Turn That Damn Thing Off!

Turn That Damn Thing Off! By: Matthew P. Holbert

Television is the greatest threat to humanity since the atom bomb. It is the instrument of influence, which molds the mind. By getting people to reflect what is projected from the television, people are not only made dumber, they are effectively personifications of television itself. The active personification of human inventions is not so uncommon; our elected officials are the personification of government, our police are the personification of the law, and our people are the personification of their culture. Television is but an element, an ingredient in the soup of our collective soul. No less devastating however, is televisions ability to directly influence the mind. When we watch television, our minds are being fed but one train of thought, one set of images. The slow pace of television, relative to the immense amount of potential information in any given scenery or event, is retarding to the brain. You would need a thousand televisions to make up for the lack of information presented on television. More importantly though, television has massive potential for cultural conditioning: propaganda, the spreading of psychological norms, and the setting of standards that are racist, unreasonable, or simply fake; all can have detrimental effects on society. Namely, the effects on races that go against the arbitrary norms set by Anglophile fashion standards cause: a preference for lighter skins in former European empire nations, a preference for strait hair, and a preference for round eyes in Asian countries, along with the implied preference for wealth and consumption that is encouraged. The effects of cultural conditioning are usually unrecognized as prejudiced, and go unnoticed by the culturally conditioned peoples of the world. However, the reality remains that these nonsensical trends exist, and persist as a significant societal trouble for the people who are affected. What is not recognized by the people harmed psychologically, inwardly, by these styles and trends, is the inherent nonsense and

illegitimacy and even non existence of their validity—in fact the validity only exists as long as the one affected recognizes the trends as valid, and allows them to mold ones psychology in such a way that harm ones sensibility. That harm, which is caused by the cultural conditioning is what forces one to “improve” ones self, so as to conform to the mold, which their society expects of them. Ostensibly, television is a mere entertainment box, innocent and imperative in the modern age—and we should be asking why—but truly, televisions nature is more like a preacher or a religious pulpit. In the past, religions needed you to come to them, and they were only able to control your way of behaving for one day of the week. Now, not only is the preacher in your home seven days a week, preaching in such a way that you must remain docile and complacent, but he is inserting far more effectively ideas and ways of thinking into your mind. Indeed, if television is the preacher, its religion is that of the corporate empire. The oligarchic super empire of the modern age. The churches of this empire are the malls and the corporate skyscrapers that stand tallest in the land, proclaiming the greatness of the empire. The dollar, or whatever paper fiat currency, is its symbol and ultimate lifeblood, second only to our senseless consumption. The insanity of it all, not only is that this empire is a dehumanizing force for destruction of the human race, perpetuated by the violence we see on TV every day, but that it is indeed so overwhelmingly great, and has given humanity its vastest desires, and fulfilled its wildest dreams. The problem though, is that this order is irresponsible. Not only are the men and women who contribute to the delinquency of humankind not held accountable, they are praised by the governments and government officials that pray at their feet. The natural state of humankind is to discover, to create, and to be brilliant. The corporate empire has suppressed this natural state, depressed the potential for generations, and devalued the human being as a so-called “worthless eater.” However, because it is the natural state of humankind to seek understanding of the world around, and be brilliant, once these suppressive forces are uplifted, the natural state will be inhabited as quickly as you can turn off a television.