Macaroni…let me finish…salad.
There are a few television shows that I make sure that I watch. I’m not really one of those TV people per se, but I do have a few shows that I watch religiously. These include:
Family Guy
American Dad
60 Minutes
Frontline
Nova
Lost
Rescue Me (because of my husband – he’s a firefighter so he loves the firefighter shows)
Survivor (guilty pleasure)
Rome (on HBO. Great show, also a huge hotness factor with actor Ray Stevenson-seriously, check him out.)
Six Feet Under (also an HBO show, now finished, but it was brilliant)
Other than these shows, I really don’t care for television. I heard some people in the office talking about the new season of “Big Brother” the other day. I think this is probably one of the stupidest shows on TV, but obviously people are watching it. The people in the office really seemed to be looking forward to the new season of this show and it made me think about some great TV shows that have been cancelled in the past to make room for idiotic tripe like “Big Brother”. When I was in high school, almost everyone I knew watched “My So Called Life”. As teenagers, we related to it so well (which is pretty rare). And of course, they cancelled it. The next major “good show discovery” for me was “Arrested Development”. This was probably one of the funniest, smartest shows ever to be on TV. And of course, they cancelled it.
This brings me to my point.
Do stupid TV shows make people stupid or make them like stupid things, or do stupid people demand more stupid TV shows and the networks capitulate in an attempt to pander to the great unwashed masses? I think that sadly, it is the latter. I know what you are thinking at this point: “What an arrogant thing to say.” Well maybe. But I am tired of listening to people talk about dumb shit. I think the reason why people are talking about dumb shit is because they are not being challenged or stimulated. I am tired of there being 30 copies of “Terminator 3” on the movie store shelves and only 1 copy of the documentary I wanted to see but it is out because apparently there is one other person in my town who gives a shit about what goes on in the world outside of the Western Hemisphere and is interested in watching something that will encourage them to use their brain.
I’m not saying I only watch things that are intellectually stimulating; I watch Family Guy for chrissake. I’m just saying that there is a reason that people are dumbed down; because life is dumbed down for us. This morning, I heard President Bush on the radio, making a speech yesterday at a 9/11 memorial. I know this is overstated but the man is a moron. The speech was terrible.
On the news the other day, they were reporting on how something like 60% of the population in North America does not know how to read, nor do they understand the labels on food packaging. These are the labels that break down the nutritional value and give you a list of what the product contains. I am not making this up. They actually proposed that the government do something to change the verbiage on the packaging to make it more “user friendly”. One of the examples they used was substituting the word “salt” for “sodium chloride”. Apparently, people do not understand that salt and sodium are the same thing.
Am I missing something? Do I just not “get it”? Was I ripped out of the matrix too early? I am not gifted, nor do I have an exceptionally high IQ. Yes, I have had the advantage of a good solid liberal arts education and came from two relatively smart parents, but I don’t think my brain is really anything overly special.
People are not plugged in. They go about mindlessly consuming things; too much food, the newest car, stupid knickknacks from Hallmark. They don’t read. They did not watch the documentary “The Corporation” even when it was on public television THREE NIGHTS IN A ROW to find out about why it might not be such a good thing to let Walmarts take over the world; about why they are mindlessly consuming things and growing fatter and fatter by the day; about why they value what they value and how messed up it is.
No. They were watching “Singing with the Stars”. Another quality program brought to you by the Fox network. The same network that puts idiots like Bill O’Reilly on the “news”. (I realize that some of the programs I watch also air on Fox – it’s just something I have to live with).
One of the scariest things about our society in my estimation is not that Big Brother is watching; it’s that we are watching “Big Brother”.
Office Girl
Family Guy
American Dad
60 Minutes
Frontline
Nova
Lost
Rescue Me (because of my husband – he’s a firefighter so he loves the firefighter shows)
Survivor (guilty pleasure)
Rome (on HBO. Great show, also a huge hotness factor with actor Ray Stevenson-seriously, check him out.)
Six Feet Under (also an HBO show, now finished, but it was brilliant)
Other than these shows, I really don’t care for television. I heard some people in the office talking about the new season of “Big Brother” the other day. I think this is probably one of the stupidest shows on TV, but obviously people are watching it. The people in the office really seemed to be looking forward to the new season of this show and it made me think about some great TV shows that have been cancelled in the past to make room for idiotic tripe like “Big Brother”. When I was in high school, almost everyone I knew watched “My So Called Life”. As teenagers, we related to it so well (which is pretty rare). And of course, they cancelled it. The next major “good show discovery” for me was “Arrested Development”. This was probably one of the funniest, smartest shows ever to be on TV. And of course, they cancelled it.
This brings me to my point.
Do stupid TV shows make people stupid or make them like stupid things, or do stupid people demand more stupid TV shows and the networks capitulate in an attempt to pander to the great unwashed masses? I think that sadly, it is the latter. I know what you are thinking at this point: “What an arrogant thing to say.” Well maybe. But I am tired of listening to people talk about dumb shit. I think the reason why people are talking about dumb shit is because they are not being challenged or stimulated. I am tired of there being 30 copies of “Terminator 3” on the movie store shelves and only 1 copy of the documentary I wanted to see but it is out because apparently there is one other person in my town who gives a shit about what goes on in the world outside of the Western Hemisphere and is interested in watching something that will encourage them to use their brain.
I’m not saying I only watch things that are intellectually stimulating; I watch Family Guy for chrissake. I’m just saying that there is a reason that people are dumbed down; because life is dumbed down for us. This morning, I heard President Bush on the radio, making a speech yesterday at a 9/11 memorial. I know this is overstated but the man is a moron. The speech was terrible.
On the news the other day, they were reporting on how something like 60% of the population in North America does not know how to read, nor do they understand the labels on food packaging. These are the labels that break down the nutritional value and give you a list of what the product contains. I am not making this up. They actually proposed that the government do something to change the verbiage on the packaging to make it more “user friendly”. One of the examples they used was substituting the word “salt” for “sodium chloride”. Apparently, people do not understand that salt and sodium are the same thing.
Am I missing something? Do I just not “get it”? Was I ripped out of the matrix too early? I am not gifted, nor do I have an exceptionally high IQ. Yes, I have had the advantage of a good solid liberal arts education and came from two relatively smart parents, but I don’t think my brain is really anything overly special.
People are not plugged in. They go about mindlessly consuming things; too much food, the newest car, stupid knickknacks from Hallmark. They don’t read. They did not watch the documentary “The Corporation” even when it was on public television THREE NIGHTS IN A ROW to find out about why it might not be such a good thing to let Walmarts take over the world; about why they are mindlessly consuming things and growing fatter and fatter by the day; about why they value what they value and how messed up it is.
No. They were watching “Singing with the Stars”. Another quality program brought to you by the Fox network. The same network that puts idiots like Bill O’Reilly on the “news”. (I realize that some of the programs I watch also air on Fox – it’s just something I have to live with).
One of the scariest things about our society in my estimation is not that Big Brother is watching; it’s that we are watching “Big Brother”.
Office Girl
posted by vegan mum at 9:37 AM
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