Almost all television is essentially little more than State/corporate sponsored propaganda...

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

...and we should teach our children about this mental poison in hopes that they will minimize if not eliminate television viewing from their lives.

[depakid]

1. You should qualify that

American TV is quite different than what people view abroad.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

4. That's a good thought,..

...as I have little experience with the quality of television in other countries. However, since people have already started voting I'd rather not alter the language of the poll question. With hindsight I would have said "all U.S. television" instead.

[mike_c]

6. producing the programming is still expensive...

...and most of the folks who pay that expense still want some return for their investment. This almost always involves modifying the behavior of viewers. There are exceptions, of course, both in America and abroad, but they're rare, IMO. Most television programming is indeed propaganda of one form or another.

[kenny blankenship]

2. At least in the Stalinist bloc they knew they were being lied to, by whom, and why

Over the long run, as economists would say, Stalinism was really primitive and ineffective at genuine state control and thought/behavior programming. The obviousness of it all subverted its own success.

[Mojambo]

3. The majority, sure. I don't know about "almost all."

I do agree that the medium itself has changed the way people, particularly Americans, take in and assimilate information. And it hasn't been a healthy change.

[datasuspect]

5. i can think of several people who quite conceivably would lose their minds

if they couldn't watch television anymore. it's that integrated with their psyche.

[MindPilot]

7. You mean that television on which there are shows like

TV Nation, Colbert Report & The Daily Show, All in the Family, How it's Made, Modern Marvels, Sunrise Earth, Blue Planet 30 Days and Cosmos?

That TV that brought documentaries into my home like Who Killed the Electric Car, Fahrenheit 911, Sicko, Fast Food Nation, The Ghosts of Abu Garab and Recount?

Yeah, cold dead fingers...

[Ronald Reagen]

26. Very, very true

TV isn't all bad. I tend to watch The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, South Park, The Office, and 30 Rock.

Occasionally, I watch American Idol, but mostly to laugh at how amazingly stupid it is.

The bottom line, is to be intelligent, and not watch garbage. But that may be too much to ask for some people.

[Double T]

8. Yep. Same reason I am watching less and less.

[KansDem]

9. I reel at the thought that I spent countless hours in front of TeeVee growing up...

And watched and listened to countless hours of how I can have it my way, that I am free to choose, that I deserve everything under the sun, that I live in a country with a steady stream of heroes, and I want whatever the product being pushed at me was.

Nothing could be further from the truth. We are programmed by CorpUSA to want something all the time. And we were being programmed by CorpUSA to want what it had.

For a price, Ugarte, always for a price.

When I was growing up, we feared communism for it's "brain-washing" totalitarian methods. But what we didn't realize is that we were subject to the "brain-washing" totalitarian methods of Wall Street and Madison Avenue.

Doesn't matter if it was communism or capitalism, it was still "brain-washing" totalitarianism.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

12. Well said -- I couldn't agree more.

[MindPilot]

16. Only if you allow it.

You are talking about commercial jingles which don't IMHO rise to the level of "brain-washing".

TV ranges from a unifying window on the world--who among us can forget the moon landing or John Kennedy's funeral--to entertainment that quite literally changes our culture like All in the Family, to ground breaking educational shows like Cosmos or the Day the Universe Changed, to just pure dumb mindless entertainment like Two & a Half Men.

There's good and bad, but if you base you opinion of TV on the idea that you think you should always "have it your way" because you heard that phrase applied to a fast food joint, then you need to stop letting the TV do your thinking for you.

[KansDem]

23. Agreed. That's why I gave up cable in 1996.

It took awhile, but I managed to see through the tactics used by marketeers. Why watch an hour-long show and see the same commercial several times during that hour? Did Madison Avenue really think I was going to buy something at the end of that hour that I wasn't going to buy at the beginning? They must have thought so, otherwise I wouldn't have seen it several times.

I agree that TeeVee could be a "unifying window" on the world. But I also found it fascinating that the examples you mentioned were:

JFK's funeral--1963
Moon walk--1969
"All in the Family"--1971
"Cosmos"--1980
"Day the Universe Changed"--1985

"Two and a Half Men"--2003

The "good" shows you listed ran from 1963-1985, the last one aired 23 years ago. The one "dumb-ass" show was 2003, just five years ago. I agree that the quality of TeeVee has slipped somewhat over the decades.

It used to be in Europe that TeeVee ads ran at the beginning and end of a program. Not the constant interruption we have here in America. At least that's the way it was when I lived in Europe during the mid-1980s.

But hearing the same catch-all phrase over and over for many years or decades does tend to "wash the mind." Otherwise, Madison Avenue wouldn't do it.

[The2ndWheel]

10. What isn't propaganda?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=propaganda

[Glorfindel]

11. "Other" - I don't watch it, so I don't care

And judging by other people's conversations about current shows and the glimpses of TV fare I catch in public places, I'm not missing a thing. :hi:

[slackmaster]

13. Disagree - The content is not the driver

It's all about advertising revenue.

[Fumesucker]

14. For there to be advertising revenue there must be .............

ADVERTISING..

Which most certainly is propaganda.

[slackmaster]

15. Sure, advertising is a form of propaganda

But it's not the same as political propaganda.

[MindPilot]

17. People need to realize it is not the job of TV or radio or even newspapers

to bring us high-quality programming or accurate information; it is their job to deliver eyeballs and earlobes to advertisers.

[Fumesucker]

18. It very well can be political propaganda..

The most insidious propaganda is that which is unrecognizable as such.

[MindPilot]

20. I agree. I think a blatant example of that is the Chevy truck ads.

"This is our country" which basically carries on the (I think very right-wing) meme that rural, i.e. conservative, Americans are the only "real" Americans.

But I don't for a minute think that GM is trying to propagandize a political viewpoint with that. It may galvanize what's already there--which is the insidious part you mention--but they want to sell trucks more that they want people to vote R. They have just noticed that republican country folk tend to buy Chevy trucks.

Ford on the other hand tends more toward pitching to the "working man". I suppose you can find political propaganda anywhere if you look hard enough; our entire culture has become politicized and maybe that's the problem.

[aldo]

19. Absolutely, the list goes on and on. 24 is milint/CIA propaganda in favor of torture.

Political commisars write half of Leno's jokes. Leno is a good comedian, he wouldn't tell unfunny jokes (more than once). Half of his political jokes are pitiful.

Ex-officers are organized to lie to the American people. The military is waging full spectrum information warfare against all Americans.

Under communism Russians learned how to read the truth between the lines. Our people are still fooled.

[MindPilot]

21. Yes, 24, NCIS, Cops, Predator -- all shows that tell us the gov is in control

But on the other hand American Dad is a complete parody of the conservative security state mindset. Reno 911 is the anti-COPS, Colbert is the anti-billo. And the Simpsons regularly skewer the Bush administration.

[knitter4democracy]

22. I don't think it's all propaganda.

I've seen great shows on PBS that really question everything and make me think. Their kids' shows are some of the few I let my kids watch, and we discuss how ads are made to make you want something you don't need. They still play outside, help with chores, and have play dates, so it's not like tv controls their lives or thinking.

It's when we stop watching and listening critically when we have a problem.

[90-percent]

24. lyrics from my favorite rock star

I'm The Slime
by Frank Zappa
I am gross and perverted
I'm obsessed 'n deranged
I have existed for years
But very little had changed
I am the tool of the Government
And industry too
For I am destined to rule
And regulate you

I may be vile and pernicious
But you can't look away
I make you think I'm delicious
With the stuff that I say
I am the best you can get
Have you guessed me yet?
I am the slime oozin' out
From your TV set

You will obey me while I lead you
And eat the garbage that I feed you
Until the day that we don't need you
Don't got for help...no one will heed you
Your mind is totally controlled
It has been stuffed into my mold
And you will do as you are told
Until the rights to you are sold

That's right, folks..
Don't touch that dial

Well, I am the slime from your video
Oozin' along on your livin'room floor

I am the slime from your video
Can't stop the slime, people, lookit me go




And the background vocals were provided by Tina Turner and the Ikettes.

Zappa performed the song on one of his two visits to SNL back in the 70's.


FYI

-90% Jimmy

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

28. He was a thinker with a strong social conscience. I miss Frank.

[90-percent]

25. Not all bad

Secret Life of Machines

Driving Force

Bill Moyers Journal

Keith Olbermann

Family Guy

Fernwood Tonite

Mystery Science Theatre 3000

Get Smart

Nichols

He and She

Great American Dream Machine

SNL

Watergate Hearings Live

Gong Show

Jeopardy

Intervention

Star Trek

and many other shows that don't come to mind.

-90% again

[Ignis]

27. Hell yes. Because the medium IS the message.

If you haven't read Jerry Mander's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television, you owe it to yourself to do so.

http://www.amazon.com/Arguments-Elimination-Television-Jerry-Mander/dp/0688082742

[undeterred]

29. Except for Grey's Anatomy

which is medical soft porn.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

30. Kick for a larger sample.

[fishwax]

31. heck no

I think media awareness is an important part of every education, though, and that it's important to teach our kids to be aware of manipulations, etc. But as for minimizing or eliminating TV viewing from their lives, I think people should do what works for them.

[yella_dawg]

32. I agree...

but I would quibble with the word "almost".

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

33. Kick for a larger sample.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

34. Kick for a larger sample.