If you can read this... please tell someone. We are being held captive by a device so insidious.. so powerful.. that we are incapable of escaping it's clutches. It sits quietly in our living room. Innocently showing us it's blank face... until evening. Then the ON switch is thrown. And suddenly we are under it's power. The bright lights and enticing sounds draw us to the sofa. And we sit, and watch as it endlessly shows us images of others living fantastic lives. With sweeping drama, exciting action, and powerful stories of people who in most cases never existed, and never will. And still we sit. Sometimes it shows us products and services that we can buy for one low payment. And occasionally, (Just occasionally mind you.) it teaches us something about our planet, or our universe, or our history. But mostly it holds us in a trance like embrace. Truly, as Karl Marx once pointed out, religion was the opiate of the masses. But now, clearly, it's television.
Certainly the television is a powerful opiate. It holds millions in thrall every day. Estimates are that 280 million people in the U.S. watch television every day. The population of the United States is 311 million or so. So the majority of us watch television at one time or another. The average American views between 5 and 7 hours of television daily. And what do they watch? The most popular television show is currently The Big Bang Theory, (yes, we watch it here also) The next most watched. Dancing with the stars. (This surprised us here at The Crazy, as we find supposed "reality" shows to be full of horse hockey.) Now these statistics are just for the United States. It's estimated that worldwide (Population estimate about 7 Billion People) that about 4.5 Billion televisions exist. And clearly more than one person is usually seated in front of a television. The number of people who watch television worldwide must exceed the number of televisions, so we at The Crazy will estimate 5 billion. (Seriously, no one really knows) Most television viewing takes place at night in America, so as the sun rises and sets, televisions are flipping on and off around the world. It's strange indeed to think that at any given moment billions of people are staring blankly at the brightly lit box we call a tv. Ahhh... but it get's more insidious than that. The first television screens were little black and white screens of 12 to 14 inches, and they were more round or oval than square. Now the average television in the home is increasing size by 10 inches a decade. And of course in color. Will we one day have an entire wall of our home devoted to one huge television screen? And what of the cultural damage? If our culture is decided by nightly television we are in major trouble. By the age of eighteen the average American has seen 200.000 acts of violence on television. And clearly problem solving will be effected, after all huge problems are solved in 1 hour nightly on television shows. Has anyone else noticed that each generation is moving faster, texting, emailing, blogging, (damn bloggers should all be shot...heh heh heh) we at The Crazy have noticed that the upcoming generation talks faster than the previous one. And expects things to happen for them yesterday. What other result can come from a daily dose of seeing all the problems of the world solved in one hour? Certainly there are billions smart enough to know that what happens on television rarely has any real meaning in the real world. But as the population grows and many of the young become disenfranchised, disillusioned, and generally discombobulated, what will the final outcome be? We hope you see our point. Now excuse us, we have to go and set our DVR, there's a show we don't want to miss coming on later. Save us if you can. Damn.....
We have to give credit to the Book "Strange Wine" by Harlan Ellison for helping to form our ideas about the evils of television. We recommend the book, and the article titled "What killed the Dinosaurs and you don't look so good yourself."
Although television does provide some useful content for the mind, such as science and history shows/documentaries, the majority of people interpret the images they see as reality and distorts their minds. Some people, like myself, understand that television is just a temporary escape from reality and should be enjoyed as such. For the most part television really has been an 'idiot box' as many had warned when it displaced the radio as the primary source of information/entertainment into every home. Just look how it has impacted politics. Two good examples are the first televised debate in the 1960 presidential election when people who were surveyed thought that Nixon won the debate who listened on radio, but on television they thought Kennedy won because he looked young and exuberant and Nixon showed a 'five o'clock shadow' and generally looked mean. The other would the election of Hollywood actor - Reagan. I totally agree with your take on the so called 'reality tv genre fad', it is pretty much cheap to produce garbage and has no basis in reality.
ReplyDeleteAin't it the truth. Did you know that when television was first invented Daryll F Zanuck (the head of 20th Century Fox) said "Television won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." Boy was he wrong.
ReplyDeleteInteresting article. I have always been a fan of tv and feel it provided me with an opportunity to learn about and experience many things I would otherwise not have. For instance, as a child I would never have seen a plane fly, or another country or the Fonz had I not had access to television. Cool blog. Jessica
ReplyDeleteWould have never seen a plane fly? Did you live in a cave Jessica. Other than that, I agree with you.
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