I would also like to add that T.V. imprints messages into our sub-conscious using subliminal reverse psychological propaganda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFjGj77wG-4

^Society is Brainwashed

I respect that this is your opinion Kronas, but aren't you being more than a bit judgmental? If anything spice and its concurrent spiritual lessons seem to teach, it is that humans are in no position to judge anyone or anything.

You don't like TV. Fine. No reason to put people down who find that they enjoy some of it at times.

People become zombies in front of a lot of things. Doesn't mean they should kill it. I've seen campsites full of people become zombies in front of campfires... People get entranced by sunsets, waves crashing, waterfalls, movies, plays, concerts, ballet, fireworks, you name it. This is not an indication that the object of attention is bad. It is simply interesting to the people who choose to observe it. TV is part of that thing you tell us to observe... LIFE. So are murder and rape... but I would rather watch Ancient Aliens, personally.

You like the internet. Great. I do too. But let's not kid ourselves. Most websites are as bad if not worse than TV. The internet is filled with advertisement, scams, malicious viruses, people tracking your every move... Neo-nazis & The KKK have websites too. Furthermore, from a fiction point of view, the "content" tends to be laughably amateurish. Sure, an intelligent person can wade through the nonsense and crap to find the gems of information... but the same can be said of TV.

I said this before on this thread, but I will say it again: If you watch a TV show on the internet, you are STILL WATCHING TV. The television set is just a delivery system. The medium of TV involves the entire art form from inception in the minds of screenwriters, through development and production, manifested by actors and photographers in conjunction with music supervisors, set designers, propmasters et. al. and delivered in multiple formats including DVD, internet, and traditional TV broadcasts. If you doubt that these people are artists, you are entitled to your restrictive definition of the term. Most people consider photography, dance, acting, writing, interior design, architecture, music composition and all the other artforms that make up TV to be art.

Good art? Who knows? But these are clearly art forms when practiced independently. Why on earth do they cease to be art when combined?

I am not a fan of country line dancing. I don't tell the people who practice and enjoy it that what they are doing is not dancing.

To all of you too cool for TV types out there... judging other people because they like to watch fiction created by professionals while trumpeting the virtues of YouTube (nonsense created by idiots) does not make you hip. Turn off your TV. Go outside. Don't buy a television at all. But the fact that you are reading this on a monitor of some sort shows that you are a hypocrite. If you wanna unplug... go right ahead. But if you like your computer, play video games, masturbate to internet porn... and still find it cool to neg on TV... you are just being a snob and trumpeting your DOC over others.

^Good video...

I so totally disagree with this view. If i wouldn't have had a TV i would probably never have seen 'shadowlands' for instance. Such a great movie...i'd be willing to watch hundreds of episodes of CSI if that's what it would take to be able to watch just thát single movie.

And the great thing is: you don't háve to watch CSI. You can just choose what to watch.

Also, what you said about the BBC I think is true....if we didnt have the BBC, I think the UK would be truly finished.

I think no one is disputing the fact that MOST TV is complete crap. The thing that I think perhaps we should worry about is that MOST people think the crap is great (soap operas etc), which means more people 'agree' with the TV, more than they do with you or I, on may ideological points (think how 'anti-drugs' many people are for instance).

...what a world, eh?

I feel this is an absolutely relevant talk for this thread that has been posted on TED.com:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lauren_zalaznick.html

It's about how societies over-all mindset, including comparisons between major events which impacted society and the subsequent general response portrayed through the television shows at the time, can be mapped through-out the past forty years.

It isn't a discussion of good and bad T.V., rather a look into how, from one of the speakers examples, September 11th 2001 and the then recent Presidential election being decided by the Supreme Court affected a drop in humorous television shows and a rise in judgmental ones. Giving way to shows like American Idol, allowing us to vent our frustration and/or revenge through voting people off the show, making some of us feel empowered.

The talk gives interesting insight into the conscience of television, and how it reflects our current society in ways we might not think.

Fascinating stuff. I love TED. I go weeks forgetting it exists, and then fall back in love with it all over again.

I could watch it for half the day. Heheheh.

Of course, this concept is not a big leap or some revelation. Obviously, TV reflects the consciousness of the people and the times. It isn't a direct projection, as it is filtered through the minds of the narrow subset of the population who make TV, and then further manipulated by the economic interests of the businessmen who fund it and profit from it... and quite possibly steered further by social engineers and people with an interest in controlling what people think or know.

Still, any change in the collective consciousness of a given nation will show up in the expression of all of their artforms. Global consciousness will subtly be expressed in all forms of expression.

Think I will go back and watch me some more TED.

been enjoying this thread =]

tv seems to give you that false sense of release from your ego, so you can just 'zone out' but are really just hooking up to a projected stream of words and thoughts inplace of the ego-thought stream of the day.

considering people rethink about 80% of what they thought about the day before, tv can be very influencial and manipulative to anyone thats still half asleep

I think cable tv with commercials isn't worth it. If I find out about a show that sounds interesting to me I'll get it on dvd and watch it. I just finished watching spartacus and was really impressed, great entertainment value. I really enjoyed lost as well.

There is nothing wrong with enjoying a good tv show imo , just make sure its on your terms.

This is a thought provoking group of words, Mooshy.

And based on your comment I ponder, were psychedelic compounds many hundreds of years ago so prevalent in societies daily happenings that the concept of Television could have instinctively come about as a replacement for our ancestors more "literal" sense of traversing reality?

Interestingly regarding the OP's post, I have heard both the flickering flames of fire, and the images on TV being associated with producing alpha brain wave rhythms, and both have the potential to be entrancing, a few of us were contemplating this very thing having consumed some liberty caps while staring into a fire.

I watch very little TV, I consider a lot of it to be bad opium for the masses. There are however some great documentaries and comedy and things I do enjoy watching, but usually watch these online now as oppose to an actual TV set.