You don’t need to watch that idiot box anymore. These days you can get your news online - you can even get your sports highlights online. Entire seasons of television shows can be viewed commercial free whenever you want. Television's days are numbered as the dominant media force in our society.
Before you write me off as some crazy anti-television crusader, let me say that I've spent a great deal of my 26 years on this earth watching television. I grew up with Bart Simpson and Bob Barker. In college I would leave the TV on all the time – even when I wasn’t home (my intent was to scare off potential burglars - not contribute to global warming).
At this point I've almost completely cut television out of my diet. I dropped cable a few years ago and haven’t looked back. When I do have the TV on it's usually something on PBS or a live sporting event. Every once in a while I’ll tune in to see what’s being covered in the news. Today I tuned into the McLaughlin Group and found the usual DC media establishment talking heads fawning over Hillary’s political machine. I don’t need to be watching this. NOBODY NEEDS TO BE WATCHING THIS.
(disclaimer: this diary is highly subjective and may contain inane ramblings)
It’s no secret that the overall quality of television content has deteriorated over the last few decades. There is more paid propaganda and more advertising masked as entertainment than ever before. Then you've got these cookie cutter realityshows, gameshows, copshows, doctorshows, lawyershows, teenshows, actionshows, courtshows, notfunnyevenwithlaughtrackshows. Everything is dumbed-down to appeal to as many people as possible. Almost all shows that demand something from the audience are relegated to cable - although the quality of cable content as a whole has declined rapidly over the last 10-15 years. Networks like MTV, CNN, and ESPN have whored themselves out to Corporate America. These days commercial TV personalities are more PR reps than journalists.
The cable companies saw what was going to happen, and they wisely became entrenched in the broadband Internet industry. That’s good for them, but it forces most people to have to choose between paying for cable TV or a land phone line. People that get cable feel obligated to watch it. There's usually something halfway decent on - but usually not something you'd regret having missed. The end result is that people end up glued to the TV for hours on end. I used to be that way, but I've seen the light (if you're web savvy enough to be reading this, you should be able to figure out how to use the Internet as a tv-substitute).
Ideally, I would want to be able to pay for just Internet, and then pay for all content a la cart. Content providers (writers, journalists, musicians, tv show producers) can form their own distribution channels and cut the corporate media out of the loop.
We’re closer to that reality than ever before, but the corporate media will not go down without a fight. This is precisely why it is so important that we elect officials that fight to protect Net Neutrality. This revolution won’t happen overnight. Our culture is so addicted to the idiot box that it’s going to take some time – but it’s going to happen. In fact, it’s already begun.
I know what some of you are thinking, "Why should we be happy about this? This is going to eliminate jobs. Are you an anarchist or something?"
I take no pleasure in middle class people losing their jobs. I do think that television has had a destructive influence on our democracy over the last half century. I believe television has made it easier for the rich and powerful to exploit the population as a whole. Elections have been stolen. Wars have been started. The corporate media let it happen. We need to be doing everything we can to reduce their influence.
To be clear, I encourage everyone to keep watching what you like – even if it means watching it on commercial television. Just please try and reduce your overall commercial television intake – you’ll thank me later. I would like to thank the people who take the time to document the atrocities (you know who you are).