TV Be Gone
Have you noticed that everywhere you go now there is a blaring television with the most disturbing news blasting in your ears? I have, and it’s getting really tiresome. I can understand that a sports bar or pub would have a TV for sports or something (though with the PC stuff some of the sportscasters spout on ESPN etc., I sometimes think I am watching the news), but why at every regular restaurant or even just in a store or doctor’s office do I continually have to watch the mayhem and anxiety-producing news that I am going out to escape? Apparently I’m not alone, as others around the web have noticed the trend in recent years. For example, a writer in South Carolina states:
One of my favorite lunch spots in Anderson has a giant flat-screen in the dining room. I hate it, but I love their pizza. So I keep going there. The television is always tuned to a 24-hour news channel. And the volume is loud. So while we diners polish off our pepperoni, we get to hear about a body being unearthed from a serial killer’s basement in Iowa. Or we’re treated to footage of wildfire consuming houses in California. I tell you: It’s not good for the digestion.
A website called the Eater had this to say about TVs in restaurants:
There are a few different ways to consider the TV dilemma, of course, and the first question is: why are restaurants doing this? According to The Dallas Morning News, this trend is brought to you courtesy of “the wired generation,” i.e. young people: “This is a very, very visual demographic…If they’re not watching TV, [they] are on their iPhones.” The goal, then, is to keep your eyes up and moving around the restaurant. Despite the terribly flattering picture this paints of today’s youth, it does make some sense from the point of view of the restaurateur.
And it’s not just restaurants, it’s doctor’s offices, stores, planes, and everywhere the public goes. Even my gym is inundated with TVs that show one catastrophe after the next. I thought people were watching less TV, but maybe this is at home where they have the choice. Or are people just turning to other gadgets and devices to give them something to do constantly? Is it too much to ask just to be able to sit quietly, ride the treadmill without the mayhem, or just read or stare into space in a public place? Apparently so. I often think about getting one of those TV-B-Gone remote controls that allow me to turn those darn things off. They give me a headache.
Am I the only person left in America who doesn’t want a running negative news report everywhere I go?
I have been tempted to buy a cheap universal remote to combat this trend. I don’t need channel changing functionality or to be able to set the DVR – all I want is volume and the power button.
Most of the type of universal remote I’m thinking of can be either quickly programmed with the help of a surreptitious glance at the TV in question (make and model is normally all you need), or via a little trial and error.
Programming takes a minute or two, after which I could enjoy my meals in peace and quiet.
Something to think about. Lord knows I’ve been tempted.
You can get this thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV-B-Gone
A keychain device that turns off any TV within range. Twenty Bucks. More than worth it!
- a -
Ajax, you are a genius and a gentleman. I just looked at TV-B Gone’s website. $19.99, and a bargain if it really works. I live in South Africa, where the idiot box has truly saturated life. In grocery stores there are, on average, about 3-4 per store.
Now, is there a remote control that lets me turn off music? Because, here, as bad as the idiot boxes are, the music in almost all of the stores is twice as bad. Rap, rock and loud. I am a one-man crusade, but, believe it or not, have made some headway. Store managers see me coming and cringe.
I LIKE IT! Your idea, I mean
Personally, I can’t stand it. I seem to be afflicted with an inability not to look at motion — some sort of cat gene in the mix, perhaps. So I find TVs in public places very annoying, even without sound. It’s hard for me to carry on a normal conversation with someone in a pub or restaurant if there’s a TV on so, as a consequence, I don’t go to pubs or restaurants as often as I used to.
I think one problem with any such trend is that the restaurant or pub owner can easily get data on how popular it is with customers, but getting data on how much business is lost because of it is nearly impossible. Business decisions tend to get made only within the context of what can be measured.
The thing is: you realize that you’re looking at it, whereas other people DON’T realize this. It’s all unconscious with most of us – far more insidious.
The news streams are bad, ranted, but what really troubles me are the chain restaurants that feature multiple televisions tuned to multiple popular sporting events.
The eye tends to catch on kinesis — motion. So when one is surrounded by televised sports, the tendency, with the best will in the world, is to look at anything but the charming lady across the table, who isn’t moving or dodging nearly as fast.
The charming lady? Why, that’s my wife, of course. And even though she’s a sports fanatic — really and truly; I once awoke at 2:30 AM to find her watching Sumo wrestling on ESPN — she doesn’t like this televised sport saturation any more than I do.
I remember enjoying sitting in a restaurant with friends, smoking a cigarette and having a cup of coffee after dinner. Now I can’t smoke, so the coffee isn’t much fun and the noise from the TV is still annoying enough to drive me out even if it’s not staring me in the face. I think the restaurants just want to minimize the time I spend at their table. The drive-thru at Wendy’s is my big night out.
Amen brother! Though I’m afraid, as the old “Twilight Zone” episode proclaimed, “You are obsolete.” Me too
I really miss the diner that was located in a large downtown department store. Smoking section, coffee, old ladies waitressing and who were darn good at it. …sniff…
I go to an Asian buffet I like in Los Angeles and they have the news on—silenced–with captioning on. If you want to know what is going on, you can read the captions, if you don’t want to know, you can ignore the TV because there is no sound on. Seems like a good compromise to me.
Like the poster above who is part cat and thus has to watch motion, I am someone who HAS to read if there is something to read. When I lived in Mexico, most of the movies were American movies with Spanish subtitles. The dialog was in ENGLISH, my native language; however, I could not stop reading the Spanish subtitles and in addition analyzing whether the Spanish was a correct rendition of the English. It was headache-inducing and not at all entertaining. I felt dizzy at the end of each film.
I have been complaining about this for years.
A landmark hamburger joint on our town square just changed ownership, and the first thing the new owners did was install three TVs. So now rather than hear country music in the background, we get television. I’m thinking I won’t eat there any more.
Governments got all worked up over banning smoking in public places, when instead they should have been forbidding cacophony. Some peace and quiet, please!
At the very least, could airports stop forcing CNN down our eyeballs?
I’ve heard that the sets are tuned to CNN because CNN pays for the sets.
Airports are government-run facilities and it serves their interests to indoctrinate a captive audience that is already being cowed and bullied by the TSA.
It seems that Big Brother, of “1984″ fame is closer than we think. Having “the message” constantly in-your-face is one way to make sure you obey.
I have trouble with authority in that sense. I voluntarily don’t pay any attention to it. Besides, they aren’t the authority to me; They are a bunch of noisy babblers thinking they are doing something important. That’s the funny thing about journalism and journalists: They actually think that they are irreplaceable and that they are saying something so monumentally important that to ignore them would have to be perceived as insane.
When I was a kid, the news was boring. However, as the population became used to that, certain marketing types got ahold of the news industry and started adding fluff. Now the fluff is mainstream but, interestingly, people are actually turning it OFF more than otherwise. Big story on the conservative blogs today is how Brian Williams wants to disown his creation of a TV “news” magazine, which has had horrendous viewership and continues to fail regardless of time slot.
Add to that the general population that has decided that it doesn’t want to grow up so they get their “news” from idiot comedians instead. Tell me that doesn’t affect how a person thinks.
So, I’ll keep my computer and read the news on the conservative blogs and websites. I ignore every mainstream entity, including the diabetes show that’s on at the doctor’s office every time I go in for an appointment on a 47″ screen TV. I watch TV to be entertained. I do that by buying DVD’s which I then share with friends and family if they are interested and then put them on the shelf. No commercials.
No news reports telling me what and how I should think.
My favorite restaurant has a TV in it as well and I just put my earphones in and listen to Rush instead.
Like x1000!
In airports in order to avoid CNN, I try to sit behind a potted palm.
“I thought people were watching less tv…”
I don’t believe this for a second. People, when pressed by a poll or survey, will say whatever they think is the “correct” answer. And the article does note smartphone use – how many people are getting their television on the tiny screens of their iPhones? It would be sophistry to claim that they are not watching “television” and yet such people probably would blithely state they watch less of it.
Remember when Joseph Campbell was the rage because George Lucas began quoting him (probably because making popular entertainment was lowbrow but dealing in mythic archetypes was sophisticated)? How many people bought one of his books to put on the coffee table and read nothing but the cover blurbs? Likewise many people will only admit to watching whatever on TV is noted approvingly by the smart people. PBS, oh sure, when I’m not making my own translations of the Icelandic Eddas, just for fun you understand. Oh, that copy of Fifty Shades of Grey? That’s um, my mother’s, she left it there. And I have no idea why the TV turned on to wrestling, the cleaning lady must have had it on.
I am an instructor in a highly technical field. I was observing a new instructor this past week as they got practice doing their job. This guy is under 30 but what irked me more than anything was his constantly taking his iphone out of his pocket to check —well—something. I have no idea what. I’m not his supervisor so I said nothing. But if kids are so bloody “connected” in the communication/information world, why is it that they don’t know anything?
Oh, sure, they know what some celebrity had for breakfast or wore to the awards ceremony…but they can’t tell you where Jupiter is or how many probes we have on Mars, or who the speaker of the house of representatives is.
Sure, keep checking your phone. I’m sure that will make you a better instructor. Don’t think for one second that your charges won’t notice that, either.
Or the other oddity we experienced the first time just recently, when the booth behind us had a table full of women getting their drink on (not new), and one of them had the football game blaring from her personal electronic communication device.
Yes, she thought it was important enough to share with the dining room, and neither the server or manager had the inclination to ask her to turn it off.
Man, things have really changed since I was Maitress’d.
If it’s too loud or obnoxious, ask the waiter to have it turned down. If it persists, tell the manager you’re not coming back until his joint sounds less like a boiler factory and more like a relaxing place to eat.
I have similar complaints about new restaurants with “high energy” décor that’s nothing but hard, flat surfaces, that seem to reflect and amplify every sound. Some even manage to insult you with concrete floors; the only thing missing a drain in the center of the room. I shun these joints, I don’t care how many KuuL Kidz go there.
CNN in the airport? Give it the MST3K treatment, and mock or jeer everything they say, the way they say it, and how stupid they look while they’re saying it. That gives everyone else permission to complain how much it sucks.
I have to agree about those “high energy” restaurant interiors. There are a couple chains that I can’t go to any more because the noise level is so loud. They actually have stainless steel walls. They may have done that to make for easier cleaning but the sound echos all to well. It’s too bad, really. Their food was pretty good but if I can’t hold a conversation in a normal voice without being drowned out by the background, I’ll take my business elsewhere.
“I often think about getting one of those TV-B-Gone remote controls that allow me to turn those darn things off.”
I too find those TV’s distracting and annoying, although I don’t feel that I have the right to use a TV-B-Gone. Better to (1) ask to be seated away from the TV and (2) mention that it’s annoying in a restaurant.
Even worse, now in a big city near you: taxi cabs with their own little “Taxi Cab Network.”
God, I loathe those things.
GSTV!!! (Gas Station TV) Yes, and it’s awful.
TVs are omnipresent in Japanese eateries, but they are easier to tune out, if you don’t speak Japanese. Trains in the urban areas often have ads and brief news flashes, but I don’t recall any volume, probably because I usually had a noise-canceling headset on.
Noise pollution in urban Japanese is rather awful, especially the obnoxious election season campaign trucks with megaphones mounted and cute white-gloved waving girls inside. Touts outside businesses calling to potential customers, vending machines that call out, “bosozoku” kids revving their intentionally poorly muffled 50cc engines to the redline. At least bass cannon greasers were rare at the time.
During some recent visits to various doctor’s offices, I noted that nearly everyone, as soon as they sit down, pull out their smartphones and proceed with the heiroglyphic squiggling. I see it in restaurants and other public places as well. And the flat panel TV is blaring news in the background. Sheesh.
Y, at recent doctor’s offices visits, I twice found myself “treated” to the unmitigated, pointless stupidity of “The View” and had to resort to trying to nap in contorted positions in order to block the toxic crap from my eardrums. At least most restaurants are courteous enough to keep the sound low enough so that the telecrap will not intrude on my consciousness if I choose not to look. I’m not sure what the physicians’ offices are trying to accomplish by keeping the sound loud enough to ensure we can’t escape, except perhaps to make us sicker.
Ahhhh! The View. Once in a Holiday Inn in Santa Fe, when I went down to eat ‘breakfast’, The View was on the ever-present TV. It was the first and the last time I have ever watched it. I absolutely could NOT believe the screaming harpies on that show. So shrill, so stupid, so inane! My stomach hurt for hours. And to think, those witches make big money! Pathetic.
Dear Lord! There was a time when I thought I was in The Twilight Zone. Everywhere I went, no matter what time, I got The View. My dentist (whom I love) has TV in all the rooms and when I went the last time, and they asked me what I wanted to watch I said, “nothing, just turn it off” I got really funny looks.
It’s all about foisting advertising messages on the public via as many avenues as possible.
No, you are not alone. Visiting our favorite local restaurant twice in the past two weeks, we only once had to ask them to change the channel from the endless CT news to the video of fireplace logs. They have kept the fire going every day since.
Well-done!
As a grown man, I would much rather have a TV on news (Fox? CNBC?) at low volume (better yet silent but with closed captioning turned on so i can easily ignore) rather than the barrage of sports which assumes adult males are perpetual adolescents who need the circus to go with their bread.
This is why I avoid Shell stations and Albertsons whenever practicable. Being squawked at by a TV when pumping gas or buying groceries is annoying enough to make me go up the street a bit to avoid them. While we are on the topic of annoying squawking, I would like to broach the subject of business phone systems.
Seriously, have everyone’s menu options really changed? And please stick to the annoying music instead of having the system break in to “thank” me for my patience.
The best part is when the machine claims, ” Your call is very important to us,” which is obviously not true if you’ve been on hold for several minutes.
I spent the last week at Disney World, and I’ve never been happier to be there in all my life. We didn’t know anything about Sandy Hook until we got to the airport on the 19th. A small price to pay for have It’s a Small World stuck in my head for a few days.
I’m one of those people who takes my iPod and a book everywhere I go. I’d love to live in a world where there weren’t TVs everywhere, but since that’s not going to happen, I’ve figured out how to construct my own little miniature sensory deprivation chamber. An iPod, a good book, and a coat with a large, heavy hood to block out the movement of any screens in the line of vision–perfect.
Of course, this has given me a reputation for being a weird loner. Comme ci comme ça.
The TVs everywhere is rather annoying, especially when they are tuned to one of the Obama Propaganda channels or are airing Cultural Re-education Programming like Springer or Teen Mom.
On the other hand, actually trying to read and keep to yourself at the train station often draws more attention than a gang of rowdies will. Certainly people take offense if you move to get away from a loud group so you can concentrate.
However, many people’s table manners are so poor and noisy that the TVs can drown some of that out.
I find it extra annoying because I quit watching TV. I still watch some sports, but that is a few hours on Sunday afternoon, and I watch movies with the wife. I no longer have TV on all day and no longer watch TV news. Everywhere I go they have a TV on. My favorite fast food place has flat screens everywhere that only advertise their food, arrrgh! My true favorite place to eat is a family owned Mexican restaurant that has no TVs on and plays authentic Mexican music at a low level. You can talk to your dining partners there. That is becoming rare.
And, when forced to endure TV in public, I prefer CNN to the blather on the women’s talk shows, which are on in every medical waiting room I visit. Those are worse than PBS fund raisers.
Yes, Albertson’s is the worst in L.A.! I complained to the management via email and got no response. I think these companies are relying on the study a while back that said noise irritation causes you to spend more money. Wrong! I only go there now for things I can’t buy anywhere else. Oh, and their sales have plummeted and they’re laying off.
And how about piped in blaring music with commercials in gyms and hallways/bathrooms in movie theaters? I’m sure they are being paid by advertisers, but again I complained to management and said I’m never coming back.
Anyone know of good noise canceling ear plugs for these occasions?
I haven’t had much luck with noise cancelling headphones, especially with intermittent or changing noise like TVs and such. However, you can get a decent set of earmuff style hearing protection things at the hardware store. They can work OK. You can also find instructions online for taking one of those and installing a cheap set of headphones into them which worked very well (up until the long cord of the headphones got hung up and pulled loose from one of the earpieces, so shorter cord next time). You can also find some that have built in radios that can handle standard player plugs. They are more expensive and look like what they are and take batteries which they devour. Still, with either of these you can play your own music or simply white noise through them (which works quite well so long as you mind the volume).
What’s the problem? In my experience there is always a power button on a TV. Just walk up to it and turn the power off.
Unless the TV is mounted high on a wall, or hanging from the ceiling.
I never had a TV at home, and I avoid any bar or restaurant having a TV playing, or even a radio too loud.
Before you order, ask if the TV can be turned off, if not, don’t use them and tell them why not.
It’s ridiculous that most people find the din annoying but no-one speaks up or refuses to take part, but this is the classic sheep nature of our society that is buying harmony at the expense of personal comfort.
I like the comment above about “The View” being “toxic”–stuff like that actually hurts me to hear.
Once I was in the Ohio Kidney Stone Center waiting to go in the tank to have a stone zapped and in the waiting room something like “The View” was on–gawdawful! I found myself yearning for the pain I hoped was coming as a sort of cleansing of my soul–but there wasn’t any pain, of course.
I suppose this is all about “reprogramming” us to like in a Max Headroom-style 1984 world, in which we’re constantly fed mental and spiritual garbage. It reminds me of an old name for Hell: “The Kingdom of Noise”.
An Préachán
I wouldn’t mind if the TVs in doctor’s offices were tuned to hard news or science programming.
But invariably they are tuned to either “The View,” or “Judge Judy” (or another of her ilk), or “Family Feud,” depending on the time of day.
Partly that’s due to the fact that doctors and hospitals buy only the most basic cable, so the only things offered are local TV stations. You’re lucky if they get CNN. (When I went for an MRI, the TV in the waiting room didn’t get anything but local TV channels. No CNN, no CNBC, no Fox News.)
I remember one business trip where mechanical problems resulted in a 4 hour layover in Detroit’s airport. The airport itself was fine except for CNN blasting everywhere. They had some political panel on and not to put too fine a point on it, they had their heads so far up Obama’s rear that it the man farted, he would’ve blown out all their eardrums. A “TV-B-Gone” would’ve at least given me some peace.
Nah, probably on those channels because it placates the mouth breathing obama voters in fo der fre heltcare.
Earlier this year, the company for which I work installed tele-crap in our hallways and began airing “news” channels for what would obviously have to be some kind of company-sanctioned benefit (after already having placed them in our dining areas a couple years before).
As the election neared, Fox was strangely ousted from the line-up at which point I was inspired to purchase a universal remote and worked with it until I arrived on the right settings to change channels. What then ensued was an ongoing battle for channel selection where I did what needed to be done while the company did what they thought needed to be done (changing the channel back and installing additional electronic devices (cameras) to catch the interloper).
A compromise of sorts was eventually reached when the company decided the thought-nanny could be ESPN which granted, is less offensive than CNN’s Bashir (who’s name in Arabic ironically means “the one who brings good news”), but I retain the remote just in case.
I don’t claim to know where the wider cultural agenda originates whether from government, marketing gurus or others, but the impression I get from the constant bombardment that our electronics, omni-present media (which has now made it into my bed via the wife’s tablet) present to us at almost all times, is that someone would prefer us not to think for ourselves. And thought is very disturbing whatever it’s source….
Look, even I as a conservative recognize that Fox News’ commentators tend to lean right.
Any public establishment wants to pick something that the majority of folks won’t feel offends their own views. And given that the majority of voters just re-elected Obama, it’s safe to say that this majority doesn’t agree with the stuff Fox News puts out.
They may well be liberals who wish that they could see MSNBC everywhere.
Seriously many of the restaurant staff can incredibly thick and tactless when it comes to the suitability of content on their TVs. I was once getting a snack in a cafe waiting for my other party to arrive when I noticed NatGeo on TV broadcasting a program about really nasty looking bugs ,some of them eating other bugs.I summonned one of the waiters and instructed them to change the channel and they looked at me as if I asked them to punch me in the crotch.”But sir, this is NatGeo”…granted English wasnt his first language but this is just stupidity.I asked him to call the manager and told her to turn off the TV and she also couldnt see any problem with diners subjected to a documentary about disgusting insects.Finally I somewhat lost it and I told her that she is bloody clueless ,that common sense and basic courtesy not to mention a matter of good taste dictate that she change the channel.I enquired where she acquired her degree/diploma in hospitality management, heck I further humiliated her asking her even if she could spell hospitality(FYI she got it wrong).
Having caused a minor scene, the red faced manager turned it off herself.A couple of diners of other diners winked at me and mouthed “thank yous” in my direction.
I tipped them exactly zero percent.
Seriously people ,get a clue.
LOVE that!
Great story, Dr. Van Nostrand, but why are you against putting spaces after periods?
I would far rather have something decent to read in waiting rooms than to be bombarded with the inanity of TV “news”.
Many people still think the purpose of a TV in a public area is to provide news or entertainment. However the real reason for these TVs is to saturate the area with commercials. Whatever programming is aired is simply there to fill in the time between commercial blocks.
Some years ago a large group of viewers who were mad that their favorite program had been cancelled, petitioned the network to bring it back because the ratings had still been good, and many viewers time-shifted the program by recording it on their DVRs since it was broadcast at an unfavorable time. These viewers said if those who had time-shifted the program were counted, the total ratings would be much higher.
However the network responded by saying they had been aware that many people recorded the program, and those who time-shifted it had deliberately NOT been counted in overall viewers. The reason of course was that virtually everyone who recorded the program fast-forwarded through the commercials, and thus could not be reported to the sponsors as viewers. The popular program remained cancelled.
So let me say this once again: Whatever programming is aired is simply there to fill in the time between commercial blocks.
Anyone been to the dentist lately? Look up and…
I’m a musician, and I do a lot gigs in restaurant/bars. Most bars have TVs flanking the stage, and sometimes a big screen on the back wall of the stage. Usually there are several other TVs placed around the bar.
First, I ask the bar manager/bartender to turn off the audio on all the TVs in the bar while we are performing. I unplug, usually on my own, TVs that flank the stage and/or the wide screen behind the stage. I have rarely had any complaints or problems with these requested/personal actions. Usually a simple, “we have to play over the noise (should we perform with the juke box on too?) and will have to play louder to overcome the distracting background noise (the commercial’s song on TV is in G and your tune is in Ab, fun!), on the audio side, and on the video side, “the light from the TVs will wash out the lighting” etc. They usually do like your input as well. You show an active interest, rather than being passive.
I go so “far” as to ask the bar personnel to dim the lighting in the place saying something to the effect that the band does not really wish to perform in a 7-11. And that people usually look better in less bright light, therefore more sales… It is a bar after all. Most places are far brighter than they need be.
Again, rarely is there ever a problem, the bar personnel are usually all too happy to comply. If you are polite and to the point.
You just need to ask about these things, More often that not, you will get compliance. Otherwise, take your business elsewhere.
I couldn’t agree more. Another disturbing fact of this “wired generation” is viewing a family sitting together at the restaurant, each with their smart phones clicking and clicking away avoiding personal contact. Gee, eye ball to eye ball conversation just might reveal something to each other about their “real” likes and dislikes, otherwise in former times known as “getting to know you.”
Mom, Dad, take it away from the kids and buy them a book, or a board game that you could play together as a family.
One of the things which attracted me to learn more about Catholicism was the fact that there are times during the mass when there is time set aside for quiet and nothing must happen. As a visitor, I thought at first something had gone wrong, that someone had forgotten to do something or to turn something on. Everyone was just… sitting quietly after communion was completed. Then after a bit, the service resumed. The quiet was meant to invite reflection and prayer. –That seemed like a really good thing for a spiritual gathering even to a Protestant more used to a service organized somewhat like a halftime show. Later, of course, I came to understand that in some more “with it” Catholic parishes the periods of quiet are reduced to a couple of heartbeats in length or are absent entirely, but this omission seems like an unfortunate weakening of the invitation silent reflection gives to us all. A constant drone of tv and radio noise encourages us to dwell on surface events and to literally not be able to hear each other, ourselves, or God. It encourages purposeless living. And there is too much of that these days in our country. But I have seen many more younger people in our chapel these days, too, praying and meditating in the silence, so there’s hope.
Actually, it’s not brought to us by the young, wired generation or not. It’s brought to us by the middle-aged, especially those in their fifties and early sixties. They stare at screens all the time. They like the new, lightweight portable internet technology, because it allows them to watch TV and stay online at the same time. From what I can see, they rarely read books. Conversations with them, even in their homes, generally take place in short soundbites during commercials, and often centers around the latest episode of the latest series. I am stunned by the behavior of this generation.
This article does not go far enough. There is also radio and recording noise that has become inescapable. For example, in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland -Montgomery County, which is always short of money – has purchased and installed Boise Speakers on the grass and they constantly play all types of music. The only criteria is that the “music” is awful. This noise competes with nearby retail establishments simultaneously playing their own version of musical entertainment. Enough is Enough!
I agree. And the actual level of useful (or sometimes reliable) information coming from that news feed is woeful.
Life is better without TV.
Now, if I can just wean myself off arguing with people on the internet, I’d be happy …
“Now, if I can just wean myself off arguing with people on the internet, I’d be happy …”
No you wouldn’t Techno, no more than me.
Although, I must say…. keepin’ you lined out is a part time job.
“No you wouldn’t Techno, no more than me”
Well, I can’t speak for you, but you might be right about me. This is how I exercise my argumentative streak, so I don’t get bolsie with people I actually know. I really should stop doing it. It’s not good for me.
“Although, I must say…. keepin’ you lined out is a part time job”
I’m not actually sure what “lined out” means. I think it’s a reference to cocaine, but I’m not sure that fits. Still – Merry Christmas!
I think hummans killing and maiming each should be broadcast over the airwaves and by any other means 24/7 in the U.S. No other civilized western nation has such human carnage against their own (citizen vs citizen) as does the overwhelming predominate “Christian” United States. This nations society has become either a society of mental defect or religious hypocrits…or both!
Most other western countries are still predominately white.
Would you please elaborate more what your point is?
Well, my dear. The point is obvious. It is not Christianity or guns which is the causation of violence. Certain racial demographics, particularly black and hispanic, are the difference in human carnage vis a vis the USA and the other ..ahem so called “civilized” western countries.
When you adjust for that data point. Well, lets just say…it is as obvious as the sun rising in the east.
Thanks for elaborating in part. The Second Amendment does not address matters of skin color — only American citizens. Likewise, it doesn’t address any religion much less one over another as witnessed in the First Amendment. So any demographic data of race as you infer too, according to the constitution, is irrelevant.
On the other hand, it is well known around the world that America’s citizenry is predominately of the Christian faith. Likewise, the rest of the world sees and understands that a nation predominately Christian, has the highest crime rate to include gun crimes and gun caused deaths.
FBI Data
Of the 12,996 murders in 2010: Concerning murder victims for whom race was known, 50.4 percent were black, 47.0 percent were white, and 2.6 percent were of other races. Race was unknown for 152 victims.
Of the offenders for whom race was known, 53.1 percent were black, 44.6 percent were white, and 2.3 percent were of other races. The race was unknown for 4,224 offenders.
Of the homicides for which the FBI received weapons data, most (67.5 percent) involved the use of firearms. Handguns comprised 68.5 percent of the firearms used in murders and nonnegligent manslaughters.
Incidents of murder for which the relationships of murder victims and offenders were known, 53.0 percent were killed by someone they knew. 24.8 percent of victims were slain by family members. The relationship of murder victims and offenders was unknown in 44.0 percent of murder and non-negligent manslaughter incidents.
Of the murders for which the circumstance surrounding the murder was known, 41.8 percent of victims were murdered during arguments (including romantic triangles). Felony circumstances (rape, robbery, burglary, etc.) accounted for 23.1 percent of murders. Circumstances were unknown for 35.8 percent of reported homicides.
To me, the known ‘race’ data does not provide a ‘signficant’ differential for which this nations high gun crime can be pointed to a single race.
First, it does not matter the race of the victim. The perps are the only issue in homicide rates. Note that hispanics are included in the white category as to perpetrators.
The reason this is important Zeke, is that you and others are equating guns, the Second Amendment, with the homicide rate. However, when racial data is compared to a equal racial data. It shows that guns are not the reason the USA has a high homicide rate compared to hoplaphobic western countries.
This racial data shows worldwide that blacks population have the highest homicide rates. Then hispanics. The white(euro white) homicide rate in the USA is .84 when hispanics are removed. Yet the euro white population owns vastly more arms than either hispanics or blacks. Even on a per capita basis.
Guns clearly are NOT the driving force in homicides.
That should say….. “The worldwide data shows this same truth, blacks are by far the most violent race. With hispanics comming a very close second.”
“Am I the only person left in America who doesn’t want a running negative news report everywhere I go?”
You are not.
I quit watching TV (broadcast & cable, entertainment & news) in the very early 80s. I also quit reading ordinary newspapers, choosing to get my news from the WSJ.
Some probably think me monstrously ill-informed for never having seen All In The Family or The Simpsons. Guilty as charged, but the software industry has a quip: GIGO. I may be ill-informed, but others are likely ill-formed.
But do you try to listen to other points of view, or do you just tune them out?
I’m a conservative, but I keep an open mind and I listen to moderates and liberals to hear what they have to say. I recognize that conservatism doesn’t have all the answers to everything.
Sometimes, I don’t want to hear what anyone has to say – liberal or conservative. I want QUIET!
Very interesting discussion. Thanks to all.
And right up there is the ghetto music blasted in the supermarket aisles when all you want to do is food shop and you are forced to listen to a Beyonce wannabe massacre another song. The music tracks are just as bad.
Hooray for Helen Smith! First she fights against The War on Men, now she speaks against TVs running everywhere you go!! I am 62 and have NEVER owned a TV.
People tell me they have 350 channels and “…theres nothing good on.” TURN THAT THING OFF
Helen,
I completely agree with you. I have been t.v.less now since 2007. I find it most irritating in doctor’s offices. I wouldn’t be there if I didn’t have an important thing to resolve. Invariably, Wolf Blitzer comes on the screen. Or Paula Dean is showing me how to bake a cake. I sit as far away from the screen as possible, preferably with my back to it.