Off The Cuff

Television Time: What Do You Watch? Will You Admit It?

Posted by: From Arkansas in Music and TV, My Take on Things on Mar 12 2008

Welcome back!

Having realized that this is not a hot button issue, I just wanted to talk about it for a bit for the heck of it. Frankly, in the last several years, television simply is not what it used to be. Some of it really is better but, for the most part, it is not. It is filled with sexual situations, bad grammar, portrayals of dysfunctional families that shows our children what not to do but they learn what to do instead. Then, there are those reality shows, some of which are good, not so good and some that are hideous.

I do not plan on going into what’s hideous because I would rather forget it. We do watch some television shows, of course, though not many. You know, I do recall that some years ago, I used to be in front of the TV for long periods of time, meaning a couple of hours a day. I guess that would be when I was a kid and a teen. Those shows, although many were totally corny by today’s standards, were really great because they had some type of moral to the story. Lassie, My Friend Flicka, The Lone Ranger, Sky King, Bonanza, Fury, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Tyler Moore, American Bandstand and so many more. While some were simply entertainment shows, some had a good moral message. And at the same time, these shows were clean, without sexual intent, situations or language. What happened to those types of shows?

The answer to that is that our society has become more and more interested in sexual situations, language and intent. We want to be shocked. We are ready to watch someone’s disaster as entertainment. Don’t believe it? Do you ever go by a car accident in your car and go much slower because you want to see what was going on? Almost all people do that. It may be horrible but it’s also exciting negatively, shocking. So, is it any wonder that people want to see more and more excitement in their movies and television shows. I know that I like the latest movies that have all those special effects that were not available 40 years ago.

A number of years ago, a news program showed a video of a news reporter in a very dangerous area at the time. There was a war going on. I may not be able to remember the details of where it was but I certainly can remember what happened in the video. The reporter wanted to get a story from one of the leaders of the opposition. He was told to get on his knees in front of the cameras and the leaders men as well as the crew. With absolutely no regard for the reporter whatsoever, the leader of that group shot the reporter in the head and killed him on camera. That was reality television. It was horrible, horrifying and I can still see it in my mind all these years later. Why on earth do we need to have that type of television on for our children to see?

What happens when the children get too much reality, too many gory television shows and movies? For one thing, you get people who have little compassion, cold hearts, a lack of interest in humanity. Why? Because they have been conditioned to be cold, non-caring individuals. If we want our children to grow up with the same values that we had, we need to spend more time with the kids and turn the TV off. If that does not work for you, at least be there to see what the kids are watching and monitor it.

And then there is that one last problem. The parent does not see anything wrong with some of these shows. Yep, that happened because they, too, grew up watching TV and seeing the same things I did. Yes, I have some of the same problems because I have also been conditioned to think these shows were just fine. How do I know? Well, it happened when our nieces came to stay with us for a while. They were quite young. We had some movies that we thought they would like. One in particular was a family favorite for a lot of people. You would definitely recognize the name of it. The youngest watched it and was extremely scared with one part of the show. I could not believe that had happened.

But see, here’s the thing. We do not know what will influence a child in these movies and TV shows. I recall a number of scenes in those old shows but I also remember a couple of scenes from the Alfred Hitchcock TV show too. Those were terrible for me and I still remember the scenes as if I saw them yesterday. At the time, I had nightmares. So, what our children watch is very important and the fact that many parents do not see anything wrong with what’s on today is very telling about our society.

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