Television is Weird

I am a child of television - have been all my life. From Huckleberry Hound to Peyton Place to Law & Order, I've watched a lot of TV. To compound the addiction, it became my vocation. For many years I mixed local news audio at some pretty high end TV stations ( and a few low end ones - you know who you are.) Now that I am not working at the moment, I have time to reflect on television and the impact it has had on society. Some author once call TV the cool fire - a place the family sat around instead of the fireplace, and watched Lucy and Ethel plan their schemes. So much has changed.

I believe TV is responsible for the downfall of our society. People watch things, then reenact them. Before TV, kids could play on the street by themselves. No more, because someone has seen too much kidnapping on the tube and gets an idea. The news used to tell the news. Now it's full of assholic opinions, which make their way to the streets. People incite each other, they fight, they die. Sex has become mainstream on TV. I remember in the old days the camera would pan away. Now it stays so we can see all the grappling. Why? Who needs it? It is bad for kids, legitimizing the act. They see and they do. They sext. They video themselves. No one did this before TV. Sure, Bobby Soxers had sex, but discretely. Economically, TV has made us all one small world. What goes on in China is seen here 90 seconds later, causing panic. We do not need this.

Television has caused entropy in this country. Of course, this is only one person's opinion, and I don't mean to sound like the Unabomber, but I feel this to be true. It's certainly been the cause of much entropy in my life. I use TV as a drug. I watch Law & Orders I've watched 20 times before. I seldom read. I DVR most everything. I have the TV on for noise while I needlepoint. When I feel lonely, TV is a voice.

I miss the cool fire. I didn't grow up during radio days, but I wish I had. I might have developed a more visual imagination. I would have gotten some reading done. I wish I didn't know so much bad stuff. There is now a study that claims watching local news can cause cancer, because people feel they have no control over events. While I'm not sure this makes sense (people get their news in other places as well), I hope I got out in time. Of course, if I got a job offer, I'd jump back in posthaste. I'm just sayin'.