Television

[cleef]

apologies if this has been done before...

Whats your view on televison?

'Opiate of the masses'?

Harmless entertainment?

Information provider?

Societal divider?

[F9]

great invention& devise, stupid use!
The television as a devise is a great thing, though as it is used now, with all this crap they show it is better when its closed!

Fuserg9:star:

[nighthawk]

In Serbia it is definitely 'Opiate of the masses'. Prime time is for news, usually lasting for half an hour, and most of that time is spent on politics. Some guy from opposition accuses some guy on power for stealing or bribery, then this guy on power accuses guy from opposition for something similar, this creates big scandal which lasts for about two weeks and then it gets replaced with some similar scandal. In reality nothing happens, our politicians are just entertaining public.
After news we usually have some old TV shows which are aired for hundredth time, and everyone knows every episode by hearth.

The worst thing of all is that people are watching this.

So - TV is great invention, but we wouldn't lose anything if it was gone.

[DesertShark]

great invention& devise, stupid use!
The television as a devise is a great thing, though as it is used now, with all this crap they show it is better when its closed!

Fuserg9:star:
Agreed, really cool invention! A lot of stupid uses now, but it depends on what you watch. I think that cartoons are the only good thing on TV. Somethings on TV are "opiates for the masses" - retarded "reality" tv shows, celebrity news, some news stations; somethings are educational - sesame street, pbs, some other children shows (which are the most educational when the parents watch the shows with their children and make them truly interactive, instead of just putting their kid in front of the tv as a babysitter), some cartoons, some news stations, the history channel, the discovery channel; and somethings are just harmless entertainment - sci-fi channel, comedy central, and channels that show movies.

-DesertShark

[cop an Attitude]

Conglomerates own the media, your news is false and dont give in to social popularity. I love watching creative shows like sinefield, the simpsons, its always sunny in philly, south park, things like that. I know it sounds cliche but mtv really is horrible. As for news, look for it from independent news sorces on the net. I hope tv turns around at some point or i will have a hypocirtial career being an editor:crying:.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

apologies if this has been done before...

Whats your view on televison?

A great tool put to very poor use. I personally don't watch television except for movies and documentaries (and even then, I watch them in the form of DVDs on my computer, which avoids all the bullshit advertisements which I find boring, irritating and banal), as I find it an otherwise very passive form of entertainment, which combined with the kitschy, lowest-common denominator nature of most television programming, makes me a very rare viewer.

I prefer much more interaction in my entertainment, hence my preference for posting on internet forums (which combines interactivity with the thoughtfulness of books) and playing computer games, where you are not just watching someone else do something, you are that person, interacting in increasingly more detailed and lifelike worlds. I reckon that's why MMORPGs are so addictive.


'Opiate of the masses'?

Harmless entertainment?

Information provider?

Societal divider?It can be all those things, but I feel that TV has a so far mostly untapped potential for educating people - TV is a very much all-enveloping experience, occupying your eyes and your ears, and good programming can leave a lasting impression, an important attribute of good education.

[Dean]

A great tool put to very poor use. I personally don't watch television except for movies and documentaries (and even then, I watch them in the form of DVDs on my computer, which avoids all the bullshit advertisements which I find boring, irritating and banal), as I find it an otherwise very passive form of entertainment, which combined with the kitschy, lowest-common denominator nature of most television programming, makes me a very rare viewer.

What (s)he said.

[Comrade B]

Agreed with the misused tool stance.
Television can be used to educate, inform, and entertain. Unfortunately, the entertainment is pretty much stupid garbage (Mind of Mencia), the news is mostly owned by News Corp & all Rupert Murdock's other little evils, and the education ends at age 5. Unless you are a Jesus freak.

[LOLseph Stalin]

I would say that it varies greatly as different channels/T.V shows portray different views. There is loads of bourgeois propaganda in the form of commercials, but I learn to ignore those when I watch T.V(I rarely do). Minus the commercials it can be a great form of entertainment. I love watching the stand up comedians! T.V can educate to a certain extent, but not young children. They'll see the commercials and want everything! O_O If I ever have children they're not watching T.V until they're old enough to reason between right and wrong. lol Ok, fine. I will let them, but I will just make sure they don't turn into greedy capitalist children.

[cleef]

It can be all those things, but I feel that TV has a so far mostly untapped potential for educating people - TV is a very much all-enveloping experience, occupying your eyes and your ears, and good programming can leave a lasting impression, an important attribute of good education.

Yes i agree, it is a source that is not being used for its potential.

Television causes the brain to slip into the alpha brain wave state and makes you more susceptible to the intake of information.

This could make learning so much easier, however the addiction to watch pointless reality shows is too much for some to resist

[LOLseph Stalin]

Religion is the 'Opiate of the masses'! Gosh!

Read your Marx. :P lol It's all good. I know you know that...

[mikelepore]

LinkTV is the best -- http://www.linktv.org/ -- A lot of news about the labor and peace movements. It's on DirecTV channel 375, DishTV channel 9410, and some local cable networks. You can petition your local cable TV company to start carrying it.

[which doctor]

I think I've watched television once in the past 3 months and I don't feel like I've missed anything. Most of what's on the news stations is just short sound bites that don't tell nearly the whole story. Most entertainment programming is pretty shitty too. I don't understand how some people find those shows funny or interesting.

Occasionally there is something I find entertaining on TV, such as Seinfeld. HBO and Showtime occasionally have some good programming as well. Recently I've been watching Weeds, Californication, and Huff, but I torrent them, no need to give my money to TV networks when I can get it for free.

[Rascolnikova]

The "misused tool" approach seems about right to me--with a few caveats.

First, as it is currently structured, television is an incredibly powerful tool for the ruling class on all sorts of levels.

Second, I think it is a mistake to think that one can be at all free of consumerist propaganda from television simply by "tuning out" the commercials. Market efficiency does ensure some things, and one of them is that corporations would not continue to spend billions of dollars on advertising if it were not effective. Virtually everyone thinks they can "tune out" advertising, but virtually no one can actually do it. A more effective way to combat this might be active analysis.

Third, in the first world television forms an extremely significant proportion of the public discourse, and should be treated as such.

[Jazzratt]

I'm going with the "misused tool" gang. It's also a part of our culture, for better or worse, as evidenced by listening to what people talk about - in fact often choosing not to watch TV puts one outside a lot of mainstream culture (again for better or worse.). I, for example, nearly never watch television becaus I prefer doing other things or I'm too busy and for this reason miss out on huge amounts of conversation with others. A slightly alienating feeling.

This is one of the reasons I am sceptical of "kill your television" type rhetoric as it is another idea in a long line of ideas on the left which serve to ghettoise us politically.

[Yazman]

I agree with much of what has been stated in this topic previously. Television, to me, is a tool that has much potential and is definitely a powerful one, however in many of its current forms it is in a state of extreme misuse - this misuse takes the form of its exploitation as a medium to deliver commercial content and the omission by the controlling corporations of important information that the public should know about.

The rise of the internet as a tool for audio-visual media shows the potential for such a medium and how many people seem to be "jaded" in a way or simply "sick of it all" when it comes to television. Looking at the example of YouTube - it is extremely popular and still growing. The level of control that we have over the content delivered to us and presented to us "without the crap" that television gives us shows that television is a tool that is simply misused for and controlled by the ruling class for their own ends - in this case a profit-based agenda.

However if we opened it up as a medium and allowed more control over what we view, coupled with allowing free and easy access to the production side of things in a similar way to many of the online media hubs (like youtube) television could become a far superior medium to that which we are stuck with today.

**edit**
After some further thinking on Noxion's comments about how we can become "ghettoised" politically this is very much true and the same thing often happens to those in power, and is one of the main reasons most capitalist politicians in the west are seen as "out of touch" with the population. This can happen to us as well, and perhaps it often does.

I do not watch television myself and it does serve as an "excluding factor" sometimes. I am not saying we should all watch it but we need to make sure that we do not become out of touch with the masses.

[ZeroNowhere]

It's inferior to the internet, as it only lets information travel one way, and stifles discussion. However, it's hardly necessarily 'bad', just easy to use as propaganda (as the capitalists do). Also, most of the shows suck, often due to the profit motive.
I don't watch it.

[Yazman]

ZeroNowhere, your views pretty much reflect mine on television as a medium and its worth in comparison to the internet.

It is not necessarily bad, just very easily manipulated due to "closed" nature.

[spice756]

LinkTV is the best -- http://www.linktv.org/ (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.linktv.org/) -- A lot of news about the labor and peace movements. It's on DirecTV channel 375, DishTV channel 9410, and some local cable networks. You can petition your local cable TV company to start carrying it.


We don't have DishTV ,Dish Network, MyNetworkTV, or direct TV in Canada.Has for the stations it own by companies they not going to put some thing worker struggle or class struggle and the same with the news.

To the mass of people run and control the TV stations you will NOT have democracy.

Has for the adervertisment it is all part of capitalism to make money.Like if people are too stupid to know what they really want to buy.

Has for programs I have about 100 programs to choose from like cheap programs like cheap drama programs ,cheap romance programs ,cheap comedy programs , cheap cooking ,gardening ,out doors programs so on.

Not to say the sports and fashion programs that are capitalism to the core !! Ya the American idol ,hot rod ,dating gone bad ,good or bad dating ,how to look good ,what to wear or not ,celebrity and gosip all capitalism to the core .

To we have socialism you are going to have crappy TV stations :cursing::cursing:under socialism you will have lots to choose from and better quality than cheap programs .No adervertisment and the station not promoting the rich and wealthy.

[Comrade_Red]

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but i believe that TV is used to stupify and control the masses.

That 'We're in a Lot of Trouble!' clip from The Network sums up my thoughts on the subject.

[ZeroNowhere]

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but i believe that TV is used to stupify and control the masses.
Of course, as are public schools (and most private ones), etc. It's not really something that us sensible commies are going to claim is a 'conspiracy theory'. :)