Redeeming the TV Time

Ephesians 5:16

Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

I was watching the news yesterday--which was its usual faire of perverts, murderers, horrific accidents, robberies, and other mendacious peoples' actions. Along with the five day forecast and a sports review. "No wonder," I thought, "That antacid ads are so prevalent during the news hour." Not only from what we ate but what we watched. Why can't we crave good like we do evil? Or be at least more balanced?

This age seems preoccupied with sin. For a society so intent on cutting itself from biblical moorings, our shipwrecks--and the perverse satisfaction we get from watching them--certainly does much to prove the inherent waywardness of the human heart. Then, at the end of the broadcast, some feel-good piece is thrown in like spraying cologne on a corpse.

TV is mostly a wrecking ball in the living room. It takes a lot of discipline to dodge the destruction. Here is what I have done to try and watch the straight and narrow:

- I have Basic Cable, which is like 20 stations, and about ten of those, the same networks, just different channels (i.e. NBC from Philly, Baltimore, Lancaster). Besides some local programming, essentially the same station over and over again. Comcast is attempting to get me to up my package and escape the sameness but I know their strategy. Not going  to work. The three stations I watch consistently are CSPAN, PBS, and PCN. All commercial-free. Makes me wonder as a free-marketer, on the intrinsic morality of markets. Give the people what they want, even if it is garbage. Capitalism without a conscience proves Das Kapital correct. I do troll through the trash and I need to deal with this trend.

Most Pennsylvanians are only vaguely aware of the policy decisions being made in Harrisburg now, soon to be coming to a mailbox near you with a bill. The Public Access Channels provide insight into pressing issues that will have a profound affect on the trajectory of our state. Do you know that over 60% of corporations in Pennsylvania pay no taxes? A good deal of them have shell companies in Delaware to funnel profits to. There is a word for this in Biology. Parasites or Predators. Taking from an environment but not giving back.     

- Daytime TV makes me wonder what came first. Dumb shows or dumb people. Dumb is a choice. There seems to be a cycle of stupidity between programming and people. If we wanted to redeem daytime television, a good place to start would be  a show teaching people how to do something useful rather than sit on their asses watching television. Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil are actually quite helpful, one for medical issues and the other for psychological topics. Otherwise, most of the other daytime shows are bottom-dwellers.

- Get Netflix and watch inspiring stories of individuals who triumphed over adversity. Herbert Hoover lost his mom as a child and then went on to become President of the U.S. based on his intelligence and effort. He then experienced a good deal of flack for not handling The Depression properly. After leaving office, he returned back to what he did best, philanthropy and not politics. And died a redeemed man who helped millions. Want to learn about Hubris? Watch MacArthur's defiance of Harry Truman and almost starting WWIII in Indo-China. "Old soldiers never die; they just fade away. And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away, an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty." This was the key line in his farewell speech to Congress and for several months thereafter he refused to fade away and took shots at Truman, not following  his own advice.     

- Shows like Iron Chef, So You Think You Can Dance, and The Voice, are interesting because the shows actually require talent where people win and lose. I think a big attraction of sports, despite the intrinsic inanity of being a spectator, is that there is actually competence, triumph, and tragedy. Who can't relate to Phil Mickelson coming in second place over and over again in the US Open? Or, for those who do experience high levels of achievement on the biggest stages imaginable--like LeBron--how you see from all of his "I" statements, how much pressure there is in being the best and having to prove it night in and night out. You're only as good as your last basket, last putt, song, joke, etc.

- What is with all of the blood-drenched shows on TV and movies? Evil as entertainment. We are what we are watching. There is an extremely fine line between not being naïve (understanding the world is a malevolent place) and reveling in violence and gore. With a hottie heroine or two thrown in with their busts busting out as they fire machine guns at the bad guys. I just saw a film clip of the White House being blown up. Great inspiring thoughts there Hollywood. It is fine to watch violence in context when the consequences are portrayed realistically--like a work about the Civil War. Typically, this creates a revulsion about violence and not a thirst for more blood.  "I am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only for those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell." William Tecumseh Sherman

- The Home Shopping Networks seem primarily catered to women. All of those cosmetic and hair  products. Just yesterday, I saw a show where the same hair tool made one woman's hair curly and the others' hair straight. Odd. It would be another thing if it was different strokes for different folks, but the hawkers did not see the irony back-to-back. I thought the TV might just split in two. Men get a bad rap for being much of the source of women's misery in this world. Some of this is valid, but from what I can tell, women's complete obsession over their wrinkles and  weight are also being normed by how women best each other as part of their own rules. If men  disappeared, I am fairly confident that the fairer sex would still try to up each other with cuter shoes, cooler scarfs, smoother skin, and tighter abs. Men are just a convenient scapegoat because we are so damn scapegoatable.

We got used to be scolded by our mother's and now think it is our due rather than return to sender. Sorry, I just don't buy into the male-bad and women-good dichotomy. We rather need to be honest about the gender failings of both women and men. Honesty is the first step to redemption.