Each home has at least two.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A forum for discussing matters of moment, from a curmudgeonly perspective. (The ideas posted here do not necessarily represent those of any organization with which I am a part). Rude and insulting remarks will not be published, but civil disagreement is welcome.
Blog Archive
-
▼
2008
(498)
-
▼
November
(60)
- Back to Jerusalem
- A Revelation from 1976: Lost
- Desperation for Today (Introduction Added)
- Mobs and Discounts
- Ergo, ergonomic
- Don't Need, Need
- Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Christianity, and Culture
- Tolerance
- Somewhere/here/then
- Muslims Ban Yoga
- Doug Groothuis on ID in "Perspectives on Science a...
- Doug Groothuis Lecture on Natural Theology on Line
- Abortion activist heads Obama communications team
- Coming Down: Beware!
- Sermon Audio from Doug Groothuis
- Facebook Be-Gone
- Suicide--On Web Cam
- Politics 101
- Goodbye to TrueU
- Buddhism, Nondualism, Christianity: Preliminary Th...
- Bill Ayers is Back: Book Tour and NPR
- Some Strategies under Obama
- New Organization to Resist Obama. From what I can ...
- Quite, so. Isn't it fascinating?
- On Egalitarianism, Politics, and Abortion
- Doug Groothuis Presentation on Natural Theology
- Living with Persecution
- Personal Lament
- A Free Man Reading The Freeman
- Tolerance
- Techno-exegesis
- No Freedom for the Fetuses
- Hate about Eight
- Atheist Defends ID
- Blues for the Election Flood
- Facing Facebook
- Bishops Oppose Obama on Abortion
- Prayer
- Art Exhibit by Elayne Moseley
- Tombstone
- Make Sure No One is Hurt (Except the TV)
- "Living with Persecution"
- Alas!
- Election, 2008
- "Let the whole earth be silent before Him"
- Weep
- Star Parker on Obama
- Double Standards and Irrational Hate
- Can You Pray This Today?
- Bad Religion
- Break from Politics: Art!
- Ten Reasons Why it is Wrong to Take the Life of Un...
- Truth About Lies
- Von Mises on a Pertinent Topic
- Joe, Who Exposed O
- A Happy Dream: The Day Television Died
- For Amendment #48
- Extend the Vote
- Fire
- Young Black Conservative Speaks
-
▼
November
(60)
Links
About Me
- Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D.
- Nothing on this blog represents the position of Denver Seminary. I am a Christian, philosopher, teacher, writer, and preacher, who is Professor of Philosophy at Denver Seminary. My most recent of my twelve books is Philosophy in Seven Sentences. My magnum opus is Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith (InterVarsity Press, 2011). I have published ten others, including Truth Decay and On Jesus. I direct the Christian Apologetics and Ethics MA program at Denver Seminary.
7 comments:
Doug,
In this matter I am in emotional harmony with you. There have been numerous times I have had the urge to "Elvisize" a television. To those not familiar with "Elvisazation" it is the act of discharging a firearm repeatedly into an operating television. This was an activity practiced on occasion by the late and great Elvis Presley. When I have had the urge to do so the television itself was not the object of my contempt, but only the vehicle of transmission of whatever "message" was offending me. I can't really remember what specifically might triggger (pardon the pun) such a response, but it might be something as innocuous as an episode of "Dancing with the Stars", a show that I must admit I have never seen. I just don't like the idea of it. Who knows, maybe I'd think it was the greatest show on Earth if I ever actually saw it. I have never been able to financially afford to blast a T.V. set. And just as well, remembering the old adage, "Don't Kill the Messenger.." It's probably better just to use your T.V. tazer "T.V. Be Gone" and temporarily disable it using nonlethal force. That way the T.V. still has life when we want to catch the "Good Stuff". Which reminds me of the old George Carlin line, "My sh*t is stuff and your stuff is sh*t!" Oh well, if we couldn't laugh we would be crying all of the time. And that wouldn't do, would it?
I like TV and I am a Christian. My hope is to become a Christian producer who makes art rather than mindless Christian drivel entertainment that says "Praise the Lord" incessently. Life and spirituality is more complicated.
I think that TV can be a great medium to explore the darkest aspects of the human experience.
Your indefinite silence sure didn't last very long. Again. :)
"Throw away your television / Take the noose off your ambition / Reinvent your intuition now / It's a repeat of a story told / It's a repeat, and it's getting old."
-From the Red Hot Chili Peppers' song, "Throw Away Your Television"
It is relative silence.
Steve:
Please read Amusing ourselves to Death by Neil Postman on the nature of TV.
Doug,
I didn't read the book but I did just read the article at Wikipedia about the book. I am no big fan of television. I currently own a TV but do not watch it. I had my sattelite subscription cancelled. I reached a point where I could no longer tolerate television. It occured spontaneously. I didn't think about "giving up" television, I just quit watching it one day. So far, I do not miss it. I am, however, able to still enjoy video entertainment and receive video information via the internet. Most recently I watched a Stevie Ray Vaughn clip, thanks to you.
I had a brief conversation with a high school superintendent here in rural Oklahoma in 1995 who made a commemt about the "post literate" culture that is developing. He seemed perfectly comfortable with the notion that "post litteracy" was a healthy trend in social evoulution. I didn't argue with him at that time as I think I was too shocked to believe what I was hearing. I had a knee-jerk reaction against that notion. I think it was the first time I had heard the term and I needed a little time to think on what I had heard and who I had heard it from. Yeah, it's Crazy Bad to imagine a world in which educators accept "post litteracy". I am unsure if the world as we know it would be radically improved if television were eliminated. Would you suggest legislation to illegalize or control the use of televison? I don't think I would. And that's all I have to say about that...
Post a Comment