- Tip against smileyscoop: push mute when commercials come on
- Coming soon: hmmm....
- Bagel update: we have received word from reliable sources (Sani) that they may be alliancing (is that a word?) themselves with marshme- I'm sorry ill be quiet now
- Sources: http://panchromatic.bravejournal.com/archive/12/9/2004, "Farenheit 451" by Rad Bradbury, and eraser shavings
This basically deals with the Television Conspiracy in general. For those of you are lucky and have been living under a rock, therefore not being exposed to Television, it's one of the more underhanded and deadly forms of SMILEYSCOOP. (1)
Television assualts you with both audio and visual smileyscoop. You may be underestimating it's effects on you. For instance, you may-
- suddenly think that you should be worrying about Alzheimer's Disease
- not think it odd that the exercise equipment on TV enables you to do "twice the work in one effortless motion."
- humming Carol of the Bells
I didn't have TV for five years because we don't get local channels and didn't have cable or satellite. So you know what I did?
I read.
And you know what happens when you read?
You learn stuff. You become less subject to smileyscoop. You become a better writer. You learn new words. You become more creative.
This is an old argument, I know, and you're prolly tired of it. (2)
I have TV now. I'm trying to watch less of it.
But once you get started, it's hard. You can't move off the couch. You keep watching, even reruns, even stupid commercials, even stuff you weren't interested in anyway.
Watch out.
I read a book called Farenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. You need to read it, by the way. It's about a fireman that starts fires instead of putting them out. It's set in the future, where books are illegal and the houses of people that harbor books are burned to the ground. A quote that stuck with me was spoken by one of these "firemen" , whose explaining to the main character (also a "fireman") how the world got this way. He is talking about "TV parlor" in which the four walls are all television screens.
"The televisor is 'real'. It is immediate, it has dimension. It tells you what to think and then blasts it in. It must be right. It seems so right. It rushes on you so quickly to its own conclusions that your mind hasn't time to protest, "What nonsense!"
Then the main character says, "My wife says books aren't 'real.'"
The speaker replies,
"Thank God for that. You can shut them, say, 'Hold on a moment. You play God to it... but it [the televisor] is an environment as real as the world. It becomes and is the truth. Books can be beaten down with reason." (3)
(1) and smileyscoop
(2) well, i didn't ask you. hahah.
(3) That says it better than I can. (a)
(a) and such
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