Vapid TV

We live in a much more culturally diverse world today. There are many more cultural choices good and bad than ever before. So why do most people choose to embrace the basest things from the culture? Why do humans seem to dumb down rather than enrich up? It may be that junk is cheaper than quality, or that humans have a tendency to sink rather than swim when faced with cultural choices. Ask the average person whether he or she would prefer to watch 'American idol' or listen to a classical music concert and I think more than 90 percent would choose to view the inane Idol show.

Reality TV doesn't make us think. In fact, it is counterproductive to think when watching most TV shows today. In my view the medium that most reflects the human decline in knowledge (as we surrender our brains to computers), thinking capacity and well..."culture"...is Television. Television is the "medium of the people" in that it more often reflects the state of humans ordinary lives today. Someone should pull the plug on it! If, for example, Martians came from outer space and left the world with something new called "Television" that showed today's programs, we would consider their deposit an act of war on human brain power.

TV today is bad, and the bad tends to drive out the good in any marketplace, TV included. One would think that with the many improved communication devices would come a winnowing out of the garbage and the proliferation of cultural programs that make us think. But the opposite is what has happened as more and more garbage is programmed and supported by viewers who do not like being challenged to think for themselves.

In short, there is so much junk programmed on TV because garbage is what we seem to want. I wonder why we want to be amused 100% of the time, why we don't want to know important ideas and facts or why thinking is such an uncomfortable state of being for so many today? In some cases, as in our kids who are too young to know any better because they yet have not enough education, they have yet to develop better taste needed for selecting superior programming. But should not parents try to influence kids to view the more enriching TV programs? They most often do not because they themselves are addicted to the same trash.

Exposing people to a never ending variety of idiotic, violent, time wasting TV programming injures the common culture by cheapening it and degrading taste. The problem is that people can not be forced to choose better TV programming or to limit their TV viewing. In a free society governments can't do that, and in a dictatorship governments tend to display their own versions of garbage in the form of propaganda TV shows that reinforce their dictatorial control.

Sad to say, when given choice on TV humans run to the worst ones. So what can be down to rescue society from vapid TV shows? Hmmm If we are lucky those Martians will visit after all and use their lasers to zap the mindless junk while bringing with them only culturally enriching programs.