You don’t watch TV. I know that. I’m preaching to the converted here. But sometimes, it’s nice to get a reminder that television is brainwashing and sucking the lives out of millions of people around the world at this moment.
Above is a clip from the 1976 film Network, with the transcript of the rant below. And if you haven’t checked out Throw Away Your TV yet, head over there now. It’s brilliant.
So, a rich little man with white hair died. What does that got to do with the price of rice, right? And why is that woe to us?
Because you people and 62 million other Americans are listening to me right now. Because less than 3 percent of you people read books. Because less than 15 percent of you read newspapers. Because the only truth you know is what you get over this tube.
Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn’t come out of this tube. This tube is the gospel, the ultimate revelation. This tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers. This tube is the most awesome goddamn force in the whole godless world.
And woe is us if it ever falls into the hands of the wrong people. And that’s why woe is us that Edward George Ruddy died. Because this company is now in the hands of CCA – the Communication Corporation of America. There’s a new Chairman of the Board, a man called Frank Hackett, sitting in Mr. Ruddy’s office on the 20th floor.
And when the 12th largest company in the world controls the most awesome goddamn propaganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this network.
So, you listen to me. Listen to me! Television is not the truth. Television’s a goddamn amusement park. Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We’re in the boredom-killing business.
So if you want the truth, go to God. Go to your gurus. Go to yourselves, because that’s the only place you’re going to find any real truth. But, man, you’re never gonna get any truth from us.
We’ll tell you anything you wanna hear. We lie like hell. We’ll tell you that Kojak always gets the killer and that nobody ever gets cancer at Archie Bunker’s house. And no matter how much trouble the hero is in, don’t worry. Just look at your watch. At the end of the hour, he’s gonna win.
We’ll tell you any shit you want to hear. We deal in illusions, man. None of it is true!
But you people sit there day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds. We’re all you know. You’re beginning to believe the illusions we’re spinning here. You’re beginning to think that the tube is reality and that your own lives are unreal.
You do whatever the tube tells you. You dress like the tube. You eat like the tube. You raise your children like the tube. You even think like the tube. This is mass madness you maniacs! In God’s name you people are the real thing, WE are the illusion!
So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now. Turn them off right now. Turn them off and leave them off. Turn them off right in the middle of the sentence I am speaking to you now! Turn them off!
About the Author
More By This Author
Related Posts
4 Comments... join the discussion!
-
-
Eva,
You may want to look at a book that came out a while ago called “Amusing Ourselves to Death” by Neil Postman. (It was followed up by another called “How to Watch TV News,” also worth reading.) Fascinating stuff.
Postman argues that the medium of television is limited to content which makes for “good television.” For example, two people arguing over a point is “must-see TV.” But what if one of those two actually stopped for a moment to say, “Gosh, you make an interesting point. Let me think about it for a minute or so.” Neither musing nor silence play that well on TV; it specifically caters to grabbing your attention by shock and hype. TV content is aimed at the LCD – the lowest common denominator.
Marshall McLuhan suggests also that “cooler” mediums like TV force audiences to fill in the message with a greater degree of participation. You have to quiet conversations and other “noise” in order to focus on TV; to get the full message, you must stop what you’re doing and pay it full attention (you get much less if you let it play in the background, and that’s done mainly to break up the silence). Light can’t be too bright, so shut the windows and dim the lamps – in fact, the less that is moving around in the room, the better. The ideal viewing position is in a quiet, darkened room sitting on your butt. TV demands your attention to be understood, and in order to do that you tend to turn off the critical part in your head that judges the message to use the part that tries to make the message fit what makes sense to you.
Both Postman and McLuhan seem to agree that TV is here to stay (a wise position), and that it is the dominant media form (though with the ‘Net, that may be changing – these books are both at least 10 years old by now, McLuhan’s around 40 years). But Postman suggests that if we bother to take classes to learn to read critically, there should be some for critical viewing as well. If mediums highlight only specific information – as books, cartoons and radio have unique dimensions that they emphasize – it’s reckless to assume that TV is the end-all, be-all source of information. Postman suggests we must learn to be “fluent” in other forms as well to get a better idea of what’s going on.
As for the quality of content… what I consider “quality” TV is a rare animal, and I know a lot of other people feel this way as well. I think that’s the gist of what Ian is trying to say. I tell people I don’t watch TV, and for the most part that’s true. But every so often I pop it on for a while and get disgusted and annoyed and turn it off and get back to my trashy novel.
I also disagree that 95% of TV is garbage, but for a different reason. It’s that 97% of all statistics are made up on the spot. I didn’t even know that a while ago. I had to look it up. Thank you, Internet!
↵ -
And you know, while I’m at it…
For people who think they know what’s going on in the world, I hate to say it, but Americans don’t even know who’s PM of Canada because it’s not news here. The people who DO know are the ones who read newspapers and magazines (not a made-up statistic). Go to Europe, they’ve got cafes, beer gardens… they TALK to one another. Here we’ve got bars where the music’s jacked up too loud, and we barely know our neighbors’ names.
Did you know that people who watch TV think their community is a more dangerous place than non-watchers? That’s because TV focuses on violence and bad news. Slow news days are boring: they’ve gotta be juiced to get ratings to sell product.
The media is becoming increasingly condensed to a few multinationals. It’s as blatant as Disney owning ABC, and showing Disney movies, featuring Disney musicians… GE owns NBC – can we expect to hear honest reports on nuclear plants, which GE sells parts for? Or Philip Morris owning CBS volunteering anti-smoking messages?
On a personal note, I notice that if I spend too much time on the tube, my creativity is dulled.
But all of that aside, real life happens out among OTHER PEOPLE. It’s often more stressful, but what’s life without a bit of conflict now and then? We really need to get off the airwaves for a while, unplug the headphones, and connect with the world around us instead of having it brought into our homes via a 2D box with tinny little speakers.
God bless America. Please drive safely.
↵ -
Hi Eva, yeah I was being a bit presumptuous in the opening. ;-D I watch tv sometimes myself, though technically it’s TV on DVD. After all, what would I do with Arrested Development, Flight of the Conchords, and The Office…
↵
