I must admit that I’m a bit bewildered by recent concerns about economic collapse and nuclear threats and a socialist government. While these are things to be concerned about for sure, don’t these people realize that the biggest threat to their security, their welfare and their freedom is sitting right in their living room?
Sure, it looks like a harmless enough box, but did you know that box has, since its inception, been contributing to the very downfall of our society?
That box has single handedly done as much damage (if not more) to this country as that devil music known as “Rock n’ Roll”.
You didn’t think it could get much worse after all the Elvis Hip-Swiveling, did you?
Well, it has my friends. Because NOW? Now you can actually WATCH Elvis swivel his hips on that evil little box.
It’s the work of the devil, I tell you!
*sigh*
Here’s the thing: I own a TV. I even have satellite so I have practically every channel imaginable.
Oddly enough, I am NOT an oversexed, promiscuous, she-devil with a violent streak, and an affinity for pornography, gang violence and atheism. Nor do I have the mouth of a sailor or the tendency to dress like a prostitute.
I know. Crazy, huh?
“Well,” you say, “That’s just because you didn’t grow up with TV. If you had grown up with TV, it would be an entirely different story.”
Actually, growing up, we always had a TV. However, up until I was 10, we only had the four basic networks, and pretty much the only channel we were allowed to watch was PBS, during children’s programming. In the evenings our mother read to us. There wasn’t a whole lot of television watching going on. (Go mom!)
But, when I was around 10, we got cable.
And BOY, OH BOY, did THAT screw me up!
I kid, I kid.
Once we got cable, while we had more channels at our disposal, our mother ALWAYS monitored what we watched. It was mostly Nickolodeon and The Disney Channel. Absolutely no MTV or primetime network television. And it wasn’t until we got older that we started watching things like “Friends” and “Seinfeld”. And even at that, if my mother heard something she didn’t like, you can be sure we would be changing the channel.
I know that there is a lot of garbage on television now days. MTV is not a channel any adolescent or teen should be watching. And Nickolodeon’s “The N” is just about the worst thing a child could be exposed to. Seriously, the subject matter on both of those channels is too mature for even me.
But what I don’t understand is why so many people find it necessary to outlaw television altogether. First of all, if you have children, you don’t need to get rid of your TV. All you need are some ground rules. For instance, I don’t think any child should be allowed to have a television set in their bedroom. That’s just a disaster waiting to happen. Watching TV can be a family thing… and always, always, ALWAYS monitor what your kids are watching. But I don’t understand why we all must overreact and get rid of it altogether.
A lot of people (with or without children) will argue that it rots your brain, dulls your senses, and makes you less creative. I bet to differ. You see, one reason I love my TV so much is because I get to learn through it. I guarantee you the most-watched channels on our TV are The History Channel, Home & Garden Television, any one of the varieties of the Discovery Channel and the National Geographic Channel. I LOVE that the films we used to watch for educational purposes in high school can now be readily found on these channels. I love it! I’m a learner and I love gathering as much information as possible… even through the TV.
Plus, I gotta say, I like being able to stay up to date on the news and occasionally entertain myself. I see nothing wrong with this.
The televsion, in and of itself, is not innately evil. It’s only evil if you choose to use it unwisely. So, what exactly is the problem if you watch wisely and with discerning? Talk about screaming at gnats.
As for this new-fangled thing called the internet… now THAT’S something we should be worried about.
5 Comments
April 8, 2009 at 3:07 am
We got rid of our t.v. for awhile because we couldn’t turn it off. No self control. We have one once again and it stays off most of the time. We watch the food network a lot in the evenings and a few other shows like Lost and Heroes.
I do happen to think that some of the stuff on t.v. is really bad. I won’t subject myself to some of the crap they have on there. But I don’t think it is the downfall of America. Letting women wear pants was the downfall of America. (I kid, I kid.)
April 8, 2009 at 5:11 am
For many years I didn’t have a TV. (You’d be surprised at the number of people who want to give you a TV when they find out you haven’t got one.) Now we have a quite nice one, which sits black most of the time unless we rent a DVD. Why? It’s boring. Why pay $80/month for asinine programming that barely rises to the level of deadly dull? And as for the news–that’s what the internet is for, isn’t it?
Some people don’t have a TV just because they don’t want a TV. They’re not judging people who do have a TV. They just don’t want one themselves. Why do they have to have/use this inferior source of information and entertainment order to be acceptable to others?
April 8, 2009 at 4:23 pm
I forgot about WOMEN WEARING PANTS!!! That’s so going to be my next blog post…
April 9, 2009 at 11:13 am
Sue, this post was MARVELOUS!!!!! We had the same kind of rules in our house when I was growing up. Then when I became a parent, well, same rules applied. We even had MTV blocked on our cable because our daughter had ‘issues’ about following our rules….
As a long-time teacher, I could always tell which families allowed their children to watch ‘trash’ on TV. There language was horrible, they didn’t seem to have any empathy for others’ feelings, etc.
It was the children from families with rules regarding TV, who were read to, and had discussions at home who were the ones who excelled in school.
I could go on and on, but this is your blog, not mine! Right?
April 10, 2009 at 8:07 pm
the interwebs is teh gr8tist tings to becoming since the bread slicer!!!!!1!!!!1!
It is teh boss of you, and all your base are belong to it. Lolcats r teh bomb.
the series of tubes that r teh interwebs woent destroy teh languages…it wilz EVOLVEZ dem!!!!!1!!!!111!!!!