The question is, why have we not developed intelligent, educational TV programs, instate of the crap we get served nowadays, should not the Governments have realized that the TV and Radio Broadcasting systems were the perfect means to get a very well educated Society and a much stronger adherence to social values than what we have now?
Have you tried PBS? The history channel? The nature channel?
We have developed intelligent, educational TV programs. Various distance-learning institutions such as the Open University do, or did, broadcast course material over public TV for years. But hardly anybody watched it apart from people actually studying the courses in question. And today, there is plenty of university-level lecture material available legally and for free on the web. Nothing stopping people watching it if they want to. Most people don’t, though.
Anyway, the idea that the government should be using TV to “educate” the masses has a certain Orwellian ring to it, don’t you think? I mean, which particular social values did you have in mind?
PBS and NPR are packed with intelligent, educational programs, and have been for a long time. Part of their funding is from the government. As has been noted, there are many other television channels that contain educational programs: Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic Channel, etc.
As for the rest of television and radio, it’s all free-enterprise. With a few exceptions, the government does not get to control what crap gets served up to the public.
Not to mention a traditional American concern about the government using the media to achieve “a much stronger adherence to social values.”
when cable tv in the USA started they marketed themselves to be commercial free high quality subscriber tv, not the crap the commercial broadcast networks provided.
The Smithsonian Channel is also really good.
Indeed! All education of citizens by the government needs to be stopped forthwith as an assault on freedom™. Have you heard about these so called “skools” and “kolleges” the Hussein Obama administration is pouring billions of our tax dollars into, trying to force far-left, unAmerican values such as rationality and open-mindedness onto our vulnerable children and young people? :mad::mad:
What would you rather do, go to school or watch a sports game and then listen to a comedian? Why would you act differently with your home time?
If people wanted to eat healthy, there’d be competing fast food chains called McGreen’s and Salad King. Similarly, if people wanted to watch quality educational shows, the top channels would be Discovery and PBS, and the Superbowl would be shown with only public service ads because nobody would buy airtime.
Please, no one mention Discovery or The History Channels. Today on Discovery is an entire day of I Almost Got Away With It. On The History Channel it’s a day long marathon of American Pickers then a few episodes of Pawn Stars. Tomorrow on Discovery is a whole day of Unusual Suspects and Gold Rush, while on THC is Modern Marvels (which actually is educational!) and a whole evening of Pawn Stars.
These are actually better than usual. It’s usually UFOs, ghosts and rednecks shooting alligators.
Any “Chariots of the Gods” or “Alien Encounter” programs? No? Must be an educational-break time.
My coment stands, except that even those channels too are often pushing entertainment over education.
OTOH, some universities offer the opportunity to wacth university course lectures online, and those lectures often have audiences measured in the dozens.
Is that aimed at me?
Since the answers will be mainly opions and the subject is TV, I think a move from General Questions to Cafe Society is in order. So ordered, so moved.
samclem, Moderator
Yes, I know about the TV Schools of the 70’, I am not American, so I don’t know about your “Intelligent, Educational, Moral Values Building TV Programs” but I am watching a selection of American Programs here in the Philippines and I know of the TV Programs in Switzerland and Germany. What I meant was, that with the help of the TV the Government would have had a great influence in shaping Peoples Mind but obviously that did not happen and now we have a lot of Mindless Obese Freaks and Zombies. I believe nobody can say that the Programs today are not totally crazy, the way the images are flickering, flashing on the screen is just numbing
your senses and kills ones natural behavior…
Far be it from me to boast about the quality of American TV, but I will say that while I was in Japan I saw television programs that were far more “totally crazy” than anything an American broadcaster would ever show.
Not to mention programs from Great Britain, Germany and virtually any other society where programmin isn’t controlled by the government.
Television that numbs one’s senses is not unique to America.
Is this somehow different than the programs of yesteryear? Because I’m pretty sure television has always involved images flickering and flashing on screens.
A couple of years ago I was asked to do a few shows for the discovery channel on a project called “Doing Da Vinci” My expertise was in building primitive bows so I was called in to build the giant bow for a couple of catapults Da Vinci had designed. The producers removed all the science and only showed the mistakes and fighting etc. I was very disappointed and vowed never to do another.
It’s sad about today’s programing. All the former educational channels like History, Discovery, A&E, TLC and so one only bear reality CRAP. Another disappointment is no creative programming either. Little creative writing or original stories. Only reality CRAP shows. And the saddest part is that it’s a reflection of our society. Because if the public didn’t crave it the networks wouldn’t produce it. Movies are the same too. In the 80’s the top ten box office hits were original stories. Now the top tens are recycled stories. Why produce an original script when you can remake “Dukes of Hazzard 2”, right? Makes me sick and gives little hope for the future of humanity in my eyes. We are heading into the grime future of another movie, “Idiocracy”.
99% of everything is crap. I suggest watching Frontline. I always learn something.
Because television is an advertising medium that shows less commercially-oriented material some of the time.