Five years with No Television
172 2014-03-14 by grandmacaesar
All my life, I've been a news nerd. As a kid I read the paper front to back, and I watched the nightly news with my dad. Most of my adult life, I've received both daily and weekly papers, and always watched the news on multiple outlets.
Seven years ago, a lady showed me a ten-second video of the collapse of WTC7. Over the next couple of years, I wondered why our media had never shown us that “collapse”. It seemed to me that surely, at least one network would've picked up on this obvious demolition, and would've aired it non-stop; other networks would follow, and a new investigation would be done into all the events of that day. It slowly dawned on me that none of our mainstream media can be trusted.
I've been five years tv-free this month. So when I watch a video clip of msm tv, this is what I see:
I see a guy with a respectable haircut, wearing a nice suit, sitting at a desk. He is not looking me in the eye, but he is pretending to. He is acting like he is looking me in the eye, and he is gesturing with his hands, shoulders, head, facial expressions, trying to convince me that he is here in my living room with me, in an attempt to gain my trust.
But in reality, it's just an actor looking into a camera lens, reading off a teleprompter. A simple job for an actor, really...just reading his/her lines off cue cards. But the higher paid actors really put effort into the craft, with the rise and fall of the voice, and the use of body language---all by careful design---as the actor is being paid to convince us that what he is reading at us is true. He is being paid to indoctrinate us. And for this ability to deceive we the people, he gets paid very well. Last I heard, Bill O was getting around $77K a day for his skills.
The higher paid actors are being paid to convince us that the words they are reading at us are their own thoughts. And as their characters are handsome and well-dressed, and obviously of above-average intelligence, their words carry weight. Things in this world may be bad, but this actor, pretending to be a hard-hitting investigative reporter, is reading words off a teleprompter, words that someone else wrote, words telling us what we should be outraged about, and that something will be done.
Cut to a commercial. Is this "news" making you depressed? Ask your doctor if this pill is right for you. It will be. And even though it won't get rid of the problems causing the depression, for some wonderful magical reason, you just don't care. (It's safe to take it though. Both tv and your doctor said so.)
Back to the "news" programming, check out the stage. Look at the red color and the white color and the blue color. We can trust these guys, indeed we must, because they are "patriotic". And we don’t want to be considered unpatriotic.
From the owners down to the studio twig-boys, they call themselves "the press". They have freedom of the press, as well as freedom of speech. Along with freedom of speech is the freedom to lie. The writers often have the "reading head" twisting and stretching the truth. It's usually sly, like "We're reporting now that..." (you see, they don't present it as truth, just that they are "reporting" it) or "Doctors say..." or "Sources say..." or "We're getting word that..." It removes liability, distancing the person playing the role of "newsman" as well as the network. Even if accused of slander, a quick "We misspoke..." at the tail-end of a Saturday night broadcast will get them off the hook.
We know this, all of us. None of us really think that the newsman is in the room with us. We can see that Beck and Blitzer and Maddow and all the others are just reading, but we still don't see. Until we unplug the tv, we don't fully know how it controls us and the lives of everyone around us.
tldr: unplug yr tv.
156 comments
32 no1113 2014-03-14
Coming on sixteen over here.
16 boncros 2014-03-14
Congrats to you both. Cut the cord people
0 no1113 2014-03-14
Agreed, good sir. It tends to begin making you a bit more of a critical thinker when you do so and cut the cord.
12 NonUniformRational 2014-03-14
Must be coming up to my tenth. I was an addict growing up, so many are. It sounds harsh but I honestly don't trust people's opinions if I know they watch a lot of TV.
it seems about 80%(made up, but seems likely) of people in the west, their only hobby is watching TV. No creative outlets for people, just pure brainwashing.
5 no1113 2014-03-14
I wish I could disagree with a lot of this, sir, but it seems valid as well to me. I would almost say that if somehow, magically, every tv could suddenly be taken away from every home in America...the nation would have a revolution against the established order within half a year tops...And I mean a REAL revolution. I don't necessarily mean a violent one. I mean it could be a non violent one where people really do intelligently decide to engage in civil disobedience and simply not partake of the system we currently live in. It would become difficult to police the citizens because a lot of the police themselves would be on the side of the citizenry if we were all to drop our tvs.
5 ih8peoplemorethanyou 2014-03-14
13 years. Bravo.
4 no1113 2014-03-14
Awesome. Glad to see so many others are doing it as well.
4 Erus00 2014-03-14
Going on 5 years.
I still have a tv, but if it counts, its only hooked up to my computer. It gives me more control over what I see. I'm currently watching reddit on tv.
Edit: plus youtube and other videos are easier for me to watch on a large tv vs a small computer screen.
6 Quicheauchat 2014-03-14
That's not a TV, thats a big screen. Completely different
1 Erus00 2014-03-14
The only thing that sucks over a monitor is the resolution, but the lower res does make it easier to see from further away.
2 no1113 2014-03-14
Seems like Quicheauchat has a point.
3 flashen 2014-03-14
4 years here :) best ive ever done
2 no1113 2014-03-14
Rock N Roll, sir. Keep going. :)
1 ChuanFaFist 2014-03-14
Do you watch movies, shows?
3 no1113 2014-03-14
Movies? Occasionally - here and there, but not very often, honestly. Most movies I think are absolute trash, so I simply can't bring myself to watch them. Every now and then, I go through and see the trailers of what's coming out, and I am singularly disgusted with how lacking in worth I find most plots.
Shows? No. I can't remember the last television show that I've actually watched.
1 ChuanFaFist 2014-03-14
I tend to agree, I just wondered what people mean by forgoing tv.
2 no1113 2014-03-14
In terms of "foregoing tv", I personally mean I literally got rid of my television and never got another one all those many years ago. There's, of course, youtube, dvds, online media, etc, etc, but - as I mentioned in the response I gave to your question - I'm pretty careful about what I watch.
2 ChuanFaFist 2014-03-14
Hell of a commitment, what changes for you? I get really tired of watching shit these days.
2 no1113 2014-03-14
Well, to be honest with you, sir, it doesn't actually really feel like that big of a commitment to me because - with the exception of what I used to mindlessly/brainlessly watch when I was a young kid - I can't really say that there is really all that much on television that I was ever really particularly attached to.
My parents were both strict working class people, and even though me and my two sisters used to absolutely hate the fact that we were like the ONLY kids in school that didn't have cable television, it actually turned out to be a pretty amazing blessing in disguise because we (or at least definitely I) never got attached really to what was "the new, cool trend!" going on in the MSM that all the kids would goo goo ga ga over in school.
Well, it's been a long time that I've been like this, so maybe I'm not really all that aware of whatever changes took place. Even when I did have a tv, however, I didn't have cable, so there really wasn't that much that I would watch all that often.
I guess, perhaps, not all that much changed for me because I grew up never really having been too attached to tv in the first place.
Perhaps there would have been more of a change if I was a tv-aholic, but I never was at all (thank God).
I wouldn't if I thought what was on was good...but I know that the few times in my life that I've been at someone's house with a tv that has like a million channels in it and I've bothered to see for a moment if there was anything of any sort of interest on...I just flipped, and flipped, and flipped, and it seemed like literally ALL the channels SUCKED!! I was like "Damn! I there anything on that’s not stupid?" and I'd just turn it off after a while.
1 karma2doge 2014-03-14
Exchanging 30 upvotes to doge. --> +/u/dogetipbot 30 doge (courtesy of SuchMiner)
How do I go about collecting my doge?
1 no1113 2014-03-14
Man...This flew so hard over my head. I clicked on the links...and still don't really know what the hell it is. ELI5?
1 karma2doge 2014-03-14
Hey! Dogecoin is another way of saying "I like your comment". It's an internet currency (much like karma) except it can be exchanged for actual cash :) Here, you can exchange doge -> amazon gift cards :)
0 Saicotic 2014-03-14
It's like Bitcoin but shittier.
2 no1113 2014-03-14
So...what exactly can I use to get these gift cards from Amazon or Dominos Pizza or whatever? Is it my upvotes or overall karma points that can be used? I still don't really get it...
1 Saicotic 2014-03-14
I'll try to ELI5.
/u/karma2doge is a bot (overseen by a human, as evidenced by his responses) that picks upvoted comments at random and gifts them a number of dogecoins equivalent to how many upvotes they received and sends them a link to SuchMiner.com. The real trick here is that the bot only picks comments with a somewhat low number of upvotes (less than 1,000). 1,000 dogecoin isn't enough to get any gift cards or anything (a $5 USD costs a little over 7,000 dogecoin).
The goal is for you to be enticed into joining SuchMiner.com to get enough dogecoins to get a gift card. Once you set it up, your computer is put to work at some difficult math. Whenever your computer finishes one of these math problems, you get a small amount of dogecoin (and SuchMiner takes a cut).
Hope I made that clear enough. Ask me if you're still unclear.
tl;dr it's a marketing ploy, he's basically handing you a few Chuck E. Cheese tokens and telling you that if you do some work for him, he'll give you more, and then you can exchange your tokens for real money.
2 no1113 2014-03-14
Thanks much for that. Makes a lot more sense now. Thanks but no thanks. I'll pass.
26 4to3 2014-03-14
Television news is like professional wrestling. If you watch it every day, you buy into the illusion and start to believe it is real. But if you don't watch it for a few years, then come back to look at it, you immediately see how phony it all is.
3 archonemis 2014-03-14
I want my news T.V..
1 Leiby02 2014-03-14
Idk man I walked away from professional wrestling for 4 years and when I went bak I got hooked again
20 LogosFlux 2014-03-14
I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore
17 10thflrinsanity 2014-03-14
At some point many of us go through exactly what you did. At one point I was an avid reader of the NYTimes and worshipper of the liberal Paul Krugman (and respected the opinions of Thomas Friedman and David Brooks as well). My car dial was always tuned to NPR in the morning/evening commute, then I watched PBS' Newshour and Business Report almost nightly, and often Charlie Rose as well. I felt like I was getting the most objective news sources available in the newsmedia, sans all the emotional baggage you find on CNN, MSNBC, and obviously FOX.
Then I read Chomsky and Herman's Manufacturing Consent and my eyes were blasted wide open. Anyone else read this? Around the same time picked up John Perkins Confessions of an Economic Hitman, Steven Kinzer's Overthrow, and Naomi Watts' The Shock Doctrine. I had also begun reading a lot of Chris Hedges' critiquing of the corportate state and started to follow journalists like Jeremy Scahill and Michael Hastings.
I feel like the names listed above are sort of the crucial wedges to open the doors of perception to see behind the veil of the corporatocracy, and obviously that list is not exhaustive, they were just the ones personally for me that opened my mind. Chomsky especially, despite his siding with the official story of 9/11.
I have been without TV more or less since I graduated college in 09 and there are few places I trust to get my news other than non-fiction historical and economic literature. Namely: Truthdig, Alternet, Truth-Out, The Intercept, and if I go mainstream (aside from Reddit and this subreddit) it's always Democracy Now or Financial Times. Anyone can feel free to add to the list because I am always looking for new credible sources of news.
I used to consider myself a democrat and even voted for Obama in 2008 before realizing my vote is not wasted going 3rd party. How anyone can continue to vote for the same oppression of the true one-party system we have (The "Business Party") is beyond me.
This being said, not everything that is found on the Internet is helpful. In fact, it has been harmful in many ways. The most specific example I can give is on the topic of climate change, a topic which almost always yields ignorant comments and downvotes when posted in this sub.
3 Eternal_Atom 2014-03-14
Interesting comment, do you have any more books I should read? I have been looking for some good ones as of late and I need to stock up for summer when I have more free time.
1 10thflrinsanity 2014-03-14
It's tough for me to remember everything I have on my bookshelf back home on the spot... I recently read Gernot Wagner's But Will the Planet Notice and picked up Avner Offer's The Challenge of Affluence which is proving to be a tough read. It will be a fight, but I hope a worthwhile one. My favorite topics of interest are environmental economics and critiques of the corporate state, I "calm my mind" (often this has the opposite effect) by reading stuff on eastern philosophy, consciousness, and space.
2 Necronomiconomics 2014-03-14
Krugman is a liberal, not a neoliberal. Friedman & Brooks are neoliberals.
Neoliberal means "free-markets first and privatize everything". In other words, Wall Streeters.
Krugman is not a privatizer. Friedman & Brooks are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
1 10thflrinsanity 2014-03-14
Apologies, absolutely correct. Typo. Thanks.
15 jimmyb207 2014-03-14
After being away from the TV even for a few months, the network news and MSM can be seen for what it really is...it's fucking mind control. It's all bullshit.
I rarely watch TV. Once in a while I like to "observe" the propaganda that is mistaken for "news". My favorite show is the evening news with Diane Sawyer...it blows my mind.
The acting is so obvious as they behave like they're so concerned with the matter at hand. The worried looks on the reporters faces...they are running out of vacines... "OMFG Diane! This couldn't of happened at a worse time! The Cow Pig Chicken flu is at Pandemic levels! A 98 year old woman has already died!"
The fear they try to conjure up is so blown out of proportion it's like satire. Making mountains out of mole hills is their specialty. But the worst is the absolute twisted version of what is really going on in the world that is the crime.
The MSM is a gigantic machine that forms our society by installing a false reality in our minds.
4 richtert 2014-03-14
Well put, well said.
12 fredman555 2014-03-14
Good on you sir. Its like looking at the world with a different pair if eyes isnt it? Going 10 years strong here. Parents cut the cord back when I was in middle school. Any "tv" I get is via computer and usually the daily show every once in a while.
At first it sucked, id always never know what the "cool thing" to be watching on tv was, people would talk and socialize over it and id feel left out. But then you begin to realize most of whats on tv is mind numbing time wasting garbage. Suddenly everyone sounds like a neaderthal talking about pretend people doing pretend things and getting emotional over them, only to forget a few months later when theyve moved on to another. Simply stupid.
Throw out your tv if you havnt already people.
7 Croissants 2014-03-14
good to see you've upgraded to http://www.reddit.com/
3 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Very well said.
10 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Someone's shadowbanned. Supposed to be three comments, but I only see two. I see 4to3 and LogosFlux.
Who missing?
6 LogosFlux 2014-03-14
agreed- looks like four comments on the sub page.
2 newtruth221 2014-03-14
Can u see this comment?
2 IAmNotHariSeldon 2014-03-14
I can.
2 newtruth221 2014-03-14
Good stuff, OP. :)
10 [deleted] 2014-03-14
Its great that someone can give this perspective after actually follow through with something we've all threatened to do at one time or another. For me, I think if people were more detached from artificial devices or preconceived notions of how the world is and just interacted with other human beings on a daily basis their perspective on life would be drastically different. Its like that comic strip where the little boy tells the tiger, if I remember correctly, that if everyone looked up at the night sky and saw the stars every day that they'd look at life differently, or something to that effect. Then again, the world prior to television was just as violent and prejudicial. Maybe its not about the device or the idea, but the power we give them over our thought process. Don't give any organization, person, entity, or idea free space in your head. They have to earn their way in not just by telling you that they're going to serve you, but actually doing so.
9 smokinbluebear 2014-03-14
I grew up on the Chicago Tribune. I remember being proud in 2nd or 3rd grade when the teacher told us that every wed-th-fri we would be getting the paper to read and analyze for our reading comprehension class. WOW--made me feel grown up. Now I see it was just a fucking indoctrination--an all out brainwashing.
The day after Feinstein gave her speech about the CIA spying on Senate staffers I was waiting for a friend to have lunch and there was a copy of the Trib sitting there. Before I even picked it up I knew they would have the Feinstein story BURIED...so I picked it up and looked for the story--it was on the bottom of page 13. Absolutely un-fucking-believable!!!
So I flipped back to the front page to see what was more important...the top story was a local murder trial (possibly with a political family)...the middle of the front page was a huge photo of some fathers receiving an award (this is where the Senate-CIA article should have been)...the other two stories were so trivial I don’t even remember what they were!!! at the top of the front page was a sports preview of the Chicago Bears off-season contract signings...
so the Tribune literally had 3 or 4 stories on the Chicago Bears on the front and back and inside of a separate Sports section...this coverage included color photos and actual analysis from 3 or 4 of the Tribune’s own writers. The story on the Senate-CIA scandal, which is actual fucking NEWS, was hidden towards the back of the front section with a B & W photo of Feinstein and written by the AP.
So yeah--I will never PAY for a newspaper or cable ever again. I read quite a bit online but I do find an actual BOOK in my hands to be time well spent. Reading articles online often only scratches the surface--a BOOK allows the author time to present background and delve into the issues. I’ve also found that good books often lead to other good books if you read the bibliography!!!
btw: CONGRATS on the 5 years with NO TV!!! I really wish more of us would commit to BOYCOTTING TV and the MSM
3 redandterrible 2014-03-14
The answer is because if they started putting stories like that as the main one, and stopped covering "trivial" matters they would lose the vast majority of their readership and go out of business.
7 virgule 2014-03-14
I believe it to be closer to the truth that the news/newspapers are showing us whatever the fuck it is they want us to see. Ratings and readerships are an excuse to publish trivialities, not the reason.
I can support my point with people who want to hear music on MTV and learn about history on History Channel...
edit: I have a better one. The original Star Trek series. The franchise was losing MILLIONS, yet, it kept going for some reasons. The ratings only got a bump for that first kiss on television thing, late-ish in the series. It's millions of dollars from back when the world was still largely black and white, mind you. :)
0 redandterrible 2014-03-14
Controversial opinion - it was the only decent series of Star Trek. And I say that as a hardcore sci-fi fan!
MTV showing music, or History Channel showing history gets my vote though. It should do what it says on the tin.
1 digdog303 2014-03-14
Tng is the best series i've ever watched.
2 downtowne 2014-03-14
Ahh yes the conditioning is very effective. I would say the readership is not in a "natural" state but rather are induced to have short attention spans that crave nonsense news as opposed to real news. Sort of like people have been induced to love crappy junk food instead of real food.
9 anonymous8484 2014-03-14
8 years for me. Seeing CNN on occasion on other people's tvs makes me want to vommit.
13 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Agreed.
Afternoon talk shows, with the "live studio audience members" that offer up pre-written, rehearsed questions.
Inane sports chatter.
Placing Hillary on a pedestal for 2016.
Commercials.
Just thinking about tv makes me sick.
2 ILOVEACIDMAYBE 2014-03-14
I am the same after psychedelics...can't watch 5 minutes of the propaganda tube.
1 SpoonNinja 2014-03-14
Wow do I ever agree with you.
7 gravgp2003 2014-03-14
Exactly my experience. The commercials are so laughable now. I can't even imagine that most, if not all, of the marketing strategies even being effective to a truly educated audience.
"Hey nerd, if you drink this beer then hot chicks will think you are funny and want to hang out with you!" Wtf, no.
News is a joke. Watch any "breaking story" and they will change their reports multiple times with no apology. Made a mistake "fuck it" just say that a new source claims insert bullshit here.
The younger generation isn't putting up with it anymore. We are going to see a big change once the boomers are gone. The media will need to adjust to bring people back. Hopefully that means they will acutally do investigative journalism, which is now banished almost exclusively to the internet. Cheers.
3 ILOVEACIDMAYBE 2014-03-14
You mean something like VICE News? Already happening ;) boomers are dying
2 [deleted] 2014-03-14
Internet + adblock = no more annoying ads. I'd rather pay subs to certain sites than watch craptastic ads.
2 gravgp2003 2014-03-14
Throw Ghostery on there as well. It will block a lot of social networking stuff and trackers. It's free.
2 [deleted] 2014-03-14
[deleted]
1 gravgp2003 2014-03-14
Good call. I'm going to switch over.
6 eenymeenymineyshemp 2014-03-14
A bit over 10 years for our family, we've never missed it.
5 saurongetti 2014-03-14
Best thing is people pay money to get someone else's propaganda.
5 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
I know, right? Prior to 1980, we paid for tv by watching the ads.
Now millions of people pay $100 a month or more every single month for "programming".
3 saurongetti 2014-03-14
Yeah, 1.2 grand a year. Applies to newspaper as well.
4 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Yeah I stopped getting the daily paper too. Prior to that, I thought I could read between the lines, but I was just getting the hidden message the media owners had placed there for me.
2 [deleted] 2014-03-14
Cable was sold as being able to pay for tv with no ads. Now that only applies to the high end channels.
5 TodaysIllusion 2014-03-14
I stopped television as soon as we could read news on the internet, late 1988.
4 iTSSOGRiM 2014-03-14
10 years :)
5 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
It's wonderful, isn't it? It's a feeling of freedom I wish everyone would enjoy.
3 iTSSOGRiM 2014-03-14
Yeah, Its a bit hard to say what would have been different seeing how i dont have both experiences. One thing is clear though, its been positive, together with eating better and stopped drinking I feel really good and believe my thinking to be quite clear :D
Good work yourself btw.
2 dvrzero 2014-03-14
You're eating better? Dont mention that on reddit because no matter how you define "eating well" you're wrong. Non-GMO? Fucking hippy. No starch? Lunkhead meathead. Keto? Have some steroids. Calorie count? Nerd. No fast food? Stop making fat people feel bad about not having any time. Avoiding....... Well you get it.
I love learning about nutrition and never have understood why it is the one thing that can polarize everyone. Diet and food intake.
Weird!
2 iTSSOGRiM 2014-03-14
Well said :)
4 catholic__cock 2014-03-14
I went 4 years with no cable, only did Netflix and movie downloads. After we moved, internet access sucked so we got dish network. Holy fucking shit, EVERY COMMERCIAL is for a drug. And the national nightly news is infuriating, it's a half hour of propoganda
4 Maxwyfe 2014-03-14
I quit watching the news, but I'll be damned if I will give up The Walking Dead.
2 21022012 2014-03-14
i still watch select shows via download, ad free. most quality shows have little or no propaganda, if they do have any it just gets filtered out. if it gets too much i stop watching the show.
3 freethnkrsrdangerous 2014-03-14
Love it, well said.
/edit 7 years unplugged here
3 plusrock 2014-03-14
I'll try.
6 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
It was really easy to quit. I just filled the space with things I loved to do, which turned out to be everything except watch tv.
3 tft2 2014-03-14
On the plus side, people under 30 are cutting the cord and none of them are watching the news. There's hope yet!
6 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
That's true. I have several friends around the 30 year mark that have unplugged. They are adamant in their reason for doing it, and like me, they'll never go back.
2 [deleted] 2014-03-14
Honestly if I want fiction I'll stick with stuff that is supposed to be fiction - not fiction sold as "news".
2 downtowne 2014-03-14
I think that is cause for optimism. However, is it your experience that they are no longer watching the news (which should be referred to as blatant propaganda) and are watching the sitcoms and sports etc (which should be referred to as "programming" or mental conditioning.)? Because, if that is the case then they are descending into a fantasy world. They avoid one pitfall in favor of stepping into a syrupy sweet one that caters to base instincts.
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3 dvrzero 2014-03-14
Wait so I am called ignorant because I don't watch news shows?
Wow, fuck reddit.
Over a decade without satellite, cable, or over the air, here. For a long time I relied on friends and Slashdot. Then just friends.
Now I realize why all the other news sources didn't appeal to me. I'm ignorant. Whee.
1 mollymollykelkel 2014-03-14
I hate /r/conspiritard. I don't agree with 90% of what's posted on /r/conspiracy, but shaming people for questioning authority while using an ablest slur is so gross.
EDIT: And it's a private sub of course. Icky Icky Icky.
1 anotherdamnsnowflake 2014-03-14
Where do your friends get their news?
3 CrazyH0rs3 2014-03-14
I haven't had tv for 13 years, mostly because I had no interest or time anyway. When I stay in a hotel occasionally I'll try to watch news. You notice something-all TV is the same really. Sports, documentaries, "news", are all telling you what to think and how to react. Everything you get out of a TV documentary could be summarized in a short article, every time.
3 [deleted] 2014-03-14
4 years without tv here.
3 konspirate 2014-03-14
The Truman Show...
3 WadeWilsonforPope 2014-03-14
I havent had cable TV in about 7 years but I will still watch Netflix, movies and documentaries.
My logic is im not exposing myself to nearly as much advertising.
2 gizadog 2014-03-14
Radio is the same way. It listen to Sat and online streaming 99% of the time. Once in a while my car switches to the local radio and they are still playing the same old crap music and 15 mins of commercials they were 10 years ago.
I coined radio "commercials with music breaks".
3 [deleted] 2014-03-14
It's funny when people come up to me to talk about this or that reality show; I try to explain that I no longer watch broadcast television and I get this look like I'm the one who's strange.
3 mollymollykelkel 2014-03-14
2 years for me. It's amazing how much brighter the world looks.
2 NsaAdvisor 2014-03-14
you know the internet isn't much different to the TV
14 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Actually it is. Everything we see on the tv has been scripted, edited, and produced. Camera angles are planned, actors are hired, lines are rehearsed, all to support an agenda. The entirety of television programming is in the hands of just a few people. Not so on the net.
2 [deleted] 2014-03-14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird
http://www.examiner.com/article/snowden-government-infiltrates-websites-uses-social-media-to-deceive-destroy
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/24/1233480/-NSA-Review-Panel-Member-Advocated-Infiltrating-Social-Media-To-Increase-Faith-In-Government
Not really. Use critical thinking when looking at any news source. Govts infiltrate the net just like they did with TV and Radio.
3 AssuredlyAThrowAway 2014-03-14
One of the links you posted in this comment caused your comment to go automatically into the reddit spam filter. I've approved the comment, but you may want to keep an eye on this situation as none of your links we're spam.
3 [deleted] 2014-03-14
Creepy. Someone must be mad that the fact that they're trying to Mockingbird the net has been exposed on news sites.
3 AssuredlyAThrowAway 2014-03-14
Oh they're very mad indeed. This sub has suffered some really weird attacks the past week (a conspirtard even preemptively posted a Streisand thread here over the sandyhookjustice removal, just so he could reveal his post as a troll once it got to the top and force us to take it down and stop discussion of the sandyhoojustice censorship). Fucked up shit.
3 dsprox 2014-03-14
It's insanely different because you can stop reading/viewing instantly whenever you want in order to search for verification of the information you are receiving.
In that manner, the internet is extremely different from television, also for the fact that you can view whatever information you want WHENEVER you want.
TV and the Internet are massively different, but I get what you are saying in that the internet has been corrupted as well, don't trust things just because they're on the internet.
2 thetimeisnow 2014-03-14
Ok then go make a video and put it on TV for us to watch.
-1 Shillyourself 2014-03-14
You gonna back that up? or...
6 redandterrible 2014-03-14
I've not watched TV for about nine years (Wow, that went fast!), and I'd agree with this too.
5 fxpip 2014-03-14
/r/worldnews
1 [deleted] 2014-03-14
Why the fuck would anyone need a source for this?
Grow up.
3 Shillyourself 2014-03-14
Was I asking for a source? No. I am asking him to add weight to his claim that "the internet is like television."
2 downtowne 2014-03-14
Good point, some including myself were a bit confused about what you were saying. Thanks for clarifying. Here's an upvote.
2 hamtaylor 2014-03-14
TV is there tool now, it's a shame that so many are bewitched. There is freedom in the internet. We can't let them take that away.
2 totes_meta_bot 2014-03-14
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2 Ocolus_the_bot 2014-03-14
I too, prefer getting my news from the internet.
by: /u/Dr_Medic345
Upvotes: 103 | Downvotes: 30 | Timestamp of this thread.
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2 paulxombie1331 2014-03-14
I do have cable at my apartment, a tv in my room, one in my roommates room, and one in the living room. when my tv is on its either my ps3 or pc thats ever connected. Once in a blue il watch a movie on demand.. my tv is split to the living rooms cable so I would have to watch whatever is on when my friends and roommates use the tv. Sometimes Il see what they watch in glancing. and tv is just way too ridiculous now. the non stop advertising pointless news stories retarded mind melting shows. I go crazy when I hear them watching something stupid.
its been about a year for me. I go out a lot or am upstate at my girlfriends.. they don't have a tv I have a pile of books and my cell. im content with that.
and my friends think im the odd one cuz I never know what the "in show" is.
2 spoons2020 2014-03-14
7 1/2 myself
2 lordkerian 2014-03-14
Late bloomer I suppose. Going on 3 years no TV for me.
2 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
In the grand scheme of things (from the beginning of time to infinity), we've all stopped watching tv at pretty much the exact same time.
2 ENYAY7 2014-03-14
While I can't admit to no TV, I can say I've gone 4 years without a cable subscription, just paying for local internet. I still watch TV shows (netflix) but no commercials and I can pick what I watch, same with the news online.
1 Ocolus_the_bot 2014-03-14
Ignorance is hope...
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Upvotes: 133 | Downvotes: 38 | Timestamp of this thread.
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1 oboecop 2014-03-14
Having worked in the local TV biz for over 20 years, it kind of makes me sad to see what the MSM has done in regards to trust issues with local news affiliates. All the paranoid FOX followers and rabid liberals thinking we are doing the others' agenda when nothing could be further from the truth. They are just fresh or 1-3 yr old reporters out there trying to find out why the city isn't taking care of problem X or issue Y, guided by a News Director who works hard to keep things balanced, all while trying to balance his budget.
I'm talking smaller cities here mind you (as that is my experience).
1 21022012 2014-03-14
12 years without here and yes it really is the only way to fly.
TV news, soaps, reality tv, political shows, chat shows, current affairs, hell, even the documentaries are tainted. When I am forced to sit thro some at friends or relatives its often highly amusing to me but I also nearly always have to excuse myself for some reason or another, or read while they are being programmed.
1 dirt-diver 2014-03-14
I also quit watching msm several years ago. I feel so much better all the time!
I do listen to noagendashow.com which attempts to deconstruct the BS that msm feeds us. Pretty good listen if you've got time.
1 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Thanks, I'll check into it. Have a cool day!
1 21022012 2014-03-14
the programs and news are one thing but then there are the the ads, rofl
1 joemarzen 2014-03-14
Except for special occasions, like 9/11, I didn't watch TV between 1999 and 2009. I felt I had seen all the stories before...
When I started watching again, the main thing I noticed was the subtle manipulation. Television talk show hosts mentioning a relatively unknown celebrities name 10 times in 30 seconds, things like that. I just watched Jimmy Fallon do that for Norman Remus the other day in fact. See, I remember his name. Similar things are all over the place if you look for them...
1 fuck_you_its_my_name 2014-03-14
I grew up without TV, I have never paid for cable, I have never watched the news.
to me, the msm news channels are creepy. But the creepier thing is how viewers treat channels like sports teams, vowing allegiance to either cnn, fox news, whatever they watch is their brand, and they are never wrong.
1 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
You're right. Some people raise their "newsman" to idol status, like their favorite sports figure or rock star.
1 MoneyIsTiming 2014-03-14
I haven't paid for cable service for 9 years, never bought a TV my entire life until 6 months ago, 32" HD for my Computer whahaha...I may occasionally watch TV when I'm a guest at someone's house and that's what they're doing at the moment; but I will freak out when they watch the news because of excessive commercials and one-sided reporting.
1 dallasinks 2014-03-14
I went without television for two years. It really is like a drug. You see another reality that others dont. You are out of step with everyone else. I now try to get some television in every day so I can be in touch with what everyone else is seeing
1 stormin5532 2014-03-14
Can i at least keep the movie channels?
1 dallasinks 2014-03-14
I keep it to sports, documentaries, and movies now. News broadcasters are selling the networks view of reality. They only broadcast what they deem important.
1 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Lol.
I do have a tv, and it is occasionally turned on, maybe once every two weeks or so.
I use it for DVDs, usually music vids. The kids got Space Ghost, PeeWee's Playhouse, and Radiohead vids for Christmas. We also use it for gaming.
But no external tv signals. My problem isn't with the device, but the content.
If anyone here is interested, there is a brilliant book called "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television" written in 1977 by a guy named Jerry Mander. He was an ad-man for 15 years before he saw tv for what it was.
1 Viva_la_Cascadia 2014-03-14
Coming up on my first year. Even though I rarely trusted what I heard there are still some unconscious effects of watching "reality" unfold in my living room. I feel like I've been unplugged from the matrix, it's kinda scary and shitty at first but once you're out you never want to go back.
1 THEBOOSTKING 2014-03-14
Parents brought me up without one I didnt like the idea when I was younger but now at least im not a sheep
1 krulos 2014-03-14
This. I used to read the newspaper daily and watch the news. It only made me mad and angry and cynical. Now that I stay away from it, I'm much happier. Same goes for frequenting Alex Jones and other fear monger cites. This is why I limit my dose of /r/conspiracy to once a month max.
0 daneoid 2014-03-14
I've been TV free for at least ten years, except Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and other good drama, which I download and watch on my computer. When I stay at my parents for a week every 2 years or so and they have it running, It just blows me away at how much of an outdated media format it is. Having said that, I come to a completely different conclusion than you, the media is there to make money, nothing more. They'll run a headline report on Justin Bieber while there is something infinitely more important that has a 30 second bit near the end. Is this because of a conspiracy to dumb us down or hide us from the truth? No, it's just much cheaper, easier and will get more ratings to do a report on JB than it is to send a reporter half way across the world to report on Ukraine. And they probably didn't report constantly on the collapse of WTC7 because it has a perfectly sound explanation that doesn't require any conspiracy theories.
7 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Say this out loud: "I believe a 47-story building can fall straight down into its own footprint in under 7 seconds due to fire."
You can work a computer. Are you sure you're so gullible that you can ignore basic laws of nature and physics? Because I'm of the mind (and I'm certain that most here will agree with me) that anyone that can look at the "collapse" of WTC7 and still think it was caused by fire (as our government claims) is an idiot.
-3 daneoid 2014-03-14
So I take it you don't count the west penthouse collapsing 8 seconds before the collapse of the outer shell as an indication that the interior had collapsed due to being gutted by fire? The outer shell fell at freefall due to it having no resistance because the insides had already collapsed.
4 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Ok. Let's count the penthouse.
47 - 1 = 46
Anyone who can look at a 46 story building fall straight down into it's own footprint in under 7 seconds, and still thinks it was caused by office fire, is an idiot.
Lol, you are either monumentally misinformed/disinformed, or you are aware, yet perversely attempting to push the "official" lie.
1 hamtaylor 2014-03-14
If NIST cant explain the collapse of WTC7, then im sure daneoid cant either.
1 [deleted] 2014-03-14
[deleted]
1 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
There's only one truth. All the rest is a bunch of lies.
You and your owners are fighting a losing battle.
1 daneoid 2014-03-14
Typical conspiratard, when faced with facts, call the other person a shill and claim victory, it couldn't possibly be that I have opposing views to you could it? Fucking sad.
1 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Exactly what I am talking about.
You can have all the "opposing views" you want. But there is only one truth. All the rest is lies.
I stand by my earlier comment.
edit: i'm not gonna fall for it. you'll have to get yr paycheck by fuckin' with someone else.
1 daneoid 2014-03-14
Yes, the 'truth' that makes you feel like you are part of a movement, that makes you think you 'know' a hidden 'truth' that the big bad govt is hiding from everyone. We have a phrase for that, it's called delusion of grandeur.
0 Chitowngaming 2014-03-14
It's already too late if you grew up with television as it has already warped your dreams and aspirations and has forced you to attempt to be what they portray as normal, which among many evil things wants you to worship things above people.
-3 [deleted] 2014-03-14
[Eye roll]They did show building 7. On TV. On 9/11.
Since you were obviously only 2 years old that day, let me remind you that all the networks stopped showing any of the buildings collapsing a couple of days afterwards.
The rest of this was too edgy for me to read. I just got into the fetal position and did my best to contemplate your depth.
1 thefuckingtoe 2014-03-14
Conspiratard alert. No need to waste your time fellow subscribers.
Edit: I'll just leave this here...
-4 StruttingSeagull 2014-03-14
This is the worst circlejerk on this sub. TV in general isn't the problem, it's what you could perhaps watch on TV. I take it you all don't listen to the radio, browse media on the internet, or read the news. This shit is all over the place, not just tv. Billboards, radio, sports broadcasts, restaurants, newspapers, and pretty much everywhere. But you knew, didn't you?
Edit: Truth hurts, don't it.
3 gizadog 2014-03-14
Its really sad that you came this far to make a circle jerk comment. Someone is venting a personal thought and someone comes along with the most strange comment. There are people in the world still plugged in without knowing it and some simple post like this could wake them up.
Then the circle jerk comment guy comes along...
0 StruttingSeagull 2014-03-14
It's pretty ridiculous that by unplugging cable TV, everyone seems to think that the propaganda, manipulation, and deception will stop. If you visit this sub often enough you should be able to recognize these things pretty easily. Does anyone really think that TV is the only, or even most successful way for the government to cloud your judgment?
2 gizadog 2014-03-14
Yes true. It takes time to realize all that because people just wont believe there is some sort of control out there. That is the hardest pill to swallow for most.
2 StruttingSeagull 2014-03-14
I'm not disagreeing with what OP is trying to say, but I think it's fair to say that Tv isn't the sole source and perhaps we should discuss media in particular.
1 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Agreed. But my impetus for writing this was me being free from tv for five years this month. Believe me, I could rail on about the entirety of the mainstream media---tv/radio/magazines/newspapers/Hollywood (and I do have a diatribe on these things, floating around the inter-webs somewhere). I just chose to pick on tv, because (1) tv is pervasive, damn near everyone has one in their home, and (2) the television medium is much more deceptive than the others. People are indoctrinated to believe that the god-box is the bastion of truth.
1 peterxgriffin 2014-03-14
Of course it won't stop, but, think about it - TV is definitely the number 1 source of it for the majority of Americans. People just zone out in front of that shit for hours on end - and the sheer number of people that still legitimately get their news from the mainstream news shows, and swallow it without a question, is ridiculous.
Even on the internet you still control what you're looking at. On TV, the only control you have is over which channel you're watching. Other than that, you're pretty much bombarded by all the propaganda and lies unless you're watching a premium network. (hbo, showtime, etc)
Edit: typo
1 StruttingSeagull 2014-03-14
The problem is that those same people who watch mainstream news most likely don't browse this sub. Yes, on the internet you can choose what you indulge in. But where TV is a huge source of media, the internet is also a huge, portable source that can go wherever you go. The majority of people on r/conspiracy who aren't trolls and shills know that you can choose what to watch or what websites to visit. Doesn't make the majority of internet users aware of media manipulation or cause them to suddenly became cautious in what they watch or listen to. The problem isn't TV, but that most people don't care about the integrity of media outlets and news companies.
1 21022012 2014-03-14
you wouldn't know truth if it bit you on the ass
6 Quicheauchat 2014-03-14
That's not a TV, thats a big screen. Completely different
2 gizadog 2014-03-14
Radio is the same way. It listen to Sat and online streaming 99% of the time. Once in a while my car switches to the local radio and they are still playing the same old crap music and 15 mins of commercials they were 10 years ago.
I coined radio "commercials with music breaks".
3 Eternal_Atom 2014-03-14
Interesting comment, do you have any more books I should read? I have been looking for some good ones as of late and I need to stock up for summer when I have more free time.
2 no1113 2014-03-14
Seems like Quicheauchat has a point.
3 AssuredlyAThrowAway 2014-03-14
Oh they're very mad indeed. This sub has suffered some really weird attacks the past week (a conspirtard even preemptively posted a Streisand thread here over the sandyhookjustice removal, just so he could reveal his post as a troll once it got to the top and force us to take it down and stop discussion of the sandyhoojustice censorship). Fucked up shit.
2 Necronomiconomics 2014-03-14
Krugman is a liberal, not a neoliberal. Friedman & Brooks are neoliberals.
Neoliberal means "free-markets first and privatize everything". In other words, Wall Streeters.
Krugman is not a privatizer. Friedman & Brooks are.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
1 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
There's only one truth. All the rest is a bunch of lies.
You and your owners are fighting a losing battle.
1 grandmacaesar 2014-03-14
Exactly what I am talking about.
You can have all the "opposing views" you want. But there is only one truth. All the rest is lies.
I stand by my earlier comment.
edit: i'm not gonna fall for it. you'll have to get yr paycheck by fuckin' with someone else.
2 no1113 2014-03-14
So...what exactly can I use to get these gift cards from Amazon or Dominos Pizza or whatever? Is it my upvotes or overall karma points that can be used? I still don't really get it...