Nothing like getting halfway through a Tuesday afternoon and suddenly realizing you hadn’t yet written your weekly Newswithviews piece. But at least there’s always more than enough on hand to write about.
https://newswithviews.com/could-democrats-survive-a-media-assault/
I don’t think Democrats would last two days, if the media went after them like they go after Republicans.
You hold the key in your second paragraph: “I don’t have TV at home,” the answer is simple, America, you don’t have to watch TV. When I became an adult, and established my own dwelling, I determined that a TV set blaring away 24/7 was not going to be the norm in my home. That was over 40 years ago, and I have not made a practice of watching broadcast TV ever since. I’ve missed some good shows, but I’ve also missed endless piles of detritus and avoiding the detritus more than offsets any loss.
Now, I have been exposed to all sorts of television over the years. I’ve seen some good shows on DVD. Every Colombo ever made is on DVD, just waiting, in case I ever get around to viewing them, but a lot of TV shows and Movies I’ve bought over the years go unwatched, because the television set does not control my life or my time.
The problem isn’t television itself; there’s nothing wrong with a device which can display moving pictures and sound. For that matter, the iPad in my hands is capable of the same thing, and I think it’s an amazing device. The problem comes down to one simple factor; who is controlling the content?
For decades, the content was controlled by the networks. NBC, CBS, ABC and the local affiliates decided what did, and what did not get transmitted. They had FCC standards and content was cleansed of pornography, obscenity, foul language, etc. Then came cable and, because subscribers paid for the content, they were making a choice. The content being restricted by what the consumer paid for, the FCC did not regulate what could be sent over cable. Thirty years ago, a friend was surfing his cable channels and was shocked to discover that the cable company was sending content he had not paid for and that hardcore pornography was available in his Christian home and viewable by his four minor children.
While such mistakes were not uncommon in the era of cable, now there is satellite TV and most new TVs can display Internet content. My modest little flatscreen could display Internet porn just as easily as it could display a DVD of Casablanca. The cat is out of the bag with regard to content, and even the networks have all but forgotten the standards they used to proudly uphold.
The problem with most programming is that you never know what is coming. At one time, I had Netflix on demand. I clicked on a program that looked interesting and the first scene involved nudity, so I turned it off. There was no warning, no rating, no way of knowing what I was choosing, other than a synopsis of the plot, which did not mention anything about sexual content. Not a big problem for a senior citizen like myself, but a boy just coming of age may have developed a taste for such imaginary just by being exposed once.
The answer, good people, is to turn away from badness. If TV has become a minefield of poisonous thought and content that ranges from questionable to obscene, you, the viewer are in control. While it is not widely publicized, every TV set has a built in feature which makes it easy to avoid bad content. Every single TV has this feature in one form or another and even has a backup, in case that device fails. This feature is the power control which allows one to switch their TV off and the backup to this is the power cord, which can be disconnected from the outlet. Judicious use of these features can work wonders.
Simply stated, there is all sorts of content out there, but just because this content is offered, there is no reason to assume it is valid or worthy of viewing.
We bought all the Columbo episodes, too–well worth watching.
I don’t know why TV offers so much dreck, unless it’s simply because TV is part of our culture and our culture sucks. Why should TV be any better?
What a fun article! If the democrats could stand such an assault, they wouldn’t have banned conservative sites.
Jeanine Pirro is great, but was even more direct before she got thrown off YouTube for awhile. Michelle Malkin is consistent and outspoken. Diamond & Silk are a “bowl” of laughs, which is also a good attack against the left because insults are their weapon of choice. Anne Coulter makes sense most of the time, when she doesn’t overreact and gets it wrong. W
What the democratic left don’t understand is that the more they attack us, the more we dig in. “An immovable force” that outvotes them. Yes, I do believe the Republicans won the House and trust the recounts, massive and fair, will switch the switched votes back where they belong. What i’m afraid of is the possibility that the recounts won’t be massive or fair. If not, i’ve got an unusual suspicion, or a conspiracy theory-whatever you want to call it, that the midterms were called way before the first vote was cast.