The Internet Monk
"the power of opinion, the phenomenon of speech, the impact of truth"
A Dispatch from our Correspondent in the Public Schools
My Wasteland
by Steve McFarland
I do not recall
the writer who originally described television as the great “wasteland” of the
mind, but it was a statement made sometime in the late 50’s,
just as TV was turning the corner of it’s infancy.
Whoever he or she was, they could not have anticipated their little
comment would become so ingrained in the American psyche.
Television has lived, grown, expanded and prospered over the past 60 years in a culture ashamed to admit it has been watching at all. Everyday it has infiltrated homes, the popular opinion prevails that TV destroys the mind and fattens the stomach. Educators and pollsters have carefully chronicled the amount of time “wasted” in front of the tube, while social critics describe its influence in terms of dire changes in family dynamics. Television has even managed to lampoon itself ,with commercials encouraging reading and other activities that are far removed from the TV room.
Let me pause here a moment. I need to turn down my television to complete this thought. Television may be a wasteland of squandered time, mindless junk and lost communication skills, but you better keep your hands off my remote control, because I’ll admit that I have been watching my whole life and will continue until the staff at the nursing home turns it off..
Why television has been singled out from all other items of modernity for ruining our society is confusing to me. When was the last time anyone spoke up against the automatic transmission, self-cleaning ovens, the air conditioner, processed foods, or the Vege-matic? There have been many, many advances in technology through the years that have made us different, perhaps better, perhaps more productive or informed. But television is the one that nobody wants to personally endorse as making us better.
Public education has been bashing televisions since John Cameron Swayze was doing the news. Yet most school systems, including mine, are linked to “for profit” television networks like Channel One, which is described as a window to the world for students. I guess it’s OK to watch at school, just turn the thing off when you're home.
It
has been fascinating hearing the double speak going on in schools
regarding how and when to allow students to watch television.
A minor uproar was created in my son’s high school when
administrators opted to turn televisions off during the September 11th
attacks. The same criticisms
were expressed when a mandatory black out (no pun intended) was called
for during the O.J. Simpson trial. The
irony of these decisions is they are made under the auspices of
“losing instructional time”. September
11th was perhaps the most significant national event sinc
I readily admit television has created a dilemma for the American home and family. I have overheard many conversations from parents about how they have won the battle over television with their child and with puffed chests declare that MTV and it’s ilk have been programmed out of their televisions and children’s minds. Hooray!
And so it is with great trepidation that I sneak quietly from the television closet and admit that I have watched MTV, Howard Stern, The Simpson’s, NYPD Blue (one of my favorites), and Baywatch. Let me step out further and say that I know my children have watched and will probably continue to watch these, and other, programs as well. But, before you write me off, let me say more. My children also know what these programs are all about, what is appropriate, what is vulgar, and what we, as a family, expect. Usually, our television is tuned to slapstick comedy such as Funniest Home Videos or vintage television such as I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show. (I’ll have to admit being intrigued by the new MTV show “The Osbornes” as it chronicles the life of burned up rocker Ozzie Osborne. I have actually watched the show with my son and we both find it strangely amusing. There is something particularly telling about Ozzie and what fame has done to the poor guy. We like him and eel sorry for him, but certainly I do not have to worry about my son wanting to grow up and be him.)
And that seems to be the problem with most of television critics. Their opinion is that the misguided messages of MTV, BET, and other cable and network programming may cause someone to act badly by influencing their thinking. I have heard all my life how television warps the mind. Well, maybe. Anything in excess can be dangerous. (I knew I shouldn’t have had that extra scoop of Fudge Ripple). But let me suggest that all of us are actually better because of television. For all the mindless drivel that is produced and displayed, I can easily argue for productions that have lifted our spirits and thinking. Television is simply not all good and not all bad.
Growing up in the
sixties, I had very little choice in watching television.
I can still remember our first color TV and first remote control.
Captain Kangaroo babysat me for several years each morning for an
hour and I can remember the joys of Saturday morning cartoons,
Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, Superman, and Lassie.
My family gathered together to watch Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan,
the Hollywood
In fact, I’m not sure I could have survived my childhood without television. I know my mother, who is a widow and unable to work, relies daily on television to give her some semblance of a life where people talk, people laugh, and situations presented allow her to think. Perhaps a life spent reading, being with friends and socializing would be the preferred way of life for us all. But, the fact is, it is impossible for some and not preferred by others. Television fills some gaps and for that we should be thankful.
If I could change anything about television it would be to go back to the days of fewer choices and fewer channels. Television execs have become so predictable that whatever is popular in our culture will soon become a new television program. If it stays popular for longer than five years, it has a chance of being an entire network. Soon we are so sick of it we look for something else. The TV powers that be have never figured out that too much of anything is simply too much- period. As a kid the only time I could watch cartoons was on a Saturday morning. Now they can be seen twenty-four hours a day on several cartoon networks. NFL football was only seen on Sunday afternoons. Now television money has opened the floodgates to see the NFL and all other sports year round and round the clock.
The result of this overkill phenomenon has been the production of shows that serve to shock and startle us into a ratings increase. The premise behind the new reality shows borders on the ridiculous. And when the execs saw the popularity of Regis Philbin’s prime time game show they blasted us with it multiple nights per week. Coming soon, “The Who Wants to be a Millionaire Network”.
Television remains, in my opinion, on the verge of something wonderful while simultaneously flirting with disaster. Recent news events have brought out the best television has to offer all Americans. Just as many forty-something’s did during JFK’s assassination, we found the television a place to mourn and be comforted together. And yet to escape the pain of those same recent events, TV may very well slip further down the slope of mindless schlock from which it may never recover.
If television suffers from anything it is the lack of creative, original ideas. And I will be the first in line to a buy a v-chip to keep it that way.