What I learned from the Today show today...

[Greyhound]

For the first time in a long time, I turned on the TV for something other than a DVD. The Greyhound household uninstalled the dish over a year ago, so I'm limited to the broadcast networks. The best signal came from our NBC affiliate so I watched the Today show. For someone that no longer has a resistance to the assault of corporate media, it was fascinating, and when I say fascinating I mean in the sense of watching an hour-long train wreck is fascinating. Here's what I was told by the Today Show...

North Koreans are starving, not because they are living under the dictator Kim Jong IL and have been subject to an economic embargo for approximately half a century, but because they are communists. Not to worry though, they will soon be feasting on enormous rabbits bred by some guy, sorry for the lack of detail, I was still stunned at the previous revelation and missed his details. They also neglected to mention how the North Koreans are going to feed these rabbits the massive amounts of "special diet" that is required to get them this big.

Anna Nicole is still dead.

The idiots that decided to climb an 11,000 ft peak, in winter, are exceptional and brave for falling off of said mountain, staying put, and not dying, until dozens of other people that knew better than to take a hike up there at this time of year, risked their lives to bring them down the mountain

GE (that coincidentally owns the Today Show along with the NBC network) is a wonderful company that is very concerned about the environment and without whom we would lose the power of flight and that computer generated baby elephants wouldn't be able to dance to the strains of "Singing in the rain". (Funny that they never once mentioned that they are the primary merchants of destruction in the MIC war machine, must have slipped their minds)

If I don't charge at least $9,000 on a ring, and another $20,000 on travel on my new Citi credit card, my new fiance and her family won't love me.

Norsemen (Viking is a verb) from the middle ages prefer, and work for Capital One. Which makes me wonder if I charged the required $29,000 on my fiance would that be OK, or does it have to be my Citi card?

Meridith Vieri(?) has really nice shoes, Matt Lauer has a nice ass, and Al Roker is still black.

All women now fall into one of two categories, those at risk of heart disease and those at high risk of heart disease. Further, if you don't immediately get a heart screening (an "elective" test that your insurance, if you have it, most likely will not cover) you cannot know into which category you fall.

Good consumers know, or must learn, which jeans will look best on them depending on how high their waist is and how long their body is.

Jim Carrey is still trying to convince us (himself?) that he is a "serious" actor and not just some guy with an inhumanly flexible face. He also had over $10 million before 1995, and that is because he wished it so.

Men are judged primarily by their butts and women are still only good for looking at.

Kids will get some exercise provided you buy the right toys for them to exercise with, especially toys made by Hasbro, Fisher-Price, and Leapfrog.

That if you buy several ad spots on the Today Show, they will devote a segment to showcase your product(s).

That's all Ms. Greyhound could stand and asked me to at least mute it, this had the effect of rousing me from my media-induced stupor and I quickly turned the TV off.

How on earth can we get through the miasma that is the product of continual exposure to this input and get the "average" amerikan to see what is happening to them and around them?

[Bucky]

1. it is kind of stunning to revisit TV world after you've unplugged yourself

I've raised my daughter mostly TV free and she can barely stand to watch the damn thing when she's over at a friend's house. They all think she's weird for not having a TV, although of course that's not at all why my daughter is weird.

[Tin Man]

6. Agree. TeeVee is kinda freaky when you haven't watched any for a while

...the first gush is really annoying, but then you quickly build a tolerance. After a week or so, it's once again possible to ingest American Idol without nausea or discomfort.

[Clark2008]

11. I thought it was called "American IDLE."

:shrug:

(BTW, I've never seen it).

[GreenPartyVoter]

36. This is why I spend my time watching old shows like MASH and All in the Family

Newer shows we watch here are things like Star Trek.

[okieinpain]

48. I just said that about american idol to my wife last night. and I

watch the boob tube all the time.

[Greyhound]

7. It is amazing at how quickly it just gets worse and worse.

It seems to me that it used to be a more gradual degradation, but now it appears to be in a free-fall. How can we watch this stuff without our brains melting down and dribbling out our ears?

[corkhead]

2. keeping us stoopid so they can subjugate us all and raid the treasury

[Red Zelda]

3. Nicely done!

ROFL!!

[Cerridwen]

4. K & R and

:rofl:

[kcass1954]

5. I caught a few minutes of it while getting ready for work. I learned that Matt Lauer knows

how to ask really hard questions, so long as he's asking them of the JetBlue CEO. One would think that this is a skill that might translate to other types of interviews, but perhaps not....

[silverweb]

8. Love it!

I got rid of my TV around the first of the year and don't miss it at all. I catch Olbermann, Stewart, and Colbert on line a day late, and I get all my news on line -- mostly starting with DU's Late Breaking.

Your review is telling me that I made a good decision and I thank you.

Rock on!

:headbang:

[Greyhound]

14. You're welcome, and thank you. n/t

[Irishonly]

9. Oh My

We still have satellite TV. It isn't on a lot of the time but I am disabled and when I am down I will watch it. I haven't watched a morning "new" program in years. Don't do MTP either and have given up, with the exception of Olbermann, watching the 24/7 news networks. We watch the history, discovery, documentary. BBC and PBS. We do a lot of reading. My daughter's friend's parents are always amazed that she can go toe to toe with them when they discuss politics

Regular TV is ridiculous. Local newscasts are crazy out here. Lead off stories usually involve celebrities. To be honest, I feel badly for Anna Nichole's baby but I really don't want a front row seat on the crazy battle going on now. I think Brittney has gone off the deep end but I really didn't care she shaved her head or went out without underwear. I feel badly for anyone experiencing the alleged addictions and/or mental illness she is. The mentally ill homeless are ignored by the press and it's unusual to see any kind of stories done on abuse.

I care about hearing about the treatment of our returning vets, the lack of supplies the troops have, the lies of the administration, how congressional hearings are going (don't have CSpan 3), the environment and like most of you, my list would be several paragraphs long.

I worry about the dumbing of America. I am amazed at how many people depend on TV for all of their information. I had to see my doctor today. This man saved my life while I was in cancer treatment and he is one very smart man. When you are my age, anyone that was a child during Watergate is very young. I took a copy of "The Nation" with me to read while I was waiting. He usually checks out what I bring to read and didn't know what the publication was. I explained to him that "The Nation" brags about being some of the liberal media you read about. He was truly stunned and amazed when I told him I was an old time Nam protester, attended lectures by Ellsberg about the Pentagon Papers and have talked to both senators and my representative. I told him to stop watching TV and READ. He asked my why I didn't trust the media and I used good ole bow tie Carlson. All I asked him was if he knew that Tucker's dad was the chief fund raiser for Scooter's defense. There's hope-he was upset that it was never disclosed. I don't know if the neocons will ever see outside their mean, awful world but there may be hope for more moderate, sane people. I got him to read "Silent Night", "Tempting Faith" and he now has the copy of my magazine.;-)

I probably should apologize for the length and lecture. I am no Nancy or Molly but I did get a glimpse of hope.

[Greyhound]

13. No apologies needed, I enjoyed reading your "lecture" although

I would have enjoyed college much more if my professors had presented lectures as interesting as yours, so I'm not sure that is the right term. Like you do, when I had satellite, I watched mostly the same channels you mentioned and the Sci-Fi channel, but I did find that there was so much repetition, it became irritating to pay them for it. I find that I get much better and more timely news here at DU and the rest of the "internets".

The dumbing down of our citizens literally terrifies me, in particular at how virtually everything has now become a "cult of personality" simply because, I believe, they just don't know anything else, and more, don't seem to care. The whole nation is literally falling apart and for some reason (reduced attention span? lack of memory?), we just don't seem to notice.

I'm sure you remember that this is exactly what Walter Cronkite warned us about when the networks abandoned the tradition of the news divisions only competing with the other news divisions and not the entertainment. Time and again we have been warned by those in the vanguard of their fields about the consequences of following this course, yet we seem intent on ignoring them and destroying ourselves as quickly as we can.

Maybe the future is in South America, in any case we have ensured that it isn't here.

I hope that you continue to spread the word, as will I. Thanks for your reply.:toast:

[tavalon]

25. Don't diss yourself

We all have important things to say. That Nancy does and Molly did say it better than the rest of us doesn't mean the rest of us shouldn't tell our stories. Thank you for sharing yours.

[Hawkowl]

43. I applaud you!

This is how we take back our country, one person at a time.

[nashville_brook]

10. coming off a corporate media fast, it's best to go slow!

start out with syndicated episodes of Seinfeld late at night. maybe progress to an evening news show, if you can't get PBS.

never EVER break a fast with morning news shows! i'm surprised and amazed you are able to talk about it so soon after the exposure.

you might consider a cleansing treatment, such as listening to NPR or reading US news coverage at Guardian.uk or BBC.

best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[Greyhound]

15. LOL! Thank you. Du seems to be an excellent tonic as I am up and around again. n/t

:rofl:

[YankeyMCC]

12. Ugh...I can NOT stand to watch or listen to more than a few seconds of commerical

main stream TV news/entertainment programing.

And my family has to kick me out of the room if they decide to turn it on because they can't take my disgusted commentary ;) To be honest I can't blame them but I just can't help it.

[PreacherCasey]

16. I can't watch either. I throw a DVD in now and then, but I have no cable.

[alfredo]

17. Has there ever been a country that subjects its people to such a

huge amount of propaganda?


Remember, TV is about making money. The entertainment is only a loss leader. It gets you in the door.

[Cerridwen]

18. I've read or seen somewhere that the "entertainment" aired

is referred to as "filler" - as in, filler between advertisements.

I wonder if that's true.

[Greyhound]

20. It is, and now we're down to 39 1/2 minutes of filler per hour. n/t

:eyes:

[Greyhound]

19. Although they did not have Television, both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia

had similar amounts of propaganda pumped into their people's heads, I believe.

[alfredo]

26. But we have commercial propaganda that serves the purpose to

think of material possessions, to spend instead of save. Debt is a prison.

[Greyhound]

33. You are so right my friend.

While, wealth = freedom of action.

[alfredo]

39. Both government and business demand a docile public.

[snappyturtle]

21. Love your blow by blow and isn't it the truth? Really when you

stop and think about what you've heard it is truly amazing what a bunch of crap it is. I never watched much TV until I met my husband almost seven years ago in the middle of nowhere....northern MN. I loved the fact that TV was minimal. One year my parents gave me satellite for Christmas---I had music channels on all day because I worked from home and occasionally watched a movie. But, later after meeting my husband, I learned he couldn't stand not watching. He still has our TV's on all the time. Matter-of-fact there are two on right now! Listening to Hardball's interview with michael Isichoff (sp?)....about Libby. We do watch a lot of history channel programs, PBS, Free Speech and Link...thank God but so often I want to pull my hair out. I get so much more from the internet and much of that from DU!! Love it.

It's often my husband will say, "You mentioned 'this' several days ago." No dah. Seems as if TV doesn't catch up fast...of course how can they when they're mostly info-tainment.

[libnnc]

22. I know. It makes me want to scream and claw my face.

I can't stand it. I won't watch it anymore.

You took one for the team. Thank you for your play-by-play.

[many a good man]

23. People at work tell me this is their ONLY source of news

Most people tell me that they think they are being good citizens by paying attention to the "news" portions of the morning shows they watch. And they find it utterly depressing. It turns them off politics.

[Greyhound]

35. Another excellent point. The way in which they ignore the important, while pushing

the insignificant distractions and frustrations, can only serve to dissuade involvement in the process, leaving them to do as they will.

But again, the "tube of the internetz" is gumming up their ambitions, by giving the plebes an alternative over which they have no control.

[tavalon]

24. I stopped watching years ago and convinced my partner about 3 years ago

to let it go. And he's even more amazed and disgusted than I am when he sees network TV now. He can't believe he allowed Madison Ave et al to talk down to him that way for all of those years. He's become militantly anti-TV. I went through that stage at first but now I can't even muster a care but I still don't watch. At all. I even tune it out when I'm in a patient's room. Not that they and their families do. It's kind of weird to see TV taking the place of familial communication.

[KelleyKramer]

27. Boy do I know what you mean by " it was fascinating " ...

I canceled our cable about 3 years ago, and sometimes when at my parents house I turn it on just to see what they have.. and Yes, its fascinating.. I would just marvel at it. The first several times i think ended up standing in front of it with my mouth open.

Its amazing how different things seem when you dont have years of desensitation.

One thing that surprised me was the commercials, talk about dumbing down a country.

And all the drug commercials ?!?!? Is the whole country doped up all day and night??

Just like you, I can only take it in small doses.. you can flip through dozens and dozens of channels and its all nothing but garbage.

[Greyhound]

37. That's why I turned it off in the first place. One night we flipped through

the 160+ channels we had for a whole hour and couldn't find anything to distract us, and I just decided that was it.

And the drugs, OMFG, a few months, maybe a year ago, I read that 48% of amerikans are on at least one prescription.:wow:

I'm so happy that pot is outlawed, wouldn't want all those people walking around under the influence of THC.:sarcasm:

[JCMach1]

28. We even get this drech in the UAE. I was screaming at the set with the psychologists

doing a roundtable on Brittney's hair just the other day. Almost enough to put me off my breakfast.

No only do we get good morning america, we also get the competition... :puke:

[Pied Piper]

29. I watched it today at the dentist's offiice

I have been TV-free for about 4 years now (well, actually I haven't had a TV in my home for about 4 years; I haven't turned the fucker on since the debacle of 2000).

People look at me like I have three eyeballs when they find out I don't own a TV. I can watch DVDs on my laptop from the comfort of any place in my home, and besides, TV is totally not worth it.

Last year, I took a vacation in Portland, OR. My hotel room had cable TV. Sometimes, I think it's a luxury to lie in a hotel bed and watch TV. Well, not that time... I had the remote control in my hand, and before I knew it, 2 hours had passed, and I still hadn't found anything worth watching.

No, I still haven't seen the latest Geico commercial, and no, I haven't even heard of "Heroes", and I'm still not missing a goddamn thing.

I read books, I spook around on line for news and entertainment, and I enjoy a quiet home without distraction (except for the traffic below my 12th story appartment).

[Synnical]

30. You so need to send this to the show

If you don't tell them, they'll never know.

Speak up, my friend.

Nice write up, also. Kudos to you.

-Cindy in Fort Lauderdale

[westcor]

31. idiocracy

yall should watch idiocracy, a mike judge movie, about the dumbing down of americans from tv, awesome

[Greyhound]

46. I did and apperently I'm really olld now, because it was just unbearable.

I thought the message was good, but the writing made my brain hurt, and i thought the primary point was buried in the pop culture references. Ms. Grey hound could only take a half hour before she decided not to waste another hour of her life. But I "gutted it out".

[Senator]

32. To be fair. They are Really BIG Rabbits

And if they do ... you know ... like bunnies, they could help many more people than the Koreans.

What a Wabbbit!



--

[onecent]

34. I loved this.

[Greyhound]

44. Thank you, glad to hear it. n/t

[Roland99]

38. You forgot BRITNEY!!!!

[longship]

40. And don't you just love the science and education channels?

Discovery, Nat'l Geographic, Hitler... Ooops History, The Learning Channel...

This is what you'll learn on these edumacation channels:

UFOs are really the real thing hidden by a huge government cover-up conspiracy.
Ghosts are real. It's uncertain whether there's a gov't conspiracy there, too.
The Bible is actual history, including all the miracles.
The Apocalypse is really gonna happen as predicted by the Fundies.
The Moon landing has been proven a hoax.
The most important thing to learn is how to decorate your house the right way.
It's important for everybody to know about military weaponry. Hooo-RAH!
We need more whole programs on life in our most secure prisons.
Bottom feeder, dirt ball bounty hunters chasing after bottom feeder, dirt ball felons is entertaining and edumacational.

The *only* thing I watch on TV is Keith and C-SPAN. When I move to MI in a couple of weeks I'm not taking a TV set. I'm ditching the whole wretched business.

[lectrobyte]

45. You forgot the outlaw rebel motorcycle father/son/doofus building

an outlaw rebel motorcycle for some outlaw rebel corporation every week.

[longship]

49. Oh, yes. The guy who yells at everybody.

Right! If I had children, I'd want them to see and hear that. Sets a good example.

[The Anti-Neo Con]

41. The Today Show = Quality programming

For Freepers that is.

I can't believe you watched it as long as you did. I would have been like :puke: after about 3 minutes of that show.

[underpants]

42. Sounds like the same show I used to watch

I watch CNN now. I refuse to watch the Today show anymore.

[okieinpain]

47. hey, I need a favor. could you do this everyday, it was much better

letting you cut out the bullshit and get right to the story. seriously you're really good at this and you might think about starting your own blog. I really enjoyed it and damn man you saved me at least 1 hour by me not having to look at that crap.