forces that you oppose.
Most importantly, you'll be rebelling against the worst corporate thugs that own the White House and our Senate: the oil, coal, weapon and pharmaceutical corporations. The central networks are owned, via sponsorship and advertisement monopolies, by these same corporate thugs who are the policy-makers that now control our government.
There will always be greedy fools who want control over the world's resources and wealth. There will always be tyrants like Bush, Cheney and Gonzales. That's nothing new. But our history reveals that we used to have an honest press, journalists who would expose their crimes by performing their duty as Watch-Dog reporters. With the exception of a few individuals, those days are long gone in the world of TV news reporting.
The worst crime mainstream media has committed is CENSORSHIP. For example, there are people around the country who have stood up to this administration and their unconstitutional war policies, but you'll never hear their voices in the mainstream media. As the editor of Common Dreams wrote:
"The mainstream media doesn't tell you the hundreds of other similar stories from towns all over the USA. We rarely hear the voices of ordinary Americans, the voices of people just like those in Arrowsic.
Instead you hear from the John McCains. The Joe Liebermans. The retired General Talking-Heads who provide 'commentary' while on the payroll of the biggest military contractors." (Arrowsic Votes 71-17 to Halt War Funding; CommonDreams.org; 6-14-07)
The network reporters are far more immoral than the Bush cronies, given the role they've played in letting Bush off the impeachable hook at every critical turn since the Bush administration took office illegally through corrupt election practices such as massive Diebold cheating.
My decision came to shut off the TV once and for all when I saw NBC's White House reporter, David Gregory, dancing with Karl Rove on a stage. They're all working together.
In fact, the reason our politicians are sold out to the same corrupt corporations is because they have to buy expensive TV ad time. If the majority of people refused to pay or watch TV, it would diminish the corruption in politics. That's the central reason why we should turn off the TV for good.
The network sponsors encouraged Americans to support the Bush administration's most unconscionable policies from deliberate lies about connecting 9-11 to Iraq, to the belief that torture is acceptable, to the criminal lie of persuading the public that there is no connection between industrial oil-coal pollution and global warming. When Paris Hilton trumps CIA secret torture camps in the mainstream media, what more proof do we need? Turn it off for good!
Let's recall how the corporate network anchors glorified the mass bombing of innocent Iraqis with their televised cheerleading in the name of "shock & awe".
The best way to protest this unconscionable war and the media's irresponsible lies about global warming is to shut them down for good. Turn off your TV. It's an effective mass protest of powerfully diminishing corporate influence over our own lives and over the members of Congress.
Jacqueline Marcus' (jackiemarcus@justice.com) editorials and letters have appeared in the Washington Post, Salon, Slate, New Times, (San Luis Obispo, CA Cover story: "The Politics of Restraint"). Her poems have appeared in national university journals, The Kenyon Review, The Ohio Review, The Antioch Review and many more periodicals. Her book of poems, Close to the Shore, was published by Michigan State University Press. She teaches philosophy at Cuesta College and is the editor of ForPoetry.com
77 Comments so far
Show AllWow, it has never occured to me that there were no TV sets on the Enterprise. I guess it would be kind of boring for them to watch themselves. I think there are some good things on TV, but there is so much sh*t and in the end it is easier to just get rid of it because most people don't have the discipline and will to weed out only the good shows. If you REALLY care for your kids, you will look into this whole TV thing..
I've been TV free for 2 1/2 years now. It was HARD at first; having the television on all the time had become a habit. However, having broken free, I will never go back.
I always loved the fact that in the light-speed, high-tech, gadget-filled world of Star Trek there were no televisions. Being TV-free is the way of the future!
I stopped watching the boob tube waaaay back in 1980. Haven't had one since, don't miss it. I listen to NPR and indy broadcasts, read things like this online etc. and actually seek out the real news and the real truth. What do I do with my time? I put myself through a Bachelor's and a Master's degree program at a four-year university, produce art, and observe what's left of the natural world before the "tubers" use it all up.
I may catch a glimpse of some show or another on occasion when some place that is plugged in but I lose interest quickly out of disgust.
You ought to try it too.
At this date, June 2007, some 45% of the people in this country believe that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11. Since this is a ridiculous idea right on the face of it for the reasons all readers here know full well, what are we to make of it? That's right: it can only be that such widespread possession of misinformation originated with the Boob Toob. It is, quite concisely, an instrument of propaganda wielded by a rather small number of people whose scruples occupy a volume down around that of quarks. Those touched by the All Seeing Eye are, plainly, perverted, converted, misinformed, and possessed in major matters of those "truths," those "facts" that the corporate masters wish us to have. We Turned It Off now some years ago when we moved, having not restarted any cable service. We read more, and find ourselves appalled at the nonsense that comes our way from the Boob Toob as we are subjected to this swill whilst at the local health club attempting to exercise. blueorbz says, No way, can't happen that people will give up on TV. This is certainly true if we just plow ahead, steady as she goes. But I will make blueorbz a small wager. Suppose there were a public TV station in which a full round of news were presented on a daily basis from round the world, real on-site reporting, real discussion of issues. My wager is that people by the tens of millions would move to that site and pack in the network stuff. So here, then, is a goal for us as activists: to work with every pol we can get in touch with to implement BBC-style FULL news coverage on a nationwide public TV feed that was 100% free from ads. I fully believe that if a real alternative existed to the swill now found on network TeeVee, that very large numbers of people would desert that parched wasteland of tired ideas, dessicated cliches, and mirage-like repeats of images of the great troika of Hilton/Halloway/Smith. Real information could be provided to mitigate the situation that only 12%, TWELVE PERCENT! of people in the U.S. believe that humans are descended from other life forms. "Lucy, Schmoocy!" say the 88-percenters unless (more likely,) they say, "What's a comic strip character to do with matters of creation and evolution?"
I've hard this argument for the past 40 YEARS! Those who reach the conclusion to stop watching network TV programs do so based on their own experience, not because they heard someone else's opinion. Give it a rest. You're dreaming if you think the majority of U.S. "viewers" will heed your advice. They WANT to have news and entertainment injected into their nervous systems. It's probably IQ-related. By definition, there are 150 million Americans with below-average IQ. With a market that large, the networks can afford to ignore those of you who are trumpeting your decision to bail.
while wintering in Mexico for the last 15 yrs. we have had no t.v. I somewhat miss watching saturday night hockey but not much. returning to canada for the spring and summer I always return to the dish for about a month. The programing is so bad, the news so unimformed and so uninforming and the commercials so mindnumbingly awful that I turn it off for the rest of my time in canada. I guess it says something about me that I keep trying to return to t.v.
I don't think enough people will turn off their TV's to make a difference. How about turning off the the network news instead. I've done that and suffered no withdrawal pains from my TV addiction.
My folks, good hippies in the 60's, would only threaten once, and then follow through. So when I was 9 yrs. old, they warned me to turn off the TV or they'd give it away (I remember watching "speed Racer" at the time), and I ignored them, they "punished" me by trading away the TV for a couple hippie shirts the very next day. I then lived without TV until just before I graduated from High School in Alaska...where the only programming worth watching was Monty Python's Flying Circus.
I can't urge parents enough to simply NOT HAVE a television...and I tell you, after that, when my parents threatened punishment, I listened.
I was the best-read kid in school, I was the first kid able to ride down steps on my skateboard with steel wheels, I was outside constantly, immersed in my own imagination and creativity and to this day I am offended by just the SOUND of the TV which seems to be ALWAYS on at most of my fellow American's homes.
Good riddance, and thanks to my folks for a little less jello and a little more grey-matter.
For all of you who say you must have a TV to watch Democracy Now with Amy Goodman, I would offer you this link, if you have a computer and broadband:
http://www.democracynow.org/
You can watch her show every morning.
Kill your television!
Recommended reading: Four Arguments For the Elimination of Television by Jerry Mander, and Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. There are more reasons than corporate power to power down the boob tube.
I put the old "bunny ears" on my tv once a year to catch the simpsons halloween special, then take them back off.
Online news and DVDs for me.
Bravo! You have discovered that there is an off switch on the boob toob. I turned my TV off many years ago. Aside from the lies,and distortions,the News is presented in a similar format as game shows. As far as the entertainment offered, it has gone from bad, to worse to, pathetic. It is so much better to read a good book, listen to good music, of just visit with family, and friends. All of the worlds newspapers are at your disposal on the Internet. It offers so much more than television or your local News Papers ever could. If you want to watch TV, rent a DVD. Many Public Library's have them for free. You can get theatrical performances, concerts, documentaries, and tens of thousands of wonderful Hollywood Movies. I must admit that I would love to see the Fascist Propaganda Machine Television squashed, but turning off the tube is also a form of self improvement. I think in giving up watching the crap that television offers, you will find that the alternatives are so much better. It will be better for your children, physically, and mentally. They can move their butt's away from the tube, and they can start doing better things with their time. With the money you save on your cable TV bill, you can take your family out to dinner once a month. Say good by to television, and hello to a more enjoyable, and fuller life.
Ditched cable months ago...haven't been happier. Everything we want is available online in one form or another. Fuck the MSM bitches. If I want to watch whores I'll hit some porn.
to expatincibu:buy the dvds of SEINFELD with the money you save from paying for cable. There are a lot of extras you don't normally get, you watch them when you want and NO COMMERCIALS!
Better yet, block the crappy channels and tell your cable provider you have blocked them. Then watch c-span and The Daily Show, Colbert, and other good shows when they show up. The cable companies know how much advertising money is being wasted when millions of us aren't watching. Also press them for customized service plans where we get to select and pay for only the channels we want.
You all have great ideas! I agree with being very selective about what you watch if you have a T.V. like watching Amy Goodman for news, for local news I read my local newspaper once a week. I have to admit I also enjoy Colbert, Stuart, some nature shows and well written comedy dramas like Nothern Exposure. These are very rare and have fewer and fewer episodes.T he one like now is Ugly Betty, it is a good send-up of the fashionistas. The commercials, I laugh at, some are really gross.
The worst thing is the way T.V. is constantly forced on you, wherever you go. I can understand having one blaring in sports bar, but it really angers me when they have then blaring in doctors offices, hospital waiting rooms and patient's rooms. My Mom was in the hospital dying and someone kept turning on the stupid T. V., which of course, I turned off as soon as I entered the room. God forbid, these places would think of having some soothing, healing music instead!
Many of you have mentioned T.V.'s notorious influence on children. I was a children's librarian for many years and I considered it one of my main tasks in life to show daycare providers how much fun and what great benefit it was to read to kids and do crafts with them rather than plopping them in front of a T.V. to watch cartoons. This is something parents should keep in mind when choosing a daycare.
I think the root of the problem is the constant need most people have to be distracted, rather than having the courage to look at their own thoughts (through using meditation and relection) and the consequences of their choices in life.
Here's my two cents:
There are still a lot of places in this country where broadcast media like TV and radio are the primary media available to people. I don't have access to cable or high speed internet because they are just not services any company offers in my area. I think it is a little unrealistic for people with access to large libaries with video collections and lots of different media sources to expect people to turn off their TV's as a form of political protest. Espcially if those same people who are bragging about not watching television have the money to buy or rent DVD's of all the shows they are supposedly not watching while telling stories about only watching Discovery and PBS and the History channel. (For the record, I find the programming on all three to be spectacularly idiotic, and I'd rather spend an evening watching some silly crime dramas that at least have cute actors and actresses than any of the slow-paced, empty-content shows on public television. What happened to all those classical music concerts and Shakespeare and all that good stuff that used to be on PBS, anyway? I tried to see what was on the other night and there was a show about a boatload of prostitutes. Talk about "dumbed down." Sheesh!)
Do I think that network TV content could be better? Of course, I do. Every morning, I turn on the major networks to get the two or three minutes of news they offer and call it good and spend the rest of breakfast watching some news websites load, very slowly.
But the thing is, I'm lucky enough to live close enough to TV stations that I can get free television with an antenna. Where I lived before, you "needed" cable to get even the network broadcast stations. I got rid of it more for economy than political reasons, but I am really pleased to be able to have local TV without having to pay for it. A LOT of people don't have that option, and before people get all self-righteous about getting rid of cable, asl yourselves: Would you be able to cut yourself off like that if it meant not having access to local news anymore, or even weather reports?
Show me the low-cost, wide access alternative media alternative to television -- and it's not the Internet, folks -- and I'll jump right on board the anti-TV bus with you
This article is great... 100% right on...! HOWEVER, in this and all the other articles like it, they deal in a fantasy world in that they are thinking they are shaking the people with... MEDIA MANIPULATION AND TV!!!
YES... this is true... but even MORE PAINFULLY TRUE is the fact that the Media has effectively (and for a long time now), been using SUBLIMINALS!!! This only exponentaly compouds the so called "problem" of media dumbing down! Please... let's not go so far into the self-limiting world of Media (TV dumbing for example), and not realize that the real threat lies moreso than ever in what we are not even consciously aware of! If you want to talk about Media control and those who would abuse it... LOOK THERE! Karl Hosch wrote on this in the Freemarketnews.com... link
http://www.freemarketnews.com/Analysis/243/7055/medium.asp?wid=243&nid=7055. Be wary of the Media, like a fox and don't put anything beyond a group that has taken so much, right before our open eyes! Like Mr. Hosch said... If we don't rethink our WHOLE approace to a very devious Media then all the lip-flapping about the "dumbing down" and the efforts of trying to solve The War In Iraq, Gobal Warming, Healthcare, Corruption, etc.... will merely end up being a pure waste...
"The corporate media network executives' goal is to dumb down the society."
Amen!
Thanks Ms. Marcus for that excellent article!
Americans are lazy..slothful..mostly stupid..selfish..yes those are our finer qualities. We will not now or ever give a big enough damn to do anything to make a difference in or improve our lives...it's just too much trouble.
max
you make good sense.
Feels like a revival camp meeting here. All these testimonials about overcoming sin and the wiles of Satan! or Big Brother. Same thing.
Mercy!
Don't be scared of tv.
Television is a MIRROR. If you learn how to navigate, you can find your own image there, just like you do cruising the internet. FSTV. LinkTV. UCTV. Amy Goodman and Democracy Now alone is worth a subscription to DISH Network. The impact of a television image is a quantum leap over printed articles here.
Turning off the telvision is the equivalent of book burning. You don't want to hear their crap, you don't want your kids to hear their crap. You can't cope so you withdraw into a holier-than-thou anti-tv cult. You throw out the baby with the bath water. You cut off your nose to spite your face.
Why? Because you don't know how to watch tv in the first place! You lack discipline and you are unsure of your own beliefs and values.
TV is a mirror, friends. It shows you an America you don't like. TV didn't create that America. How you respond to ideas and people you don't like says more about you than it does about ideas and people you don't like.
h2SO4: You're a scream! Love that Lieberman suit. Fir for the female form, too, is it? You should manicure this idea, come on stage with a little TV and DO a TV repair man sketch. It's HIGH art and good stand-up comedy basis! Plus... think of the minds you will save! (I've always wanted to do stand up, but fear I'd lose the lines on stage... not a funny prospect.) And to the person arguing against turning off the TV to retain Seinfeld: Become Seinfeld! Write your own comedy. The modern world's daily tragedies are the stuff, that once inverted, make for great comedy. This is why the Greeks were savvy enough to design TWO masks. Life itself simulates the bipolar worldview these days as these extremes are definitely becoming amplified!
It's ridiculous to expect people to turn off TV. Would anyone expect people to turn off the Internet, (which contrary to one poster here, will likely be considered the greatest mass media "manipulator" in history)? Blaming TV is blaming the messenger. I agree with others who understand it's not what you watch but how you watch that matters. Boycotting corporate sponsors is one method (and let those sponsors and programmers know why you're boycotting). Congratulations to those who have eliminated or reduced TV from their lives. However, you're missing some good stuff. Bill Moyers for one--he know how to use television to good effect, but he also uses other media, as we all do. Turning off TV while still using newsprint, radio, and the Internet is like foregoing beef but eating chicken and calling yourself a vegetarian.
I shut the propaganda hour off for the last time on November 3, 2004. Before then, it had been a habit to keep the TV blatting away while I worked in the kitchen and I'm not sure how much of it I actually watched. I finally turned it off because I realized that all the repetition of GOP talking points combined with the constant lying by omission was just bad for my head.
We are all in the forefront of a very disorganized mass movement. Networks have noticed they're getting fewer viewers. As yet, they haven't realized the problem is the message. However, their poll numbers rival Cheney's in believability. People are just tuning out. The cognitive dissonance is just too much.
The evening news habit (and that's what it is, really) was a lot easier to break than I thought it would be. I tuned into Couric the first week, sound off, just to see the appalling cosmetic changes, but that's it. She lasted less than 5 minutes.
Eventually the networks will realize either they have to change the message back to a truly informative news broadcast or they will have to bite the bullet and broadcast swill without sponsors. My guess is that it will be the latter.
In the meantime, the more they chirp about how great the economy and the war are going, the more they discredit themselves and the more of us there will be out in TV land with the box off or showing entertainment.
I keep the box and the satellite around for old movies. It's amazing how little I have missed the evening propaganda hour.
I have been repairing TV's for profit since 1960. I stopped watching the s**t in 1970. Now, I can't sit in front of a TV tuned to corporate broadcasts without reflexively reaching for the nearest axe. The most difficult part of fixing TV's is dealing with the idiots who still watch it. Bartenders complain about drunks too. I can always instantly tell the smart customers, those people who only use TV as a tool with a video source THEY control, from the drooling droids who watch the broadcast rubbish. JUST CUT THE CABLE, SMASH THE DISH, AND PULL DOWN THE ANTENNA. Your brain is too valuable to destroy. TV is dead, dead, dead. Digital TV is not worth buying. It is a stillborn child of brain-dead corporate parents. If you really require entertainment, realize that since you have a computer, you can actually USE IT. Compile a library of useful information (video, audio, DVD's, whatever) and rely on that when you are bored. Go ahead, download and copy anything you like. Pirate at will. Rent DVD's from N**flix and copy them. (Since ripping is much faster than watching, you can return them in the same day's mail and get more really fast!) This activity hurts only the media and software corporations, which have to die anyway before the world can live again. There is NOTHING you have to buy, software, music, videos, books, you can download or pirate it ALL! DVD's are simple and cheap to copy, and software to do this is available free everywhere. Check out BitTorrent and other P2P solutions. Make sure to send donations to open source and shareware software providers. NEVER BUY copy protected software, only pirate it, or choose better non-corporate titles. Don't buy computers from the major computer companies. Build your own, or use the services of a local system builder (the result will be better, cheaper, and more able to be upgraded) and the profit will stay in your own community longer. Use pirated software or open source, free software. If everyone started to do this, the media companies would rapidly die and there would be hope for humanity. Think of piracy as a protest action. Do it as a patriotic effort. Go ahead, dump the tea in the harbor. But this time, leave your Indian disguise in the closet. You can pirate in the nude, if you like, although a Joe Lieberman costume is highly suggested. Personally, I think all music reeks to high heaven, and hate movies, preferring to go outside and have real experiences, but this easier approach to entertainment is not for everyone. My music and video collection consists of a DVD of test patterns and reference level audio tones. So, summing up, I suggest either rampant piracy or complete abstinence. Spending money to support this garbage and its criminal purveyors, however, is RIGHT OUT. You might have to buy gas to get to work, but you don't have to make Rupert Murdoch richer to keep yourself awake. You don't have to poison your kids with Disney's fecal matter either. Think of the corporations' output as an effluent stream. Simply find a way to purify this (by removing their profit), or drink elsewhere.
I've done it. For two years now. I was a TV addict and guess what? Getting "clean" and "sober" was much easier than watching CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS' Newshour, and the rest slide down the sleazy tubes to corporate destruction.
My news today comes from the Internet and from personally chosen magazines; my entertainment comes from reading, hobbies, and out-of-the-house enjoyments like dining, plays, movies. I feel happy, joyous,and free!
Our solution has been to disconnect our antenna, not get Cable. We do watch DVD's-which we either buy or rent from netflix.
TV in our house is :
1) an educational feature
2) an entertainment feature
Many nights our kids just want to do something other than watch a DVD-last night we played a board game for example.
When I bought a house and lived alone, I bought cable because I thought there might be a time when I was bored and lonely and wanted to watch. Two years later, my husband-to-be moved in, tried turning it on and discovered that it didn't work. They hadn't hooked it up right. My husband was used to Tv as a constant background noise. This isn't a morality tale - our oldest daughter turned 15 yesterday and I've never for a moment regretted my choice. But it has been difficult divorcing the Tv and staying married to the person.
One escape I'd found was to a local hermitage. But the contrast, when I came back, was too depressing. So I moved all the Tv's to a separate building we call the garaj mahal. There are pros and cons to the arrangement. I had a Tv-free house, which stayed clean since the kids went out there whenever they were allowed free time. But there's little oversight to what they watch. My 8-yr-old says that Tv's a drug that makes her sulky when it's turned off, but she replicates the results to this theory daily. Tv also trains kids in the sassy put-down - if it's funny, it's okay, even if it's mean. You can see the withdrawal time it takes to get kids back to being nice after it's turned off - about an hour.
Now, a 9" Tv has crept back into the house, so we can tell what channel Sirius music is on. It's become another constant battle to get it turned off, again and again and again. The problem is that Tv is an invasive medium - you can't have it on without taking up the whole area within eyesight and earshot. The effects on our kids, in terms of making them not want to do anything else, (especially the youngest) are evident to my husband whenever he wants to play ball or go for a bike ride with them. But that doesn't seem to be enough.
I know that we're not the only couple divided over this issue. Has anyone else tried a solution that worked?
mwildfire: Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience. Luminous.
Frank Zappa - I'm The Slime Lyrics from album "Overnite Sensation",
says it best for me.
[backing vocals Tina Turner & The Ikettes]
"I am gross and perverted
I'm obsessed 'n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little has changed
I'm the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you
I may be vile and pernicious
But you can't look away
I make you think I'm delicious
With the stuff that I say
I'm the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I'm the slime oozin' out
From your TV set
You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don't need you
Don't go for help . . . no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold
That's right, folks . . .
Don't touch that dial...."
We shut off the TV ten years ago. We watch Democracy Now on-line and if we want to see a movie there is Netflix otherwise there are an amzing number of good books (remember those) waiting to be read. Peace!
This may sound off-topic, but bear with me. I do a lot of research on first-century Judaism and Christianity, where I've come to the startling conclusion that everything in the Bible is backwards - twisted around. Those called thieves and demon-possessed were the revolutionaries who laid down their lives for others. Judas the Gallilean was the father of the Christ, and Josephus was the real traitor. The Christ was inclusive, the wisdom of the whole, like the concept of the Tao. Jesus, however, was the symbol of the exclusive Christ - God's only begotten Son, which made us stepchildren. Jesus was innocent, but we were guilty, and the Jews were really guilty. The story of Jesus destroyed our faith in each other, which was the real faith in the Christ. This inclusive Christ had freed Judea from the Roman Empire, but the story of Jesus coincides with the Jerusalem siege and their re-enslavement. It's no accident that empire has gone hand-in-glove with Christianity. The story of Jesus rendered real Christianity impotent, which was just what the Roman Empire intended when they wrote it.
When I've presented the facts backing up these far-fetched claims, no Bible scholar has been able to give a different explanation. Their reason for rejecting the possibility comes down to the belief that first-century peasants were too simple-minded and stupid to have followed a sophisticated discourse in allegory, that makes our heads hurt just thinking about it. So finally, I'm coming back to TV. I think that first-century peasants had the capacity for deep thought and real conversation, and the ability to follow a complex, abstract argument, which we've lost due to the 30-minute moral and the sound-bite. We don't have time to work through the symbolism and deep-dive on a breakthrough concept - we're jet-skiing over the surface of meaning and zipping on to the next sensory thrill. Civilization, over 2000 years, has only dumbed us down. I could care less about getting back at the media giants - it's my thimble-sized soul I'd like to get back first.
Sometimes I feel the need to watch the news to see what my friends and family are having to endure. It helps remind me that they are not completely evil people when they advocate something such as military intervention in Iraq or Iran, but more victims of a larger propaganda model.
As long as my TV is not registered in the Neilsens, nobody knows what I am watching anyway. But hey, I do agree that the less TV watched the better.
Turn off my TV? You mean I can't watch Free Speach TV and Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!? NOOOOO!!!
On the other hand, years ago I used the parental blocking tools on my sat dish to block all of the American corporate news\propaganda channels. That was a major improvement in my life.
First off, it removed a source of irritation. I tend to get mad watching corporate news because I know just exactly how crappy it is. Blocking those channels so I never even surfed by them casually was a big improvement, and probably lowered my blood pressure.
Also, its amazing how the world looks different when you don't have that crap coming into your head. I get plenty of news from sources I trust on the internet, and a few on TV I trust like FSTV. What's missing is all the stupid BS. Every once in awhile I show my social ignorance by asking "who is this Anna Nicole Smith that everyone is talking about?" But that's an easy price to pay for not being brainwashed into thinking Iran is building intercontinental nuclear missiles that can attack America any day now.
I wouldn't say turn off all TV, because there is good stuff out there. Of course, I'm usually not one who goes for sledgehammer types of solutions. But you definitely should be very selective about what you turn on. And definitely lose the habit of having it on by default. How many hours of TV get watched when there really isn't anything on people want to watch? That should go real fast.
BTW, to the comment I see above. You can get much more, better and more accurate information from an hour on the internet than from an hour of watching American tv. So, if time is tight, TV should be the first to go. That's an argument to turn it off, not an argument to keep it on.
Can I keep watching Seinfeld reruns? Please?
Everyone who is afraid/too stubborn/too addicted or to stupid to turn off their TVs:
Try giving up TV for two weeks. This is the same advice I offer students addicted to cheese, soda pop, caffeine, and the myriad of addictive substances in our culture. Two weeks will give you a chance to monitor the physiological, emotional, and intellectual impact that television has on you. When you no longer marinate in the incessant advertisements between and during shows, you might see how anxious those ads make you feel. You might realize that your body craves activity rather than inactivity. You might reopen some of those social ties you let crumble. You might regain a shred of your humanity.
It's only two weeks--not a lifetime commitment. What can it hurt?
You all might be interested in listening to the podcasts of Ron Kaufman:
http://turnoffyourtv.libsyn.com/index.php?
and read some of his thoughts at:
http://turnoffyourtv.com/
He's a genuine individual who expresses many accurate and intelligent ideas about the media and so forth.
He influenced my decision to pull the plug.
I was walking through the aiport in Detroit last week where they have those humungous screens that broadcast CNN ad naseum. I wasn't looking at the TV but just walking through the airport. Just the same I could hear the faux made up, model like, faux broadcaster blurting out her blather over the air. As I walked, I heard her ask the question to a co-anchor, "Should Harry Reid be criticizing the top general during a time of war?" The question struck me like a piece of lightning. All of a sudden it seemed like my eyes just opened up to what is going on in the media. Suddenly, I realized how the corporate media manipulates us all through the use of faux questions that are actually statements. What was being said on CNN wasn't a journalistic inquiry but a carefully crafted piece of propaganda meant to undermine Harry Reid and subtlely suggest that perhaps he wasn't patriotic enough or maybe even a traitor for speaking out against the war and the people conducting the war. I thought to myself, "To think that I watch that crap all the time. I've got to get rid of my TV." After I came home I thought about getting rid of TV all weekend. After reading this article I talked it over with my wife and we both agreed it was time to unplug for the TV. I called my cable company and we are now unhooked from Television.
Turning off the TV is an excellent idea! Many of us use it as form of escapism to reduce stress, and wind up getting dosed with "psychological junk food." The news media is always trying to pump us up about something, presumably those issues which concern corporate America, or issues intended to distract us from more relevant concerns.
I've been living without cable TV for over a decade now, and I'm still here.
Most of Bill Moyer's programs are still aired on PBS, and I do still have access to KQED television via a regular over-the-air broadcast.
But mostly, in the evenings the television set becomes a monitor for the DVD system.
My surfing days are free from switching between advertisements, and confined to the web searching for information.
Einstein: Excellent points, thanks for sharing them. Frank, I'm happy (and feel liberated) without TV, but the boycott idea is a sound one!
Wrong. Turning off the TV is not the answer - it's not all bad, and most of us 80%ers do not have the time to sit in front of the screen and read for an hour or two.
No, the answer is to boycott the sponsors, advertisers and enablers. First, cancel cable, satellite, etc. - there's nothing there you cannot rent or download. Second, before you cancel the cable, watch FOX and make a note of who supports them, then develop your new hobby, called "Not buying crap from FOX sponsors." And don't bother shooting for a hundred percent - we all gotta eat.
Remember - no money to sponsors means no support for sponsored shows which means no shows. That is the only gauge they have re: viewership - the so-called ratings duopoly is rigged, as any TV insider knows.
But since most Americans are clinically addicted to TV and will never, ever give up the big screen or the TIVO, the real boycotts should be targeted, overwhelming and short-lived, because our pandemic ADD inhibits our capacity to remember who to boycott and for how long. One at a time - that's something all can handle. For example: no EXXON for a month. That's about $5 billion in profit gone, and all one has to do is drive to the station next to the Exxon. How many Common Dream regulars buy Exxon without even thinking about it? Most, for sure.
A single, targeted, massive boycott will send the message loud and clear: it's our money - if you want it, do the right thing, or we will mobilize and cut off your blood supply. And when other evil corporations see that we're not f**king around, they will bend to our will in order to continue their money addiction.
Adults shouldn't have to turn off their TVs - they should be mature enough to cherry pick the good in moderation.
Haven't watched TV for at least 15 years. Prior to that hardly ever owned a TV. Had one for about 2 years once. Lived in Europe without TV much earlier. Come to think of it hardly watched any TV during my adult life and much of my pre-adult life.
TV is to the mind, what smoking commercial cigarettes is to the body. As soon as you quit smoking cigarettes, you automatically get healthier as circulation instantaneously starts to improve, and poisons are not ingested.
Quit watching TV, and your intelligence increases, as you begin to think and feel independently. In fact, feeling and thinking are increased. Interaction with your real environment increases. TV is an addiction for many people.
It is especially harmful to children.
TV makes people mentally and physically passive. It kills creativity and initiative. And it fills your head with corporate financed pseudo pop culture designed to brainwash and stupify children, parents, the elderly, young consumers and all voters.
TV is mind pollution.
Basically, corporate America gives you free or relatively inexpensive entertainment in exchange for a piece of your mind: Slowly, but surely corporate America fills your mind with garbage in the form of dishonest advertising, advocacy and faked journalism (mostly advertising today).
TV takes over a larger and larger piece of your mind; you lose your peace of mind.
Non-TV addicts, people unaddicted and not used to television programming find it repulsive, physically and mentally.
The acid test comes when such a person goes on the road and has a chance to watch TV at a hotel. It is simply phenomenal how absolutely worthless the programming has become. There's nothing to watch.
But, this is now becoming common knowledge. The people who are quitting TV are doing the "in" thing. Those who aren't quitting TV and corporate produced movies are simply behind the times.
I stayed with a friend for a month or so while I waited for mortgage approval and this individual has to have TWO TV's on at the same time (madness to me!) She had retired and lamented how she'd be paying her bills, while telling me her cable TV bill was $47 a month. I made her do a little inventory of what she GOT for that $, taken on an annual basis, the savings would constitute a nice trip somewhere. It was shopping channels, Discovery (OK), NBC, ABC, C-span (only thing I miss) and The Weather Channel (living in Florida, it's necessary, but CAN be gotten via the Internet); Christian networks, and re-runs on other channels. SELDOM a new show! I feel liberated NOT spending the $, and also read a great deal more.
As an adjunct to the idea of boycotting TV, perhaps we should do what we can to organize a nationwide DO NOT BUY anything for JULY 4. IF people really stopped buying things and the protest (via the pocketbook) began to last, merchants would feel the pinch, and our government is indebted to the merchant caste. I buy clothing at thrift shops and find AMAZING designer stuff for about 1/20th its new price. I bring a cloth bag to the supermarket so as not to run up plastics. There are little things we can and should do. BOYCOTT the merchants...
I turned off my Dish subscription on 6 June of this year and am now 100% a Netflix baby.
I'm jonesing a little, to tell the truth, mostly for my wacky cartoons. I'm having to adjust my Netflix queue a bit in response. It's working out, though, and I'm not about to go back.
Spread the word! I am.
I turned off my TV the day I heard Geraldo ask the x-Shah of Irans' son when he thought democracy might return to his country. Why pay to have bullshit flood my home? I am definately happier without it. I can watch DVD's to my heart's content and get my news from the internet.
Interesting plan, but how would I keep up with American propaganda if I didn't tune in to Wolf Blitzer and Lou Dobbs every day? Without CNN, the tabloid cable news channel, I would have to undertake a Chomsky-style reading regime. And who has time for that? Besides, CNN is one of those un-asked-for extras that comes with my cable package.
Our family watches no network TV except evening news (and that is with a very jaundiced eye) to keep up with what is going on in our state and get a feel for how "news" is being packaged to the masses. The Daily Show, sometimes Colbert Report, Real Time w/Bill Maher, and Countdown w/Keith Olbermann is the normal fare. We don't feel the need to deny ourselves the programming we enjoy -- HBO movies, Sundance channel, French Open Tennis, Science Channel,History Channel,etc. And the commercials? Hah, I think we're immune because it mostly results in derision and dismissal if we should happen to forget to fast-forward through them with the DVR. What is required is simply a skeptical and discerning eye. If you raise your children to question everything they see on television, and to never presume that the information is true or accurate (although it occasionally is) and always assume that commercials are lies, well, they'll be OK too. If you haven't seen the occasional rubbish, you have no credibility to criticize it to your less discerning acquaintances.
I gave up the teevee exactly five years ago. It was one of those most radical things I've ever done. Initially, I wondered if I'd really be able to live without it. In about one month, I wondered how I was able to tolerate watching it all those many years. I feel amazingly free from the spin, the ads, the dumbness, the superficiality, the lies, the........
I have become a huge reader, a political animal, and in my humble opinion, way more educated. I cannot imagine ever going back to the teevee culture.
Friends STILL cannot stop asking me, "Did you see such-and-such on the teevee?" and for the millionth time, I have to answer, "remember, I gave up teevee." Sadly, no one I know yet has followed my lead. But I am thrilled with my decision!
Blaming the media is such a copout.
Especially with blatant lies(or opinions that can not be proven to be more accurate with my words) like this
"The corporate media network executives' goal is to dumb down the society"
The goal is to make money, which should not be a requirement for news departments, not the intentional dumbing down of society.
Where "the media" is creating the problem lies in the business models and structures that force the news division to be profitable.
The dumbng down is just a bonus side effect, but not the goal.
We unplugged the tv over 16 years ago, and it's one of the best decisions we've ever made. Our children have greatly benefitted from not growing up with tv. They've been spared all the commercials for junk food and trashy toys. Instead of someone else's ideas dominating their heads, they have their own creativity and their own ideas about the world.
I've had friends comment about how "culturally illiterate" I am. Yeah! I haven't seen one minute of "American Idol", and didn't even know what it was about until a few months ago. Some of these things come in by osmosis. I wish I could figure out how to stop that leak. Those same friends, though, have never read Dickens, nor listened to Smetana, nor gotten to know the constellations or cloud types, and all that other stuff you have time to do when you're not zoned out and becoming culturally literate.
Long live cultural illiteracy!
I took a broadcasting class once where we were told that cable companies would often leave cable running to your house, even if you cancelled it, so that they could claim you as a viewer when seeking advertising dollars. I had cable free for five years, in spite of my many complaints to the cable company that they had not shut it off. We live in a neighborhood that is comprised of young college students, and I suppose that gets a pretty good buck from the advertisers. I have a sibling in a poor neighborhood in a big city. When she cancelled her cable it was shut off the next day! The cable company never did shut off the free cable to my house (maybe they just knew I needed all the indoctrination I could get and they were giving me free cable for the good of the country). It took a tree falling and ripping the cable out from the inside of our house to finally have it gone. Wish I'd thought of that on my own, but the natural environment is reaching out to do its own part in the war against Corporate Consumer Culture. Thank you, Mother Nature.
The point is, a boycott of cable would hurt a powerful lobby. If they are pleased to give the stuff away (to the right people, of course), they must gain a lot by giving it. Opting out, en masse, would surely bring some notice. It is a punch the industry would feel. And it would take away the direct line for putting propaganda into your home.
Since getting rid of television, my anxiety about the world has relaxed. I don't wonder if terrorism in the US might be a real possibiity. I don't worry all the time about things that have nothing to do with my life. I am not threatened by Islamic Fundamentalists in the world, nor do I have paranoid, television induced paranoia suggesting it might, secretly, be otherwise. I am more involved with my neighbors and less involved in the lives of Joey and Chandler. I am not STILL watching Bo and Hope on Days of Our Lives. I don't know what American Idol IS (but, boy, people sure don't believe me when I say I've never seen it! Seems like potential cult material). I no long watch Law and Order and believe that our system of law is just. I don't watch CSI to remind me that there is no escape from justice, should I dare to step outside the bounds of the law. Most of all, war drums don't play in head, twenty four hours a day. I don't have interested agents working 24/7 to make me FEARFUL of EVERYTHING, from to Iran. Turn off your television and turn on your life. It is really quite nice.
Watch TV. Pay attention to what's advertised there, and don't buy any of it.
This is a great idea. I'll do it as soon as they run "Nature", "The Simpsons", "Bill Moyer's Journal", "How It's Made", HBO series and specials, some Discovery Channel programs and the like online. Meanwhile I try to watch this stuff "On Demand". But it looks like a matter of time before the money-power takes control of the Internet too, unless the people can take control of our corporate government.
I stopped watching TV in 1988, the same year that I left America. Two of the better decisions in my life.
Hoa binh
You made an excellent point about TV contributing to the subversion of our political system, and that if we simply turn it off we can effectively impose campaign finance reform on the unwilling politicians. As a long time proponent of eliminating private campaign financing, I love your idea.
I haven't watched TV for years. I do watch Jay Leno sometimes – did just last night – but through the air waves. I do watch TV shows on DVD, but I watch older shows that portray the America I once knew. And I read a lot of books.
I obtain all my news from the internet, and you're right: this whole "controversy" about net neutrality is simply about corporations wanting to control the internet and the dissemination of information therein. The internet is simply too free a forum for the powers that be. It's got to be controlled, and sadly, it likely will be. I remember the days when people operated computer bulletin boards. We may end up going back to something similar, although hopefully more modern, in order to freely distribute information.
One thing you failed to mention is how liberating it is to not be bound by the TV schedule, especially when watching TV shows on DVD. With DVD, one can watch a show anytime they feel like it. I would love to see TV programs offered on demand. That is, you could watch any program, going back decades, any time you wanted. In some ways both DVDs and the internet enable this, but it would be so much more convenient and comprehensive if it could be done through the TV. In addition, programs could have two prices: one with, and one without commercials. That way, people who didn't want to watch or support commercials could simply pay a little more. I'm not sure if such a system would be supported by the TV providers, nor how long they would continue to support such a system if it were ever offered. I remember when cable TV first became available. One of the promises of cable TV was "no commercials," since after all, you were paying for it. Well, how long did that promise last?
Dave
I too have essentially not watched tv for years now. I do have a weakness for watching reruns of Seinfeld however.
When visiting family members, I find it very hard to be civil when in the same room with them as they watch network news programs--so I have to leave the room. It is not that I am bothered by my family members, but I can't stop commenting openly back to the commentators on tv. It isn't pretty.
Also, my family members have no interest in my objections to watching network television. So, I just keep quiet about it. They haven't a clue ... and don't want one! Also, I find much if not most of the programming incredibly booring.
I sometime fantisize about alerting the media of my disaproval and threaten a personal boycott ... but alas, I have years ago left the capitalist-media-consumer rat race, if indeed I had ever joined it. I wouldn't be missed.
Yes, Orwellian Telescreens are very effective and have reached their highest pinnacle with the computer--They don't know what you're watching on TV, but They DO know what you're reading online, an inconvenient truth that's almost never discussed.
Tv does provide interesting insights into what the mass of the country's become and the direction the elite wants to move them. Especially revealing is how militarized sports broadcasting's become, a conspicuously absent behavior during the Vietnam and Cold Wars.
cruxpuppy-
Quixotic? Maybe, but we all love the Man of La Mancha... and I would stand with him (or her, as the case may be) any day, a-n-y d-a-y, over the primped and primed crowd.
I have never watched much TV...and anything Network was eliminated a long time ago. What TV I did watch was mostly Public Television, and even that has now been seriously Co-0pted. Commercial Radio went even before that - I HATE Commercials. And, that was even before Jerry Mander's "10 Reasons to Turn off the Television" that appeared in 'Mother Jones' Magazine and later in his book "Absence of the Sacred". The points he made 25 years ago are even MORE pertinent today as the Mass Media is Totally Corporate now - Owned lock, stock and barrel.
I say, Do it! and do it Now. there is more than enough 'real' information on the Internet and in books. But then again, Corporate Criminals want to control that, too - better Hurry !
TV always sounded so good when I turned it off, that I just kept it off. I went online in 98 so I visit friends when I want to see TV.
The danger facing the Internet is censorship and skewed search ability.
The Internet need to be infrastructure, allowing citizens to send and recieve wireless bandwidth at public locations.
In 1978, in Berkeley, an Iranian ex-pat and cafe proprietor recommended that I read "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television" by Jerry Mander.
The nefarious influence of western secular corporate consumer culture could be defeated if television were eliminated, he believed.
Television is little more than a vicious mass mind control device. It changes brain wave patterns, doesn't it? Similar to smoking pot.
Jacqueline Marcus should read Jerry Mander's book. Methihks she actually has, but doesn't mention it.
It was a quixotic idea then and sounds even more silly today.
Except for the occasional weather report or a National Geographic special etc, it's off. TEEVEE is a huge part of what is wrong with this once great country.
I turned off my TV over a year ago, and I've never missed it. I catch anything that interests me online (Moyers, Olbermann's Commentary Podcasts, etc) and spend my evening time reading books.
For once, I'm in the forefront of the movement. *S*
I gave up TV in the 1990's after the media chose to dominate the airwaves with the O.J. Simpson coverage. At the same time the U.S. was being prepped for a year or more of useless information about this unremarkable couple, dozens of wars, famines, natural disasters, corporate crimes and other newsworthy stories fell by the wayside.
Once in awhile I will catch a glimpse of FOX News or CNN (which dominate the English language airwaves in Asia) which quickly reminds me what garbage is being fed to its viewers. Anna Nicole Smith? Paris? Britney? American Idol? I actually saw a news bite at the airport last week with the title of...'Is George Bush a lame duck President?' It should of read 'Are you a lame duck for watching this Crap?'
To urge people away from T.V. though, I would encourage one other movement... to push for local government financed (no ads!) wireless internet (broadband) in every community. It's being done already in a few progressive areas (California) but of course corporate America is fighting this tooth and nail.
Having said all that though, it is still a small minority that get their news coverage from non-TV sources. We have a long way to go to educate the masses.
Re: au contraire
Good point about " I realized how the corporate media manipulates us all through the use of faux questions that are actually statements." Why is it we never hear questions like "Can the we ever break free from policies dictated to us by big oil and defence contractors?" or "Now that all of the lies have been exposed regarding the reasons to invade Iraq, do you feel pretty stupid?"
These faux questions and faux statements have been a method of 're-educating' the public for years. The MSM has no shame as it vies with it's competitors for an ever larger share of the corporate advertising budget. That's why we MUST turn off our T.V.'s!
If you turn off your TV, do it for yourself. Do it for your intellect and for improvement in your quality of life. It would be nice if our abstinence had some effect on the the corporate media, but unless we impact their profits, they won't care. Boycott the products that are advertised on FOX and other objectionable programming. The way we spend our money is probably the most powerful way we can make our voices heard.
Invite some friends over. Read a book. Write one even. Learn to play an instrument. Meditate. Exercise. Paint a picture. Spend time with your children.
Where would you be today if you spent 4 1/2 hours a day for the last 10 years doing one of these? But instead you have to numb yourself to the slavery.
With incredible foresight, my parents refused to have a Tv in the house, I've grown up without the influence. My nephew has come to live with me, raised on Tv, it was on 24/7 whether anyone was in the room or not. He missed Tv for a couple months then one day told me that his mind had "cleared", that the caterwalling crap had subsided. It's been two years now and he's becoming one of the best young guitarists I've ever heard.
Tv conditions the viewer in a number of ways, 1) It sets you up to accept falsehoods. Do you expect any of the products you see advertised to actually work the way they do in the commercial? No, there is no "White Tornado" in the bottle(thank doG). 2) it presents things in hyper simplified, short forms. 15 second commercials, 26 minute shows, with one layer of theme or idea and maybe one subplot. A show that has a second subplot is called High Concept! And it is a guaranteed Nielsen bomb. Third and most perniciously, it validates existence. That is, "It has to be real, I saw it on Tv". And conversely, if it aint on Tv it didn't happen. So you get a mass of people that are convinced that Saddam was behind 9/11, for instance, because FUX Noise and the rest of 'em have been drumming that message into them, meanwhile, 3/4 of a million people march on the Capitol and no one notices because there wasn't a single Media truck and crew covering what should have been a major event.
Did anyone mention that the MSM are wholly owned organs of massive corporations? That half those corporations are defense contractors? That consolidation has left us with very few alternatives?
eBay the tube, cancel your cable, save the money and the electricity, try to make up for the education you missed while watching Tv.
I'm surprised that the TV networks haven't been sued. I suspect that it should be rather easy to establish a causal link between TV and a shortened attention span, which adversely affects reading ability and learning.
My mother was mean--not only didn't she let us have white bread and soda, she didn't let us have a TV till I was 12. By the time I was a grownup I had thanked her.
I was mean too, to my kids. I never allowed a television into the house. I was a little surprised by how little they protested that choice. I was not surprised by how markedly more creative they were than their friends, how much more capable of initiating action, of coming up with ideas of their own. A key effect of television watching is induced passivity, especially when it begins in babyhood--which is the norm in this country. Parents, themselves television addicts, think they must have an adult protecting their kids 24 hours a day, so kids never experience free time not controlled by adults, and have little contact with nature. Parents think kids must have an endless stream of fluffy entertainment. Meanwhile they don't hesitate to pump unwholesome food into their kids' bodies and unwholesome ideas into their minds, from infancy onward. No wonder the younger generation is so incredibly passive in the face of the impending catatrophes of climate change, species destruction, oil shocks, the end of democracy and threatened nuclear war. Any time such matters impact their consciousness, they just change to a more appealing channel. It's what they've done all their lives. They don't understand the distinction between the myriad distractions that surround them and the real world.
I often think that if we could find a way to silence all the television broadcasts, that alone would be enough to get the American people moving in the right direction. We wouldn't need to fill the captured airwaves with the missing information (eg Noam Chomsky interviews)kept from them by mainstream news. Just stopping the feedstock of the ongoing hallucination would force them to full consciousness, and after they surfaced from withdrawal, I would hope the typical reaction would be "Holy Shit! The world has gotten into desperation shape while I was in that dream. WE have to do something!"
The problem is the weather. If I could get good weather reports without cable, I would get rid of cable. My neighbors don't watch television. I have to tell them when we have severe weather alerts.
I asked the cable company if they had something less than basic cable and they tried to sell me HBO, etc.
How do advertisers calculate who watches television? Is it simply by who has cable, has cable with all those addons, or by programs that are watched?
I cancelled my DirecTV in 2005, and my girls and I spend very little time now in a supine, addicted state. We get lots more exercise, too. I'm reminded of Leonard Cohen's great line in "The Tower of Song" -- "Well, you can say that I've grown bitter, but of this you may be sure: the rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor...."
I didn't have TV or anything for almost 8 years starting in the late 70's, because I didn't have power. Once in a while I'd go to the bar to watch Peter Jennings to find out what's going on out there. Now I have a computer, it'll be 2 years this fall and spend an average of 4 hours everyday reading on it. I've had sat dish for about 10 years and have never been able to get local state TV, so I have to read newspapers. It's nice to have C-Span, DemocracyNow and other channels to see how the rest of the people get their views. I don't travel much and movies provide other locations and environments I would never visit otherwise. I read a great deal and sleep with books. I haven't bought Exxon gas in years, and try hard not to buy Coke products and many others.
I cancelled my DirecTV subscription last year. The representative on the line ask me why I was cancelling my service. When I said I was tired of paying to watch commercials, he ask: "What can you watch with out seeing commercials?" My answer left him speachless: "The book I was reading." Life is much better without the constant chalk on the blackboard irritation. I quit smoking too. I now breath and think much better.
I haven't watched the evening news in a good ten years now. We always watch a little of the local news while eating dinner but not the whole thing. We stopped listening to the national news a long time ago when the Republican's were trying to railroad Clinton for some inane hanki-panki that was none of their business to begin with! It so appauled both of us that we have stuck to what we read. That way if we choose not to read it, it can be overlooked. So, this is not a new idea for us. I do listen to a little Keith Olbermann in the evening. Which I enjoy. But, I am also aware that a lot of it is tabloid. I used to listen to Catherine Cryer too when she was on Court TV. But, I don't know where she went I haven't seen her in a long time now.
I love the internet and hate my TV.