I like the song "Throw Away Your Television" by Red Hot Chili Peppers not jusy because of the lyrics and tune ... but really, sometimes I do want to throw away my Television. But I can't because I'm a screenwriter so I HAVE to watch TV. I just stay away from the news. The news is evil. Seriously. The way they're always saying "Trust US. WE'LL bring you the news. We're the ONLY ones you can TRUST. Throw away that newspaper, listen to US in the morning, evening, dusk, nighttime and dawn. WE'll keep you informed."

Meanwhile they have this stupid red, yellow, purple, beige, crimson, aquamarine alert all the time, keeping us normal people on edge. What use is that bull? I miss the days when TV was for entertainment and actual NEW news. Not propoganda.

TV's Five-Year Plan:

To Reinforce our understanding of the fact that:

1. [insert name of celebrity]'s life is more important than the [insert event of historical significance]
   
2. An alien spacecraft really did crash in Roswell, NM
   
3. 10pm and 11pm News shows should contain 10% news, 20% weather, 30% sports, and 40% pure mind control
   

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That's the way I see it.

For several months, I have believed that the media influences the opinions of conspirasy theorists in an attempt to control our thoughts. I also believe that it's working better then they had originally planned.

I also understand that most people disagree with me on that opinion.

1. When I was a kid, we were extremely poor. Our black and white TV went out in 1977. Dad would not buy us a new one. It didn't get fixed until grandad came for a visit in 1980. So, I went through junior high with no TV at home. No friends came by, because of it. But in the sixth grade, my reading level tested as "post-college." Nothing else to do.

2. One of my brothers is eccentric in a family of eccentrics. He is known for covering the TV or computer monitor with a towel when he is not watching it. He quotes the Jethro Tull lyric, "either you are watching TV, or vice versa."

3. 80% of my TV viewing is 15-20 minute spans of CNBC (the "markets channel.") total viewing is probably 2 - 3 hours per week on average.

4. I never owned a TV in college, and only got cable TV when I got married. I have not watched a sitcom in probably 5 years. My kids are not allowed to watch TV unless we are in the room. Otherwise, they get pre-screened video tapes and DVD's.

5. "Even though" I don't watch TV, I am considered one of the most creative, with-it people at work, and by my kids' friends(!). If TV is so essential, how can I possibly be in-the-know without watching the blue lamp of hell?

6. I get all the "news" I need from CNBC and ATSNN. Seriously. My only real interest in the news is congressional procedings and war news as it affects the price of oil (59 bucks a barrel, yay! It's gonna be a banner Christmas at the Strangecraft household!!!!)

Originally posted by WyrdeOne
It's not exactly the television that's brainwashing you, right? It's the ideas. The television is a device that transmits ideas to large audiences.

So it's undeniably powerful.

WyrdeOne,

And that is really the Heart of it isn't it?

Those who fear the device rather than those who exploit the device end up falling in with the luddite crowd.

In the future we will see far more powerful media devices avialable - some possibly connected directly into our nervous system - but it merely requires discipline to avoid becoming a "victim" of any medium.

Whether it is drugs, or television, or even video games - one must be diligent to avoid becoming a slave to their baser instincts.

How is it brain washing me?

I watch the croc hunter and doccos. No news.

Talking Points

Ever notice that the exact same discussion happens on all of the "news" channels every day. It is like every news channel is given a script for the day on what to talk about. The only thing that might interrupt the talking points are current "news" events that tend to just distract you and have no real relevance in your life.

TV has the capacity to make us all brilliant but instead it is being used to make us numb.

Why do we need to be made numb? Perhaps to prevent revolt?

agreed, television is the largest and most widespread(seen a bedroom without one lately?)tool for mass brainwashng on a corperate and consumer level but as far as science and politics it effectively robs people of free will and critical thinking. you watch to see the men on the news tell YOU how your group thinks, to further divide you and your peers throught oversimplified terms. Anyone one been to a social gathering and seen those people endlessly argueing over facts and concepts that were handed and catered tothem throught the news. They get people to debate constalty and always show them cheapshotting each other, this effects YOU! you get into an arguement and all you ever see is uncompramising arguements. so you stick to the piont fed to you and they keep their info fodder as well, never solving or overcoming anything. keeping everyone divided into subgroups so no one agrees(which means a divided and easily controlled soiety) AWAKE< UNITE

Television news is very insightful, if you know how to watch it.

Something very mysterious is going on in America right now. ATS is a latecomer to the game, but it is still another sign of what is to come. People have been going to the Web for years now to find information about the stories the television news won't cover. The proportionately small number of people who have been uncovering the dirt and sharing ideas with others on the Web can have a disproportionately large impact on social attitudes, simply because we have the information we weren't supposed to have.

Meanwhile, the powers that be in industry and government seem to be a little behind the curve. We can thank television news for portraying an American public too gullible and distracted to know what is happening. By the time the old men catch on to what is happening, it will be far too late for them to stop it.