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A 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 AllI love the internet and hate my TV.
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 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 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 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...."
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?
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!"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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*
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.
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.
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.
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 !
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.
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.
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.
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 stopped watching TV in 1988, the same year that I left America. Two of the better decisions in my life.
Hoa binh
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.
Watch TV. Pay attention to what's advertised there, and don't buy any of it.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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 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...
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.
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.
Einstein: Excellent points, thanks for sharing them. Frank, I'm happy (and feel liberated) without TV, but the boycott idea is a sound one!
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.
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 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.
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.
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?
Can I keep watching Seinfeld reruns? Please?
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.
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.
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.
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!
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...."
mwildfire: Thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience. Luminous.
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?