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itomato · Apr 15, 2002, 11:25 AM

I've seen quite a few TV threads here lately. I don't look at them, because they have no meaning to me because I don't watch TV.

Turn it off. Leave it off. Pawn it (if it's yours) and use the money to do something constructive, for f*ck's sake..

Go outside. It's Spring-time in the Northern Hemisphere! Pick some flowers! Do SOMETHING!!

Anybody with me?

Bockie · Apr 15, 2002, 11:27 AM

Like post in an online computer forum?

[edit: fixed smiley]

[ 04-15-2002: Message edited by: Bockie ]

ringo · Apr 15, 2002, 11:44 AM

Yes, I'm with you. I watch very little of it.

It is a control mechanism.
It is the ultimate propaganda machine.
It provides thoughts for those too lay to think for themselves and a topic of conversation for those without imagination.
It provides an opinion for those who too lazy to formulate their own.
It provides an excuse for sitting on the couch and getting fat.

Television has replaced religion as the modern sedative for the masses.

Arty50 · Apr 15, 2002, 12:47 PM

But...but...if I turn it off, how will I play video games? Ugh...I'm going through GTA3 withdrawls right now.

scottiB · Apr 15, 2002, 01:00 PM

Not bloody likely: the NBA and NHL playoffs begin this week.

Phanguye · Apr 15, 2002, 02:03 PM

use airport and fuse between nature and technology... that or just set your background to one the included nature pictures

phang

Earth Mk. II · Apr 15, 2002, 02:20 PM

I don't own a TV in the first place... what should I do?

sek929 · Apr 15, 2002, 02:24 PM

I watch TV all the time. I also am outside for 80% of the summer. And I do tons of constructive things.

I think I'll keep my expensive TV thanks, if not my DVDs would be useless along with my videogame systems as well. I think couch-potato-ism isn't good of course, but the TV is a grand entertainment machine. Especially if you only watch the good shows (aka Simpsons).

zigzag · Apr 15, 2002, 02:45 PM

About 20 years ago, I intentionally went without a TV for about 4 years, so I understand the sentiment. I didn't miss it, but then there wasn't much good programming at the time anyway, and cheap videotapes weren't common. We had to go to the theater to see old movies.

I fell off the wagon when the Yankees made it into the Series (I forget what year it was - 1982?) and I couldn't help myself. I've had a TV since and while I'm sure I watch more than is good for me, I like having it around. There's enough good programming to enrich my life without hopelessly corrupting it, and now it's easy to rent good programming/films. I often have the TV on while I'm perusing these boards. I'm not sure which is a worse habit.

I'm more interested in avoiding the news than the TV itself. I no longer subscribe to the local daily paper, and I seldom watch daily TV news. It's not that I don't want to be an informed person, it's that I think those are second-rate ways of going about it, and that they mostly produce confusion and needless anxiety. I cancelled my cable about 10 years ago because I found myself watching the same stories on CNN over and over.

dgs212 · Apr 15, 2002, 04:44 PM

What a coincidence. TV Turnoff Week starts next Monday.

Also, check out TVTurnoff.org.

itomato · Apr 15, 2002, 05:31 PM

Originally posted by dgs212:
What a coincidence. TV Turnoff Week starts next Monday.

Also, check out TVTurnoff.org.

Wow.. I had no idea. That is a coincidence.

I guess I underestimated the # of sports-types here, as well as the video game contingency. I never saw anything so great about TV that I would suffer through all the bullshit for. After September of last year, and that "thing" that happened, and not being able to escape it anywhere, I ditched my cable service, which was really only good for cooking shows, anyhow.

My head is clearer now. My mind is free to focus on my life, instead of fending off attacks from Clearasil (TM), Miss Cleo, and Ron Popeil. It's a nice change, and I urge anyone who can do it to give it a try for a while.

rob5243 · Apr 15, 2002, 05:47 PM

You can live without TV, but can you live without your computer/internet?

scottiB · Apr 15, 2002, 08:51 PM

Nope. My cable modem is paramount. It went out for a month (ATT 2 Comcast snafu), and I actually had to purchase a newspaper. (shivers).

TheJoshu · Apr 15, 2002, 08:57 PM

Originally posted by dgs212:
What a coincidence. TV Turnoff Week starts next Monday.

Also, check out TVTurnoff.org.

As soon as I saw the title of the thread, I was wondering if anybody had said anything about TV-TurnOff week.

I do it every year.

aperfectnoone · Apr 15, 2002, 11:01 PM

who gives a **** if you think america is fat and dumb.......let people be dumb if they want,if theyre dumb enough to watch allot of tv,they never were gonna be smart.

C.J. Moof · Apr 15, 2002, 11:02 PM

We watch fiction on TV about 2-3 hours a week. I tape 24, and sometimes catch West Wing. Simpsons and Family Guy if I remember. Aside from that, it's "news" while we get the day going.

I'm glad the weather has warmed up- I can soon get an external antenna and stop paying $15/month for what I can get with an antenna. I dropped "expanded basic" a while back when they bumped it up to $40/month. It's not worth that to me.

Sometimes I think about getting a TiVo or a snapstream, but then I remember I hardly use the TV.... but then if it was attached to my Powerbook.... naa. Same crappy content, different screen.

aperfectnoone · Apr 15, 2002, 11:14 PM

im goin out to buy a tv.

dgs212 · Apr 16, 2002, 01:24 AM

Originally posted by C.J. Moof:
[QB]

I'm glad the weather has warmed up- I can soon get an external antenna and stop paying $15/month for what I can get with an antenna. I dropped "expanded basic" a while back when they bumped it up to $40/month. It's not worth that to me.
QB]

Huh? You're glad the weather has warmed up so you can facilitate staying inside even more (via putting up a TV antenna), instead of going outside to enjoy that warm weather? Boy, are you in the wrong thread

MikeM32 · Apr 16, 2002, 06:44 AM

I can understand where you're coming from, but I don't consider myself a "regular TV" watcher. Sure I catch some sitcoms (in re-runs) but I mainly watch movies, and I don't follow sports. I'd rather play baseball than watch it on TV. People start talking sports and I'm lost.

I do despise commercial TV however. I guess I just need one of those jobs where I can work 12 hrs a day and still somehow feel energized after work (and walking to and from it).

Mike

� · Apr 16, 2002, 08:26 AM

I sold mine a year ago. Never missed it since.

Why I sold it ? TV became all about voyeurism. I wasn't interested in the lives of celebrities no more. What a waste of time that is.
If I want to see a movie I rent a dvd and watch it on a LCD beamer or my Ti.
I can watch the news on web-newspapers. I miss nothing.

voodoo · Apr 16, 2002, 08:34 AM

I read news on my iBook, I watch movies on my iBook, I listen to music on my iBook, I work on my iBook, I eat with my iBook and I sleep with my iBook.

I don't even own a TV.

It is sunnny outside today. A bit windy, though.

Apr 16, 2002, 11:13 AM

Anti-TV elitists really bug me. I'm not saying you guys are, but I really have to bite my tongue when I come across people preaching "TV is junk food for your brain."

Like any medium there is good material and bad. Those people judged the entire medium because they watched a few stupid shows.

Is going to a concert junk for your mind? Is going to a play junk for your mind? Why is TV any different? It's not like I talk to audience members during a concert or play, so I'd rather watch something from the comfort of my own sofa.

I'll keep my TV thanks. I'll watch what I like because I understand it is just entertainment, not some mind-controlling propaganda. And if anyone thinks I am poisoning my mind, too bad for them.

itomato · Apr 16, 2002, 11:28 AM

Originally posted by hayesk:
...Why is TV any different?

TV is different because it is not solely a form of entertainment/enrichment as is a book or a play. It can be a propaganda disperion device, a means to sway the public's view of a topic, a' la September 11th.

How many times a year does the President give a radio broadcast State of the Nation address? How many times have you read a transcript of it on the front page of the Daily News? It's important enough to pre-empt prime time programming, right?

It's all about the commercials and the attitude of TV in general for me. I'm all for the Learning and Discovery channels, as well as 100% for PBS (though there are some things I wish would change about all of them) I don't like having to sit through some annoying asshole's pitch for OxyClean "The shhtain shhhhpeshalist!", to see another 17 minutes of an enlightening program. The gains aren't great enough for me to justify the process of filtering out the crap.

A world exists that's not connected to the (dis)information pipeline that is tele-bombardment funded my multinational corporations. I like it better.

And no, I'm not some tinfoil hat wearing, conspiracy theorist. That's just the way it is, and it's impossible to see without severing the tie. Even if it's just for a week.

scottiB · Apr 16, 2002, 12:45 PM

TV is different because it is not solely a form of entertainment/enrichment as is a book or a play. It can be a propaganda disperion device, a means to sway the public's view of a topic, a' la September 11th.

Books, plays, and pamphlets were the prime propaganda delivery systems before radio and television: Common Sense, A Modest Proposal, and Mein Kampf. Because something is printed doesn't mean it should be exhalted. There's as much propagandisitc tripe out there in plays, poetry (especially the readings I've recently been to)--that Fox News Channel and CNN seem positively neutral.

From your example, it seems you don't care for commercials. Well, who does? The commercials pay for the shows, so I can watch my 24 tonight (plug, plug--a fantastic show, well done). If there were no commercials (and I'm sure you know this), there would be no competition, there would be no choice because there would be a single, state-run televison channel--which is the purest way to peddle propaganda.

I understand and empathize, I stopped watching TV for a few years (mine broke and couldn't afford a new one)--only watching sports in bars, but once I had one with HBO (godblessit), I realized what goodness I was missing (this was the blooming of all the channels: Bravo, A&E, Discovery, etc.)--tons of good stuff.

If you need to walk away, right on; however, don't be dismayed if not many walk with you.

C.J. Moof · Apr 16, 2002, 11:42 PM

Originally posted by dgs212:


Huh? You're glad the weather has warmed up so you can facilitate staying inside even more (via putting up a TV antenna), instead of going outside to enjoy that warm weather? Boy, are you in the wrong thread

Nooo... I'm happy to give up paying the cable company, which means LESS selection of TV. Damm, I'll miss those useful shopping channels. The TV will not be used more.

I woulda replaced it with a broadcast antenna a few months ago, but this is Wisconsin. I don't need to do it badly enough to go running around my roof in the middle of winter.