TV or not TV........(sorry)

Before I get in to the meat and potatoes of this post (along with a side of mixed vegetables and a chemically enhanced apple delite)let me just say that the writer's strike appears to be all but settled and this only a day after I posted a plea for reconcilliation between the warring factions. How do you spell clout?? Gimme a B, gimme an L, gimme an O, gimme...OK, you get the picture.

Now then, a couple of contributors (party bear and Mikexxster) have tag teamed me in the comment section citing some reformed ad exec, media guru type named Gerry (sic) Mander. It's actually Jerry but I prefer their spelling because gerrymander is a real word meaning dividing a voting area so as to give your own party an unfair advantage. It seems as though PB and the Mikexxster are creating a little voting bloc of their own and are are saying a resounding NO to television and yes to Mr. Mander and his celebrated Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television (perish the thought!!!!).

Mander is clever, his arguments thought provoking, and his adman acumen has won him all sorts of accolytes ready to evangelize in his name but the book was written in 1978 and TV has come a long way since then.......(waiting for opponents to stop rolling on the floor, clutching stomachs and howling with laughter).

Seriously though, Mander contends that TV is a dangerous medium, I see it as neutral. He says it exists only to sell us stuff we don't need, I say "so what!" I'd rather that my children and I watch these commercials and that I teach them how to see with a sceptical eye. There are ads everywhere, not just on TV, and learning how to negotiate this minefield is an essential life skill. We actually watched an incredible show about this on CBC NewsWorld. We are or will all be consumers in a consumer society. Short of moving to a shack in the forest and eventually sending mail bombs to those who disagree with you let's agree that television is largely a medium that produces garbage so that others can sell their own garbage. If only 5% of the product is in any way edifying then so be it. Part of the thrill is in the hunt!

There have always been gullible, sad, and stressed out people, and charlatans who exploit them.

There have always been righteous leaders bent on improving our lot. Say what you want about TV but book sales are up (thank you Oprah!!) and television is more a repository of diverse opinion than it was in the 3 network days when Mander penned his book.

He rales against the second hand experiences that TV offers us, our knowledge coming from so-called experts on the small screen, often about things far afield that he thinks shouldn't be our concern (he currently runs a major anti-globalization think tank). How different is getting our knowledge from him (information that he feels is vital of course) in written form? Of course it's way more detailed but TV for a reasonable viewer can be about the piquing of interest on a vast variety of subjects.

Late last night I saw a cool doc about the Gnostic Christians....could the Christ story pre-date Jesus himself?? They showed an Egyptian heiroglyph with 3 holy men kneeling before a Mother cradling a baby. They were Isis and little Horus and I believe there was some talk of a virgin birth. Very interesting, I think I'll read up on it.