[TheForge] [YAK] TV (Was: Shortcut Sword?)

[shannell Sugrue]

Wow, well I wont say anything about my home theater then....
I do wish I had more discipline, but manage to keep tv down to about 3 hours
a day, then theres the computer....



> We didn't have electricity until my kids were about 8 so the gift TV
> from the in-laws sat in the attic.  Then we got power and watched TV.
> I kvetched about it but I zombied, too.  To salve my conscience, I
> ranted about how destructive it was and tried to point out to the kids
> the ways in which the medium manipulates yr mind and creates a
> specious reality.
>
> When the boys were about 12, they dropped the TV down the stairs while
> we weren't at home and broke it.  After a hasty conference, they hit
> on a strategy.  When we came home, they announced that they had been
> thinking about my comments and had put it away in the attic.  It was
> several years later before there was something in the news (Reagan
> getting shot, maybe?) that merited digging out the TV and then the
> story came out.
>
> Just this year, my wife dragged home an "old" TV her (former) boss was
> disposing of.  (Hey, did you know you can have TV in *color* now?)  We
> use it once in a while to watch video tapes but otherwise it sits face
> to wall in a corner.  We go to the cinema to see a movie, then come
> home and rent the tape.  By plugging a set of computer speakers into
> the VCR, I can cuddle with my own personal speaker and can then hear
> the sound-track dialog that I missed in the cinema due to my hearing
> loss. (Um, right.  Wear those ear muffs during power hammering,
> recreational explosions, air and abrasive tool use etc.)