We all live in the Matrix

[mindwalker_i]

I've been thinking about posting some thoughts I've had about the media for a while. Just the other night I was at Denny's getting some food and the most amazing and heartbreaking thing happened. Behind me was a family also eating their dinner, but they had brought a portable TV with them. To a restaurant. I think they were watching some sort of game show, just by the music. Is this what we've become as a nation, a group of folks (TM) who can't unplug the IV long enough to eat dinner with our families? Will we just wither and die if we aren't connected to "culture?"

It's easy for me to say. About 5 years ago I stopped watching TV but for 1 or 2 shows a week. It wasn't intentional. It was just that nothing appealed to me, not sitcoms, not movies, and news just didn't do it either. I read books.

It seems to me that media, specifically TV, caters to the lowest common denominator. Worse than that, it's purpose is literally to turn us all into consumers and TV pursues that goal relentlessly. So TV has become more than just entertainment, more than something people do a occasionally, or a little each day. It has become the broadband of American culture, the thing that sustains us. It keeps us connected to a very specific version of the world and molds us to it.

For anyone who regularly read shashdot, they have undoubtedly seen the many threads dedicated to fighting the RIAA, their control of music, and their crusade against people who trade music over the net. While I agree the RIAA has way overstepped the rational, I can't help but wonder what would happen if people simply stopped buying CDs, stopped trading mp3 either illegally or legally, and stopped sending the RIAA money. Why can the industry afford all these lawsuits?

The same can be applied to television. How many times have there been threads about the latest thing to come from Fox news? So when people talk about boycotting ABC, it just doesn't seem likely. How long can the IV be unplugged? But it would be really great if it happened! If everybody could get the news from the 'net and Keith, it would make a difference. Every time people debate "what Rush said," it gets his idea out and no matter how absolutely fucking insane it is, it becomes part of the collective mind of the nation, given credibility simply by being allowed to exist. By arguing about the path to 9-11 in any way other than to call it politically-desperate fiction, keeps the ideas presented there alive.

On the other hand, constantly talking about impeachment keeps that idea alive as well. Talking about the very real concerns about voting fraud and 9-11 "conspiracies" keeps those ideas alive. Even if their ridiculed at first. Argue on your own terms, not those constantly spewed out by the MSM.

This sounds really preachy and I'm really sorry for that - it isn't intentional.

-mwalker

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

1. mwalker, welcome! I'm with you, TV really doesn't provide much

intellectual and emotional substance, anymore.

Nice observations. :toast: MKJ

[mindwalker_i]

7. It provides

How do I put this? My impression is that a lot of what is on TV kind of aims for what makes people comfortable to be a part of, sorta. It's pretty rare to find things that challenge the common "perception," things that are edgy. When the new Twilight Zone was out a couple years ago, it only talked about things that had, pretty much, already been said or explored fully.

The biggest market push is to make programs that people watch. It hard to make the effort to go after what specifically makes one uncomfortable, but I think that's what needs to happen. And I'm sure this applies to me too.

-mwalker

[tavalon]

10. I've been TV less for most of the last decade.

Occasionally I chafe when there is some news item I want to see and I wish I could see the Daily Show but otherwise, I am grateful for my non TV status.

[The River]

2. Not A Matrix, A Simulacran

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2005/12/the_simulacran_.html

[Wiley50]

8. More people need to read Joe's stuff

But, it's catching on

I spoke with him last night and he was amazed
how quick World News Trust and other sites
picked up on his latest piece
He just posted it that morning

[Raydawg1234]

3. You're absolutely right.

I don't watch much tv asside from HBO now adays.

[mindwalker_i]

6. RE: HBO

Battlestar Galactica and Dr. Who :)

And sometimes the daily show

-mwalker

[Drum]

4. Kick & Rec

...because I, too, have seen the duality.

:kick:

Take the red pill.

[northamericancitizen]

5. Kick and recommended.

[tomreedtoon]

9. No, no, no! We all live in a Yellow Submarine!

Because the supposed leaders of the party are so yellow, they refuse to challenge the Republicans in any important ways.

[Theres-a]

11. CBS 9/11 documentary

It was very good,in my hypercritical- of- anything- on- tv- attitude.I was very busy the past few days,and was saddened to come to DU and see nothing about it.i couldn't find a thread.Just threads about that awful abc propaganda piece,which I summarily dismissed as nonsense without watching.

I am glad abc is being called out.I would love to see a lawsuit from the airline.But all this talk about that show and no one saw the wonderfully human piece on cbs.Guess I'm preaching,too. sorry.