Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1997/05/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 12:34 PM 5/2/97 EDT, John Lowther wrote: >As a first expedient to exit this maelstrom, to resist or even be >revolutionary, get rid of the television. Don't limit it, eliminate it! > >Chuck it out & make sure it breaks when you throw it in the can. If it >didn't, fish it out and try again. > >Television images and messages make a bee-line for the subconscious while >the viewer is literally entranced by the glowing box. > >The message is: Consume! Spend all you earn and more! Consume! Consume! >Be good little wage slaves. Don't make waves, but don't you dare be happy >either. If you were happy, you might not buy as many of our advertisers' >products. You are a better consumer when you are unhappy. Then we can >tell you our products will make you happy... Did you ever notice how the most stable and nicest folks you know are the non-TV crew? The horrors of television go far, far deeper. It sensationalizes everything, from what should be a routine lifestyle choice (Ellen coming out of the closet) to rather routine news. The result is a society with a thoroughly decentered value structure and this runs across the board. I see this all the time in my jury trials -- nice folks on the panel, but almost all are so terrorized by the !@#$ which passes for news on the 'film at eleven' shows that they see even a minor hoodlum as a Major Threat To Society. Me? I'll stick to reading Prochnow and Vergil and get my news from NPR (whose pro-government, anti-individual responsibility biases I know and for which I automatically adjust) and the Economist. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!