There is a solution

[historian]

TURN OFF THE TV!!!!!! Screw the networks and let them know it.
PBS, discovery, history TLC are the only stations out there worth the time.
Oh but how can i stop them watching if im out of the house (old excuse) Put a lock on the damm thing or a password so they cant get in.
But what will they do at night? Try reading or doing homework with them. Oh sorry you probably cant even add yet.
Excuses and excuses. From the day i turned off the TV in the house, life in my home improved markedly.

[madrchsod]

1. i don`t watch any tv news

other than the bbc , worldlink news programing, and cnn world news on the weekend. there is no reason to watch cable news . i get my news here and from worldwide news websites.

[4morewars]

2. i couldn't agree more !!

TV is a tool to sell us crap we don't need !!! if humans need someting, we always find it on our own. Just watch a half hour of any childrens show. All the ads are for sugar coated cereal, and the latest $45.00 hunk of plastic shit (imported from china) offering from disney !!!! Adult shows are just as bad. It's one ad after another for fast food, beer, adult fast food(eating good in the neighborhood,my ass) and crappy movies that i wouldn't go see if they were free !! Just wait for the mud slinging political ads, this should be a season of new lows. Who needs it ????

[izzie]

10. I watch Dobbs and Wolf and turn the ads off in my mind.

Ever have kids? You can do that, turn things off.

[AZCat]

3. I have always felt unqualified to tell people this...

I grew up without a TV- I feel this was the smartest thing my parents ever did. I had roommates in college that had them, but since I started living alone (~3 years ago) I have not had a TV. I think it is a quality of life issue with me, but I don't feel I can tell other people how good life is without TV because I didn't grow up around one.

But I CAN say this- anything I could gain from a TV I can get somewhere else, without all the commercialization or pandering. And so could everyone else. But I won't tell you to get rid of your TV- you have to figure that out on your own.

[Beam Me Up]

4. The only TV I watch is the TV I make . . .

Seriously, folks, to make TV worth watching, try making your own entertainment. All you need is a video camera and some time to play with it. Look at what got generated from many "ordinary" people responding to the MoveOn "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest. But you don't have to be a "pro" or even an "aspiring" video professional to make your own entertainment.

You can think about this in any way you want. For example, sometimes friends and I are hanging out together drinking, talking, smoking, and I just turn the camera on. It might just sit there on the floor pointed at nothing but somebody's old shoe and a soda pop can while recording our crazy conversation. Maybe I'll pick it up and point it at something or someone or maybe I'll had it to one of my friends. I think of it as "cinima vérité to the max. This isn't meant to make things on screen "look realistic"--it *is* realistic. It doesn't matter whether it is "chic" or "pretty" or "kewl" or whatever, it is an actual record of actual events NOT MAKE BELIEVE.

This is just one example. Another FUN things to do is to have the video camera plugged into the TV set *as it is recording* and then focusing the camera INTO the TV monitor itself. If you're lucky you'll hit some "reiteration fields" as the video signal begins to optically FEED BACK into itself in a rapidly spiraling infinity regression. It isn't imaginary, it's real--a visual revelation inherent within the technology itself. :)

If you have a digital video camera and the computer power, you can edit and play with filters-- maybe even burn to DVD -- but that isn't essential. The most important thing is to take your camera into your life and begin recording it and the things and people in it.

A friend of mine recently recorded a fascinating piece of footage that consisted of nothing but his camera looking directly out the passenger window of his car (his girl friend was driving). He's just holding the camera steady, straight out perpendicular to the direction the car is headed. The camera is pointed slightly down so the horizon is at the top of the camera field (not the middle). As the car speeds along the road (they were driving in Utah) the camera is recording the rhythm of plants and rocks, bridges and signposts; the rolls, pitches, rises and falls of the land. Soometimes the road is walled in as it cuts through an eroded hillside. Sometimes it opens up onto a vast plane with objects passing by swiftly in the near distance while proceeding slowly out toward the horizon. The whole thing is a visual "meditation" on motion, rhythm, time, light, space and land.

What ever you do, don't be overly critical of your work saying to yourself "this is boring" or "this is dumb". True it isn't likely to be as "sophisticated" as Holywood or Madison Ave or whatever. But that isn't the point. The point is to TAKE BACK THE MEDIA! (I recently bought a digital projector. Its like HOME theatre where me and my friends are the stars!)


BMU

edited for spelling and clarity

[4morewars]

5. KOOL !!!!

that is a GREAT idea !!!! i've already done the "reiteration fields" thing and that is a blast !!! i'm going to take the camera out more often now, thanks beam me up !!!!

[Beam Me Up]

6. YEPERS Here's one I and some friends made

using video feedback and a mirror. The amazing thing is to watch them IN MOTION.

[4morewars]

7. nice !!!!

you could print that and sell it on e-bay !!!!! i shit you not !!!


p.s. don't eat the BROWN acid, stay away from the brown acid

[Beam Me Up]

9. clear as sunshine. . .

definitely NOT brown!

[KharmaTrain]

8. Don't Shut Off...Explain

I always said that if I said "no" to my children, I would always explain why...always believing that the truth and their abilities to be rational will carry the day. It has and continues to.

As one who worked in advertising, I became well aware of the "conventions" used to sell and the medium's power to do so. It's generally impulse/urgency, sex, violence or "cool". As youngsters I would point out some (we started with urgency & cool) as as they got older they were able to pick up on the other messages. This ties to all television program...where I will watch something with my 16-year old son and we'll disect what the message was (including subliminal) and who it was intended for. I laugh that this probably saved me thousands in "the next big thing" that came out and have made my children very saavy and skeptical when dealing with pop culture and the media.

Shutting off the tube sounds idealistic, but there's way too much good in that box to pass up. It's understanding how it works, its motives and means that will make you and your children far better viewers...and the ad agency's worst nightmare.