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              We are long removed from the generations of Americans that thought for themselves. There are disadvantages to this; weird people that get strange ideas start cults (Mormons) or kill masses of people (Nazis). Yes, you sometimes get people that think a little out of the norm, but I would only sometimes call that a disadvantage. You might end up with a few oddballs that have different ideas about things, but if it wasn't for people like that you wouldn't have had people like Scott Joplin and Edgar Varez -- great minds like Teddy Roosevelt and  Einstein. Poets like Robert Frost and Woody Guthrie would be brainless morons driven to watch the commercials on  Super Bowl Sunday. 

               It's no secret that a large percentage of Americans can't think for themselves. We are pack animals -- this is evident in our love for fads and pop culture. Our forefathers, however, had a "folk" culture. This means that they determined what it is they did for enjoyment, their morals, and how they raised their children. This way of life deteriorated to the point that most find something wrong with it, or feel at least that it's "quaint." The pop culture that grew out of things like radio and newspapers found it's way into everyone's home. 

              As a child I remember a time when you could go to sleep at night and it felt like the rest of the world did too. Maybe I was just too young, but it felt like the news men, reporters, anchors, the weather and sports guys, etc. went home. It might have been because the television station went off the air around midnight or one a.m. If the Iran Contra Hearings took place today, C-Span, CNN, MSNBC, and Headline News would all talk all night about it and a sleep deprived America would listen to it in twelve second increments, every three and a half minutes, (you have to have room for other news). I doubt if Bill Clinton has slept more than seven consecutive minutes in eight years -- you don't want to miss anything, right? 

              I remember also being a child who watched Sesame Street, Pinwheel, and such shows. When I watched them, they were not political avenues for rightwing or leftwing activism. They taught kids to count and how to differentiate between people jumping rope and people bouncing balls. It seems now that the children's programming has an agenda. You may agree or disagree with me on this, but I hope you agree. America has always stood for freedom of choice. When any political party, or party supporters, begin to advocate to children that they need to lean this way or that, you have problems. We see this with the liberal left's control over things like Nickelodeon. When any politically active group takes it upon itself to influence pop culture, you have to fear that these people will attempt to control the populous through socializing them into that political party.  Imagine the Anarchists running The Children's Television Workshop. You might think it's cool, but those children will grow up having no objective thinking to base an opinion on. You get sheep. 

             Aside from just children, the rest of the country is also influenced by TV. Grown adults are influenced maybe more than children. The shear number of psychic hotlines that make millions of dollars, the shop from home channels, and the morning talk shows can show the rest of the world that we have grown so stupid we are willing to watch, "Hoochie Mama's that Got No Game Pregnant with their Teenage Sister's Boyfriend's Father's Baby." 

             I saw the new Robert Zamekas/ Tom Hanks film Castaway recently. America will eat this up. It attacks some of our greatest fears -- being in a plane crash, being trapped in the middle of the ocean, and  having no one to talk to. The worst fear that it plays on is the need for self sufficiency -- something most Americans have lacked since the Great Depression.  True we need to feel that there is something out there that can save us ultimately -- God, Goddess, a king, or a military. This has become the TV's job. It raises our kids; it keeps us company in our old age; it tells us about how everyone else's day went.  The TV tells some really good stories, it may even re-tell you some.

          So why should you kill your TV? The answer is simple. The television is making you fat; it is making you stupid; it is keeping you from being creative, and it tells you lies. I warn you heed my advise. Kill your TV, do it now.