Turn That Damn Thing Off!

By: Matthew P. Holbert

Television is the greatest threat to humanity since the atom bomb. It is the
instrument of influence, which molds the mind. By getting people to reflect what is
projected from the television, people are not only made dumber, they are effectively
personifications of television itself.
The active personification of human inventions is not so uncommon; our elected
officials are the personification of government, our police are the personification of the
law, and our people are the personification of their culture. Television is but an element,
an ingredient in the soup of our collective soul. No less devastating however, is
televisions ability to directly influence the mind.
When we watch television, our minds are being fed but one train of thought, one
set of images. The slow pace of television, relative to the immense amount of potential
information in any given scenery or event, is retarding to the brain. You would need a
thousand televisions to make up for the lack of information presented on television.
More importantly though, television has massive potential for cultural
conditioning: propaganda, the spreading of psychological norms, and the setting of
standards that are racist, unreasonable, or simply fake; all can have detrimental effects on
society. Namely, the effects on races that go against the arbitrary norms set by
Anglophile fashion standards cause: a preference for lighter skins in former European
empire nations, a preference for strait hair, and a preference for round eyes in Asian
countries, along with the implied preference for wealth and consumption that is
encouraged.
The effects of cultural conditioning are usually unrecognized as prejudiced, and
go unnoticed by the culturally conditioned peoples of the world. However, the reality
remains that these nonsensical trends exist, and persist as a significant societal trouble for
the people who are affected. What is not recognized by the people harmed
psychologically, inwardly, by these styles and trends, is the inherent nonsense and
illegitimacy and even non existence of their validity—in fact the validity only exists as
long as the one affected recognizes the trends as valid, and allows them to mold ones
psychology in such a way that harm ones sensibility. That harm, which is caused by the
cultural conditioning is what forces one to “improve” ones self, so as to conform to the
mold, which their society expects of them.
Ostensibly, television is a mere entertainment box, innocent and imperative in the
modern age—and we should be asking why—but truly, televisions nature is more like a
preacher or a religious pulpit. In the past, religions needed you to come to them, and they
were only able to control your way of behaving for one day of the week. Now, not only is
the preacher in your home seven days a week, preaching in such a way that you must
remain docile and complacent, but he is inserting far more effectively ideas and ways of
thinking into your mind.
Indeed, if television is the preacher, its religion is that of the corporate empire.
The oligarchic super empire of the modern age. The churches of this empire are the malls
and the corporate skyscrapers that stand tallest in the land, proclaiming the greatness of
the empire. The dollar, or whatever paper fiat currency, is its symbol and ultimate
lifeblood, second only to our senseless consumption.
The insanity of it all, not only is that this empire is a dehumanizing force for
destruction of the human race, perpetuated by the violence we see on TV every day, but
that it is indeed so overwhelmingly great, and has given humanity its vastest desires, and
fulfilled its wildest dreams. The problem though, is that this order is irresponsible. Not
only are the men and women who contribute to the delinquency of humankind not held
accountable, they are praised by the governments and government officials that pray at
their feet.
The natural state of humankind is to discover, to create, and to be brilliant. The
corporate empire has suppressed this natural state, depressed the potential for
generations, and devalued the human being as a so-called “worthless eater.”
However, because it is the natural state of humankind to seek understanding of the
world around, and be brilliant, once these suppressive forces are uplifted, the natural state
will be inhabited as quickly as you can turn off a television.