Watch some TV like essentially all Americans do and you can learn some important lessons in life. And, despite the claims of some, that is the point, isn't it? The media has a message it wants to get across, and the television is a great way to do it. So what have I learned? Well, mostly that I'm wrong about a lot of stuff.
Take, for instance, the recent Christmas season. TV has taught me well. What is the primary message of Christmas? You have to believe in Santa Claus! That's it. If we don't believe, how is he going to deliver all those gifts? And who knows this best of all? Well, obviously the children who do believe need to teach this to the adults who don't. See, I thought Christmas was about Christ's birth and all, but you won't find that message on TV. No, no, it's Santa and warm feelings and being nice. That's what Christmas is all about. I was wrong.
Or try following the local news. I learn all sorts of things from their "hard hitting investigations" that I never expected. I always believed that there was a worm in everything, so to speak, but the news has assured me that it's far worse. In the last month I've learned that the police are crooked and don't do their job, the airport isn't safe because the TSA isn't doing their job, and don't even think about calling an ambulance if you're hurt because they're not safe either. (Seriously, the tagline was "The next time you are thinking about calling an ambulance, think again.") Crime is bad. People are crazy. It's not safe. It's just not safe. I used to think that the terrorists were those religious fanatics wanting to wipe out America, but they have nothing on the local media. These people dispense terror every night as "news". And while I thought I was fairly safe and warm, I find out that there is nothing safe and nowhere warm and all is lost.
I find I'm wrong on so many things. I read that about 10% of the population was considered homosexual. Watching the television, I find that this can't be true. Based on the number of shows with homosexual themes and messages, it has to be more like 50%. I was told that age brings wisdom and that older people are worthy of respect because experience has provided them lessons in life from which youth can learn. This is obviously a lie. Television is full of the message that only young people have the truth and adults would do well to sit at the feet of their children to learn their pearls of wisdom. Experience? Piffle! Youth is the source of all enlightenment.
Watching TV, it turns out that most of what I thought I knew was wrong. Religion is dangerous, not admirable -- Christianity in particular. Good is boring and bad is fun. The best good guy is a bad guy. God is a myth, but science is infallible. And while asking questions should have been a good thing, it turns out that asking questions of the wrong places (like science or the government) is a really bad thing. Sex isn't valuable; it's recreation. Love is only a momentary warm feeling and everyone gets divorced ... regardless of what the statistics may say. And marriage? Well, it's still a good thing ... I guess ... but I can't say why. I feel so much smarter.
End sarcasm.
Are you sure you want to spend that much time in front of something that is so antithetical to so much of what we believe?
2 comments:
Actually, 3-5% are gay in real life but 51% are gay on TV.
One exception to garbage TV is "Criminal Minds". The Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI chases down serial killers. The profiling they do digs deep into the sin life of the murderers. Each episode could serve as a lead-in for a sermon illustration. Fascinating show. It's been such a hit with my daughter - who got me watching - that I've refrained from going into a Bible lesson after each episode. She's kind of weary of 13 years of my Bible lessons. I just let her enjoy the show and rest that profound biblical truths are being drawn from it.
To answer the question at the end of this good post, Stan..... I'm sure that I DON'T want to spend a lot of time in front of THAT ~ that much too often "evil box".
IT is prominently displayed in most of all of our homes. IT usually has its own special stand and most major pieces of furniture are all situated to face IT ~ the main focal point in most rooms which contain one of them... so much like idols.
Hey, let's all sit around it, bask in its glow and, with rapt attention and blocks of time rarely given to others, be captivated by what it says and what it shows us today. WooOOoow. Hallowed be thy name, TV. Some people even almost religiously study their TV Guides, planning out what they will watch on what nights.
Even in restaurants, when people generally are sitting across from each other at small tables and could finally talk face-to-face, getting to better know what's going on with each other, if there is a TV on somewhere in the room, at what are they apt to be looking or at least frequently glancing? The person they are with, or IT? I'm not even much of a TV watcher, but, without effort on my part not to, it keeps beckoning me to look.
Of course there ARE some very GOOD shows on it, too, of course. And for people shut-in or bedridden, TVs can be a good thing. But, for the most part...
The stuff coming out of my TV never ceases to disappoint me. It never ceases to amaze me, too. I am amazed at just how BAD it has become. I can hardly watch TV at all anymore with my kids without almost constantly being on guard. It doesn't matter if the show itself that we are watching is "family friendly" because the commercials and blips about upcoming shows sure might not be!
It infuriates me that in my own home I am embarrassed to find myself and my young adult sons being subjected to commercials for E.D., male enhancement products, lubricants, and Victoria's Secret models prancing around in only stillettos and underwear. Our young teenage daughter really hates it when such things come on while her dad, brothers, grandparents, or friends are there in the room with her, too. It's just plain indecent and sometimes almost painful to be subjected to, and this is just what comes over our screens for free, on broadcast TV.
How maddening that you almost never know quite WHAT to expect out of IT next. I used to think the PBS station was relatively "safe", until one night, about 10 years ago, I was shocked to see full frontal nudity in what had seemed like an interesting movie about a nun. I hadn't known up until then that our TV could even get THAT kind of thing on it. The programing must be increasingly enticing and shocking in order to keep the majority of us captive, I guess. How sad. I mourn the warpage of so many minds.
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