TV, Not TV, That Is The Question
My wife and I after much deliberation have recently purchased a 40 inch plasma TV. We hesitated for quite some time, fearful that it would suck us into its orbit like some Death Star.
It got me thinking about TV. It is interesting the role of television has played in my life. I can still remember when certain TV shows were on when I was a kid. The best line up was Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley on Tuesdays at 8:00 - 9:00 on ABC (when I was in 6th grade); MASH was Monday at 9:00 on CBS; the White Shadow was on before MASH at 8:00...that was my favorite show by far. It was about a white high school basketball coach who played pro b-ball, blew out his knee, and went into coaching a bunch of inner city black kids with names like Coolidge. There was one white kid nicknamed Salami...of Italian descent. I think he rode the bench.
There was an ABC program called the Night Stalker that was Friday nights that used to scare the crap out of me. It was good it was Friday night because I had problems falling asleep after that show until later. So it was nice that I could sleep in on Saturday (or sleep in as much as possible with four boys). Now Saturdays, I used to always watch the Pink Panther later in the morning before heading out. He was cool and didn't say a word. Dun, dun, dun, dunta, dunta, duh, da (what a theme song).
Where I grew up, you were top of the food chain if you had a color TV and antennae. This was B.C. (before cable) When the two brothers across the street got a color TV and antennae, the neighborhood playing of sports took a nosedive. Kids wanted to watch their TV rather than play street hockey, man hunt, or football. I remember going up to their side door one day and asked them if they wanted to come outside to play and the older brother, zombie-like, said "No"...they'd rather watch TV. While watching TV, the advertisers would hard-sell garbage food so they could mush their mind and bodies completely and comprehensively.
I recall the story of a French woman I knew who said that in their village in France, people would set out on the stairs and chat at night. When TV came, everyone went indoors and neighbors became strangers. When I lived in Lancaster City, I recall walking around on Saturday nights in town and see people watching TV...being 6'8" put me at eye level to see out of the side of my eyes the TV flickering while the streets were deserted.
All this is to say that TV has played a huge role in the lives of most non-Amish Americans. I really don't want to be one of those people who lives life through a TV screen. I know that Jesus, at the end of our days won't say, "Good and faithful viewer, go sit on the couch, eat your Fritos, click on your TV, and enter your rest." Freaking pathetic. 50,000 hours of watching TV over a lifetime...I don't think anyone, except the most craven of souls, on their deathbed are going to wish that they had watched more television.
The American obesity epidemic comes from people/kids watching too much TV (or consuming other media...even stuff like this blog) and stuffing themselves with various permutations of sugar, fat, and refined flour. I recall with some sadness when my youngest brother Matt got a video game; it was Dr. J. versus Larry Bird (I wonder if it had the incident in the real life game where Julius grabbed Bird by the neck with his humongous hands--I shook Dr. J.'s hand one time, his index finger practically went up to my elbow).
I did one of those older brother things and told him that he should go out and play some real basketball. But, I didn't offer to play a game with him to my shame. He was alone, with his game, and I let him be alone because I probably wanted to engage in some teenage miscreant activity that was even worse than playing video game.
One of the silent epidemics that the divorce culture has brought into our lives are all of the lost and lonely kids whose parents are too consumed with their own issues and problems (and as teenage years repeats...as 38 year old people in the single scene) to even go outside with their kid to play ball. Instead, the parent gets them a TV with cable or a video game and check out of their lives, a hope for the best.
TV, or not TV, that is the question.
It got me thinking about TV. It is interesting the role of television has played in my life. I can still remember when certain TV shows were on when I was a kid. The best line up was Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley on Tuesdays at 8:00 - 9:00 on ABC (when I was in 6th grade); MASH was Monday at 9:00 on CBS; the White Shadow was on before MASH at 8:00...that was my favorite show by far. It was about a white high school basketball coach who played pro b-ball, blew out his knee, and went into coaching a bunch of inner city black kids with names like Coolidge. There was one white kid nicknamed Salami...of Italian descent. I think he rode the bench.
There was an ABC program called the Night Stalker that was Friday nights that used to scare the crap out of me. It was good it was Friday night because I had problems falling asleep after that show until later. So it was nice that I could sleep in on Saturday (or sleep in as much as possible with four boys). Now Saturdays, I used to always watch the Pink Panther later in the morning before heading out. He was cool and didn't say a word. Dun, dun, dun, dunta, dunta, duh, da (what a theme song).
Where I grew up, you were top of the food chain if you had a color TV and antennae. This was B.C. (before cable) When the two brothers across the street got a color TV and antennae, the neighborhood playing of sports took a nosedive. Kids wanted to watch their TV rather than play street hockey, man hunt, or football. I remember going up to their side door one day and asked them if they wanted to come outside to play and the older brother, zombie-like, said "No"...they'd rather watch TV. While watching TV, the advertisers would hard-sell garbage food so they could mush their mind and bodies completely and comprehensively.
I recall the story of a French woman I knew who said that in their village in France, people would set out on the stairs and chat at night. When TV came, everyone went indoors and neighbors became strangers. When I lived in Lancaster City, I recall walking around on Saturday nights in town and see people watching TV...being 6'8" put me at eye level to see out of the side of my eyes the TV flickering while the streets were deserted.
All this is to say that TV has played a huge role in the lives of most non-Amish Americans. I really don't want to be one of those people who lives life through a TV screen. I know that Jesus, at the end of our days won't say, "Good and faithful viewer, go sit on the couch, eat your Fritos, click on your TV, and enter your rest." Freaking pathetic. 50,000 hours of watching TV over a lifetime...I don't think anyone, except the most craven of souls, on their deathbed are going to wish that they had watched more television.
The American obesity epidemic comes from people/kids watching too much TV (or consuming other media...even stuff like this blog) and stuffing themselves with various permutations of sugar, fat, and refined flour. I recall with some sadness when my youngest brother Matt got a video game; it was Dr. J. versus Larry Bird (I wonder if it had the incident in the real life game where Julius grabbed Bird by the neck with his humongous hands--I shook Dr. J.'s hand one time, his index finger practically went up to my elbow).
I did one of those older brother things and told him that he should go out and play some real basketball. But, I didn't offer to play a game with him to my shame. He was alone, with his game, and I let him be alone because I probably wanted to engage in some teenage miscreant activity that was even worse than playing video game.
One of the silent epidemics that the divorce culture has brought into our lives are all of the lost and lonely kids whose parents are too consumed with their own issues and problems (and as teenage years repeats...as 38 year old people in the single scene) to even go outside with their kid to play ball. Instead, the parent gets them a TV with cable or a video game and check out of their lives, a hope for the best.
TV, or not TV, that is the question.
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