Is the T.V. a brainwash device or are people just parnoid
 

I ask you this because I want to know. *paranoid

I'd say it's doing more harm than good.

My family decided it would be best for everyone if we shut off the cable. Now we just watch tv on the internet. :rolleyes:

TV is only harmful to excess. It's not just TV that's making people paranoid. Mediums as old as newspapers, magazines and advertisements outside of television are still inflicting needless fear and making us paranoid.

can you specify?

I think it depends on how much time you spend watching it and how much as you use it as your basis for reality.

it's a crutch used by millions of people who don't want to own up to their own shortcomings and laziness.

I don't dislike TV, I just ****ing abhor commercials. There are some good shows out there, but I always ALWAYS mute the TV during the commercials.

Whether or not TV is evil is up to debate. There are some intelligent, entertaining shows out there, but there's a lot of crap out there too, but that can be applied to music and literature as well. It's just a matter of sifting through the crap and finding the good things. However I do agree with what Huey Freeman said on The Boondocks right before grandad delivered the finishing blow to Stinkmeaner, "You know, right now we could all be reading a book."

I agree, Especially with the advent of reality tv. I see too many people living their lives vicariously and quite passively through the lives, fictitious or not, of strangers on Television. The worst are people who have their heads up the a$$es of celebrities personal lives.

That could easily apply to us as well lol

absolutely. initially i thought the concept of 'reality' tv was fantastic. when i first heard about 'survivor' i really thought we were on the verge of something monumental provided it didn't devolve into 'lord of the flies'... then i saw an episode and realized it was just an incredibly ostentatious set for yet another game show.

as for the celebrity personal lives. i've been saying it for years. celebrity is the modern divinity. our society idolizes and worships fame as the means to regain the perceived purity we all lost at birth. once we become stars then all our sins are atoned for, all our debts are paid off, and we get to eat cake and ice cream all day everyday, and poop rainbows, and live forever. :banghead:

It's sad that when watching telly, you usually have to spend a lot of time watching attempts at manipulating you .. and they work too, even if you don't believe it. ;)

I like a lot of TV, but I don't like how the market tries to manipulate viewers. We have one channel here which is free of commercials and it's bliss.

It's interesting .. In Norway, we don't normally worship our celebrities. Instead, we think of them more as regular people. They don't necessarily make that much more money than the average Joe here, so the big difference between them and you is usually that they work in TV or radio.

i think the biggest issue with television advertisements is that the viewers really think it's an 'us against them' situation when in reality it's 'us against ourselves'.

Yup.

that still happens on this side of the pond as well, but that's more for local media employees. no one one freaks out about the weatherman getting groceries. there's still a distinction between a media personality and a celebrity. just because you're on tv doesn't mean you're a star (despite what the vast majority of 'idol' and 'reality' contestants want to believe).

Celebrity worship isn't exclusive to America...there are British, Australian, French and German tabloids too. And it's fairly relevant that America is over sixty times larger than Norway.

So naturally we're bound to get more of this crap.

Noone would freak out if Norway's biggest actor would enter the store to get groceries here .. but it's a small country too. I know two reality TV contestants myself. One of them was the winner and spent the money she won on an apartment not far from where me and my GF win. Still, despite winning a popular show a year ago, she's hardly ever recognised in public.

True, but I think a lot of people use this site as a socialization tool, which then requires thought.

it can be good and bad

If you're going to say TV is a brainwashing device then you have to say Newspapers, magazines, literature, the internet and music are too. The only thing wrong with TV is the quality of 90% of the output and commercials.

Parents who harp on about the influence Television violence, sex and blah blah has oh their children need to get their fingers out of their arses and be more proactive in their development. They forget it can also be insightful and educational... although unless you're watching the discovery channel or its affiliates that's rare these days.

discovery channel ftw! :D

I'm not sure about the general population, but I know I don't watch the same stuff they do. I usually spend my time watching pointless stuff like Adult Swim, or interesting stuff like the Discovery or History channel. I don't think I've ever watched an entire newscast on TV, they bore me, they are generally annoying. I certainly don't think it is a brainwash divice, but I can really only say that goes for me. I don't think you can put all of the blame on TV, its really both the people and the tools used to "inform" them. People will always be paranoid, and there will always be people playing up on this. TV is just one of the many forms that it appears in.

TV to me is more convincing things move there more flashy, not that magazines, lit, ect dont do the same thing, just not in the same capacity. I should have mentioned them though I suppose. Either way I was curious on others opinions. I look at the world today and Basically know that there are more people stressed out over what to wear than there credit score. Also I have noticed the rise in political figures using High ratings shows that are non political in nature to further get their image out there to people who dont watch the depressing news. I know that they have in the past as well but It just seems more prevelent these days.

T.V. was originaly designed to past infomation and provide entertainment, and it still does, However with the rise of people trying to base there lives on certain celebrity figures , and constant political pummeling on top rated T.v. shows makes you wonder if there is more than meets the eye.

TV to me is more convincing things move there more flashy, not that magazines, lit, ect dont do the same thing, just not in the same capacity. I should have mentioned them though I suppose. Either way I was curious on others opinions. I look at the world today and Basically know that there are more people stressed out over what to wear than there credit score. Also I have noticed the rise in political figures using High ratings shows that are non political in nature to further get their image out there to people who dont watch the depressing news. I know that they have in the past as well but It just seems more prevelent these days.

T.V. was originaly designed to past infomation and provide entertainment, and it still does, However with the rise of people trying to base there lives on certain celebrity figures , and constant political pummeling on top rated T.v. shows makes you wonder if there is more than meets the eye.

this.

if all I did every day was brush my teeth I would actually erode them out of my face.

The only thing you don't need to do in moderation is take Vitamin C. You can't piss out television excess.

oh you do, how good for you! do you ever make a post about something other than how norway is so much better than america? so far you mock america for its disciplinary choices, health care system, obsession with celebrities, and im sure there is more that i have missed. anything else youd like to share with us? does norways citizens flatulence smell like cinnamon rolls?

as far as tv being a brainwash device, the programming is set up that way but it is avoidable. as previously mentioned, you can choose your own content. obviously there is a lot more to be learned watching the history\discovery channel than vh1\mtv\reality bull****. i equate trash tv to ****ty fiction novels with less vocabulary.

Well, sometimes people post something about what they think is the general state of things. If that's not the general state for me in the corner of the world I'm in, I tend to specify. I also take care to state if something is an opinion, if something relates to a specific geographical region or if something I say is backed by sources.

If you feel offended by my posts, that's not my intention. For example, when I wrote "90% of american parents use corporal punishment", that's because it's what it says word for word in the article I found and quoted. The research could've been done in England or Paraguay, but hey, it wasn't. Conditions etc. from America are gonna be overrepresented in studies and are gonna be compared with because you live in the world's bellybutton and you guys are highly represented on this forum. If you feel I'm mocking you guys, then perhaps you're either misunderstanding my posts or you don't like the objectively described America.

TV is too stupid to do that.

I don't see myself being brainwashed by Ready Steady Cook anytime soon.

Television didn't invent apathy and stupidity anymore than the Manhattan Project invented anger and war. It's easy to look at television and the seduction which happens between the viewer and the viewed and go "well there's the problem" but it doesn't have much bearing on reality. Television isn't out to brainwash you; it's out to be liked. That's essentially the difference between "real art (and I almost gag using that term)" and popular art. It's the goal of the "artist" in most cases, when it comes to popular art, to figure out what the masses, or at the very least a large audience of people want, and then supplying it. There's always been a strong Western distaste for actual human suffering (I don't mean in the soap opera sense) so you're never going to see television as a whole show that side of things. Instead you're going to see it try and act as a form of electronic anesthetic.

Do you watch television? Do you consider everything you own nessesity? If not then you have been had.

Regardless of how you try and explain to us your that headstrong, its BS. Everyone is a victim of TV propaganda. Enjoy having your head in the clouds.

Im sure at some point you have felt proud of having something frivolous, or have bragged about something, possibly even the statement you made about how you are above it all just to make ppl think a certain way about you. Its all about image these days brother, worse than it has ever been. Question 2 would be have you ever had a maxed out credit card thats the most horrible example of being had ever...:bonkhead:

PS I might sound like a jerk, but I'm just trying to get a point across.

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.