[This rant is a result of a request in response to my rant meme by jumbach. He asked for a rant on “televisions in public places, especially those where they’re really not needed such as above checkout lines in supermarkets.” Do you want a rant? Then reply to the rant meme… and follow the instructions and post it to your own journal. It is a wonderful creative writing exercise. ]
[He walks out, with a soapbox. He sets it on the ground. He climbs up on it, and speaks…]
My generation has been called the TV generation. We were the first generation to grow up with TV: Children’s TV show hosts, sitcoms. Yeah, it was black and white. Yeah, the screens were small. But we’ve been sucking at that electronic teat all our lives.
But this time, they’ve gone too far.
I go to the market, and there’s a TV screen on my cart (well, actually, I don’t see that, but I go to Trader Joes… but I have seen it). I go to pump gas… and the pump has a TV screen. I go to the restaurant, and there’s a TV on. There’s one at the car dealer. There are screens everywhere, hawking this and hawking that. Further, whereas there used to be entertainment everywhere, it is now ads. Sell this. Buy that. We advertise via TV for folks to buy stuff 24 hours a day (we even advertise on the Internet)… and then we wonder why debt is so high, and our society is so consumerist.
Perhaps this is why I prefer stage production: live actors, entertaining the audience, in the theatre, in a central part of town, where everyone has paid for the entertainment. No ads. Just talent.
But I digress. This trend of TV everywhere: it’s just wrong. When I shop, I want to shop, from my list, not your ad. When I buy gas, I don’t need your stupid ads. TV has its place: as one form of entertainment in a home. If we keep this up, we’ll be in the world of Max Headroom, with TV ssss-sss-sss-set every-every-every where. If you recall, that wasn’t a very nice world.
[He carefully climbs off the soapbox. He picks it up, and walks offstage.]
