Shooting Blanks

I mentioned before that we don't watch television. The truth is we don't watch commercial television. We have a t.v., DVD player and VCR, but we don't have cable, satellite, a dish, a box or bunny ears. We get all the news from the internet and even enjoy The Daily Show, online, one day late. (We may watch it a day late, but we're never a dollar short. It's free!)

I was sitting in our two bedroom apartment, about six years ago, hanging out with my, then, one year old son and probably watching Ellen because he loved doing a little diaper dance with her and I was bound and determined to catch it on video and send it in. So there we were, going brain dead, and being completely unproductive, which is the television watchers motto, when a commercial came on for a local paint ball range. I didn't, however, know that it was a commercial for paint balling at first because when the commercial started all I saw was a man pointing a gun at the camera just before he pulled the trigger. The commercial continued despite my being completely appalled. Is that what this nation has come to? Shock tactics to make a buck? Are we really going to desensitize the masses just to sell a few rounds of Paint Ball?! What a complete dick head! I sat there unable to believe that I was exposing my precious boy to one of the biggest dicks in the world (or allowing this dick to expose itself to us), when it dawned on me that simply by watching television, I was exposing, not only my son, but myself to the worst possible people in this world, on a daily basis. With the exception of PBS and Public Service Announcements, people on television are either trying to sell you something, sell themselves or influence your decisions in a dishonest way. Do we even have brains anymore? And is there anyone alive who still knows how to use theirs? I turned the television off. No episode of Ellen was worth this torture. It's bad enough we have to be assaulted by local commercials in the first place, but now we're getting assaulted by their air rifles too. Sorry Ellen. I think you are wonderful but, let's face it, as much fun as you seem to be having, you make a hell of lot more money than the average American and all I can hope is that you continue to do good things and balance your power over the world with responsibility for it. You see, we are kidding ourselves to think that the majority of television personalities do. And for that reason, they are not worth the 19 hours a week the average American spends watching them (according to a 2009 survey release by the US Department of Labor. Linked Here) Why continue to allow ourselves to be manipulated by people only interested in making money? And how would we change as people if we no longer allowed ourselves to be?

Six years later, the answer is that we changed drastically, and not very much at all. We have become stronger versions of ourselves because our thoughts and attitudes have not been diluted by the public opinion. We don't get confused easily by questions of morality but marvel at those who do. We're brimming with confidence because we are not accosted by unrealistic images of beauty and our minds are sharp because they have not been dulled by the mind-numbing banter of people getting paid to banter in case it improves their ratings. And to answer the question, "How do you live without television?" Well, it's been six years, and we haven't died yet!