From a thread about how millions of mindless women are influenced by Oprah.

Quoted: Quoted: I look forward to the day when no one watches tv any longer.  It'll happen after the apocalypse when we have to work for daily bread and don't have such time to waste.  I honestly don't know how people find the time, especially during the day.  Watching a single minute of the daytime shows will deplete your brain cells and dumb you down to the lowest common denominator of the dregs of society.   I don't mean to get on the "I don't have a tv!" bandwagon again but I have to ask WHY people watch tv?  When it comes to a few good programs, why not just rent them on dvd and watch them at the time convenient to you, plus with no commercials. Even the posters here on this website don't see how they are heavily influenced by the mainstream consumerist/accumulationist culture.  It's all about buying "stuff" instead of building yourself into a better person.   Yes I know people say "I just need some mindless entertainment at night to relax me after a hard day at work."  Um, what do you think people did before tv became commonplace?  They relaxed in plenty of other ways.  If you have trained your mind that you can only relax with stupid tv, then you are destroying yourself.  You should be able to relax with household chores, books, games, whatever. Even now, the general internet is starting to slide towards the no-TV-in-our-house category.

Whadda you got against Wally and the Beav?

Quoted: Whadda you got against Wally and the Beav?

Or Andy and Opie??

Quoted: Quoted: Whadda you got against Wally and the Beav? Or Andy and Opie??

Watch 'em on dvd or your computer.  Don't just mindlessly turn on the oldies channel and watch whatever random programs happen to be airing at the time!  A lot of people do that!

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Whadda you got against Wally and the Beav? Or Andy and Opie?? Watch 'em on dvd or your computer.  Don't just mindlessly turn on the oldies channel and watch whatever random programs happen to be airing at the time!  A lot of people do that!

Midol. You'll get over it.


I did.

For the most part I am in complete agreement.

We keep the TV only for the Filipino Channel.  Mahal kita Luningning!

I have a TV it was probably last turned on about 10-12 days ago. I only have 3 channels anyway.

My Wife's been cheating on me with all those hunks on the alphabet soup dead body shows for most of our marriage.

I counted one weeks worth.  She watches or tapes upwards of 22 hours of ion bombardment a week.  Video Valium at it's finest.

Now she's discovered Hulu.  So she's watching Buffy on Hulu and QVC on TV at the same time.  Getting her off the couch is impossible at times.

Gives me lots of time on the range, but I'd like my wife back.



ZM

About 6 months ago, I cancelled my Dishnetwork account. They countinued to give me a number of channels for free.


About 4 months gao, a storm knocked my dish out of line. Before I had a chance to realign it, I got used to not having TV.

I now only use the TV to watch DVDs. I probably own a dozen movies on DVD (not counting stuff of a religious nature that I buy from www.crosstv.com or download and burn to DVD off of www.sermonaudio.com), and I don't rent DVDs.

This frees up a lot of time for reading, social activity, etc.

I would NOT buy another TV if mine went out.



<--happy non-TV addict.

I didn't have one until my uncle dropped off his big screen because he didn't have room for it. Sometimes I like to watch Matlock and UFC wired.

I have one and I usually just watch it less than 5 minutes a day just to catch local news before going to work.

Well-written poll, BTW!

We have one TV that's hooked up.

I just put the rabbit ears back on it, but for the last 6 months or better, we just used it to watch DVD's.

I read books and go on the internet, ok, ARFCOM, for my news and entertainment.  

I love the "NO TV" people.
They, for the most part, act like anyone who watches TV is an "addict".
Just as retarded as watching too much TV (or Oprah).  

Besides the speeches at the RNC and DNC, I have probably logged less than 10hrs on the TV in the last 10 months.

As you can clearly see from my post count.

I used to watch a lot of TV, then I got deployed in 2003 when I got back I did not watch TV but maybe an hour or 2 a day and that was TV Land.

Now me and the wife have 2 TV's  she watches 2 hours of judge shows and I play my video games.  We are starting to get all the old shows on DVD and we also have a large DVD movie collection so we have something decent to watch.

I don't watch TV anymore because I absolutely cannot stand to sit through commercials.

For the few TV series that I want to watch, I just wait for the DVD's to come out.  The only other time my TV is on is to watch a specific movie on DVD.  I refuse to pay for 500 channels of garbage.

we have two but I dont watch them. Maybe 1 or 2 hours a month.,

I have a nice 46-in flat screen.

Only watch DVDs on it.  No cable, No rabbit ears, Nothing that I can watch anything on but movies I buy.

So far over 50% of respondents watch no tv or only a little tv.  Woo!!

I'll return to this thread late tonight when I'm at home, to post a more profanity-laced anecdote.  My initial rant was a bit weak.

I watch TV.  I just bought a copy of the movie 21.

Quoted: So far over 50% of respondents watch no tv or only a little tv.  Woo!! I'll return to this thread late tonight when I'm at home, to post a more profanity-laced anecdote.  My initial rant was a bit weak.

I'll be waiting.

We have no TV.  

I'll never understand how supposedly freedom loving conservatives suspend their principals every time they turn on "entertainment" TV which they know is nothing more than progressive programming.  

I watch 5 channels:

MIL (military channel)
WFN (world fishing network)
History Channel
Military History Channel
Fox News

One 42" TV that we got free.  No cable, rabbit ears and DVD's.

I'd rather read.

Quoted: We have no TV.   I'll never understand how supposedly freedom loving conservatives suspend their principals every time they turn on "entertainment" TV which they know is nothing more than progressive programming.

The military channel is progressive programming?

We have one TV in the family room, the kids get one hour per day on the weekends, and none on school nights.

Technically, we have a second one, since the computer has a cable feed, but it is rarely used.

My wife and I almost never watch TV, I can't remember the last time we tuned in, probably when Seinfeld was still on the air.

I have a teevee but no cable and I don't think my bunny ears work (haven't tried to tune it in since I set it up) I likes me some DEEVEEDEE's every once and a while an the rest I use the internet for.

I haven't had a television for about three to four years now.

The original poster is right to a large degree, and the ONLY way most television programming works is to do its best to seem innocuous, whilst delivering its messages and contorting people's views.  One really gets a perspective on just how the more unaware, and less critical, are shaped by forms of media when they are a school teacher.  By high school, and especially by the later grades in high school, the revelations that critical viewing and thinking bring should not be the big surprise it is to these students.  

For myself, I just can't stand how dumbed-down most American programs are.  I was just not watching television anymore, so I gave up on it.  The BBC's programming - or at least that I've seen - definitely knocks it up a few notches on what can be learned from a show.  

I got used to not watching TV over the last 2 years because I was too busy doing full time work and a masters degree at the same time.

Now I flip on the TV and find that it just seems to have gotten stupider in the last 2 years.

These days I use the TV mostly for DVD's and occasionally to watch UFC fights.

Plenty of interesting stuff on YouTube and Google video though...

If I could make one recommendation to America... it would be to "read books people"  

TV may feel good while your watching it... but it's mostly just filling peoples heads with bullsh!t.

I voted "no TV", but I have one that I'm in the process of selling. Haven't watched more than 10 minutes of TV since January. It's great. There's only two or three channels worth watching anyway, and I'm not paying for cable to watch two or three channels.

We briefly had a 12" color TV to watch the Olympics. It went back to it's owners after the closing ceremonies.
Aside from that,no TV for 4 or 5 years now. We just watch Netflix rentals or other DVDs on the computer.
You'd be surprised at how pissed you get at the commentary and slant on network news,when you're used to a steady diet of self selected internet news for 5 years.

I, too, lack a television.

Note to some posters.

No, you are not morally superior if you don't have a TV.


Especially if you sold it for crack.

i only keep my tv for video games and dvds.

I do not own a television.  I am married, have a one year old son, and have no desire to go buy a TV.

My "mindless evening therapy" comes in the form of feeding chickens, turning wrenches on my cars (last night I pulled the intake manifold off the LT1 engine in my caprice classic in order to fix a major oil leak), sitting on the floor and playing with or reading to my son, watching the sunset with my wife, weeding the garden, picking tomatoes, peppers, and onions and making a batch of fresh salsa, canning my own pickles, etc.

I mainly can’t stand the noise, the constant drone, the babble that comes with a TV.  I don’t speak Spanish, but we have a few radio stations that are all Spanish talk programming here, and it is my opinion that TV is worse than listening to a foreign language AM talk radio station.

My wife’s parents have a TV and they are always watching movies.  Or their grandkids are watching movies.  They recently built a cottage, and we prefer to go visit them at the cottage because we know that we can sit in the living room and talk, laugh, and enjoy their company, instead of competing with the TV for attention (and losing).

My parents have a TV, and had one when I was growing up, and we watched a little news in the evening and Looney Tunes on Saturday.  Maybe a PBS show once in a while - National Geographic or Nova.  Other than that my brother, my sister and I were outside being kids.  Now my parents mostly leave it off when we visit because we are playing cribbage or something.

I have a mechanical engineering degree and I work for an aircraft parts company.  One of my coworkers is Vietnamese and he pokes fun at me, saying that even his relatives who live in thatch huts in the jungle have TV and satellite dishes.  “You have to have something to watch!” he says.  I tell him that I do – I can go home and see the three things that a man never gets tired of watching:  a backyard campfire, a babbling brook, and a beautiful woman.  The babbling brook is a little bit of a stretch, but only because it is a world class trout stream that is ¼ mile down the road from my house.

It’s funny, because when I bought my older house in the country and there was a DishNetwork mini satellite dish out back.  I left it there for four years, finally got tired of hitting the pole with the lawn mower, and took it down.  I am working on modifying the mount a little bit.  When I get that done I’ll put it back up.  The dish will face straight up.  It will be in my wife’s flower garden and I’ll put sunflower seeds on it.  This winter I’ll look through my big screen sliding glass door and see cardinals, goldfinches, and black capped chickadees enjoying themselves on my satellite dish.

I have nothing against TV, it just isn’t for me.

J.

There are probably 7 TVs in my house and I only use a tiny one in mah kitchen to listen to talk radio.

Quoted: Note to some posters. No, you are not morally superior if you don't have a TV. Especially if you sold it for crack.

What if we sold it for guns?

My wife and I mostly use our TV to play video games .

Her and I both believe TV programming has become a tool
of the left to indoctrinate Americans into their way of thinking .

Starting with Childrens programming ,and leading to teen programming .


Think my "Tin foil hat" is on to tight ?


Watch modern children's programming with what I've said in mind .
ESPECIALLY Nickelodeon or PBS ,then MTV .

What you discover may just surprise you .

You know what I hate more than even the most shitty TV shows?

The guy who feels it's necessary to post in a thread about a TV show that he doesn't have a TV.

I hate "i hate tv " purist types.

If you hate tv so much get the f#$k off the computer (which is just about as bad), climb out of your ivory tower, go outside, and leave me the hell alone.

Fox News, Military Channel, and some of the Adult Cartoons.

This thread was prompted by a thread about Oprah.  "She tugs at the heart, and fogs up the brain."  

A post commented that millions of women are influenced by Oprah's show.  Oh yes, it's true.  These are the same soccer-moms who helped vote Bill Clinton into the Presidency.  That coveted voting bloc, that dream demographic, the heart and moral center of this country.  And through their own indolence and intellectual lassitude they are vulnerable to the most blatant manipulations of the media.  After all, Oprah's wealth comes from ad space (her supposed charity is merely product placement) and her "hook" has always been the guise of self-improvement.  Her so-called promotion of books?  Isn't it valuable that she encouraged people to read?  Every book was presented as a lens through which a woman can analyze herself.  IT'S ALL ABOUT ME, that's what women love to hear.  They crave permission to indulge in constant self-analysis and self-obsession.  Oprah encourages women to embrace and improve themselves, not to obtain new knowledge or seek out higher truths through literature.  IT'S ALL ABOUT ME.  Of course, improving yourself has to involve learning to "feel" better about yourself since "feelings" are the way we judge our "happiness" rather than rationality.  

Well let me tell you this: if you are a woman who has time during a day to watch Oprah, then YOU ARE A FUCK UP WHO IS SUCKING MY TAX MONEY FOR YOUR GOV'T ENTITLEMENTS.   You should either be working for pay or doing something productive such as taking care of children, cleaning the home, and preparing dinner for that evening.  You should be so gainfully occupied that the thought of watching the show is laughable.

But I can't waste too much time preaching to the choir about how Oprah's insipid, second-grade level tutelage rots the brain.  You all already agree with that.  It's gotta go one more step to address the broader decay.  Tv exists to sell ad space.  It's a tool to promote consumerism and materialism.  Nothing's better than the great American yearning to work harder, work smarter and make more money, but the fulfillment of those goals is NOT to buy more shit to fill up your home!  Working harder and making more money are ends in themselves because they build self-confidence and security.  They are not a means to mere accumulation.

TV has become a crutch.  You might think I'm being a jerk.  "Live and let live" you say.  "Go home and do your thing, and let others do their thing."  Sure, that's fine, until the sickness is so pervasive that it affects others or holds you back in life.  The short-term fix of tv is like fast food.  A year later, will you even remember that Seinfeld episode?  But you'll remember that hike you took or that fish you caught (with a Barbie pole!) for the rest of your life.

Hey jackass - Remember those month in 2004 you went home every night and spent three hours vegging out watching random TVLand oldies while stuffing your fucking face with junkfood?  Yeah, fucking slackass bastard co-worker, that was when I did a huge extra project at work and got promoted.  You bitched later because you didn't get promoted.  Well you were only working regular hours because you "had to keep up with your personal life."  You missed a crystal clear opportunity.  Go fuck yourself.

Oh, jerkaholic - Remember that night you stayed up so late watching some random movie so you missed the 5:00am call for our hunt?  Well I harvested a bigass deer that morning.  You know why I didn't share any of my venison with you?  Because you're a fucking ass who deserves to starve.  I would rather give to the strangers at Hunters for the Hungry than to you.  I hope the zombies subsequently eat your brains.

Guess what, bastard?  Remember that time a bunch of us got together after not having seen each other in six years?  Remember how you only halfway paid attention to the reunion but devoted the rest of your attention to a sports rerun game playing on a TV in the next room?  You missed out on the networking not to mention the friendship.

Oh let's go back all the way to 1998.  Remember that, buddy?  I was working full-time while going to school at night to finish a degree?  You were "self-employed" and couldn't believe some of your friends would go into debt for school.  Meanwhile you went out and spent the cost of an MS degree on a brand-new car you had seen advertised on the endless Super Bowl commercials that impressed you so much.  Guess what?  Your fucking car devalued the minute you drove it off the lot.  You didn't have the time to study for the classes the rest of us were taking?  But you sat on your couch watching TV all those nights your buddies were in classes?  Brain ninja, you probably did not know the other guys mocked you for WATCHING life on tv instead of LIVING life in the real world!  Oh yeah, it's ten years later now.  What did that car, or all those hours of TV, end up bringing you in life??

Edited just to add boldface type to make the rant easier to read.

Military Channel
Discovery Channel
Science Channel
TLC
History Channel
TV Land
G4
Scifi Channel
HBO/Showtime
CBS

Jerico
Jerimiah
Stargate Atlantis
Battlestar Galactica
CSI
The Unit (if/when if comes back)
The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Survivorman
Junkyard Wars
Various Documentaries
The weekly shitty-saturdaynight-scifi movie

Good stuff!