Yep, another thread on television. Yep, it is not going to be positive.

I'm not really an intellectual like all of you on sciforums but my now year old divorce with my televison set has shown me the light.

Hallalujah!

Television (TV) is evil. TV is subverting our young and old people (and all the ones in between those two categories).


let me repeat that for who failed to see the message:
TV IS EVIL

Of course you could now easily dismiss my ranting by thinking that I must be on drugs. No, my friend, you are on drugs. TV is the opium of the people. Its lure can be irresistible. I don?t have a TV but my room mate has. Oh how tempting it is to stop and look at her TV. I wonder if there is anything interesting on it.

No of course there is nothing interesting on it. It is fucking TV! I can remember a time when there used to be an interesting program on once in a while, but that was because TV wasn?t commercial back then (Poor Americans, they never had interesting TV). But interesting programs were rare and to be honest you would be spending a great deal of your time watching crap in order to see something good once in a while. In total it was still a big waste of time.

Does anyone know how much time we spend in front of the TV per day? Per year? During a lifetime?

Well, calculate it your self and try to be honest about it. Then scream.

We just sit there and soak up information. Well, information is a big word. It is the same as calling excrement food.

Why do we do it?

I don?t know. I have some theories though.

1. TV is used to control the masses. (as a substitute for religion)
2. TV is a living alien entity and wants to take over the world.


Anyone else out there with an interesting theory?

ps. of course one of the first replies will be an example of a program that is supposedly interesting and worth having a TV. Or a personal insult because I insulted a TV.

You know what you are not on drugs, YOU ARE JUST PLAIN FUCKING CRAZY. Oh sure there might be some crap on Tv, but we are so used to Tv that probably sometime during the day people will pick up a remote and see what is on the telly. Today Tv is considered a form of entertainment. MOst people who watched Tv during their life time will probably can't live without it. (I wrte some crap yes, but I was just bored)

I think it was already established that I am crazy...

Television is very bad that is for certain. The problem is that it became bad because of cable TV. I think they have dumbed down society enough that society will accept anything that TV has on it for free. It is a wasteland that is for the mindless. PBS however from time to time has a few very interesting programs on it that I do watch. Cable TV is about as bad but it too has a few shows worthy of viewing. All in all TV is not ment to learn anything from but to babysit the drones in society that don't read or do other types of things to stimulate their minds.

I think it was already established that I am crazy...
:D

I agree with cosmic on the dumbness of TV. Besides "the Simpsons" or any rare show that makes fun or society, there's only junk on TV. I haven't watched TV for 1 year, besides when I was on Vancouver for a couple of days.

TV is evil. People believe in everything that TV says.
TV is used to control people and make them believe that all that we are doing is actually right. It makes people believe that we are free, when in truth, we are extremely dependent on money and materialism.

TV is the new god of people. Yuck...!

It reminds me of "do not worship idols made of thy hands".... :rolleyes: ;)

I donīt hate TV, it can be a source of information (sometimes not very reliable), I just hate the people who think up all the crap that they are broadcasting all day long. They are at fault, blame them for all the senseless things on TV. The TV programme just reflects the human need for entertainement, by sitting secure at home you can see things from all over the world, how convenient. The people want to see things they can laugh about, resulting from that is a programm that lost all value besides entertainement.
The TV is just a mirror of the average human being.

Wanna get entertained??? Go outside! The sun is shining! It's spring!

Ok. Maybe some of you is still in the "winter". You can still have sex. That's a better and more natural entertainement, don't ya agree? :D Well... at least I'm guessing it is entertaining... :rolleyes:

But anyways... you can still play games or something.
Is it real entertainement to spend the whole day staring at a black box!?!? :bugeye:

It is much more entertaining to post things in this forum, donīt you agree? :)
Seriously, I only watch TV about two hours a week, but I know people who spend nearly every free minute in front of it. I donīt think that it is much fun but it is hard to convince them to do something else. :p

TV keeps me from interacting with real humans, who are far more evil.

Around here we call it the "IDIOT BOX" but I have to admit...i'd be lost without it.

With the recent boom in CNN and FOX News usage, it stopped being as much of an opiate. People who watch the news are always peeved about SOMETHING, no matter what side they are on in any debate. They are definitely not made placid or anything of the sort.

tv is evil in some respects, but i like that i can watch Sports overseas like the soccer, without it i'd be lost.

Anyone else out there with an interesting theory?Television as the opiate of the masses; I recall that one from Calvin & Hobbes. I'll try to dig up a copy.

Links:
• http://pwfisher.com/quotes/calvin_hobbes.php (An odd site; it's transcripts of the cartoons. The one in question is the second one on the page.)
• Click Here (http://homepage.mac.com/bdhilling/FileSharing7.html) to download a cheap image I took; I don't have a scanner in the house, but this works ... well enough.

Don't get me started on the subject of TV....to late:(
So you yanks are all paraphrasing Marx now?
Well perhaps there's hope for you yet;)

At least the clergy could never truly show you the face of God but TV? Well get down on your knees before the box and worship at the feet of whatever Idol you prefer.
It tells you all you need to know.
What to wear.
What to drive.
Who to love and what to buy to show you mean it.
Who to hate.
Who to put in power
Who to condemn to death.
Feel free to add your own..

Now you will tell me to get a grip, that you know your own minds and that you are free.
All the while those advertising execs laugh over their cappacino's as they fine tune those categories that codify your existence.
Yup even those of use who try to act contrary to all expectations. We have box of our own too.
If you breath TV works on you.

Now say I'm wrong then go off and buy some more shit you don't need.
Dee Cee

I don't have cable and my "rabbit ears" just broke. Ask me if I care. TV for the most part, is a huge waste of time. I think that it definitely has some brainwashing effects on the Jerry Springer type viewer. There seems to be no shortage of these people though. No doubt it has a dumbing down effect on many.

BTW, The people in charge of what gets aired, generally give the people what they ask for. Doesn't say much for the "average Joe".

I think the internet is the new opium of the people. Look how much time I spend on it. AS for giving people what they want, the tv companies give people what is quite close to what they want, peopel arent consulted beforehand, they are merely passive recipients of someone elses ideas.

The internet is worse than the television in that it not only spits out streams of worthless information and entertainment, but it also alienates the common citizen. Any legitimate source of alternative information is drowned out in a sea of information. Whereas books and television had a fair chance at gaining attention, the internet removes attention all together. TV and the Net are both sources of purposely transmitted nihilism, designed specifically to confuse citizens and thus generate profit from their inability to focus on one thing. The affect is already seen in the attitudes and perceptions of common people: they lack coherent thought patterns and randomly switch from one tangent to the next. Since we have no real 'culture' in America (aside from those who remain traditional puritans) the only unifying factor between individuals is consumerism. There is more at work here than television.

It tells you all you need to know.
What to wear.
What to drive.
Who to love and what to buy to show you mean it.
Who to hate.
Who to put in power
Who to condemn to death.
Feel free to add your own..

Of course, in a monocultural society where values are respected and all people agree on a unified goal there would be no need for trends. Since this is clearly not the case in our liberal democratic society, everything must be constantly 'improved' to generate profit. While there is nothing wrong with making profit it is always at the expense of cultural health and human health at large. Notice if you will, the widespread warnings about obesity. Despite the fact that we are literally eating lard and bags of sugar, it means little to those caught up in the trend game.

No of course there is nothing interesting on it.
Well, at the very least educational TV programs exist. It is one of the only ways to actually SEE how other people imagine a topic... be it history, science, or what the world would look like if we were all yellow and 2 dimensional.

No of course there is nothing interesting on it.
Well, at the very least educational TV programs exist. It is one of the only ways to actually SEE how other people imagine a topic... be it history, science, or what the world would look like if we were all yellow and 2 dimensional.
Who likes Educational stuff? People wanna see blood, ya know? :o
Anyways... it's our old animal nature that we see to never change.... :rolleyes:

I don't like the educational stuff. It is too boring and tra-la-la. Actually, I like some stuff on discovery channel, specially when they talk about animals.

The last thing I've ever watched on TV was the Simpsons. Oh my... was that good! :D It is not just funny, but also a smart way to make fun and criticize our world...

"It is not just funny, but also a smart way to make fun and criticize our world..."

And people want more like it, right? So why isnt there more like it?

"It is not just funny, but also a smart way to make fun and criticize our world..."

And people want more like it, right? So why isnt there more like it?


Because people want to see the bachelor?

Because people want to see the bachelor?
Ewwww... I fell sick... :o

But anyways... yes, unfortuantely people get in front of the TV so that they can go on what I call "standby mode". In other words, people want to get in front of it so that they forget everything and their minds are a pure nothingness. Hence the present socio-political situation in the world... :bugeye:

"It is not just funny, but also a smart way to make fun and criticize our world..."

And people want more like it, right? So why isnt there more like it?
Thinking is too complicated for people. They get home after a whole day of work and all that they want to do is just to relax. Surely you can relax with the SImpsons, but for the average people, the Simpsons is not even funny, since they don't understand the jokes in the first place. In order words, it is so "complicated" that it makes people's head ache... :bugeye:

the simpsons is funny for the average person, just for different reasons.
but the simpsons is the one thing that makes America look like a good place to live, youre gonna get more of the jokes if u live in america
so tv even alters where we wanna live

Yo,

I like to watch...

(with apologies to Chance the Gardener)

Thinking is too complicated for people. They get home after a whole day of work and all that they want to do is just to relax. Surely you can relax with the SImpsons, but for the average people, the Simpsons is not even funny, since they don't understand the jokes in the first place. In order words, it is so "complicated" that it makes people's head ache... :bugeye:
Sometimes I'd agree with you. And sometimes not, I get the impression at work that people want to relax, indeed, but theres good and bad ways to do it. The simpsons is a good way, and the bad ways are the normal everyday crap on the tv. And if you want to call yourself average.... :D

to further my critique of TV- you dont get to choose whats on it. You merely pick from teh offerings. Moreover, you pick the best out of what is on, ie the least worst, therefore you cant say that people always choose the best tv, they merely choose what is least worst at that time.

I'm not the average Joe millionaire... :D

If tehre's nothing good on at a given time, I often do something else...

hey hey hey!

what's your beef with opium?

i've never been a tv person but have found an appreciation for it after getting direct tv. but even then i find myself wandering away to the computer to interact to people.

did you know that friends is on 4 times on thursdays?

the simpsons is funny for the average person, just for different reasons.
but the simpsons is the one thing that makes America look like a good place to live, youre gonna get more of the jokes if u live in america
so tv even alters where we wanna live

I don't live in the US and I get all the jokes on the show, you don't have to live there.

of course tv alters where you wanna live, if your an impressionable boob.

"I don't live in the US and I get all the jokes on the show, you don't have to live there."

how can you know that you get all the jokes, if you dont get a joke, you just assume it wasnt meant as a joke, each and every single line in the simpsons has at least one joke, you dont get them all, claiming that you do proves that you are stupid

impressionable boob hey? where did u get your username from, is it from the actual meaning of the word, or from the matrix? being as u were being an impressionable boob when you chose your name you can hardly comment on me
i dont get that comment anyway, impressionable, all humans are impressionable, otherwise we would be the same person at age 90 that we were at age 0
as for calling someone a boob, i dunno what boobs are in your country, but in my country, guys worship them as Gods and stare at them as often as they stare at tvs

did you know that friends is on 4 times on thursdays?
Friends... Yuck! Another one for the masses... :rolleyes:

i've stopped taking opinions from people in cults. i love friends. saw the first episode and still watch it.

Well... I'm not in a cult...

I respect your taste. I don't like your taste, but I respect it. :D

No of course there is nothing interesting on it. It is fucking TV!Gee, I feel so sorry for you. You're so utterly alientated from your own culture that you can't find anything of interest in its primary medium of entertainment. The only thing sadder is someone who says, "I don't understand what you idiots get out of listening to music." But at least there is a tiny percentage of the population who is genuinely tone-deaf, so all they hear is the rhythm and the lyrics. People who say they don't like absolutely anything on TV always give me the impression that they're just trying to impress me with how intellectual they are. Of course that doesn't apply to you, does it. You've already warned us that you're not one of those intellectual elitists who maligns TV because every time you turn it on it's showing wrestling. No, you're just an ordinary person and this ordinary person can't do what virtually every other ordinary person in his society can do, which is to understand, respect, and appreciate at least one TV show.
I can remember a time when there used to be an interesting program on once in a while, but that was because TV wasn?t commercial back then (Poor Americans, they never had interesting TV).I don't know what you're talking about in terms of "back then" or even how old you are. Masterpiece Theatre? Omnibus? The Howdy Doody Show? Steve Allen? There are still truly great pieces of culture on TV. We've always had at least one outstanding show that was worth the entire cost and footprint of the TV equipment. Twenty-five years ago it was Fraggle Rock. Twelve years ago it was Babylon Five. Today it's South Park. I'll hold those three shows up to your damn Faulkner or your damn Verdi or your damn Bolshoi Ballet any day, or the cream of whatever medium you immerse yourself in.
But interesting programs were rare and to be honest you would be spending a great deal of your time watching crap in order to see something good once in a while.What a stupid way to watch TV! If something isn't any good, turn it off! There's no rule that says you have to have it running any certain number of hours per week. There was a long spell somewhere around the end of the 1980s when we literally only watched "Dinosaurs", and that is one of our favorite eras of TV.
In total it was still a big waste of time.Of course it was if you were watching crap that you didn't want to watch! Who the hell does that? You sound like one of these people who goes on vacation and signs up for a guided tour, and when the guide says, "OK, now we're going to see Auschwitz," you just obediently fall in line and go see Auschwitz. Then when you get home you complain about what a lousy time you had in Europe because Auschwitz was so depressing, as if you didn't know that in advance so you could have stayed in town and gone walking on your own.
Does anyone know how much time we spend in front of the TV per day? Per year? During a lifetime?I tape everything and watch it later, that way I don't have to figure out what to do during the commercials. I watch about 2.5 hours of elapsed time, which takes about 1.75 hours of real time per day. I still have plenty of time to read books, listen to music, play my piano, go outside and enjoy our five acres of forest with the dogs, visit friends, play go, go into town once in a while, and have a happy marriage.
Well, calculate it your self and try to be honest about it. Then scream.Sorry, scream for yourself. My life is well balanced. Occasionally I sit through a new show to give it a chance and end up saying that was a waste of time, but for the most part I find the shows that I choose to watch to be positive experiences. Entertaining, thought-provoking, informative, culturally enriching, therapeutic, virtual bonding with my fellow Americans... one or more of those things.
We just sit there and soak up information. Well, information is a big word. It is the same as calling excrement food.Well I'm happy to say that I agree with you 100 percent on something after all. I call TV news "News for people who can't read." They don't tell you what happened, they strive to make you feel a certain way. Not that the other media don't try to do that, but TV is way more effective at it. The only "news" show worth watching is "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central with Jon Stewart. He calls it fake news and it's entertaining enough, but he does a great job of pulling back the curtain and showing us what the government-media conspiracy has on our agenda today.
Why do we do it? 1. TV is used to control the masses. (as a substitute for religion)Sure, I can't argue with that. Some people just can't push the off button. But I'm old enough to have known those people (or at least their ancestors) before there was 24/7 TV, and let me tell you something: they were just as stupid and useless back then. Each of us has a day when the revelation occurs that makes us understand what "The average IQ = only 100" really means.
Of course one of the first replies will be an example of a program that is supposedly interesting and worth having a TV.Well that's certainly our own experience. My wife is a bona fide intellectual with a master's degree in English who can understand and explain the intracacies of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novels, yet she still loves South Park and several other shows.

I'm sure some or all of what I just said merely duplicated other people's responses. Trying to catch up on a whole thread at one time is a bit dizzying. Forgive me for my redundancies.

I don't like television. Sure, there are some shows I do enjoy, either for humor or things like the Discovery Channel or Nova, but on the whole, I don't like television.

Everything I learned, I learned from T.V. T.V raised me and taught me my values, my morals and ethics. After hours upon hours in front of it everyday I have developed a sense for crap shows. I skip them and move on to amazing shows. It has raised me and now it has let me go. The fascination I once had with it isn't nearly as strong now but I still come back often to say hello.

It is only an addiction to those who see no future for themselves, who dream of being what they see. Being addicted is just as bad completely avoiding this revolutionary medium. It is really about using this tool to your advantage...once you look past the glossy venier of glamarous promises and awe inspiring beauty there is a lot to be had.

So you can run away from it or run away with it but I choose to take a ride everynow and then. I am not addicted.

Everything I learned, I learned from T.V. T.V raised me and taught me my values, my morals and ethics.We would have never guessed :rolleyes: :D

We would have never guessed :rolleyes: :D
Well thats what you get when T.V is your babysitter for years. I have too much useless pop culture knowledge.

could marijuana be the opiate of the people?

I read this thread, and then went out and did the honourable thing:
Http://www.chatsoba.com/images/telly.divx (840kb)

[I can't say no television was harmed in this small badly framed film]

Gee, I feel so sorry for you. You're so utterly alientated from your own culture that you can't find anything of interest in its primary medium of entertainment.


I'm not American. The TV is not my primary medium of culture.


I don't know what you're talking about in terms of "back then" or even how old you are. Masterpiece Theatre? Omnibus? The Howdy Doody Show? Steve Allen? There are still truly great pieces of culture on TV.
Once again, it makes no sense to talk about what I liked back then because I never heard about these shows you mentioned. I'm not an American. I did not grow up with American TV. TV has become americanized. Maybe that is why it is so shite nowadays.




I'm sure some or all of what I just said merely duplicated other people's responses. Trying to catch up on a whole thread at one time is a bit dizzying. Forgive me for my redundancies.

sure...


so we can conclude now that the US ruined TV for everyone?

thanks

the US has had a massive influence on TV, they turned it capitalist, i dont have so much of a problem with them wrecking the shows, we have the ABC and SBS that aren't americanised

I'm not American. The TV is not my primary medium of culture.So you still haven't told us what is your primary medium of culture. According to your profile you spend an inordinate amount of time on SciForums. There is a sizeable group of people who would criticize you for that. Fortunately, none of them hang out here. :)
Once again, it makes no sense to talk about what I liked back then because I never heard about these shows you mentioned.You're the one who talked about "back then" as if it was the Golden Age of TV. What shows were you talking about? I know that in places like Russia they showed a lot of theatrical productions on TV. That sounds great. But I've always lived in big cities where we could just go to live theater, so seeing it on a TV screen is no big thrill. I want to see Muppets and music videos and high-production action-adventure shows that are only available in virtual media.
TV has become americanized. Maybe that is why it is so shite nowadays.Well I can't argue with that. No matter how much I may like American culture, I do believe it is sad when it replaces other people's cultures. The world is a poorer place for it. The fact that this has been going on for thousands of years, long before there was either TV or America, doesn't make it any better.
So we can conclude now that the US ruined TV for everyone?Speak for yourself. It certainly has not been ruined for me. With 200 channels I find the offerings to be far richer than they have ever been, since my parents got our first 6-inch black-and-white TV in 1949. Nonetheless I am unhappy over the fact that subscription TV did not fulfill its promise of providing viewer-supported programming. All of the channels except for the premium movie and sports channels are still funded by commercials, so we don't have very much input into the process and we are completely at the mercy of the advertisers -- the lowest form of life on earth. Many of the shows that my wife and I really loved have been cancelled because they were not commercially successful. Nonetheless the least popular of them had almost 2 million viewers. If each one of us were allowed to pay a half dollar per week to subscribe to it, that would completely pay for the production and it wouldn't need a sponsor.

It is the advertising industry that has ruined so much of American culture.

So you still haven't told us what is your primary medium of culture.
That would be reading (and writing), and science.



I can remember that one of the Dutch broadcasting companies (VPRO) went to visit several famous scientists and discuss evolution and science with them, and then there was a final episode in which all of them came to the studio, sat around a table and discussed these topics with each other (and not just for 15 minutes of soundbites). People that were included were for instance S.J. Gould and Daniel C. Dennet.
That kind of shit would never be on TV during primetime anymore I'm afraid. But mostly decent programs were not ubiquitous. Not now and not back then. There seems to be a shift to more shit though. The habit of TV watching has changed (when I observe people) from turning the tv on when something good is on, to turn it on and watch whatever is on. I am quite aware that this does not include everybody. It is all relative as everything in life.

[QUOTE=Fraggle Rocker]It is the advertising industry that has ruined so much of American culture.

That is quite true. The amount of advertisement has increased significantly even on the non-commercial government funded stations in europe. And all they do is to try and compete with commercial stations. This probably killed some of the diversity on TV. There has certainly been a trend to more american series and sitcoms. They tend to be of high quality (regarding professionalism, not sure about content) and are easily bought.

It is sad that we let companies dictate how we live our lives. They dictate what is shown on tv based on popularity. And popularity does not always equal qualitity or garantee interesting content. It is just signifies what most people find agreeable.

I agree with spuriousmonkey, as a matter of fact I just convinced my parents to rid cable. I have found that sense of humor between those who watch tv and those who don't different. Those who watch tv find usually find death, adultry, torture, and a lot of things that strive away from the moralities of the Christian church. While those who don't watch tv, find humor in less violent ways

"What is to be done :confused: "