Let's Ban Television!

reply to post by Spiramirabilis

As always, more substance than form from you Spiramirabilis. If only others would follow that example.

I heard the moon landing on the radio, but then, in my third-world hell-hole, we didn't have TV in 1969.

Never mind; that's beside the point. But let's try and make a value judgement.

One moon landing versus endless hours of crap programming?

Well, I suppose they have to pay for the good stuff somehow.

reply to post by Astyanax

One moon landing versus endless hours of crap programming?

Well, I suppose they have to pay for the good stuff somehow.

:-)

well, one man's crap...

and then, sometimes it comes down to TV or booze

escapism usually wins one way or another

Originally posted by detachedindividual
reply to post by Astyanax

 

We don't need to ban or censor TV, it's turning people off all on its own.

We have all seen this happen in our own lives, and I would dare say that the majority of people I know who have an internet connection now view most of their entertainment, information and news on-line.

I can't find it now, but there was a report earlier in the year showing a massive decline in the viewing figures for all the MSM news outlets, and this was primarily put down to the fact that news of the Occupy protests was clearly being censored by all broadcasters and people could see it. Trust took a massive nosedive and people started seeing the news for what it is - government/corporate sponsored propaganda.

Couple that with the fact that millions more people are having to work longer hours, parents have to push their kids harder on order for them to adequately compete in a failing market as they grow up, and I think you'll find that the viewing hours for TV entertainment will have to decline too.

A lot of people just won't have the time for TV in the coming years, and unless the mainstream catches up to the idea of actually being impartial and reporting on the things that matter to the people, they will see their decline increase.

They are having to compete with an unbiased, growing on-line entertainment business, and I don't see the corporately controlled mass media giving up their bribes any time soon. The internet will inevitably take over as the source for news, entertainment and information... and THAT is why all of our governments are now so desperate to their controls in place to prevent you from seeing the truth, just as they've controlled the mainstream TV media for decades in the same way.

They've spent decades building up relationships with LAZY journalists who just want to make money by repeating government and corporate policy, and now the government has to try to control the freedom of the internet in the same way. They can't make the same deals with millions of people out there with camera phones, or bloggers with opinions and evidence, or independent journalists with some genuine skills and insight - so they go the other route of creating laws allowing them to silence people instead.

However, we know they won't win

I remember when Radio Caroline and the other Pirate stations started broadcasting to the british nation. I'm old enough to remember listening to their broadcasts and they were doing absolutely nothing wrong. But the BBC and the british government started jamming the signals, but we continued to listen. Eventualy they changed various laws and arrested them.
The problem wasn't what they were broadcasting though, the realy BIG problem was that we weren't getting our daily dose of propoganda. Without that they become powerless.

I havent had a tv for about 20 years. What I see when I visit friends and relatives is more than enough.

I'm amazed this thread has gone so far, whenever I suggest people throw their tv out I'm always ignored.

Originally posted by beezzer
reply to post by Astyanax

 

There would have been a time where I would have agreed with you, OP. But that time has passed. Just a brief glimpse of the intraweb stands testiment Intrawebz is the tv now. TV is no better or no worse than the materials displayed on the screen.

Where does ATS get much of its material? TV, internet, MSM.

Here we disect the cadaver left for us by the media outlets. We carve away the fat, toss out the useless offal and proudly display the hidden gem that was hidden.

A ban on tv would not eliminate the needless garbage, because many would just turn to www-dot-tv for their mind candy.

Instead, might I suggest refining the filter used when exposed to the outlets of media.

cheers,

beez

I agree but I disagree also, let me try and make sense here.

TV (a medium we gave up almost 20 years ago) feeds you the information.
The internet is a whole different ball game, you actually get to pick and choose what you read and if you are like us you suffer no advertising whatsoever at all.
Regards, Iwinder.....read my signature below

To the OP you are right on the money, many years ago we would set our alarm clock to get up and watch a certain show that we "could not just miss"

Now it is work in the yard with our pond and gardens and all is so good now.
S&F
Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by cartenz


"I dont watch TV, I made that choice in 2004 (possibly a little too late, the damage has been done)."

That is a great post and a big star for you sir/madame

Regards, Iwinder

Originally posted by redbarron626
I actually Banned The Box a year ago. I never watch TV anymore. Better news and info are available on the web. I love it when someone asks me if I have seen a TV show and I reply, I don't watch TV! People find it incredible that I don't care to know what 'smookie' is doing!

Your post above makes me think of us here in a way, after giving it up we found that the National Enquirer and our local paper celebrity news section was no good to us.


Laughing as I type this, we would read a story or look at a picture of someone who is supposedly famous and say to each other " who the hell is that"?

So along with our tv gone we toasted the Enquirer but kept our local paper for the regional news and just toss the Hollywood section without a glance.

Regards, Iwinder

Originally posted by operation mindcrime
reply to post by Astyanax

 

Haven't watch television for over 3 years now and to be honest, the only down side is having to explain to friends why I have no idea what they are talking about when they are talking about a funny commercial...

I support your message 100%

BAN! THE!! BOX!!!

Peace

Right on the money you are, we have to deal with that same blank stare everytime someone asks us about a show or a commercial.


We say "What"? and they say you have got to be kidding, so we show them our on and only TV in the house and it is a 25 year old Sony that is not even plugged in.

Good Post.
Regards, Iwinder

Originally posted by ElOmen
NIce lIttle read I just had about a mother sayIng no to electronIcs for a week I thought Id share
parenting.kaboose.com...

According to TV-Free America, a national not-for-profit organization, our children are exposed to more than 20,000 thirty second commercials each year. While an average American youth spends about 900 hours in school each year, the same child may watch up to 1,500 hours of television that same year. Even though not all programming is necessarily a bad influence on our kids’ development, I couldn't help but wonder what kind of long-term effects this kind of screen time would have on my daughter.

edit on 9-9-2012 by ElOmen because: (no reason given)

Everyone here please pay attention to this one post I am making now with regards to the above post.

Ok I am deaf by legal definition so when I do watch videos here on the internet I tend to read lips and pick up a lot more then your average viewer except for the sound that is.

When I watch a clip now the very first thing that shows itself on the clips from TV shows or TV news casts or TV media in general.

And that thing is that when I try to read lips I cannot because the scenes are cut into 3 second flashes now and if you don't believe me just watch any 30 second commercial and tell me if you don't count at least 12 cut scenes or more. Or if you don't do commercials just pick any movie or tv show and count the cuts in 30 seconds......it is fricking blink blink blink constantly.

It is no longer flowing video, it is cut cut cut cut almost as fast as I can type this here.

Last time I had my truck in the shop they had comp tv showing and I had to look away because it was making me sick to my stomach.

Regards, Iwinder

Bad idea.

If TV was "banned", we would be inundated with more junk mail in our already overloaded post and emails.

Adverts would appear far more in public spaces.

Door to door sales, telephone and street canvasing would increase.

Mainstream news would also find another way to feed the sheep.

No thanks, just turn it off or get rid of it but let the shallow and ignorant divert the parasites to a place that some of us choose not to visit.

No TV for 14 years now.

The internet is the thing creating all the crazy baseless conspiracy theories, not the TV.

Originally posted by Astyanax
I don't believe in the conspiracy theories so earnestly discussed on this web site, though I enjoy reading the discussions, and like to stir the pot myself on occasion, just for the fun of it.

Conspiracy theories have always been big in American popular culture – and right now, they seem to be bigger than they've ever been. They are no longer the obsession of a small, tinfoil-hatted minority; they've gone mainstream, and not just in the US either. They've gone global. They've gone mass market. They've gone mass media.

They've gone television.

BAN! THE!! BOX!!!

Are you a government shill? You know.. Obama wants to ban all conspiracies and conspiracy theorists. You say you don't even believe in conspiracies, then say TV is where people learn about conspiracies first, then you say ban all TV.

I think you do care about or believe in these conspiracies (as something to be feared) , otherwise, why would you try to keep them from the people?

You just told on yourself.

reply to post by Astyanax


Since ATS was brought to my attention over three years ago,I am on
my computer all day instead of wasting time watching TV.I still have to
watch Deadliest Catch and NFL football.

Originally posted by Iwinder
reply to post by cartenz

 

"I dont watch TV, I made that choice in 2004 (possibly a little too late, the damage has been done)."

That is a great post and a big star for you sir/madame

Regards, Iwinder

Ironically I was doing a Film and Television degree at the time.

Originally posted by Golf66
My counter-argument is Let's Ban Banning Things.

Let's let individuals make their own decisions and not have some entity be it federal or otherwise have the authority to ban...well anything.

Let people both make their own choices and endure the results of those choices without the involvement of the government.

I don’t shoot heroin, but I could care less if someone else does – if they are not endangering others say operating a car or whatever. I don’t care who people have sex with (or what). I certainly don’t care if people watch too much TV – in all cases people eventually (despite the government’s best efforts to coddle them and insulate them from their poor choices) reap what they sew.

Ban Banning things; ok, but only if we make heroin compulsory (and paid for by our governments who are doing their best to secure our heroin supplies from the peaceful nation of Afghanistan...)

I havnt had my medication yet this morning, so gimme about half an our and I MAY be a bit more reasonable.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
The internet is the thing creating all the crazy baseless conspiracy theories, not the TV.

Conspiracy theories happened prior to the mass uptake of the world wide web, the difference with TV is that its a one-way communication, so if the network tells you its a "baseless conspiracy theory" you have no forum to address the charge. Online we have the luxury of having a multi-way discourse where ideas can be shared and developed--this scares those in the traditional media who took it upon themselves to shape public policy by manipulating the dominant reading of current events.

Originally posted by Astyanax
reply to post by beezzer

 

There is value in television.

An example or two would go a long way towards bolstering your thesis.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, but – showmethemoney.

One mans treasure is another mans. . .

But for argument sake, lets look at the news. Just by watchingdifferent stations we can judge the political talking points of any given political party. We can interpret the social engineering that the government/media is trying to engender.
Information is all about interpretation of data.

Apologies for being brief, have to go to work.

Originally posted by Iwinder

Originally posted by beezzer
reply to post by Astyanax

 

There would have been a time where I would have agreed with you, OP. But that time has passed. Just a brief glimpse of the intraweb stands testiment Intrawebz is the tv now. TV is no better or no worse than the materials displayed on the screen.

Where does ATS get much of its material? TV, internet, MSM.

Here we disect the cadaver left for us by the media outlets. We carve away the fat, toss out the useless offal and proudly display the hidden gem that was hidden.

A ban on tv would not eliminate the needless garbage, because many would just turn to www-dot-tv for their mind candy.

Instead, might I suggest refining the filter used when exposed to the outlets of media.

cheers,

beez

I agree but I disagree also, let me try and make sense here.

TV (a medium we gave up almost 20 years ago) feeds you the information.
The internet is a whole different ball game, you actually get to pick and choose what you read and if you are like us you suffer no advertising whatsoever at all.
Regards, Iwinder.....read my signature below

In tv we can also change the channel, or turn it off.

Originally posted by beezzer
...

In tv we can also change the channel, or turn it off.

When I first quit television, and encountered one that was on (two examples I will use are: at a friends place or the court waiting rooms), I would, without saying anything just switch (or unplug) the television. People were often irrationally angered by this action.

In one instance when I arrived at a friends place and did this his objection was "Hey I was watching that!". No. I explained the whole concept of social interaction and that the purpose of my visit was not to sit and watch television. I explained that if the TV set was a person in this environment (my friends shed he lived in), this person would spent try to dominate the conversation, tell us about topics we dont care about, not listen or even acknowledge our input, then try and sell us products we neither want nor need. This seemed to cause a great deal of offence, I fail to fully understand why. My logic was sound...

In the court-house waiting room however, my action of unplugging the television was met with a threat of prosecution and the re-activation of the television set....

People get pretty upset when you turn their TV off. After the court incident I stopped doing it

reply to post by Astyanax


yes i agree BAN the box and completely wipe and BAN porno/nudity on the internet.