Do You Think Television is Destroying the Country?
Ever read the book Amusing Ourselves to Death? Basically it puts forth an argument that says TV makes the population, well, dumber.
TV masks entertainment as fact. TV isnt a medium to inform the citizentry as much as it is a way to entertain the citizenry. TV commercials convince you that you can solve your problems in 30 seconds.
Throughout American history, print media has been a means of starting public discourse. Common Sense, for example. The New York Times was the paper of record. Now people only want entertainment via the TV or the Internet. They tune out listening to their Ipods and can take their TV shows with them wherever they go. People are more passive. They accept what they are told. Like Iraq.
In the 1800s people actually read the Lincoln Douglass debates. They were that interested. Now people barely care about the content of a political debate. How the candidate looks on TV is more important than what they say.
TV makes us "dumber".
No, there are a lot of ways to gain knowledge and an intelligent individual would know that TV is not a wise choice. It is for entertainment
I like reading. I read in front of my sons and to them alot to help encourage reading.
We have TV but we don’t get any channels, we just used it to watch movies.
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Anyone who can spend hours in front of the TV is already intellectually challanged in my opinion.
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Commercials might make us dumber, but I can’t say that TV as a whole does. I’ve learened plenty of things from watching educational TV shows or the news. Now be glad yahoo answers is here to make us all smart.
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TV as it is used today. Yes.
But TV could be better used, of course that would be a good idea so they automatically won’t do that.
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whatever u say
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It’s a big problem alright. Radio is no innocent bystander either. These are commercial enterprises and they get their sustenance from those they can persuade. It’s the modern equivalent of Dr Marvel’s Traveling Medicine Show. What’s the number one show in America? American Idol. That should speak volumes to the casual observer. They cause fear and offer relief. War, famine, devastation, disease…Coke, Verizon, Chevrolet, Liposine…. A vicious, self perpetuating cycle of anxiety and dubious comfort. They don’t call it the Boob Tube for nothin’.
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It could really be destroying us. All those T.V. watchers could be coming on Yahoo Answers, where they can be interactive and learn a lot!
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No, there are a lot of ways to gain knowledge and an intelligent individual would know that TV is not a wise choice. It is for entertainment
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