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Arguments for the Elimination of Television


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The fascinating thing about this short video, from my perspective, is that if it were not for me running AALBC.com and if I were still working for some Wall Street firm I would have been largely unaware of these issues. 

 

Now that I'm struggling to keep this business afloat, pay for my kid's college educations, and maintain a home, I am much more sensitive to all of these issues particularly the media operates while the government watches.

 

TV as we know it will go away on its own.  Like an increasing number of people I rarely watch it.  I consume the vast majority of my content via Youtube.  Where, at least for now, one can find alternative content that mass media choices not to provide. 

 

However, alternative sources (like AALBC.com) are finding it increasing difficult to find an audience for our content out as Google's YouTube favors advertisers, and of course there are the net neutrality and digital divide issue to content with.

 

One point made in the video is that television increasingly separates us from the natural world, as a result we receive no information from the natural world.

 

This made me think about Cynique's moon experience, which she feels is unique, but may in fact be perfectly natural.  Indeed our connection with the natural world my be related to astrology conversations we have been having lately.

 

I'd image a significant portion of American's have no connect to the natural world.  They could not identify a constellation in the night sky any more than they could find Nebraska on a map of the US.  They could not grow food or even identify what is safe to eat if their lives depended upon it. 

 

Indeed many people hate the outdoors and are much more comfortable sitting in front of a TV watching nature on a screen.

 

 

 

 

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An interesting perspective.  I can identity with most of what he and you are saying, Troy, because the days before television are still fresh  in my mind and I am attuned to nature. I remember what it was like to have to amuse yourself when there wasn't any TV to disperse boredom.  So I can compare those times to the present.  TV is full of pap and crap, but there are needles in the haystack and you have to be a discriminating viewer.and seach for the quality programming that does exist.   

 

For someone like me in my dotage, whose mind wanders and who is no longer able to focus on lengthy reading matter,  television supplies me with information about subjects I want to know more about and spares  me the tedium of trying to plow through printed text.   

 

The subjects I want to know more about are not what the next episode of Scandal is going to reveal, or which Atlanta housewife is going to attack another one.  I don't watch much prime time sit-coms or glorified soap operas or crime shows.  I search out documentaries about science and history and noteworthy people. I do watch some of the tabloid pop culture garbage about celebs, not because I care about them but because the news of their inane lives reinforces my disdain for them.  I also watch late night talk shows  because they are spontaneous and funny and current.   Sporting events are exciting  and quiz shows enlightening.  And, yes, I religiously watch the Game of Thrones on cable TV because it is escapism fantasy, and the books its sagas  are based on are enormous volumes.  Plus,  you don't have to be concerned about the accuracy of the stories because they are fiction.  

 

I would agree that the TV generation does tend to be hyper.  They seem to have a need for speed. For instance,  I play a lot of Bridge on line.  Bridge was gradually becoming a game played mostly by retirees, senior citizens left over from the days when it was very popular card game on college campuses back during the 40s and 50s.  Then suddenly there was a influx of young players attracted to the game by its availablity on line and its similarity to less cerebral games like Spades and Bid-Whist. A lot of these upstarts are gamers, used to the quickness of computer games.  When you get a foursome of, say, 2 older players and 2 younger ones, there is always conflict because the newcomers want what was once a leisurely contemplative game to be fast paced with emphasis on high scoring. 

 

Times have, indeed, changed and not always for the better.  The media has pervaded our lives and programmed our brains. But striking a happy medium should be the goal, rather than eliminating TV from our  rountines.  How obligated are people to immerse themselves in existences that are mundane and stressful when there is an alterative world only a click of a button away that for a few hours will take your mind off your hum drum life and bolster your spirits with entertaining, relaxing diversions. The work place and class room  are arenas where you function and compete, and there should be some respite from the demands placed on you during the course of a hectic day.

 

Meditation is becoming popular among this generation of success driven dynamos. This is a step in the right direction. Clearing your mind and developing an appreciation for silence is a positive way to cure a TV addiction.   

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I generally dont watch tv,but I will pick up a series and watch a season or a few episodes. Like the Californication: good writing. The L Word: didnt grab. Mad men: marketing misogyny. What I find is after a few episodes I lose interest. Partially because I get the show or the characters. And partially because I prefer to be in a bar or be out than watch tv. I got my apartment, learned how to read cards, found my astrology teacher, and met my children's mother. Through people I met in bars and parties.

I don't know if there ever was a golden age without distraction. It is the job of the government to keep you distracted so you don't think about your situation. So you have distractions or pageantry: TV, movies, entertainment, war and a day in day the coliseum.

I have generally spent between 10 to 50% percent of my time reading or writing. In addition trying to improve my craft and doing astrological research projects. So I don't have much interest in devoting more than 5 hours a month for TV and music. Bars, pubs, parties, plays, concerts and music I put in a different category. Since they stimulate my brain or provide social reaction, sometimes both. I don't generally get that same interaction with most tv or entertainment. Then there's the Olympics. Which is a bit different for me than more commercial sports. I find that I'll watch a sport that I have never seen before and I amazed and inspired by the dedication. Also there are some amazing human stories.

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The problem with TV and everything else in our culture is as soon as anyone recognizes people value something capitalists exploit it for profit--it does not matter what it is.  It can be anything from hip-hop to religion, from school yard ball games to dysfunctional families, from the criminal justice system to our food supply.

 

Making a decent living is never enough, profits must increase year after year.  If we can make money by fashioning an otherwise useless crop like tobacco into a cancer causing product we'll do it.  We are greedy and don't care anything other than money.

 

Youtube, today is more like what the internet was 10 years ago.  Everyone has a voice the variety of what is on Youtube is amazing.  I do not think this will continue once corporations take full control over who see content, but for now videos like the one above are quite discoverable.

 

Again ,I watch far more youtube than TV.  But I am watching Games of Thrones, I loved the scene where the Lannister  dwarf told everyone off during the trail :-)

 

Boondocks started a new season but they want us to play extra to see the episodes.  As much as I'd like to watch the Boondocks I refuse to pay a penny more than what I already pay for TV :angry:

 

I discovered New Star Trek episodes on Youtube.  A bunch of Star Trek fanatics have actually created new episodes -- no studio, completely independent.  The first episode was quite watchable I was impressed.

 

I'm taking a final cut pro (video editing) class to step up the quality of my YouTube videos.

 

I've taken one of these TM (Transcendental Mediation) classes I think it is beneficial, thought I don't practice it often enough.  It feels like you are clearing out the cluttler.  I think walking around in mature can be just as beneficial.  Spending all of your time in a place like NYC simply is not good for you.

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So capitalist sell the old, I'm interested in the new. The cutting edge, the Avant Garde, the underground. I don't hassle people for selling outbuying in. I had some friends that throw parties and they states getting sponsored by the liquor companies. I dont begrudge them. The whole starving artist thing is romantic. It's depressing

and can be negating. That's why I like the underground, the shadow, the hidden, the occult and the esoteric.

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I like life a little on the edge, Delano.  When my husband was away in the Air Force, I lived right down the street from an American Legion club.  On week-ends, when I didn't feel like watching TV and wanted to wiitness some live action,  I would often go there and sit at the bar.The atmosphere was rowdy, the chicks brazen, and the dudes sly. I never had to buy a drink. They were always bought for me.  I encountered a broad selection of  people and the conversation I engaged in with the street "niggas" was just as interesting as that of the better class patrons. 

 

Any time things got too out of hand, I would get the hell out of there and beat it back to where I lived, racking up another fun night out on the town.

 

 Later on, while curled up in bed it wasn't unusal to hear police sirens and occasionally gun shots emanating from this hot spot.  

 

"No fools, no fun",  I always say.     :lol:

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