22 May 2007

Under a Rock and Lovin' It

Watching television has always been an issue for me. Much of what is on television is not worth watching. I can find myself sucked into hours and hours of nothingness, I benefit nothing, I get nothing back and hours of my life that could be so much more wisely invested are gone forever. Even if it wasn't a moral issue - which much of the time it is - it is a waste of time and most television is just stupid. Netflix has allowed us to selectively bring into our home the level of stupidity and waste of time that we are comfortable with.
With this in mind you will see why I find it humorous that while I was gone my husband decided to purchase and install a motorized television antenna. One of the things he was happy about was that we could watch the news. Unlike regular television, the news keeps us informed. But, it makes.me.want.to.crawl.into.my.closet.and.stay.there.forever! This morning my husband woke me up to tell me that he saw our daughter's myspace picture on national television. After talking him down off the ceiling, we decided that it probably wasn't her due to the fact that her myspace is set to "private", and even if it was, why were we freaking about it? He left the boob tube on when he left for work, and I woke to a report that there was a murder in a town just south of us, a girl died when she was hit by a car, and that this hurricane season threatens to be one of the worst in US history. Joy. Back to bed, covers over my head, goodbye.
I think that it is one thing to be informed and have a realistic idea of what is happening out there. I was sad that I didn't know that there were 3 soldiers captured in Iraq, but then I wonder how knowing that would have helped other than if I pray for them. Sadly also that is not my original response - the knee-jerk reaction is to tense every muscle in my body and reach for Pepcid AC. It causes stress, and it is meant to evoke emotion in the listener. Listen to the intensity of voices, the urgency of the music. It is trying to freak us out. Why? Because then what we see on TV can shape our thinking, program an internal agenda, and control what we say and do. (THAT is another whole post!)
I was happy to be able to watch a super sermon on TV with the family on Sunday morning, and I do see advantages to having the ability to get network TV when we want it. But I think for now I'll just stick to reading the news online from time to time. I love it here under my little rock!

4 comments:

  1. can you get text messaging under there?? :o)~

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  2. Sooo true. News is scary, this world is scary. Focusing on the news too much caused me to really be anxious.

    I like it here under MY little rock, ha ha ha....and yes Fatty, we can get text messages here. *grin*

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  3. We couldn't live without the TV - probably have withdrawals - it is at least limited to one TV in the house though. We're less on news and more on Simpsons. The world IS a mess, and the news is never good.

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  4. Sometimes the depravity and the suffering just gets to me! Am I wrong when I channel surf that as soon as I see some child dying in their mother's arms in a 3rd world country, I can't push buttons fast enough to move on to something more pleasing to my eye?

    We aren't big TV watchers, compared to most other people. We are one of the very few people that don't have a TV in their bedroom, never have! We have about 3 or 4 shows (24, LOST & Battlestar Gallactica) that we like but mainly we like to watch movies.

    We recently rented,
    "The Last Sin Eater"
    from Netflix and I am encouraging everyone to see it!

    You're right about the lost time that TV sucks away and we don't even realize it. I have to be careful that the computer just doesn't take the place of the television!
    Connie

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♥ Juls ♥