I walked into the breakfast room at the Holiday In Express. There was one other couple in there, and I asked them if they’d mind if I turned off the TV. It was tuned to the Oxygen chanel, showing a movie, and no one was watching. No problem, said the couple.
As I ate my cereal, a hotel maid walked in, turn on the TV, tuned it to Fox News, and started to walk out of the room. She caught my eye, noted my distress, and – I don’t remember exactly what she said and what I said, but rather than turn it off she switched it to The Weather Channel.
I just wanted to scream, “DO WE HAVE TO LISTEN TO THIS NAZI PROPAGANDA?” She must have seen that on my face anyway.
(I caught a little bit of Fox News Channel in the breakfast room yesterday, too. The anchor-fellator was on w/ Dan Bartlett, and he began his interview by joking that he had asked Helen Thomas to write his hard-hitting questions. Then, of course, he went on to ask Bartlett how these goofy liberals have the nerve to suggest that the president is “dangerously incompetent.”)
It got me to thinking. Is it in thye hotel worker’s job description to turn the fucking TV set on? Does her church or NRA chapter or someone else encourage her to tune the damn TV to Fox News?
Never mind the greater question of why there has to be a fucking TV set on and blaring crap in every public space?
i have 4 young kids, and we don’t have cable or satellite. once every blue moon we watch local stations for something like the winter olympics, sports, the oscars…..i haven’t really watched tv since highschool in the early ’80’s and don’t feel like i’ve missed a thing (even though i hear southpark is good and i have only seen a handfull of seinfeld). i too see the influence of tv (especially bad tv) in our society now and don’t appreciate my kids being exposed to fox, cnn, and other total bullshit. thanks for bring it up and i hope more of us can ask for the tv be turned off (remember “kill your tv” bumperstickers?)
peace,
ahavah
Maybe Dick Cheney was scheduled to visit?
http://tinyurl.com/qke35
Yeah–you are missing out some good stuff Ahavah… Just last nite the Simpsons spoofed Wife Swap..umm nevermind.
Other day I was at a Post Office and they had two tvs to watch while you are in line tuned to Fox News. Unbelievable.
You will be Assimilated…
Resistance is Futile!
Though I too watch very little TV, there is a little bit of light:
http://www.wingsofjustice.com/06/03/woj06012.html
I think the most interesting thing is the general inability to discriminate about what they watch… take a dozen twenty-somethings, show them BBC News and Fox News clips on the same issue, and ask them which one is more accurate, fair, unbiased, etc. and you know what you’ll get? “Well, everyone has an agenda. Everyone’s biased. So I can’t answer that question.” Now, while they could be pointing out that everyone has a perspective, I doubt it… they’ve learned to opt out, because the amount of information they get is so immense (coupled with a complete lack of ability to think critically) that they’ve tuned out. And so in response to your (somewhat) rhetorical question: she doesn’t get paid to turn on Fox News, probably, but she also probably couldn’t tell you what was wrong with it if you put a gun to her head.
As for the public tv thing, I just go and turn it off or hit mute or turn down the volume. Thus far i have yet to be admonished – guess I get to keep rolling the dice!
But my biggest peeve is self-important loud cell phone conversations. Gonna start carrying around one of those marine air horns and just let ’em have it.