You are a walking contridiction.

Why don't you actually present an argument for how television brainwashes people instead of making a bunch of glib responses?

Agreed but its all set up for the same common goal. It does depend on how you take it. My idea is to try really hard to blow off "popular" items but the system sets it up in a way that corners you in. Did you know that 10 years ago it was not required to have a cell phone and now most buisnesses virtually require it. Im just saying that its set up for the masses to buy in and all the headstrong individuals to have to swallow there pride.

Regardless of any attempt to overcome these they eventually become another appendage.

V/r

Yukon.

Read farther ... Glad to see you back today

BTW whats wrong with observation.

I've read the whole thread and all your responses are characterized by your usual lack of direction.

What are you accomplishing by being so anti-materialistic? By not indulging yourself at all aren't you placing even more value in these items then the "brainwashed masses" you're attacking?

I don't know what point your trying to get across I very rarely watch TV and when I do it's mostly for sport , At the moment i'm following a grand total of 2 TV shows a week that have nothing to do with sport. One is Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle which is basically just a half hour of stand up , which ironically was about how rubbish TV is , and the other is Lost which I take with a pinch of salt as pure entertainment , and nothing more.

I'd much rather read or listen to music . I'm not saying that to boast or sound bigheaded , that's what I do , that's how I get my entertainment for the majority of my free time. I see TV as a heap of shit which might give me a couple of hours entertainment a week if i'm lucky. It certainly doesn't say anything about my image and no i've never maxed out a credit card. in fact i've never even owned one.

Thats the idea, Im not anti-materialistic I have things I dont need. I attack those who state that they are not a victim of TV propo/brainwashing. You are constantly bombarded with junk you dont need, yet everyone is in debt because they had to have it. Did they need it? probably not.

There have been moments that we have all been victims

You specifically stated you "try really hard to blow off popular items" and then went on to attack cellphones. That is an anti-materialistic thought. I'll restate my point in simpler terms so you get it. By refusing to buy, or "blowing off" popular items aren't you placing more, or just as much value, in these items as the people who buy into them?

I've yet to see an intelligent argument about how television brainwashes everyone and is propaganda. Perhaps you need to look up the definitions of those terms before using anything so extreme. For television to be propaganda it would have to have a cause or something, anything really, to be spreading misinformation about. As a whole it doesn't do that. For it brainwash us...I see no way you can argue it actually does.

Sleepy, your arguing semantics now. My idea behind what I said is that I try really hard to blow off popular items until it is virtually required that I have them (forced to swallow my pride) and used the cellular phone as an example and also gave you a time frame. It doesnt mean i had sleepless night and cold sweats over a freakin leash.

I'm not arguing semantics. For one it's spelled semantics; the second letter is e. Secondly, arguing semantics would be arguing over specifically over linguistic development or the relationships between signs. By definition I have not argued semantics until just now. Open a book once in awhile.

Now onto the actual argument. You're still not answering my question. Your average person doesn't have "sleepless nights and cold sweats" over these popular items. They still place a good deal of value in them, that's why it's materialistic. You've taken a stance against these items, which is refusing to purchase them until it's necessary. That is placing, or rather specifically not placing, value in them. Which is anti-materialistic. Aside from one stance being a negative and the other a positive, at its heart, how are you any different? It can't be that difficult to address this question.