Television Is The Opiate Of The Masses

There is the famous quote from Karl Marx, 'religion is the opiate of the masses.' And this certainly has truth to it. However, I would like to make another similar statement, for the modern day. Television is the opiate of the masses. And I just feel that this is definitely true. I don't mean that as a judgment, it really has nothing to do with good or bad, it's just an observation. Right now in my life, I have actually been watching quite a lot of television. So I can't really knock it too much. But, I definitely feel 'opiate of the masses' is an appropriate description of television.

Why? Well, that's just exactly what it is. It just sucks you into it, and numbs you from everything else. And I certainly intentionally use it that way at times. If sometimes, I just start feeling bad or sad in some way, I turn on the TV. And that's one of the most full proof methods of feeling better, I have found. I just put it on, start watching, and pretty soon I don't feel much of anything, I'm just involved with the show. So, it has an undeniable numbing effect, I think. Thus making 'opiate' an appropriate comparison.

Better to be zonked out with an opiate-like effect by watching TV shows, though, than being brainwashed by watching the news. Watching shows is benign, neutral really; like I said, it's just being numbed while being entertained. But the news is the way that the masses form their assumptions about the world, their ideas of good and bad, etc. Watching the news does not make you well-informed, it just means voluntarily exposing yourself to blatant mental manipulation. Best to get your information from the internet. This news thing was somewhat of a tangent, but I do think it's something important to note.

In summation, as to what is the opiate for today's masses, it seems clear to me that one need look no further than television. And that is a very apt description of it.

I agree, but I think it is all electronic entertainment. It is all addictive and keeps us docile.

a reply to: TheJourney

I had a philosophy professor in college describe television as a device designed to render the human body docile in order to receive a steady stream of advertisements. It's hard to think about it the same after that.

a reply to: TheJourney

Have you ever noticed how people who watch TV on a regular basis will feel uncomfortable being in a room without the TV on, if there is one in the room that is. I have observed this many times due to the fact that I am one of the people who constantly and at every opportunity will turn the TV off.

Take for example going out to eat somewhere that has TVs on the walls for some reason, I will always ask to have it turned off if in the area that I am eating (typically I do not return to places that have the TVs on walls) and if I am able to get the TV turned off, there is an uncomfortable feeling by some of those around and it always cracks me up.

I mean a junkie could not be around some junk without having it fed to them right!

LOL

I find your analogy to be quite accurate!

originally posted by: Toromos
a reply to: TheJourney

I had a philosophy professor in college describe television as a device designed to render the human body docile in order to receive a steady stream of advertisements. It's hard to think about it the same after that.

Well, I'm more of a netflix-junkie, so we get to skip out on most of the advertisements

There's something to this theory. I was writing a paper about Howard Hughes today and a part of the reason for his out of control movie watching marathons might have been his chronic pain from surviving three plane crashes and the allodynia from having his nerves all messed up. Apparently people with poorly treated chronic pain like their movie marathons and television as a distraction.

a reply to: TheJourney

Hey Journey. Can you speak to my wife please? She needs it on even when she falls asleep....she says she needs background noise. Well ok...I sleep with a fan on for background....but all day and night non-stop???

I think as you do...its a "in-your-ears" subtle version of subliminal hypnosis...MS

Edward R. Murrow actually made this statement in contrast to Karl Marx' in 1957. So, intelligent people have known that television is nothing but a distraction for more than half a decade, yet it's only grown in it's popularity and sway. People like being cattle.

a reply to: elementalgrove

Have you ever noticed how people who watch TV on a regular basis will feel uncomfortable being in a room without the TV on, if there is one in the room that is.

No. Maybe you are just weird that way. Some people like to watch sports, so if you go into a sports bar it is very likely that sports will be playing. I have never been in a restaurant that just showed regular TV. Where are these places?

TV is cheap entertainment, certainly cheaper than going out to shows or movies. America is a very large place, if you don't happen to live in a city with plays and other forms of live entertainment then how would the average person entertain themselves? I read a lot but that is an expensive habit too. I think nowadays more and more people are turning to connected devices for their entertainment. TV is losing real time viewers. When i was young there were three channels. TV was boring, now you have shows geared to all sorts of stupidity but there are gems of interesting things in there.

V

a reply to: TheJourney

Not only is it an opiate, it is laced with strychnine.

a reply to: TheJourney

My daughter is one of those that needs the boob tube on to sleep at night. Myself, I can sit in the silence for hours and hours and hours and be perfectly fine. Though, apparently, my birth mother did set me in front of the tube for hours on end in my play pen as a 'baby sitter". My stepmother used to get bored and have me skip school to "watch tv" with her as well. Now, once in a while, I'll watch a show I like, but it's not the end all, be all for me.

Edit, my daughter lives in a group home where the TV is on constantly! When she visits me though, she knows, there are quiet times we have where there is no TV on, and that's OK.

I am not one who tends to see much of anything as inherently negative. So, as I said in the OP, this is not intended as a negative judgment. I certainly do not agree with characterizations of TV as inherently bad. It is numbing entertainment, that takes you out of your head. Is that bad? I don't think so, inherently. Entertainment and absorption into something or other is perfectly valid human experience. I have a much bigger problem with the news...this is actually actively brainwashing people, on a massive scale, so as to really form predominant world-views and guide the course of the world really.

Saw this thread and made me want to play this old track...



or this even older track...

a reply to: Variable

By normal standards there is no doubt about the fact that I am "weird"!

I was more describing breakfast/dinner places as opposed to the obvious reasoning behind a sports bar having televisions, perhaps you have never been to the midwest?

The average person could entertain themselves very simply with one word.... Creativity!

originally posted by: Variable
" I do read a lot but that is an expensive habit"

Lol Really! For someone who grew up with three channels it did not take you long to forget about the library now did it!

Going back to the opiate analogy, your view fits into it perfectly, it is cheap entertainment and it also has the byproduct of lethargy!

What you quoted from my opening response has been my experience with friends/family, if there is a TV in the room you can bet your ass that it will be on, not to even pay attention to since we are engaged in conversation, but it still must be on for some reason!

To each their own, entertain yourself as you see fit, it is still fun to make analogies and the drug one is priceless!

originally posted by: TheJourney
If sometimes, I just start feeling bad or sad in some way, I turn on the TV. And that's one of the most full proof methods of feeling better..

I guess you can say that about ATS and other media/entertainment.

As for feeling better by turning on the TV, I'm afraid I must totally disagree. The most minor exposure to commercials & most TV shows makes me want to kill myself.

Reading Godlike Productions always makes me feel better though

a reply to: elementalgrove

Lol Really! For someone who grew up with three channels it did not take you long to forget about the library now did it!

I haven't been to a library in years. Usually, to be honest, they don't have the books i want to read. I go to a local used book store now. I used to have a Barnes and Noble addiction, but i got cured of it when i got laid off years ago. I just go to B&N now to scoff and snicker at the yuppies buying retail.


V