"How can someone read books / visit a gallery / go to the theatre and not be influenced by the language / images / drama? I’m not talking about crazy over the top stuff. I’m talking about subtle distortions that books / art / theatre cause in how people perceive the world. "
Same argument, surely?
Theatre’s often been accused of distorting the truth (in fact, some would argue that’s the whole point of theatre, likewise art and literature).
In that respect TV is no different to any other (visual) artistic medium. It’s just that it’s today’s “choice of the masses” and so gets blamed for society’s problems.
For the Victorians it was music-hall that was the root of all social problems - in Europe it was Rite of Spring - and for the Nazis it was books and paintings.
There’s a great deal of “top down” snobbery involved in the opposition to TV - all the negative effects that have been described in this thread can be applied to culture across the board, apart from TV’s appeal to the masses.
While you have a good point, e-logic, I can think of two counterarguments, ways in which TV watching differs from those other forms of culture you mentioned.
One is that people are more likely to watch TV with their critical faculties turned off (or at least, so I suspect). Most people, when they pick up a book or go to the theater or visit an art gallery, are prepared to think about what they experience. They go expecting to be confronted with a particular point of view, that of the author or artist or playwright, and to accept or reject or weigh and consider that point of view. WIth TV, it’s not uncommon for people to just plop down in front of it and passively vegetate.
The other is that when you watch TV, at least commercial TV, you are being exposed to deliberate, slick, expert attempts to psychologically manipulate you for the economic benefit of those doing the manipulating.
As a non-televisor owner and an only very occasional watcher, I’ve noticed how unstimulating and often mean-spirited television programs are. With a handful of notable exceptions, you can watch any drama can easily plot out the action ten or fifteen minutes ahead. It’s more predictable than a Michael Bay film. And sitcoms tend to be full of characters doing things that in real life would get them ostricized from their peer group or arrested for stalking.
And modern radio is even worse; I won’t participate in the carpool 'cause I just can’t stand to listen to Tom Likus for an hour a day, and or DJs who think that fart noises are the high point of 21st century humor.
Oh, and I just point my furniture at the bookcases (and the fireplace). But then, I’m kind of a retro-type lad anyway.
Well, anyway, great post.