TV is the world's most effective time waster & brain diminisher. It shapes your minds as to what is cool and what isn't, on how you should dress and how you should behave, on what music you should listen to, on what you should believe about personal relationships, education, religion, politics etc.

Just think about it. How many of your personal opinions are heavily affected by what you see on TV?

Think about all the stuff you see on TV: Do you really approve or like what you see, or you just stare at it like a fool and accept anything and everything that is fed to you by the big brains?

Why do you act as if you believe they know better than you? Do they really?

Why do you allow them to shape you feelings and thoughts?

Why do you listen to all the crap they have to say just to fill their timetable? Are you really interested on what you see or do you just sit back and blissfully pray for something interesting to show up? You zap like crazy because there's not much that can grab your attention for long. 

Are you really interested on all the crying, the blood and the disasters you see on the news? Do you care if there was a flood 10000 miles away and 42 people were killed? Why should you hear about it 5 times a day for 3 days in a row? Simply because they have to fill their news programs with something. If such information was on the web or on a newspaper would you follow a link to it or just ignore it?

TV News is forcing you to hear everything they want to tell you, in the way they want to tell you. If it is something they don't want to tell you, either because it doesn't "sell" or it is not to their best interests, then they don't.

Free TV broadcasting is actually a way you are being bribed in order to watch thousands of commercials.

Why are you watching them? Do you really think they are informative?

Put yourself in the shoes of a commercial producer while watching a commercial and think what they think: "Is it convincing enough to fool the target group into buying it?".
Even better try writing a commercial yourself. Notice how you are thinking: You have to create a need, you have to convince the audience that product XYZ is not just better than the competition, but it will make you smarter and sexier, in short a happy man!

Who do you think commercials target? Those who dedicate time to think and judge?
No! It is the blissful MASSES that they target. The fools that believe that using one detergent over the other will kill twice as many insects, or that a washing powder will make clothes three time as white, or that if you use their deodorant women will run after you and try to seduce you in elevators, or if you eat their corn flakes you will take all 142 vitamins and minerals that they include, or if you use their cream you will actually get thinner in a month no matter how much you eat, or if you use AbsFlextor Pro you will make dream abs with only 3 minutes a day!!!

You listen to all this and yet you don't turn the TV off, or at least the sound off until the movie you are watching starts over again.

If you just open your eyes and see what most commercials tell you, you will just see how stupid they think you are. It is very rare that you see a commercial that is really worth the while and treats the prospective customers with respect.

And then ... by watching all these schizophrenic people on TV presenting various stupid programs not only you degrade your brain but you give value to these people. Think about it. Who the hell are they and they are worth your attention?

You sit back and watch totally untalented people whose only quality is that they claim to be good looking and sexy, while their only talent is that they would just fck with anyone just to get their faces on screen. Do you think they are to be admired or watched by you?

Doesn't it make you sick when a slut gives you advice from the screen on how to raise your kids, when at the same time she sets the fine example for your kids: "Hey it doesn't matter if you fck a few 50-year old producers and other middlemen since they are your key to success, wealth and fame. Just look at me! Am I not great?"

It is really rare that journalists and show-men worth the while are on TV. You really have to try hard to pick them out of the lot, because everyone claims to be great and educated and documented and serious and whatever. Have you heard anyone say 'Well my show is not really serious'? Well maybe Howard Stern does that and he's worth every penny.

Think how nice would the world be without free TV. Plenty of hours to spend going out, reading books of your choice, listening to music of your choice, spending time with your kids, your wife/husband, your girlfriend/boyfriend or your friends. There are a gazillion things you could do. Just turn the damn thing off and get the most out of your life.

About the only thing that might be worth the while watching on TV is comedy shows that can make you laugh your heart out. There might be some other good shows but don't just watch them because they are there. Think what you would enjoy doing, what really interests you. TV is the easy solution. It doesn't require you to think. It just feeds you until you're numb.

You might think that TV informs you. If you want to inform yourself on current affairs try out serious newspapers and journals. Not just one of them because they can never be 100% objective. Whenever you buy a newspaper don't buy one; buy two. If you are in the State but the democratic one and the republic one. Or buy the conservative and the leftist one. See the different points of view and then YOU can choose what to read and what not to read.

Don't push the friggin' TV button unless there is something that you really want to see. Don't just look around for something to waste your time on.

Practice What You Preach 

I try hard to practice what I preach. I don't have a TV at home. I only have a TV card on one of my computers so I can watch stuff like Champions' League or the news from the only decent TV channel in my country (you probably guessed that it is the one owned by the State).

My kids only watch DVDs on the computer and only get a chance to see TV when they go to visit their grandparents. And then they come home and say things like "Hey Daddy, I want us to go to Larissa!". That's 200 miles or so from Athens. "How come?" I ask only to get enlighted that "Channel 06 has a kindergarden there".

Channel 06 plays kids' programs all day long...

If a TV is at home, then it is impossible to prevent children from using it. I will buy a TV when one comes that requires a password to open up. A computer could do that part today but I don't want to have a computer in my living room.

Here is a song that is quite close to my opinion about TV. The song is called The Box by Annihilator from the album King Of The Kill. May be the music is too heavy for your taste but the lyrics certainly aren’t.

THE BOX

I am a box, I am a screen
I'm every nightmare, I'm every dream
I am the window over your land
so turn me on, come take my hand

don't push me

I offer you scandal, I offer a wealth
of gratuitous violence, hazardous to your health
I give the vision, of how life should be
I choose your heroes, come follow me

come follow me

It's just a box, it's just a screen
it's only a nightmare, it's only a dream
we give the vision, of how life should be
we choose our own heroes, come follow me

Feel free to contact me with any comments you might have. I am open to anything, but please avoid flaming. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. If you don't like it, just ignore it :-)

Thank you for your time.