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April 27, 2005
On Turning Off ...
This is TV Turn-Off Week. It must be; I learned about it on television.
There are three premises behind this event: we live in a media-saturated world, television is bad, and of course the first and last refuge for people who are trying to shove their totalitarian whims down your throat – “save the children.”
What a load of bullshit.
Television isn’t inherently evil. It wasn’t 50 years ago, when most markets had only two or three channels. It wasn’t when FCC commissioner Newton Minnow branded it a “vast wasteland,” before he took an advanced management position in broadcasting and started lauding the educational virtues of tired old British soap operas. Masterpiece Theat-ah is nothing more than Dallas with monocles.
And television certainly isn’t evil today. We have a great many genuinely educational programs around today on literally dozens and dozens of channels – a half dozen are named Discovery, plus History, History International, Science Channel, Learning Channel, blah blah blah. Plus there are zillions of hours of private pleasures to which we are entitled that are no better or no worse than most of the imported hankie-twisters on PBS.
Do these video book burners actually think people are going to turn off their teevees and start reading books that these social censors think are worthwhile? Dream on. We’ll hit the computers (television’s greatest competition), play games, go to movies, screw, play with their toy trains, eat more elaborate meals, and engage in other behavior we find entertaining.
I watched very little teevee as a child – cartoons and Jack Benny and that’s about it. I read a lot. I read biographies. I read non-fiction. I discovered Edgar Rice Burroughs and Doc Savage. But mostly I read a lot of comic books. You know, the stuff that, at the time, was supposed to turn me into such a juvenile delinquent I’d be worthy of my own short on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
And you know what? I became a political activist and I earned much of my living grinding out comic books. The first hit is always free, kids. So much for the virtues of reading over the evils of television.
Cars are evil. Million of people across the planet are killed and / or injured by car drivers each year. Instead of learning how to drive carefully, let’s just ban it. Alcohol – same thing. Besides, we had a dry run back in the 1920s, and we’re using the same strategies on our ultra-successful war on drugs. Kids are plundering the medicine chest for cheap thrills (just as they have been for decades), fine. Ban all drugs. Or maybe just stop using them for a week.
Or we can try something novel. We can try taking responsibility for our actions. Maybe these blowhards should help promote television they consider to be worthy. The could promote reading. But by establishing a “good vs. bad” dichotomy, they’re just revealing themselves as the pompous arrogant twits they truly are.
Posted by Mike Gold at April 27, 2005 09:44 AM
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Comments
I agree. Would you take the same attitude about
guns, ie, learn to use them safely instead of
trying to ban them?
nash
(proud to be a TV, book and GrimJack junky)
Posted by: nash at April 29, 2005 05:01 PM
Absolutely. As I've said before, we have a right to defend ourselves.
I dislike the NRA only because of their political techniques. They do a wonderful job (by and large, in most states) in their educational efforts. I'm not opposed to all handgun legislation -- waiting periods are a good idea, as are limits on the number of weapons you can buy at one time, and I don't see where people need to purchase tactical nuclear weapons to defend their backyard barbecue (thank you, Michael Neismith), but -- and read this slowly -- people have the right to defend themselves.
And kids should be taught to stand up to bullies. We need self-defense classes in physical ed.
Posted by: Mike Gold at April 29, 2005 05:13 PM
Aww, crap. I can't find anything to disagree with
this time. That's no damn fun at all....
Posted by: nash at April 29, 2005 05:24 PM
Hang on. Now that the site is back up and running (and BIG TIME kudos to Glenn Hauman for his diligent work), I'm sure I'll say something to piss you off before too long.
Although you'd think I'd know better than piss anybody from Diamond off...!
Posted by: Mike Gold at April 29, 2005 05:27 PM
But this Diamond employee is a huge GrimJack fan.
Nothing changes that.
Hell, my whole crew knows if they don't buy GrimJack, they don't get a raise...
Posted by: nash at April 29, 2005 05:42 PM
Personally I'm all for a *selective* TV turn-off week. And I get to pick the topic. ;)
If only enough people would start following my example and do a Michael Jackson TV Turnoff year, the world would be a much better place. :)
Of course this selective turn-off thing holds for very true for the next media circus story until this whole media circus stuff comes to an end and the media starts covering hard news again.
Now, to try to hunt up that old Billy Wilder movie "The Big Carnival"! Was that dude ahead of his time or what....
Posted by: Dan Lorenzen at April 30, 2005 05:31 AM
Personally I'm all for a *selective* TV turn-off week. And I get to pick the topic. ;)
If only enough people would start following my example and do a Michael Jackson TV Turnoff year, the world would be a much better place. :)
Of course this selective turn-off thing holds for very true for the next media circus story until this whole media circus stuff comes to an end and the media starts covering hard news again.
Now, to try to hunt up that old Billy Wilder movie "The Big Carnival"! Was that dude ahead of his time or what....
Posted by: Dan Lorenzen at April 30, 2005 05:32 AM
Personally I'm all for a *selective* TV turn-off week. And I get to pick the topic. ;)
If only enough people would start following my example and do a Michael Jackson TV Turnoff year, the world would be a much better place. :)
Of course this selective turn-off thing holds for very true for the next media circus story until this whole media circus stuff comes to an end and the media starts covering hard news again.
Now, to try to hunt up that old Billy Wilder movie "The Big Carnival"! Was that dude ahead of his time or what....
Posted by: Dan Lorenzen at April 30, 2005 05:33 AM
At the risk of incurring the rath of the NRA...
I'm in favor federal laws that restrict the sale/ownership of certain categories of weapons, and I'm in favor or state-level laws that require a licensing process similar to those that apply to driving a car. Want to own a gun? Fine. Pass a course that proves you know basic firearms safety procedures. Ironically the NRA used to offer such courses and tests (and maybe they still do). I know cuz as a teenager I was an NRA safe hunter with the patches and certificates to prove it!
And take a tip from Mike Grell: Always treat a firearm as if it were loaded all the time.
Posted by: Rick Oliver at May 1, 2005 06:18 PM
"This is TV Turn-Off Week. It must be; I learned about it on television."
Aw Crap! I missed it! I didn't have my TV on.
Posted by: eclark1849 at May 1, 2005 09:03 PM
"But by establishing a “good vs. bad” dichotomy, they’re just revealing themselves as the pompous arrogant twits they truly are."
Be honest Mike, don't you find just making that particular statement to be hypocritical?
Posted by: eclark1849 at May 1, 2005 09:08 PM
If we teach self-defense in gym class, bullies will know how to use it, too...
Posted by: Mike Flynn at May 3, 2005 05:10 PM
Yep, bullies will know it too. And they'll also know the kids they want to pick on have self-defense training. And they'll think twice -- if not the first time, certainly the second.
I tend to believe that bullies are cowards who assault those they believe are weaker than they are. Actually, this is an extension of the largely unimplimented philosophy advanced by the late 60s women's movement (and I don't mean to represent this as a monolithic force) that if women took self-defense classes, successful rapes would go down fairly quickly -- and the number of rape attempts would go down after that.
Everybody should know how to defend himself or herself. I'd rather people took martial arts classes than gun class, but certainly in many parts of this nation the latter is probably important as well.
Posted by: Mike Gold at May 4, 2005 12:11 PM
I don't know. I tend to think that kids who take martial arts get into MORE fights. Before they would either run or walk away from a fight. But Martial Arts gives them confidence to stand up to their attackers they would otherwise walk away from. in fact, some bullies just have to try you out if they think you can fight. On the other hand, a bully knows you have access to a gun and know how to use it is likely to leave you alone and give you wide berth to boot.
Whether ironic when you think about the fact that before when having guns were more necessary, the better you were with a gun made people want to try and make a name for themselves.
Hey, I'm just saying.
Posted by: eclark1849 at May 5, 2005 10:49 AM
What martial arts school did you go to? Go back and demand a refund. Fundamental concepts in any good martial arts training program (particularly for kids) are discipline and control. Get into a fignt at school? Lose a belt rank. Get into two fights at school? You're out. You don't advertise your rank, and you don't go looking for fights. Odds are you'll exude enough self-confidence that no one will try picking a fight with you.
And any reasonable self-defense course will teach you that avoidance is the best defense.
Finally, I don't want kids carrying guns to avoid getting picked on, no matter how many firearms safety classes they've taken. Switchblades were good enough for us!
Posted by: Rick Oliver at May 5, 2005 08:48 PM
Never made a zip-gun, huh? Anybody can do it. Particularly if you had shop class. It's even easier to make a little gunpowder? You don't need anything as sophisticated as fertilizer, either.
Posted by: Mike Gold at May 5, 2005 10:05 PM
What school did you go to where you only got into fights on school grounds? Most fights I saw when I was in school took place on the way to school or to home.
"And any reasonable self-defense course will teach you that avoidance is the best defense."
Yeah, and Nancy Reagan said just say no. but Kenny Rogers said, "Sometimes you gotta fight when you're a man." Especially when your girlfriend is a loud-mouthed bitch that won't shut up about how you know karate and how you're gonna kick his ass. and she just keeps egging him on and on and on....
Whoa-- sorry, flashback.
Posted by: eclark1849 at May 6, 2005 09:14 AM
Personally I'm all for a *selective* TV turn-off week. And I get to pick the topic. ;)
If only enough people would start following my example and do a Michael Jackson TV Turnoff year, the world would be a much better place. :) Or "Runaway Bride" turn-off week.
Of course this selective turn-off thing holds for very true for the next media circus story until this whole media circus stuff comes to an end and the media starts covering hard news again.
Now, to try to hunt up that old Billy Wilder movie "The Big Carnival"! Was that dude ahead of his time or what....
Posted by: Dan Lorenzen at May 8, 2005 01:28 AM
Hey Glenn! Did you forget to turn Mike back on as well?
Posted by: eclark1849 at May 17, 2005 05:09 PM