Mind Control
When you switch over from left-brain kinds of critical thinking and logical thought...to that endorphin-enhanced hypnotic state where critical thinking -- actual exercise of your brain -- dissolves and your subconscious is wide open, you are had. That ultimately-suggestible plateau where "they" want you...and how many TV addicts might even have any idea? By a long shot, not enough in any way to hamper control over how they feel about themselves, and their perception of reality.
The hypnotic state induced by watching TV is a dream come true not only for those seeking to control perceptions and beliefs, but for advertisers. In this state of high suggestibility, information tends to be downloaded directly into the subconscious mind, altering what people think without them even knowing -- without any critical analysis. The brain can become a sponge soaking up "boob tube" juices.
The fundamental purpose of American politics is upward transfer of wealth; or as "Poppy" Bush crows, "The continuous consolidation of money and power into higher, tighter and righter hands." An aware and thoughtful citizenry would make the continuous upward transfer of wealth we see now difficult to execute, but with America bursting at the seams with TV addicts it is, shall we say, a "no brainer."
TV News
Perhaps it's not just lies, the staple of CorpoMedia, but omission that is the most effective molder of Americans' perceptions. Lies are easy to navigate because one can simply take the bulk of what CorpoMedia news propagates, rotate 180 degrees, and find truth. But with omission...for millions of Americans, simple omission of an event means it did not, or is not, happening. A perfect example is going down right now with the "Wall Street occupation" which, if CorpoMedia were your only news source, you probably would know nothing about.
Amy Goodman, host of "Democracy Now!" captured the omission reality last week in her excellent article, Speaking for the 99 Percent: "If 2,000 tea party activists descended on Wall Street, you would probably have an equal number of reporters covering them." Well, as it is, CorpoMedia is trying to make it something that didn't happen; it's called, omission. The reason the tea party is a CorpoMedia darling...the tea party is a corporate sugarbaby. Find out where the party originated, and from where it's funding gushes (hey tea party, who's your {sugar} daddy?). And CorpoMedia calls the tea party a "grassroots" thing. Multibillionaire grass....
How Bad Is It?
A study in June of 2011 concluded that the average American watches 5.3 hours of TV per day; almost 160 hours per month, or 2,000 hours per year--80 days! By age 65, that equals 9 years of uninterrupted screening. Nine years of doing virtually nothing but having your higher thought centers stunted. And that's average; imagine how many hours per day hardcore users watch TV.
It's bad. So bad that TV addicts' poor brains, confronted now with upwards of 300 channels to choose from, might even suffer choice fatigue that can quickly drain stamina.
If nothing else, chronic TV viewing is certainly a reliable ticket to nowhere. Not actually living life, but watching CorpoMedia's version of life -- and version of what you desire, how you feel, what you believe, how you think, who to love, who to hate, who is winning the wars, why we need more wars....
How could America NOT be going to hell? Meanwhile, the streets are swarming with cell-phone zombies, eyes glued to that little screen in the cell phone welded to their hand. Computer screens filled with videos -- screens, screens, everywhere a screen -- you can even get headgear now with a TV screen in the visor so if you want, you can watch TV literally full time. Not thinking, just watching and absorbing, full time. Of course people need to work, and sleep -- but generally those are the only two other things Americans spend more time on than TV.
My wife and I usually walk several miles after supper, mostly in parks though sometimes in various neighborhoods. We've seen lower-income neighborhoods become so speckled with satellite dishes it seems like every house, no matter how shabby or ramshackle, has at least one feed of satellite TV. However, if you look closely, some of them still have only cable.
Virtually all of them flicker inside with mesmerizing rapid scene changes.
Neighborhoods higher up the income scale seem to have proportionately fewer dishes, less flicker...at least fewer overt signs of "boob tubing." Might a direct relationship be there regarding tickets to nowhere?
Ten years ago, shortly before our TV moved on to greener pastures (Gawd rest its soul), my wife fielded a call from Neilsen; they were conducting a 10-minute survey of TV viewing "habits." In response to the pollster's first question, "How many hours per week does your family watch TV?" my wife said:
When you switch over from left-brain kinds of critical thinking and logical thought...to that endorphin-enhanced hypnotic state where critical thinking -- actual exercise of your brain -- dissolves and your subconscious is wide open, you are had. That ultimately-suggestible plateau where "they" want you...and how many TV addicts might even have any idea? By a long shot, not enough in any way to hamper control over how they feel about themselves, and their perception of reality.
The hypnotic state induced by watching TV is a dream come true not only for those seeking to control perceptions and beliefs, but for advertisers. In this state of high suggestibility, information tends to be downloaded directly into the subconscious mind, altering what people think without them even knowing -- without any critical analysis. The brain can become a sponge soaking up "boob tube" juices.
The fundamental purpose of American politics is upward transfer of wealth; or as "Poppy" Bush crows, "The continuous consolidation of money and power into higher, tighter and righter hands." An aware and thoughtful citizenry would make the continuous upward transfer of wealth we see now difficult to execute, but with America bursting at the seams with TV addicts it is, shall we say, a "no brainer."
Perhaps it's not just lies, the staple of CorpoMedia, but omission that is the most effective molder of Americans' perceptions. Lies are easy to navigate because one can simply take the bulk of what CorpoMedia news propagates, rotate 180 degrees, and find truth. But with omission...for millions of Americans, simple omission of an event means it did not, or is not, happening. A perfect example is going down right now with the "Wall Street occupation" which, if CorpoMedia were your only news source, you probably would know nothing about.
Amy Goodman, host of "Democracy Now!" captured the omission reality last week in her excellent article, Speaking for the 99 Percent: "If 2,000 tea party activists descended on Wall Street, you would probably have an equal number of reporters covering them." Well, as it is, CorpoMedia is trying to make it something that didn't happen; it's called, omission. The reason the tea party is a CorpoMedia darling...the tea party is a corporate sugarbaby. Find out where the party originated, and from where it's funding gushes (hey tea party, who's your {sugar} daddy?). And CorpoMedia calls the tea party a "grassroots" thing. Multibillionaire grass....
How Bad Is It?
A study in June of 2011 concluded that the average American watches 5.3 hours of TV per day; almost 160 hours per month, or 2,000 hours per year--80 days! By age 65, that equals 9 years of uninterrupted screening. Nine years of doing virtually nothing but having your higher thought centers stunted. And that's average; imagine how many hours per day hardcore users watch TV.
It's bad. So bad that TV addicts' poor brains, confronted now with upwards of 300 channels to choose from, might even suffer choice fatigue that can quickly drain stamina.
If nothing else, chronic TV viewing is certainly a reliable ticket to nowhere. Not actually living life, but watching CorpoMedia's version of life -- and version of what you desire, how you feel, what you believe, how you think, who to love, who to hate, who is winning the wars, why we need more wars....
How could America NOT be going to hell? Meanwhile, the streets are swarming with cell-phone zombies, eyes glued to that little screen in the cell phone welded to their hand. Computer screens filled with videos -- screens, screens, everywhere a screen -- you can even get headgear now with a TV screen in the visor so if you want, you can watch TV literally full time. Not thinking, just watching and absorbing, full time. Of course people need to work, and sleep -- but generally those are the only two other things Americans spend more time on than TV.
My wife and I usually walk several miles after supper, mostly in parks though sometimes in various neighborhoods. We've seen lower-income neighborhoods become so speckled with satellite dishes it seems like every house, no matter how shabby or ramshackle, has at least one feed of satellite TV. However, if you look closely, some of them still have only cable.
Virtually all of them flicker inside with mesmerizing rapid scene changes.
Neighborhoods higher up the income scale seem to have proportionately fewer dishes, less flicker...at least fewer overt signs of "boob tubing." Might a direct relationship be there regarding tickets to nowhere?
Ten years ago, shortly before our TV moved on to greener pastures (Gawd rest its soul), my wife fielded a call from Neilsen; they were conducting a 10-minute survey of TV viewing "habits." In response to the pollster's first question, "How many hours per week does your family watch TV?" my wife said:
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