Are you a television consumer?

[Bucky]

No, you are not. You are a television by-product; you are one grain in a bountiful TV attention-harvest. You can't boycott tv any more than a chicken can boycott Col Sanders. You can try to escape from it. You can hide out in the library or under the coop. But you can't change the system.

You probably already knew this, but it's nice to have reminders.

[ixion]

1. Uh, I watch movies (on DVD), so I am a consumer of film, to be sure

however I am in no way a consumer/user or happy by-product of the broadcast media.

[stray cat]

2. you actually can go live in the middle of nowhere without any power

other than wood burning -and I know people serious about conserving energy who even school their children at home to avoid contamination with the "tv culture" or becoming homeless works well

[KharmaTrain]

3. Those Who "Tune Out" Don't Consume

One can watch television yet not be "consumed" by it. I've grown up with teevee yet always knew that what was coming out of that box was not the world I lived in. It's a fantasy world...a view always from someone else's perspective. This is especially the case with advertising where the ultimate goal is to sell you something...to create a favorable impression and profit from it. The same goes for programming as the television station is there to make money (even the public ones) and what they show is what they feel will draw the most eyes that then mean the most money. It's all built around consumption...both of the program and then the products. But one can detatch and I see many who do.

I like to be an observer rather than a consumer. I'm always suspect of a product that spends millions on advertising and of certain types of programming that I know is meant to titilate or yank on emotions rather than inform.

It's easy for those who don't watch to cast stones...play the high road, but they also miss out on a window that can inform and in a way no other medium can. As in any technology, there's good and bad, it's always up to the "end-user" how its interpreted and used.

Cheers...

[TransitJohn]

4. I bought a new LCD for the house last Christmas, so yeah.

n/t

[lunatica]

5. TV is truly an insidious influence in our lives

Even when you stop being a TV consumer by getting cable and the premium channels with no advertising (HBO, Showtime, Starz, etc.) except for advertising their own programs it still molds your life and the country's culture. There's a lot of truth in what you say. Americana has been molded from TV since the 1950s. The golden American age of Leave It To Beaver and Father Knows Best were a product of tv and never existed in real life, yet most people think of the 50s as a replica of those shows.

[Blue-Jay]

6. Fuck. Now I'm not even supposed to enjoy TV?

Thanks a lot.

[Javaman]

10. That's just the way it is...

No more fun. No more trips into fantasy. No more enjoying your favorite show.

The Left has spoken.

I fear a world ruled by the ultra left as much as I fear a world ruled by the ultra right.

[Blue-Jay]

15. How can I justify having fun when _________ is happening in the world?

Why, Rhett, whatevah shall we do?

[Dappleganger]

17. No more American Idol? *faints* nt

[Bucky]

23. I hope you don't me mean. I ain't "the left"

I usually get called a DINO around here. Nice of you to be balanced enough to jerk the knee in a different direction. Why, it's practically aerobic exercise.


PS, Please note nobody told you you weren't supposed to enjoy tv.

[Javaman]

28. So me confucing you with a fringe group is good to you?

fine, have it your way.

And either way, your point of view is to say the least...elitest.

And had you noted that I also stated that I fear a world ruled by the ultra left as much as I do the ultra right. At some point, both are blurred until both are the same. Dogma knows no depth.

[NeedleCast]

7. Love the anti-TV elitists

I'm glad we've got our intellectual superiors looking out for us...

:eyes:

[Javaman]

12. I know.

It really cracks me up.

All TV = bad. LOL

What cracks me up, is the irony of addiction. Those who watch tv 24/7 are not much different from the people who claim it is evil. Two sides of the same coin.

What ever happened to moderation?

The anti-TV Leninists. LOL

[Bucky]

24. Silly boy.

My comments were actually pretty conservative. I wrote you can't change the system. Sorry if you're preprogrammed response isn't a good fit for my OP. But please, feel free to project.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. "My comments were actually pretty conservative"

Boy, I'll say.

[Javaman]

27. Oh silly fool...

you are damn right about that conservative point.

Perhaps one day will be enlightened.

[wolfgangmo]

31. I neither own a TV seet nor watch TV.

That fact doesn't make me intellectually superior. I just don't like wasting my time, and for me, TV is a waste of time. But I don't mention it and I don't lord it over others. Not watching TV doesn't make me superior any more than my IQ, degrees, medical clinic, talent, good looks, sterling personality, etc. does. TV is a hobby, IMHO, but not one a choose to indulge in. I enjoy my bike, tinkering in the garage, good novels, hiking, gardening, rebuilding my old house, etc. If someone enjoys TV and wants to spend time watching it, that is there business and more the power to them.

And honestly I suspect that most folks who don't watch TV are of the same opinion. Please don't smear me or others like me as intellectual snobs when we aren't.

But I have to admit that I have heard the exact same comment about my not watching TV from my teahadist brother in law. And for the record I NEVER bring up TV to him, he always brings it up to me ala "gee, I guess you think that the TV show we are talking about is just stupid - you are such a snob" when I haven't said anything.

[PoliSSHat]

33. Im scared of my TV....

It may provide me with information to think differently than others.

[Uncle Joe]

36. That's why debate and critical thinking are so important, you can debate on the Internet,

not so much on television, unless you're one of the micro number selected few and even then you may be put on the edge of the stage, given one question for every three alloted to the favorites, cut off, talked over or entirely misrepresented.

Furthermore you will find infinitely more information on the Internet than you will ever see on television, both in quantity and quality but it's up to you to choose, that's where your critical thinking skills come in.

Critical thinking and debate skills in the United States have greatly eroded with the rise of one way, top down television telling people how to think.

[PoliSSHat]

37. I totally agree....

My life has changed dramatically after I discovered wikipedia, withleather, and espn

[Uncle Joe]

39. And those are just snowflakes on the tip of the iceberg,

good luck with your future endeavors as you explore even more of the Internet.

[The_Commonist]

8. There's a little game I like to play...

...called "Who is the Customer and What is the Product?"

It works perfectly with commercial TV.

Here is your favorite commercial television station broacasting your favorite show:



In this instance, what is the product being sold, and who is the customer buying it?
This also works for newspapers and magazines and any other commercial media.
Most people get this wrong...

[mitchum]

35. "But...but...but...TV is my friend! It wouldn't sell my eyes to advertisers!"

[blueamy66]

9. My co-worker does not allow his kids to watch any tv

He occasionally allows them to watch foreign cartoons on youtube.

He said something yesterday to the effect that tv waves cause ignorance. We all cracked up.

A little tv is not gonna hurt a kid....heck, it could educate them.

[Blue-Jay]

14. Only foreign cartoons? That's a riot!

Your co-worker might be a tiny bit insane.

[blueamy66]

22. Yes, he is.

He is also quite the snob!

Don't get me started on what he feeds those kids...or should I say what he doesn't feed those kids.

[Javaman]

16. But a little wave via the intertubes is better? LOL

humans crack me up with their "pick and choose" hypocracy. LOL

We went from cave paitings, to story telling to books, to radio, to tv, to the internet. I wonder what comes next?

When people fail to understand that any communicated media is just a form of story telling, then civilization becomes less.

It's the fine art of telling crap from good that is at stake. Part of life is learning how to logically critique. But when everything shown on TV is looked upon as a nail, well we know the rest.

Too much tv is bad, but banning it outright is odd.

[RandomThoughts]

11. I find my own meanings in things like movies.

I bring the good lessons into my thought, and ignore the bad stuff, so I can definitely say I am not a product of TV culture.

[Bluenorthwest]

13. I am a television maker. So there.

Your point of view is one of an addict, a person who can not control an outside thing. Some have such problems with food, or drugs, or shopping. Many seem to feel that if there is a TV in a room, they are somehow forced to watch FoxNews and commercials. I do not have the problems that you have with media, and frankly, I am happy about that.
I've known a few of the anti TV crowd in my time. It can be very sad what happens. One good friend back in the 80's, I just had to sit him down and get him up to date. He took it upon himself to constantly talk about TV, which he had not seen save for a few hours in childhood. But still he'd talk about it, as you do. I finally had to help him out when a woman he liked walked away from him at a party, because he was talking about TV, and how it is filled with cigarette commercials from doctors, how they do not let black people 'mix' with whites, and how married couples on TV have to be shown in twin beds. This was 86 or so. There had not been a cig commercial for over 20 years. I sat him down for 'In Living Color' and he was simply flummoxed.
You see, he thought he was hip and aware, but what he really was was culturally illiterate and raving about things as timely as whining about crank start automobiles. He sounded crazy to people, when he'd say there are no black people on TV. He sounded, in fact, racist, which he was not at all.
So clearly, moderation and choice is important, but moderation and choice is important. Understand? Just because you turn a TV on and wallow in trash does not mean that others do so. To presume that they do is rude, uninformed, and at the heart of it no different than some Baptist shouting about how sinful the movies are. You are a culture prude. You see 'sin' and it makes you feel superior. Based on assumptions. You are of the opinion that only those who can afford to go to the Met should ever see the Metropolitan Opera. I do not agree. You think that only those who can spend large money should be exposed to the plays of Shakespeare or August Wilson. I do not agree. While it is great to hop a plane and fly to London to see a show, I am always thrilled when HBO or another company takes a great play and makes it widely available to those who can not go to see it. You would prefer that only the elites get to see high culture, or hear news, or simply be entertained. I do not agree.
Television is a medium, and the medium is not the message. Just as 'books' could be said to be awful, because there are awful books, or music could be said to be tripe because of the Jonas Brothers, one could look at FoxNews or According to Jim and say 'that's TV'. But one could also look at Masterpiece Theater or Current Vanguard and say 'that is TV'. Mein Kampf is a book. So, what, books are all bad?
People learn to speak languages via TV, gain degrees, see places in the world they will never visit. To you, all of that is bad. A single mother getting her AA and more pay, that is wrong to you, because she should have to get day care, get in a car, drive to campus, sit in class, pay the day care, go home. God forbid such people have access to education. How awful, it is almost worse than those horrible movie shows that show breasts and have gay people in them!
So, to you, is it worse for a person to watch Hamlet on TV or to attend a public dance where non marrieds touch? Is it worse to watch Keith Olbermann, or for a man to have long hair? Is it more sinnful to watch Rachel or to say 'fuck'?
Is the live theater also a horrible moral failure in your mind? If they ask for donations does that make it wrong? If the program advertises a restaurant next door, is that vile consumerism?
Just hilarious stuff. You feel controlled by inanimate objects, so you probably should avoid them. But just fyi, you could switch the channel or put in a disk or watch what you have recorded, and never see anything but docs, literature and information. It is your choice, not that of an object. You do have the power, not the furniture. Also, the dog is not talking to you.

[Blue-Jay]

18. +1000

"Also, the dog is not talking to you." :rofl:

[Bluenorthwest]

20. Thanks

[Mopar151]

34. You should be glad the dog is talkin' to me

Little Jozie makes more sense than most people. We like the Animal Planet, Mike Holmes, a bunch of the car shows on Speed, Dirty Jobs, American Loggers, and some of the other documentary/history stuff. Mrs. Mopar loves schmaltzy movies, and I'm kind of a news junkie. Big :grouphug: for Rachel.
But you gotta CONSIDER THE SOURCE. Jozie is pretty easy - she wants love, and food, and a cushy spot to nap. TV is selling ads, and they're targeted - sometimes pretty blatantly, and I kind of prefer the honesty in that. I don't watch enough Fox News to know who their advertisers are, but they are probably not shooting for the informed consumer that Barry Meguiar (Car Crazy host, Meguiars Polishes owner) is.

[Uncle Joe]

29. There are at least major differences in degree regarding the power of television and books, music,

or story telling.

That's the problem, it isn't just FOX "News;" television news in general on every outlet has been compromised, the choice is that of Vanilla and French Vanilla.

They have an inherent conflict of interest; in regards to corporate well being and that of the public good with corporate profits or those politicians supporting corporate supremacy winning out the vast majority of time.

Watching Sunday Morning News Programs; their usual cast of characters and repeat visitors is like going through Groundhog Day.

The American People depending on getting their information from television news have been in large part brain washed time and again on critical issues or events.

No doubt there are some good aspects to television but the damage done to the nation by this top down, one way, God like magical communications form is undeniable.

[Ignis]

38. Gah! Double-return on paragraphs, please.

:D

[ellenfl]

19. no, i'm a television program consumer. i tried

consuming a television once. it gave me diarrhea.

ellen fl

[Initech]

21. I'm the slime oozing out from your TV set - Frank Zappa

I am gross and perverted
I'm obsessed 'n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little has changed
I'm the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you

I may be vile and pernicious
But you can't look away
I make you think I'm delicious
With the stuff that I say
I'm the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I'm the slime oozin' out
From your TV set

You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don't need you
Don't go for help . . . no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold

That's right, folks . . .
Don't touch that dial

Well, I am the slime from your video
Oozin' along on your livin' room floor

I am the slime from your video
Can't stop the slime, people, lookit me go

I am the slime from your video
Oozin' along on your livin' room floor

I am the slime from your video
Can't stop the slime, people, lookit me go

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

25. I like when people complain about television on internet message boards.

It's like producing a show on public access television to complain about people wasting their time on internet message boards.

[ShortnFiery]

30. I'm backing far away from the M$M news except for local stuff in the early morning.

With regard to the whore pundits in the media - no way! Sometimes I listen to KO or Rachel but I'm not making it "must see TV" each day.

Fiction Series are much better: Enjoy Fringe, Supernatural and Psych. ;)

[shedevil69taz]

32. If it weren't for my kids

I would be more than happy to toss my directv boxes out the window.