The Burr in the Burgh

Egad! I've nearly missed it entirely! This is the annual Turn-Off-TV Week, April 24-30, 2006.

Most of us watch far too much television. I'm not a big TV fan. And it's not just the offensive nature of much of the content that irks me. You've read the studies which show the increasing instances of violence, sex and profanity on cable and broadcast television. But there is something about the medium itself which tends to deaden thought. Ever hear of some going to "zone out" in front of the television? Ever seen the hypnotized expression of a 4-yr-old watching Teletubbies? When was the last time someone said they were going to go "zone out" with a good book?

OK, admittedly, there are some programs and channels on television that are quite entertaining and thought-provoking. No one said TV is all bad. It's just the proportion which people consume. The hours upon hours of watching flickering two-dimensional images flashing rapidly from scene to scene does something to the brain and the way it functions. People these days find it harder to digest written texts, even when they are technically literate. To read and interpret a sustained argument or follow complex discussions is vital to civilized life. And these are capacities we are slowly losing.

Take political discourse for instance. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated one another all over the state of Illinois fighting for a seat in the U.S. senate. Research into this a bit and compare these lengthy detailed debates over policy with the snippets and sound-bites which impersonate political debates btwn candidates today. To say that we have shorter attention spans today is . . . uh, what was I saying?