Why I do not watch TV!
There is a reoccuring topic in the great conversations I have on Steemit: The state of Television. Often it is met with the phrase "I do not watch TV", but why is that? How did it get to this? Was TV always that bad? What can we do!?
Warning: Video is slightly graphic towards the later half
Adam Freeland - We want your soul, the unofficial video.
The "why?" is very simply answered. It is about control. If you narrate what is said on TV, you can determine the public opinion. Such a powerful tool will get used, it is borderline insane to believe otherwise. There are no mechanisms in place for the demos/the people to control media, other than they can infiltrate it. Many journalists are not as high on the social ladder as they would love to be.
There is even a pseudo-mechanism to ensure objective media in Germany. It is called GEZ. Every German household has to pay the GEZ (about 17,50€ per month). With these funds the state tv ARD, ZDF, WDR and many other smaller "public" stations are mainly financed.
The thought behind this is to make them independent from corporate money. But with the German state just being an extension of the industrial complex, there is no real difference in the content shown in state and private media, the private stations just tend to be more flashy in their presentation.
On a side note state tv is called public-right television in Germany when you translate it literally, "right" as in your right to vote (Öffentlich-rechtliches Fernsehen). Subtle brainwashing through pretty words at its best!
Now to the "How did it get so bad?" and "was it always that bad?" I am just too young for a substantial contribution, sure I can research what happened and speculate, but a 30 year old brat like is just not the best source on this topic. I would love to hear @dwinblood and @everittdmickey on their decision to quit watching TV, they both unplugged a long time ago, they should be formidable witnesses on the state of media in the past. Would be great to see a post by them instead of just a comment on the topic.
original upload http://s6.photobucket.com/user/DKantrowitz/
My own process of unplugging was quite unspectacular. Since the time I developed my political consciousness (about 20 years ago, age 13) I was aware that 'you can not trust everything the TV says', which developed over the years into 'If you hear it on the news, it is most likely fabricated or out of context, better check it on the net and find out what is really happening'.
Funny thing is that this is not the reason I do not watch TV, it is rather quite hedonistic: The entertainment in the landscape of US series/shows is so vastly superior to Germans, that I only watch the english originals on Netflix or other streaming portals.
It started with Japanese Anime, that stuff was hard to come by in the year 200X Germany, so I started watching it with German subtitles. The first Anime I watched with subs was NGE and I even did a recent article on it here, it got me hooked for more anime. In the anime world english subs are always faster available than german and being the Otaku I was I wanted to watch my stuff asap. It was a bit of a struggle because I used to be a very bad english speaker growing up, but I have to thank Japanese anime for teaching me english after some time. The first US series that got me really hooked and in some way blew my mind was Sopranos, a criminally underrated/unknown show in Germany.
picture from Pearl Jam- Do the Evolution (official video)
So, that is my story on why I don't watch TV. It is more of a coincidence that I despise the entertainment brought to me by my local stations and that I am a harsh critic of todays state of journalism. Of course you can talk about the technical superiority of streaming vs only being able to watch a certain program to certain time. But I think I rambled enough for now :D
I would enjoy a discussion in the comments and new posts on this topic. If I don't follow you and you post about your relation to TV, please add me so I notice it.
I remember going completely off the grid for 4 months. No tv, no internet. I read mostly books at that point and spend most of my day riding my bike in town. It was quite enlightening. A totally different world.
I'm with you @thatgermandude , and congrats with really hitting a nerve in our community with your post!
![IMG_3588.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://s23.postimg.org/guhzfhj4r/IMG_3588.jpg)
I haven't watched tv or Netflix in my home thus far in 2017.
So many great books to read
and excellent TED talks and lectures to witness. 🙂
I love watching movies on flights and when out being social, mind you - however tv has such a low return on the investment of my time that I'm no longer interested. I do have favorites from the past however, and 100% they were time well spent:
Game of Thrones, The Blacklist, Breaking Bad, 24, Gotham, Jessica Jones.
All excellent, if you haven't seen them, check 'em out.
Congrats again on this post brother! @scan0017 🤝
Ted talks are great, but sometimes also dumb. Remember "just do it!"? :D But a lot of them have been eye openers. Actually a Ted talk about the dark net made me look more into it, followed by crypto, followed by Steem. :D So Ted brought me here in a sense, I almost forgot about that!
Westworld and Legion should be able to break your hunger strike btw ;) and thanks for the support and commenting! 👍
Oh and I got stuck on JJ, on episode 2 or 3. It had that creepy atmosphere that I just personally don't like. Is it really that good that I should sit through the parts I dont like? I watched all other Marvel series and love Davids Doctor.
I watched the series JJ straight through on Netflix twice ! Great binge-watching program!
Thank you for mentioning WestWorld - that was the very last series I enjoyed and forgot to mention 👍
Im telling you... Legion... oh wait we already talked on another post about that one :D. I will definitely give JJ another try! Haven't watched much entertainment lately always just politics and news...
You remembered! 😀
Legion is the next show I'll watch on my next long haul flight; my thanks again for the recommendation 😊
Good article. Not only are people leaving TV in droves because they are catching on to the propaganda, but also the "entertainment" content is so insultingly bad people just don't see any value in paying for cable, especially when there are plenty of other platforms with MUCH better content. THink about this: When I was buying a fiberop internet package, the service provider told me that for internet alone I would be paying $99/Mo but if bundled it with home phone and Cable TV (like 200 channels) it would only cost $109/Mo. I went with internet only. Home phone AND cable TV put together was not worth $10 to me!!! TV as we know it is so done.
You are right, man. Same thing with me. Internet and netflix is better entertainment, and that's it. If you protest or not, they do not give a sxxxt, since they get the money anyway. But that doesn't force you to watch what you do not want to watch :-)
By your request: https://steemit.com/philosophy/@dwinblood/by-request-why-i-stopped-watching-tv
Yay! I got dwinblood talking about me and its not about how I want to start WW3! xD
Sry I couldnt resist xD. Thank you very much for your post!!!! I think I will read it tomorrow its already late here again and i feel pretty tired.
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Watch online here
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Click here:
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