I call bullshit, I don't think there are people this pathetic

Local news talking about the writers strike this afternoon interviewed a person on the street about it. She said that she turned her television on every day. This had to be a set up thing, I do not believe there are people who turn their televisions on every day of the week. I guess the industry will just make up lies to make us think they are so so important.

Er..really?

:blush:

Save the 6th one for Sunday.

in fact I leave it on all night!

Even if I'm not watching it the tv is on............

.

everyone I know has their TV on every day

Lost me on this one :-)

:wtf:

Yikes. Ew. That would be hell. Oh, wait, that was my life when I lived with my grandparents.

But misplaced.

:shrug:

are you saying I"m pathetic?

Mine's on every day.

I'd say most folks turn their tv on at least once a day.

... some days more than others - but every day, absolutely.

I turn it on every day... first the weather channel, then the various news channels..
When I'm home, I turn it on every day. I think I'm pretty typical of people my age ( Boomer)

Are you being facetious and I'm not getting it?

Who is the dancer?

of which you speak?

Me not know about this thing of which you speak ... this "television" ... Your modern ways and inventions frighten and confuse me. Because I'm a caveman -- that's the way I think. But there is one thing I know ... I can tell you that my client was not beating that woman on your ... "television" ... security camera.



:rofl:

Those of us who are disabled and/or work from home, definitely have our TVs on every day.

I don't know anyone who does. But judging from the replies maybe this person was real.

They don't watch TV at all. But, alas, they are in the minority in this country, I think. Note: I go to the internet for news and weather(unless there is a tornado warning or watch). I find it very soothing not to have the box turned on.

it every day of the week.

Having it on isn't the same as actually paying attention to it.

if I'm home when she's on, I watch, but if not, that's ok. Law & Order I watch if it is a new episode-I'm involved with a fansite and operator of a discussion board dealing with the show.

I do find too many hours a day for that. So, really, I'm sure we all have our scheduled goof off. For some of us, it's TV and for some of us, it's the much, much more enlightened internet.

:sarcasm:

;) i watch my teevee with my laptop in my lap....oh, and i knit too. how's that for multi-tasking?

I have A.D.D., so I know all about multitasking. Th thing is, when a TV is on, I'm drawn to it like a moth to flame, so to save my free time for other things, I gave up TV. I have trouble too, when my hubby is watching a movie, but now that we have an "entertainment room" with a door on it, I can just close him into the room and I can continue my multitasking, unfettered by the zombiefying effects of the giant monster TV.

I don't watch TV unless there's something on I specifically want to watch--I prefer the Internet for news. Most of the time I even forget to watch Keith Olberman, unless I know ahead of time there's an important Special Comment coming up. The best I can do in the multi-tasking department is knitting while I'm watching TV, provided it's a simple pattern that doesn't take much concentration.

but I don't have a hard time believing some people watch it every day.
Why they would submit themselves to such torture is beyond me ;)

What I really don't understand is why some people feel the need to leave their TV on 24/7.. even when they're nowhere near it. :shrug: And a lot of us worry about which light bulbs use less energy..

My hubby loves to watch movies and he loves having a giant screen. When I met him, he also had cable and yes, his TV was on a lot. But, nowadays, we aren't connected to cable. He still watches his movies and he just got a projector so now the picture will be giant. I don't know anyone who actually has a TV connected to cable. One of the families just got a 19 inch TV - to play movies. Interesting, I just went through a mental list and I can only think of one household that has cable. Weird. I didn't realize that I self select for non-network TV watchers but I guess I do.

I bet most of the people here watching their TVs are likely watching lots and lots of political information shows. I'm guessing there isn't much Faux "News" watching going on here.

Mine only gets turned on during emergencies (like incoming hurricanes), but I've long since accepted that I'm the weird one in this culture. Even my ex - the university professor - watches TV daily. I expect more people do than don't.

BWAHAHAHAHA

yeah, right, and I'm the fucking king of Persia.

jeezusfuckingchrist...

But your post about covered it, and I'm generally against unnecessary redundancy.

As a bonus, you also made me laugh my ass off.

I guess I'm one of the great unwashed.

I think we have a TV somewhere, but I don't know how to turn it on.

not that they are watching it, mind you. It's just there in the background. Drives me nuts. Personally, I only watch Judge Judy (for the comedy of real life) and Law & Order (for the drama of fiction).

My grandmother was addicted to TV after her husband died. Gave her something to do.

Now me, I can't abide the noise. If I need "company" I get out the Moody Blues and listen to music.

Having just spent the last 15 minutes rolling on the floor with my happy, laughing dog, I could highly recommend that as being more interactive.

but I rarely watch television.

I connect my TV to the PC so I can have a nice big 50" desktop.

:D

I also love my hubby a lot and therefore, since he loves big screen TV, we got a ginormous TV and it's connected to a DVD player only. It's also a fucking lemon, so we finally decided to stop putting good money after bad and just ordered a projector and next month he's going to get a 125" screen. He is in heaven, but still he thinks of me because he picked out a projector with the right sizing to also work as a giant computer monitor. He told me abou this, with the tone of voice like a person giving me the biggest gift ever. Even though I have no interest in having a 125" computer monitor, it was so cute, I just said thanks and left it at that.

I love that man!

(luckily, he hasn't gotten around to searching my posts, so unless I point this one out, he won't know my secret. Some secrets are ok, in my book. This is one)

Or to just turn it on with nothing specific in mind to watch. We all do it from time to time, but it's generally not a great idea. I recall back in the 70s or 80s there was concern people were watching too much TV, and one of the things suggested to do was only watch what you plan to watch. But since then there is an explosion of cable channels and channel surfing became a possibility.

My guess is that most households with televisions have the tv turned on at least once a day. My house sure does.

just about 24/7. I don't know anyone who doesn't have their TV on everyday. :shrug:

I watch Chris Matthews everyday, plus the Daily Show. I don't know anyone who doesn't turn their tv on at least once a day. wow

Keith Olbermann. My Fave. :loveya:

:rofl:

I turn my TV on every day. Mainly to combat loneliness with some background noise but I also watch it every day, too.

they love Animal Planet !

:silly:

He goes ballistic jumping up and down and barking wildly when it's on! :rofl:

it comes on he paws at the TV and whines.. very sad !

and turn on "Meerkats." Then I watch his head moving as he follows them on the screen. The best part is when he follows a meerkat running off-screen, then pauses for a moment with a very confused look on his face. (I'm a bad mom, I know.)

I like it, but, honestly, I have enough stress in my life without becoming emotionally involved with cute little critters on TV and watching them die.

There are a number of "Tribute" videos on YouTube to various Meerkats.

Here's a tribute to "Flower:"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3Toeg43liA

"A tribute to my favorite meerkat, Flower. Flower was such a wonderful meerkat, I'll miss her so much!! She was such a strong leader, and even though at times she looked cruel, Flower was only doing what was best. Flower was born on March 13 in 2000, and I assume she died on February 28, 2007. She was almost seven years old when she died. She was known as Queen of the Kalahari. Rocket Dog took over after she passed away. Rest in peace Flower, Queen of the Kalahari. We'll miss you!!"

golf on TV. (My ex-husband watched golf every Sunday.) Whenever the ball went into a hole, Sammy would race around to the back of the TV to look for it. (We had a small TV on a low-level open rolling cart at the time--no cabinet.)

that cats are smarter than dogs (or maybe just my dog).

however...I feel bad when the ER one is one, I worry they may hear puppies crying and get scared.

its so fucking weird its funny. :evilgrin:

Colbert Report, and Countdown. I've also been known to watch a little C-Span, CNN, TCM, and whatever edgy comedy or cartoon strikes my fancy.

:shrug:

On edit: I will add that I seldom watch tv without simultaneously doing some sort of handiwork.

My TV is on every day that I'm home, which is most days.

As I am so pathetic, I wonder how you'd have me spend my spare time? And please don't trot out the old 'read a book' chestnut. You can thank every English teacher that I ever had for burning out of me any interest in reading for leisure by making me read for reporting purposes and grades.

I read so much about Christianity, it took out most of the joy of leisure reading for me. (I'm not Christian, I'm a UU, but I went to a Christian seminary.) When I read now, it's very light stuff. Harry Potter was probably the deepest book I read last year.

'Course I get my daily dose of reading heavy topics on DU every day, so maybe schooling didn't ruin all deep reading for me.

There have been times when I have purposely *not* watched TV. Some times for months, once for a year and a half. When I don't watch TV, I feel more connected to other humans and life on the planet (which is good). However, now with Countdown, the Daily Show and weather, I have it on every day.

I'm a bit more low-tech.

I'm serious.

From an April 2007 Neilsen study reported here.




wp

Most TVs are not aesthetic. Why would anyone have a bulky object like that taking up space if they're not going to use it?

Unless it's one of those really expensive TVs that's so well-designed that it looks great even when it's off ... but then again, people who spend $9,000 on a TV tend to watch a lot of it.

After I hit the alarm in the morning, I point the remote at the TV and watch some news before I get up. It's on right now, muted, in case anything interesting happens (like Nader endorsing Edwards, which I happened to see just now on CNN). And before I go to sleep at night, I turn it off.

are the people watching TV. :shrug:

I turn it on when I get home from work. :(

A vast vast VAST majority of Americans, no less than 50% and probably much MUCH higher, turn at least one television on for some small part of each day, and watch it. Hell, for most household,m the TV is on not just once each day but for hours and hours and hours each day.

As I said, I don't know if there is exact reserach on this, but there can be little doubt, with or without research that this is the case for huge numbers of people, and likely in the 85-95% range.

Surely you know this.

I've never noticed or they turn the things off when I see them, which I can't see why they would.

I say this not to be insulting. As our nation has gone as mad, in it's own way (less violently for the moment, Thank God), as 1930s Germany, to be on the fringes of such a monstrous thing with no bottom limit of what it/we are capable of, is a compliment actually.

But literally, every single person I know, including myself watches at least a little TV once a day, and most watch hours and hours each and every day.

The studies and research are out there, just a Googling and a mouse-click away, but feel free to post this poll to DU and see what happens. "Do you and/or your household turn on the TV once a day?" or some variant, and see the results.

Because DU is probably one of the most conscious, forward-thinking, and self-aware sites on the web, the results will be a little skewed away from TV watchers, and I would bet STILL the "yes" answer would be a minimum of 50% and may go as high as 80%. In a random sample of the "real world, more like 70-95%.

Try it. And remember, the fact that DU is a self-selected target sample skewing AWAY from TV watching, whatever the poll results here can likely be shifted by 20-30% for the random "real world" sample.

I don't know what to tell you, except

1) Be happy you are on the "fringe" our our nation of madmen. No better place to be, though you may pay the price eventually, like those who dared to stand on the fringe of 1930s Germany and not join in the madness.

2) Don't let the fact that you have found your way out of our National madness to blind you to what the National Madness is, and believe you me, TV addiction stronger than heroin grips and feeds our National madness, as well as the Tyrants who stoke and control it for their own personal gain.

Countdown, Sarah Silverman, Mencia, Bill Moyers, Frontline, all the science and history channels, Speed Channel ESPN NHRA Drag Racing, A&E Biography, and Colbert/Daily Show of course..

Thankfully I have a bad internet habit that supplements my bad TV habit. I alternate.

-90% Jimmy

PS - I have liberal friends in town that don't have a TV in their house! They're raising their daughter TV free.

Don't have one. But the 100 or so people closest to me - mostly artists, musicians and writers - don't either. I can see how the OP would think that no one turns their TV on every day.

I know others who don't own TV's, and I say, la-di-da.

How dare I not watch TV? To make other people look bad or to try to be all uppity and superior?

How dare I have artists and musicians for friends? - they aren't normal. (Responding to your post before you edited it.)

How dare non-TV watchers respond to a thread? - that is about not watching TV.

:rofl:

I was on Jeopardy. I played a musical instrument for 12 years. I write sonnets for fun.
But I still think people who take some sort of pride in not watching television deserve a "la di da".

And I do have a TV. I easily go weeks without turning it on. And perhaps we should clarify "watching TV." When I do turn it on, I do it to watch a DVD or tape. I haven't watched broadcast at my home in a couple years, and I can't afford cable.

I have only known two people in my entire life that did not own a television. I and a few others were stuck trying to work with them semi-annually for an Alumni association. They were both socially awkward pompous asses. Intelligent, but ignorant in so many ways. They were extraordinarily naive and utterly inept at interacting with the 99% of the population they deemed beneath their efforts. Of course I don't believe for a minute that all persons without a television behave as these two did, but I've not met any others.

Some people choose not to use the internet.
Some people choose not to read.
Some people stuff cash into their mattresses.
Some people never listen to music on purpose.
Some people choose to live without modern electric and sewer service.

To each their own I guess. We all gotta do, what we gotta do. I must say though I do think the OP is displaying the same kind of awkward, pompous, ass-hattedness as the two people I knew to say that those who actually use the televisions that they own every day are "pathetic".

I don't care what people do. I didn't catch this distinction - "if you have one." Not sure what that means. I have lived in places where someone left a TV and it was around and I didn't watch it. Why would someone have one if they didn't watch it? Maybe I am missing something.

The OP suggested that while obviously the overwhelming majority of U.S. inhabitants own a television, only the "pathetic" would turn it on every day.

However it may have been intended it came off as very snobbish and elitist.

Thanks. The whole thing went over my head. I figured people who wanted to watch TV would buy one, then they would have one, then they would watch it. It didn't occur to me that this would then mean watching it every day, as a matter of course, and I would have guessed that the majority of people who did own a TV would not watch it every day. I am obviously out of the loop on the whole subject.

I didn't see any snobbishness or elitism in the OP. But again that may just be me. I don't see TV as a moral issue. I don't avoid TV to be holier than thou, I avoid it because I don't like it.

Because they use the televisions they own? Really?

I might be ignorant, and apparently I was wrong about people’s TV habits, but I am not being insincere and I don't think the OP necessarily was either.

I remember once I was out with some people and I made a crack about the absurdity of people buying decaf Cappuccinos. Turns out one of the people there had a health condition, couldn't tolerate caffeine, but liked the taste of Cappuccinos. Ooops. Live and learn. I wasn't trying to insult anyone, I was just ignorant.

What I was saying on this thread was that I could believe that someone would not realize that most people had their TVs on every day, then make a crack that inadvertently insulted people.

I was surprised myself at the response and at how many people have their TV on every day. So, we were ignorant.

Here is another example - thinking about it, I would bet that there are people who eat fast food every day, but since I never do I would be ignorant of that, as well, and I could see myself calling that "pathetic" without thinking about it.

I guess that back 30 years ago or so, there was more consensus about this and it was not controversial to avoid fast food and TV, nor was it provocative or seen as insulting to anyone to criticize either of them. We presumed that most people saw TV and fast food as trashy corporate culture and felt free to criticize it.

The tube is on often here also; your environment sounds great! And I know, I can, and do, turn it off. Well, maybe not Thursday. ;-)

You have always been a favorite - the articles you post are the best source of news anywhere. Thanks for that.

listen. I don't personally know anyone who doesn't turn theirs on every day.

M
G

Gotta love The Onion! That man is probably the fictional offspring of the (once) living nitwits I knew. The only two people I've ever met without a television acted very much like that.

VINCENT
She ever do anything I woulda saw?

JULES
I think her biggest deal was she
starred in a pilot.

VINCENT
What's a pilot?

JULES
Well, you know the shows on TV?

VINCENT
I don't watch TV.

JULES
Yes, but you're aware that there's
an invention called television, and
on that invention they show shows?

VINCENT
Yeah.

not to turn it on unless you are actually wanting to watch something. Ideally, that's what's best to do. Not that there couldn't be something one would legitimately watch each day, like the news, but I personally never get news from the TV - it's a lousy source. I only have it on to watch something specific that I've taped, but that still tends to be every day.

Turning it on for background noise wouldn't do it for me - the TV does not make pleasant sound as far as I'm concerned - if I wanted background noise, I'd play music.

Many people watch TV daily! If I had a suitable place to watch it, I would.

good post, RG

:rofl:

:applause: :applause: :applause:

For anyone reading this - here's the original "I don't drink with you" thread. One of the best ever on DU!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5330132

RGB: You should watch more TV, because you can learn a lot. You'd probably see scenes where the characters graciously accept hospitality and effectively interact with others in social situations.

For myself, through TV, I'm reasonably certain I could perform an emergency tracheotomy if I had to.

:rofl: Thank you, thank you, thank you ... for posting that link!! :rofl:

I sat and read that whole hysterical "I don't drink with you' thread, and even had to hit the link contained in THAT thread to the 'hit and run' thread.

Methinks RGBolen knows how to draw a crowd. :evilgrin:

Suuuuure.

I thought this OP was the dumbest premise ever but now......:wow:

ok

Really, really dumb.

make. OK, OK.

People call this "digging yourself a hole."

And you're responsible for the decision you made to do so.

I chose to never blame anyone else for any thing that happens to me. Anything that happens to me is my responsibility and is due to some action on my part, not everyone has to adhere to that and I don't expect everyone to do so, and do not fault them for that. But I do not give up my responsibility for my actions.

And you're free to hide in your closet because you're afraid of the boogeyman.

but like most I do try to avoid being injured or killed.

Not going out because your afraid of drunk drivers is both stupid and cowardly.

So is blaming victims.

"But I do not give up my responsibility for my actions."

Are you responsible for the actions of others, though?

So do you think women with short skirts are "asking for it" (in terms of rape)and deserve it?
Same thing

There are drunk drivers out EVERY Saturday night? Should you never go out Saturday night? No, of course not. Now if one wants to be as prudent as possible, you avoid the hours of 2 to 3 when the bars close and more drunks are on the road. But even if you don't, if you are hit by the drunk driver, it is the DRUNK DRIVER's fault.

Like I said in another post, I don't expect everyone to follow this and don't fault them if they don't but I am responsible for what happens to me.

It's fine if you want to play safe by not driving at times when drunks are more likely to be on the road. But do you really think this absolves the drunk driver from moral responsibility? What about legal responsibility - do you actually think that a drunk driver should get a lesser punishment if they injure someone who drives at the 'wrong' time (like a sort of 'open season' for drunk driving?)

that's the legal system, as a victim I would have no role or say in that. That has nothing to do with me, send them to prison or do nothing to them, I don't care.

What the legal system does has nothing to do with my responsibility. And I have nothing to do with what the drunk driver feels responsible for. But I accept no one but myself being responsible for anything that happens to me.

What is the precise and relevant moral difference between the example you offered and the counter-example offered?

I am responsible for anything that happens to me. Others can and do feel differently.

No... but accepting responsibility for the decisions of others is.

Priceless! However, I'm surprised that no one made the suggestion that he really wanted the hostess to leave him alone he could have just accepted a (FREE!) glass of water and held it all evening.

Is it that the hostess (and most if not all of the guests) were white, and you are of some other ethnicity? So when you said, "I don't drink with you" you were just expressing a personal principle of yours, that you don't eat or drink convivially with white people?

quite a few PM'ed to say they wouldn't put up with someone disobeying them like that.

I thought I had perhaps stumbled across the solution to the "not appropriate" mystery.

I'm sad for you, and done.

Be fair to him, he didn't make any kind of admission of that sort at all.

Or a form of mild autism? Cause your intuitive reactions to what people say seems pretty disparate with how the rest of the world react to situations. I'm sincerely curious about your personality spectrum.

You see no difference between a suggestion and an order?

(Also, why is her color relevant?)

I am "pathetically informed".

I've never owned a TV, RGBolen, most of my friends never watch it, and there was a time when I wouldn't have believed that anyone watched it every day, either.

I can't imagine that daily TV watching would not seriously skew a person's view of the world, but saying that gets people angry...so I won't say it. That is funny, because there are so many other things I do everyday - such as practice my instrument, write and other things - that annoy other people, even when they are not directly affected in any way but merely hear me relate "what I did today" and that they characterize as "obsessive" or a waste of time, or something. TV gets a pass for some reason and you are not supposed to criticize it...so I won't.

I think that TV is the most potent force for social conformity and passivity and compliance, and I think those things are the root cause of our social problems. But people get mad when you say that...so I won't.

I am not an anti-TV zealot, by the way. I just can't see what is all that interesting about it, and I don't like commercial garbage being poured into my mind if I can avoid it.

I'm really surprised that this would be shocking to someone in this Country.

I like the background noise mostly. Then again, there's a Law & Order marathon on, and I'm hooked today.

and you wonder how folks afford cable? It's because it's the only "Entertainment" they have.....!

:shrug:

It's just a comfort thing.

You don't think there are people out there who watch television every day? I know few people who don't have it on at least once a day. Even if it's just to catch the news or the weather.

You're kidding yourself if you believe that.

Just because they don't have the TV on when you see them doesn't mean they don't have it on at other times or the degree of frequency.

RGBolen (1000+ posts) Tue Jan-01-08 03:41 PM
Response to Reply #50
55. Wasn't being sarcastic. If television is that big a part of someone's life that I know
I've never noticed or they turn the things off when I see them, which I can't see why they would.

No quarrels with watching TV and neither with how many days per
week nor hours per day.

But please turn it off when not watching. It is a small and painless
thing to do and you may even be surprised at the effect on your electric
bill. If you do see a difference, imagine if everybody did that...

Let's try to conserve where possible.

pah-leese. of course there are people who turn their teevees on everyday. when i'm home, i turn it on. i pay good money for my dish, goddamit, i'm going to get my money's worth out of it! all teevee isn't pap and crap - there's a lot to learn from it too. personally, 60% of the time, my teevee is tuned to the discovery channel, national geographic channel, learning channel, etc. oh, and i listen to the music channels too.

talk about generalizing :eyes:

They are afraid of the world that TV shows them. They are afraid of the world, period. And yes, it isn't always representative of the world, and there's a lot of crap on TV. But if you don't have a built-in crap filter by the time you're old enough to have your own internet connection, you aren't an adult and you need to turn in your driver's license.

Seriously, I'm sick and tired of these pretentious people who say "I never watch TV. Except for Meet the Press and PBS, of course, and only in small doses." BITE ME!

Maybe those of us who don't watch TV just think the programming sucks and that it is aimed at an intellectually dumber level. Sitcoms are not aimed at stimulating intellectual thought. They are like constant dumb fart jokes. Sorry, TV programming isn't funny - Jonathon Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is funny. And TV news just doesn't inform anymore. I don't watch the news to learn about the Anchor's personal life - I want news Damn it!

I enjoy reading newspapers and the internet and can entertain myself with challenging computer games rather than just sitting watching 40 minutes of commercials and 20 minutes of dumb jokes or dumbass news anchors babble on about gossip and spend 30 seconds on a complex story.

And sorry, but I'm not afraid of the world - there is more news with gore and horror in my newspaper than on TV, with far more depth as well.

And last:
If I could buy Cable channels A La Carte, I probably get it and watch the History Channel, SCIFI, and the Discovery Channel. But my cable company packaged these into the new digital bullshit (wicked expensive) that still subsidizes shit networks like Pat Robertson's CBN. Fuck that.

You actually think the "world TV shows them" is the real world? :rofl:

I have news for you - I've been all over the real world and the TV is lying to you. My family doesn't own a TV, and believe me, I don't fear the real world. I do wonder if people who stare at a box instead of actually going out into the real world may have some fear issues. :shrug:

No TV has been great for me, my wife and our kids for over 10 years. We actually spend time with each other. We read. We play games. We go places. We get the occasional peek at other people's houses and we don't ever miss it.

We get more than enough news and information from the internets - including movies and clips of some TV shows on YouTube etc.

Here tomreedtoon, watch this, I think he's talking to you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTN3s2iVKKI#

running out of material? Experiencing a lull in creative faux outrage? What gives??

First his New Year's Eve thread, now this. :eyes:

You guessed wrong I think :D

news or weather. My kids on the other hand watch daily even if for an hour or so while doing something else, it seems as though it is background noise to them.

someone actually posted that comment, and it wasn't a joke.

hard to swallow :rofl:

:hi:

And I leave it on for my dogs when I am at work.

Not sure what planet you live on that you find this unbelievable.

I hope you choke on all that self-righteousness.

Pathetic is someone with a superiority complex who judges the personal lifestyle choices of others.

Why is not watching TV, and not being aware that other people do as much as they do, "self-righteous," or a judgment on the "personal lifestyle choices of others" or evidence of a "superiority complex?"

I am not being snarky, I really don't get it. I am fairly certain that it was not this way in the past. People were free to avoid TV and to criticize it without this reaction at one time.

What if I said "I can't believe that people eat large amounts of beef almost every day. I eat mostly vegetables and fruit and that seems like a better way to go for a wide variety of health and social reasons" would that be self-righteous and judgmental of the personal choices of others? Would eating less beef be necessarily motivated by a "superiority complex?" I am not a vegetarian, and don't much care what other people eat or how much TV they watch - I am not anti-meat eaters or anti-TV watchers. But can these subjects not be talked about without people getting defensive and hostile?

I think the word "pathetic" was the Rosetta Stone to assist in deducing a bit of an egalitarian temperament. One can easily dismiss or criticize television without dismissing or criticizing those who do for no other reason than they do.

I think if you said, "I can't believe that people eat large amounts of beef almost every day-- they're pathetic", you too could be interpreted as to having insulted a rather large swath of people.

Unfortunate word.

'Unfortunate' is one word that could be used. Less genteel words than 'unfortunate' come to my tongue more quickly.

Still, if - let's just say IF - you had a population that all watched TV all the time or a lot or whatever, and if that media was dominated by corporate powers who had a vested interest in the political and social climate within which we are forced to live, and if a connection could be drawn between said TV watching and public policy and many of the social problems we have...

I mean, if there were such a country anywhere, hypothetically speaking.

Replace Television with I-pods and gaming consoles and I think we're already there...

Hmmmm....

I know a guy who told me he used his toaster every day (sometimes twice!). I didn't believe him at first, but then I noticed crumbs on his shirt every morning.

I wasn't sure what to make of it-- should I find help for him... some kind of 12-step program or something? Or should I just report him and let the authorities sort it out?

Eventually, I just suppressed the incident and moved on with my life. But it took some time, and I still owe quite a bit money to my imaginary therapist.

People are this pathetic. Well, I think pathetic might be a bit harsh but we certainly are addicted to TV. There are three in my house. Three in my parents house. Three in my M-I-L's house. etc.

Much like console gaming and I-pods, I imagine. But then, I'm sure there are people who would justify using them to excess also...

:shrug:

TV-watching, DU-surfing, radio-listening, book-reading, good-for-nothing so-and-so's!!!

:rofl:

I would bet that there are lots of people who hae two televisions on every day.

I enjoy C-Span and C-Span 2 every day.

I also enjoy the Classic Arts Station every day.

And no day would be complete without PBS.

than the big TV viewing era of the 70's and 80's. Internet, Video Games, and DVDs took a big percentage away from TV viewing. I watch it much less mainly due to the very poor quality of programming, i.e. reality shows, and I'm very turned off by the non stop bombardment of ads placed within the shows themselves on the screen. But for the massive amount of crap on TV there's the occasional quality to see like 'Planet Earth' and 'The War' documentary specials last year.

Just because you don't know anyone who turns the TV on everyday, does NOT mean that its not a common behavior. And it IS.
I live in an area with a lot of Democrats, and most of the people I know are Democrats,...so if I used your logic, I would conclude that Republicans really weren't very common in this country. Sadly, not true.

as pathetic as it sounds there are people that have the TV on 24/7. I had a friend like that in L.A. It was very disturbing.

They never shut it off, even after they went to bed. I'm not making this up.

At the very least I watch the weather forecast and footie news too of course.

where have you been?

:shrug:

I can't wait for Lost to return... my other favorite show The Wire starts back up on Sunday.

I even watch some evil reality (Project Runway and Top Chef to be specific)

When I'm working from home I have news on in the background, and while I cook I love watching Jeopardy.

I don't think there is anything wrong with that.

:rofl:

This OP reminds me of when Bush 41 first saw a price scanner at a grocery store that had been in use for many years. Some people need to get out of their cabin every once in a while and see what the world is really about.

Thanks for the observation Mr. Thoreau.

hehehe I plays...


Even people who don't watch much TV, usually turn theirs on everyday...


Most people I know watch the local news in the morning/evening, or the occasional TV series... Then again, my only friends live inside the TV... :(

when we're stuck inside, the folks in my house seem to watch more tv. But even then, it's only on a bit each day. And in nice weather we don't watch nearly as much. My husband likes to watch Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, but that's often all that's watched. My daughter doesn't watch TV unless the weather is bad, and even then not much, and I don't watch any TV. I used to like Survivor but I don't even watch that anymore. We also used to watch the news, but we don't bother since it's become not even subtle propaganda.

We only have one, small, old TV. And we have a TV cabinet with doors that close, or it seems like if other kids come over to see my daughter, they'll want to watch the TV the whole time they're here.

I do think that most people who own TVs have them on at least for some time every day, if not constantly. I know a LOT of people who never turn the TV off. I know someone who lives alone and had 4 TVs. LOL

:rofl:

Can I have your television? No? How about your toaster? Still no?

I'm guessing that asking you for a pair of pants is out of the question, too? (In case not, I have a 32 waist, a 34 inseam and I hate corduroy-- pretty pathetic, huh?... thanks)

I like beans-- but only from cans. Do you like beans? Do you like beans if not served in a can?

Banana's are nice to look at, but they smell like beans.

Did you ever see the episode of Gilligan's Island where the Professor tried to get them rescued but Gilligan screwed it up? Good times. Good times.

Same old response... one, unblinking eye... even my ex husband was more responsive to that, so I'll say, no, I never turn my TV on. Ever. Never ever.