The American Spectator : Shoot on Sight

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Shoot on Sight

By Daniel J. Flynn from the March 2013 issue

Your TV is begging for it.

I killed my television. Please don’t kill me for saying so. As a repeat offender, I understand that admissions of this sort tend to get interpreted as boasts akin to “I speak French.” A reverse snobbery pervades in which stupid looks down on smart from below. Television, an unparalleled tool of mass conformity, never threatens individuality as much as when one of its audience cuts for the exits. So long as television manufactures normal, killing your television will always appear as the height of abnormality.

Everybody knows the Wright Brothers first flew the airplane, Jonas Salk developed the polio vaccine, and Al Gore invented the Internet. Nobody knows who came up with television. Would you want your name associated with Joanie Loves Chachi, Amish Mafia, or Chris Hansen? “What thrilling lectures on solar physics will such pictures permit!” declared scientist Lee de Forest prior to the device’s public availability. RCA honcho David Sarnoff foresaw sets unleashing “a new horizon, a new philosophy, a new sense of freedom, and greatest of all, perhaps, a finer and broader understanding between all the peoples of the world.” Three words: Honey Boo Boo.

A perusal of the cable listings reveals that the show starring that unlikely beauty-contest entrant plays today for eight straight hours on TLC, which is an acronym that once meant “The Learning Channel.” The looped boredom might work as fare played on a re-education camp’s closed-circuit screens. But educational television? A Learning Channel? Orwell laughs. If only it required barbed wires and guard towers to force people to tune in to Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, my faith in my fellow man might be reinvigorated. Alas, millions view willingly. Can I secede from the human race now?

I’m all too human, too. When my satellite receives transmissions, and my brain doesn’t, television seduces. When I do TV, I do it dumb. Cage fighting, shows that revel in the pain of amateur stuntmen, and a certain yellow creature who lives in a pineapple under the sea make wasting time not such a waste of time. After a few years of that, I turn off television before it turns off me. A box that makes imagination obsolete eventually obliterates imagination.

The remote navigating through hundreds of numbered stations creates the illusion of infinite choice. But amidst the many numbers is but one channel. Dial position separates A&EBravoTLCLifetimeMTVE!VH1. Content doesn’t. A horde of hoarders, tattoo artists, and storage-locker vultures passes for someone’s idea of everybody’s idea of entertainment. If you covet other men’s wives, have they got a show, or 10, for you. There’s Basketball Wives, Mob Wives, Army Wives, Sister Wives, Starter Wives Confidential, and at least a half dozen incarnations of the Real Housewives brand. Such a startling dearth of creativity could come only from a generation lulled into retardation by the idiot box.

If $16 trillion in debt and state-subsidized abortion haven’t clued you in to society’s attitude toward children, the fact that U.S. households now contain more televisions than kids might. “The average American watches nearly five hours of video each day, 98 percent of which they watch on a traditional TV set,” Nielsen gleefully reported last year. The programming may be at its most primitive. But the technology has never been so advanced. Porsche, apparently discovering that people prefer watching to driving, just unveiled a 16-foot television. This Porsche could be all yours for only $650,000. There is no substitute—really, there isn’t.

In Fahrenheit 451, a wall TV cost merely $2,000, a third of Montag’s annual income. Inflation makes even Ray Bradbury look more Miss Cleo than Nostradamus. The late short-story writer’s oeuvre, especially the part included on cable’s Ray Bradbury Theater, reads as a prescient warning against passive electronic entertainment. In “The Murderer” (1953), Bradbury casts the tube as a “Medusa, which freezes a billion people to stone every night.” In “The Veldt” (1950), a couple relies on a futuristic television set to raise their brats, only to discover in horrible fashion that their children’s allegiance has shifted to their proxy parent. The apocalypse referenced in “Almost the End of the World” (1957) occurs when sunspots blow out broadcast transmissions, forcing people to arise from the couch to converse, bowl, drink, eat homemade ice cream, and stage concerts. Even in the 1950s, when futurists still backwardly dreamt of the medium’s enormous potential, Bradbury recognized something stupid this way comes.

Television appeared to Bradbury as a Medusa. It strikes me as a zombie. You can’t kill what can’t die. I may not be watching. But in the airport waiting area, on the gym treadmill, at the gas pump, on the elevator, in the restaurant bathroom—television watches me. There’s no escape. Mesmerized by television for five hours a day, Americans can’t help but take on the characteristics of the living dead. You are what you view.

About the Author

Daniel J. Flynn, the author of The War on Football: Saving America’s Game, blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (61) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Appleby| 3.1.13 @ 6:37AM

I have been hearing this whine since I was a little girl, and my sisters and I indiscriminantly devoured Roller Derby, Liberace, various programs broadcasting original live plays, and the unintentional hilarity of live children's programming from the likes of Sandy Becker, Uncle Fred Scott and Soupy Sales -- vaudevill comedians who knew the difference between funny and dirty, by the way -- and westerns. Lots and lots of Westerns. I'm sure that although you have broken up with your TeeVee, you still clutch your Binkie tightly and everything available to Lumpy's Proletariat is right there at your fingertips and all your BFFs are sending you URLs day and night that are far worse than anything you might run across on the Big Eye in the Living Room, the bedroom, your car and your garage.

delahaya| 3.1.13 @ 9:28AM

Did he strike a nerve Appleby? Here's a better question, what do you spend more time doing in a week - watching TV or conversing with your children?

TLP| 3.1.13 @ 10:03AM

Welcome to the Club, Mr. Flynn. (I love Hustler, by the way. Thank You)

I don't know how long I've been equating "The Intelligence of the American People" to the Nightly Lineups in the T.V. Guide.

You've got your Game Shows and your Sitcoms. You got your Regular Reality Shows, your "All my Daughters are Whores" Reality Shows, You're "Everybody's Wives are Lying, Cheating, Slut Looking Whores" reality Shows, and your "Fuhgeddaboutit Jersy Shore Dumb Guinea" ones.

All of the Sitcoms are Female Centric. All of the Men are Wimps, or Queers. Every one of them is an Enthusiastic Promoter of the Aids Lifestyle. None of them are actually funny. And I gotta believe that a 5 in the Nielson Ratings, is The New Norm.

The Learning Channel is now The Ladies Channel. The History Channel is now the Pawn Star, Junk Collector, Tree Chopper, Toothless Inbred Swampbilly Channel.

Public Broadcasting is like that thing that comes on the screen when the Cannel goes off the Air for the night.

The News is Propaganda. All of the Children's Programming is Propaganda. And: "I'd like to solve the Puzzle, Pat: Republicans are Racist Bastards who wanna Kill Children. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

And, thank you, again, Mr. Flynn, for the dirty book.

Moe Blotz| 3.1.13 @ 11:29AM

Also, the first person to fly the Wright Brother's airplane was a woman.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 3.1.13 @ 8:00AM

"Three words: Honey Boo Boo."

I'm not sure if I should accuse Mr. Flynn of going Bidenesque on us, but I think the above array might more accurately be counted as two words, with the latter repeated once.

Of course, since many writers are paid by the word, I imagine his incentive to use the highest possible total might be market based, and have some merit.

Still, as Appleby alludes to above, denigrating one electronic medium from the platform provided by another [with most of the characteristics of the former, and others (some of which are more odious)] strikes me similar to a conversation I had with a heroin user some years ago, who offered in defense of his addiction "At least I'm not a crackhead".

Bob Grant| 3.1.13 @ 9:48AM

Al,

I applaud Mr. Flynn's message. I, too, have weened myself off traditional television in lieu of more time on the internet. Say what you will, but spending time there is a much more proactive endeavor than passively watching some 5-year old train wreck acting/talking like a ghetto thug.

I see the two as completely different media.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 3.1.13 @ 10:41AM

As you are aware, Bob, I do spend some significant amount of time on the internet, as I have read a lot of books, listened to a lot of music, and watched quite a bit of TV.

Among other things, I have not spent enough time cleaning my backyard, repairing the toilet, straightening up the garage or making the extra money necessary to thrive in this Obama economy.

While the internet has quite superior interactive qualities, I still watch the TV, not only for the 162 (and hopefully more) Phillies games each year, as it can provide common cultural currency (which is why I can break out "Seinfeld" and Twilight Zone" episodes with ease at analogy time).

mike 3/505| 3.1.13 @ 8:11AM

Shades of Art Buchwald....Nicely done Dan.

C. S. P. Schofield| 3.1.13 @ 8:40AM

Some points;

1) I haven't watched television for a quarter of a century, unless DVD films that I pick myself count. But I didn't drop the habit because TV was too dumb, but because it got smarter. The development of season-long story arcs drove me to just give up; I didn't want to invest the time. Every once in a while somebody's enthusiasm for a show will lead me to obtain a season-set and try again. So far, I haven't been impressed.

2) That said, is TV really MORE of a wasteland than, say, mass publishing? Sturgeon was right; 90% of EVERYTHING is crap. Which, cheeringly, means that 10% is pretty good. And some of the crap is pretty entertaining. We remember the popular culture of eras past so fondly because, mercifully, we don't remember that much of it.

3) No medium that has produced THE ASCENT OF MAN, THE WILD WILD WEST, and GHOST IN THE SHELL STAND ALONE COMPLEX is entirely worthless.

TLP| 3.1.13 @ 10:08AM

Yeah. It had to be Murder to have to follow Dallas, Dynasty and The Dukes of Hazard week after week. What, with all the twists and turns, and subplots.

And, are you sure you're not watching VCR Tapes in your Underpants?

C. S. P. Schofield| 3.1.13 @ 10:46AM

I didn't care for primetime soaps at all - just a matter of personal taste - so when the long story arcs started to hit me was when X-FILES started. I like conspiracy SF, it makes me giggle. But I just. Couldn't. Muster the stamina. I tried THE SOPRANOS, liked many of the characters, but I just couldn't stay the distance.

eloris| 3.4.13 @ 7:17PM

X-Files had long plot arcs? I guess so, but the main thing I remember is that every episode they discovered some phenomenon of world-altering importance and..forgot all about it by the next episode.

A Kulak| 3.1.13 @ 9:15AM

But how will you watch football?

TLP| 3.1.13 @ 10:10AM

I'm thinking that he Doesn't.

And, you spelled "Coolots" wrong.

bustunloose| 3.1.13 @ 9:16AM

In the winter in New England if your saving money rather than spending it on travel, skiing, etc It is ok. to a point. Once the weather breaks it collects dust. Some good flicks that never got any publicity or sold many tickets it turns out, The mass audience stuff-all the superhero stuff. I must say however it is fun to watch a big star totally shit the bed. is anyone more boring than Clooney I watch with wife and friends and comment " is it just me ? This guy sucks ! ". I mean nothing really happens. Some get offended. How dare I denigrate a STAR.

C. Vernon Crisler | 3.1.13 @ 9:24AM

Well TV is good at one thing: producing DVDs and You Tube clips. I got all Twilight Zone episodes on DVD as a Christmas gift. There is quality entertainment on TV, but as with books or movies, you have to search for it.

Petronius| 3.1.13 @ 10:35AM

Dale Robertson passed on yesterday. Mention of him dates me to the 50's when The Voice had the addendum, "of Firestone". Tales of Wells Fargo wasn't top drawer like Gun Smoke, but money runs the world and those who don't have any can only turn off the trash offered these days. The Liberal's assassination of civilization is almost complete. It will be etched in fossilized turds when the next series on Masterpiece Classic is titled Double-wide Shanty which will be a low comedy about every Liberals "worst nightmare; white trash with money." Sarnoff, Paley, and the moguls who started the TV industry came to realize quickly that people spurn enlightenment, refinement, and grace. They have only one demand: Amuse me; or else!
Rod Serling, pray for us.

Moe Blotz| 3.1.13 @ 11:38AM

Fossilised turds are known as coprolites.

Petronius| 3.1.13 @ 3:57PM

Moe
That begs the question. Would you rather watch what's on or see shit harden?
Cheers

Moe Blotz| 3.1.13 @ 5:14PM

Every time I turn around to have a look at what is left behind, the porcelain king swallows it whole. Two flushes sends it all to Trenton.

Bob Grant| 3.1.13 @ 6:13PM

Actually you may be on to something. I'd rather cycle through episodes of Cheers than than watch what passes as a sitcom these days.

c. j. acworth| 3.1.13 @ 10:39AM

I haven't had TV in my house for years. One winter the antenna (remember those?) got struck by lightning or something, so I said "OK in the spring I'll call the satelite guy." Spring came, then summer. When autumn rolled around I realized I'd gone the better part of a year without it and didn't miss it at all. Know how many books I can buy for the cost of "basic" plus a few pay-per-view movies a month? Plus I was able to upgrade to a better brand of burbon. TV is dead.

hoosiertoo| 3.2.13 @ 1:59PM

Ditched cable/sat TV and reinstalled a digital antenna for local broadcasts - wx, free NFL and whatever else can be gleaned from the free airwaves - and stream (or appropriate) whatever can be gleaned from the Net. Now the TV stays off more often and, better yet, I don't have to pay for the (mostly) dreck.

Who Knows?| 3.1.13 @ 12:09PM

TV is eye candy.

And we all know candy is NOT the main meal, but is a form of dessert, which should be not much more a part of the diet than spices. A little goes a long way.

When I was subbing, I used to do a little math about reality, using what no one could deny---time.

In any week, 24 hours times 7 days = 168 hours.

A normal person sleeps 8 hours times 7 days = 56 hours.

A normal person works or goes to school 8 hours times 5 days = 40 hours.

A normal person spends about 2 hours (or more) dressing, showering, etc, (and commuting to work) times 7 days = 14 hours.

A normal person spends 3 hours per day eating times 7 days = 21 hours.

Added up, you get around 128 hours.

That leaves around 40 hours per week FREE.

And, the average person watches 5 hours per day times 7 days = 35 hours per week of---TELEVISION.

There you have it---the average person is a zombie, or at best a drudge, whose 168-hour week is filled with very UNENLIGHTENED activity, or “pleasurable” inactivity, wasting away as the couch potato we all know and rue.

Vote Obama!

effinayright| 3.2.13 @ 6:35PM

What a load. A whole lot of "free" hours are spent doing household chores and maintenance, shopping, taking the kids here and there, going to sporting events and other entertainment venues, and the like.

The "five hour" thing is a factoid, as was the "seven hour" thing.

And, you gents ever hear of that internet thingy? The "average American" is glued to a PC as much as he is to TV. Given that a lot of that time might be spent on porn or finding TV re-runs on Hulu, that's not necessarily a good thing. But the rise of social media like Facebook has definitely cut into TV viewing time --- as have iPhones, Droids, iPads and the like.

Granted, a lot of TV sucks. But we're ages away from Springstein's "Fifty Seven Channels and There's Nothing On".

You just need to look harder.

Ronsch| 3.1.13 @ 12:38PM

I watch three shows fairly regularly on the TV...

1) Justified" on FX - Based on the book "Fire In The Hole" by Elmore Leonard (best known for writing books and screen plays that Clint Eastwood used for movies. They include "Joe Kidd." The perennial western "3:10 To Yuma" was also written by Elmore Leonard.
2) "Supernatural" on "The CW" which stars Jensen Ackles (a non-denominational Christian) and Jared Padalecki as brothers fighting various types of Supernatural evil, with the help of an Angel (Castiel) played by Misha Collins. Collectively, they have beaten the crap out of Satan (stopped the Apocalypse), the 4 Horseman, and assorted other demons. Pretty good story lines overall.
3) "The Walking Dead" on AMC. What can I say but Zombies and friendship.

While it was on I watched "Longmire" on A&E. used to peruse the History Channel, until it went all revisionist. Still catch The Military Channel, and The Outdoor Network.

So, there is some value, but it is limited.

Moe Blotz| 3.1.13 @ 1:36PM

Personally, I really dig the reruns of "Movin' On", that old green Kenworth is bitchin'.

Bill8472| 3.1.13 @ 9:03PM

My favorite Elmore Leonard story and movie is "52 Pick-Up." In that one, a relatively smart middle-class guy wipes up the streets with a gang of crooks who think they're smarter than he is.

Albert Constantine Jr.| 3.2.13 @ 11:22AM

I believe Roy Scheider was in the movie version, was he not?

Lyneuss Fields | 3.1.13 @ 1:55PM

I get much of my national news (of course America is just one of many nations) from English Al-Jazeera on-line. This way, I don't have to put up with Corporate America’s Commercialism from a box. I’m not "plugged" every three minutes with insulting visuals—you know the blatantly, idiotic testimonials by over-paid actors—designed to push goods and services. And best of all, regardless of whether I agree with an opinion or viewpoint, I don't have to watch pundits (again over-paid actors) yell worn out memes of a degenerated, long-gone, egotistical, violent, and selfish me-culture.
http://lyneussfields.blogspot......their.html

Bob Grant| 3.1.13 @ 2:49PM

You and Al-Jizzera can shove it!

bustunloose| 3.1.13 @ 3:34PM

What is it like to so precious and gifted ? Maybe you can be our nest president.

bustunloose| 3.1.13 @ 3:35PM

4LF

effinayright| 3.3.13 @ 12:42AM

I went to your blog....where you have months of NO COMMENTS to each of your mind-shattering revelations..

JEBUS! You really are a World-Historical Figure in the Blog Universe!!!

BWAAhahahahahahaaa!

Lyneuss Fields | 3.3.13 @ 1:10PM

I delete them so I don't have to listen to boneheads—yes, this is all about you effinayright—regurgitate the remnant idea's of my blog visitor's past posts.

Petronius| 3.1.13 @ 4:16PM

LF
To extrapolate your take after too many spots for unmentionables, (catheters, and cremation heading that list), I'm reminded of a scene in Sleeper. Woody Allen wakes after 2 centuries of hibernation and is being interviewed by a psychologist. He is shown an old tape of Howard Cosell, and the dialog following is:
Psychologist: "We can't figure out what it's about, but we've concluded that anytime somebody in your society did something really horrible, they were forced to watch this."
Woody: "Yeah, that's about right."
But AlGorezira? Not funny as a chain pull.

Lyneuss Fields | 3.1.13 @ 7:52PM

You need to drop the handle buddy! Petronius was a suck-up (courtier) to Nero. As you should know, Nero used to hunt Christians to kill in his gardens as entertainment for guests.

But any-how, I've got no problem with comedy in sports. Look, NFL jocks had to put up with Dennis Miller's lame sports jokes every Monday night for f'n years. But more to the point, four (get this 4) Corporations own all print, radio and television media. And to top that all off, they—these four corporations—have "interlocking directors" on their boards. Therefore, these directors—dictated to by corporate interest—not people (Homo sapiens as I like to call them) determine what is fit for Americans to know.

Petronius| 3.1.13 @ 8:23PM

True enooof.
There are 2 count 'em 2 old style trusts left in this country. The legal "profession?" and entertainment. And the situation won't change until these plutocrats are gone. The fact that the roobs want their thinking done for them along with everything else is the primary reason we both can't stand what's offered. Hence the reference to Sleeper.
Petronius was also the biggest Cynic of his day.

Lyneuss Fields | 3.1.13 @ 9:15PM

Let's talk about political entertainers (plutocrats as you call them) and their role as the oracles of America. First we have Rush, who brings politicians who disagree with his analysis to their knees. How many Conservative leaders—now think and be honest—have apologized to him. What stinks they are! Then there's O'reilly and that other what-ca-ma-call-it Hannity. How many of these 3 suckers have ever been elected to any government office? The message here is clear for Republicans. These political entertainers, who Conservatives are “tuning in to”, do not have to face election for their extreme views. No electorate holds them to account for their rants. This is why entertainment and politics should be separated, and it is why actors like Schwarzenegger and Bono had to give up their careers while they held office.

Lyneuss Fields | 3.1.13 @ 9:49PM

Now let's talk about Plutocrats! No patriotic American should have a problem with legitimately acquiring personal wealth. Historically, this idea of Bonanza is what has driven much of human achievement. But what about individuals who inherit wealth, multiply it many times through investments and businesses they never developed. Are they entitled to buy America's politicians? Is anyone, regardless of how they acquired their wealth, entitled to buy politicians for their own personal gain? If Grover (a plutocrat who has never built anything) can buy a politician, guaranteeing them money or a position (maybe as a lobbyist) after their tenure in office, then what has that politician got to lose. There is no longer any fear of political or financial loss on their part. Can you see where politicians are coming from when the say to their electorate, "bold leaders, regardless of what the people want, must do what they feel is right". And it is why they are more malleable to the likes of O’reilly and Hannity.

Bob Grant| 3.1.13 @ 11:48PM

As though it's somehow noble to take and allocate other people's money?

And at times allocate other people's money into their own personal piggy bank. See Jessie Jackson Jr. and his stupid purchases with other people's money.

And, of course, his daddy who built quite a career (and nest egg) by shaking down corporation after corporation through racist tactics. Is that earned income? What personal financial risk did "reverend" Jackson take when he shook down those companies?

Your arguments are weak. Go back to AlGorezira and wallow in that cesspool they call "unbiased" news.

Lyneuss Fields | 3.2.13 @ 11:27AM

Taxes, next to rants about cutting defense spending, are among the easiest "straw men" to knock down. They are both a hard and bitter pill for most Americans. Working class Americans detest taxes for reducing their take-home pay from the already meager wage they earn. Taxes on wealthy people can easily leave the bitter taste of intrusion into their ability to pursue happiness as guaranteed by The Declaration of Independence. Many of them are really painters or the visionaries, who for centuries before and for centuries to come will fight any government who tries to steal the American dream.
But instead of taking your “paper dog” momentum and giving me a weakened but effective argument on my points, you turned to this piss-ass gobble d’ goop crap about Reverend Jesse Jackson and his wayward Representative son. But, where’s the damned beef to your conclusion? Do you want people to believe that, because of the perceived and unproved accusations about an African Reverend and the admission of guilt by his disgraced son, tax loopholes for the rich shouldn't be closed? My point here is that your argument stinks. You might disagree with my assertions above, but you've given no discernible reason why other than worn-out rants about Reverend Jackson, his politically wayward son, your fear of Albert Gore Jr. and his sale of Current TV to Al-Jazeera.

Bob Grant| 3.2.13 @ 9:26PM

My point is you, nor I, get to determine what is "earned" and what is not "earned". The Grover Norquists or Trust Fund Babies earned whatever fortunes they amassed because, whether you like it or not, it was within the law; nothing unethical or immoral. Private citizens "buying politicians" is inconsequential when politicians "BUY" other politicians on a regular basis.

As the "esteemed" city council woman from the "great" City of Detroit JoAnn Watson recently blurted after obama won reelection: "“There ought to be a quid pro quo,"...""After the election of Jimmy Carter, the honorable Coleman Alexander Young, he went to Washington, D.C., and came home with some bacon, That's what you do." No, Mrs. Watson, that's NOT what you do. That's why the city she represents is dead! That's why our country will soon follow: The JoAnn Watson's of the World.

Al Gore's a buffoon and a hypocrite. I don't fear him. I loath him!

Petronius| 3.2.13 @ 11:37AM

Now let's talk about Patriotic Americans. An American is honest, industrious, and virtuous. He is NOT a predator, pervert, parasite, or above all an Idiot. When Conservatives controlled the culture, any practitioners of those first 3 behaviors were scorned and kept in check. They shouldn't be allowed to live here anyway, because WE Conservatives pay the total costs of the results from that behavior in treasury, property, and blood. My standard of living is half what I deserve because the trash elect commie charlatans who tell them my earnings will be plundered and given to them. Economic and social advancement is now impossible short of a Powerball jackpot because of all the economically illiterate lowlife who believe the world is a sand box where mommy government supplies all with a level pail full. The world is an arena. And when Washington defaults on the national debt the incompetent will not survive what follows. With disposable income lower than before 1960, depression is just around the corner. Tick, tick, tick...

Lyneuss Fields | 3.2.13 @ 4:47PM

When you say virtuous, do you speak of values according to Socrates? Those values would then be health, wealth, wisdom and a well-pitched voice to address the court. Whether or not you reject the notion of his utopia, most would have a hard time arguing against the strength of these mores he professed. Never the less, America doesn't kill non-conformers, Christians and all those unique soles who don’t acknowledge the Conservative party as God. This is what your buddy Nero did with followers of Christ and others of His flock unfortunate enough to meet Nero circa 54-68 AD. Again, you need to lose the handle Petronius.
But anyway, of those Americans who do work, sixty-one percent have no control over what, how when or where they work. The bottom line here is they are controlled by other people (e.g., supervisors or managers). Many are not pretty or elegant and don’t own lots of “stuff”. Some entrepreneurs and business people refer to them by the euphemism, “Salt of the Earth”. They represent aggregate demand in America’s economy and are the class responsible, for determining, by their behavior in the marketplace what goods and services are produced.

Bob Grant| 3.2.13 @ 9:47PM

Your last paragraph is very telling, Mr. Fields.

Lyneuss Fields | 3.3.13 @ 10:36AM

Simply stated, "demand—a response to consumer utility—is the determinate of what goods and services get produced". Producers don't hire employees because they get a reduction in taxes or regulation, because there still would be no “aggregate” increase in demand for their goods and services by consumers. Think about tax cuts or rebates cause-effect-cause versus direct stimulus. How could "money and stuff'" given to producers and the wealthy cause consumers to purchase more goods and services? This includes President Obama's tax cuts for upgrading businesses. Indirectly, people in industries which produce the products (e.g., computers, desks, communication, etc.) used in business upgrades may see a reduction of inventories. But compared to the direct injection of stimulus money into an economy, tax cuts or rebates are a "much slower" process for increasing employment—in a down economy—and they don't put money directly in the hands of consumers in the form of a paycheck.

Petronius| 3.2.13 @ 11:18AM

Conservatives aren't leading anything, and won't until after the crash comes and there's no other way. To call Rush "conservative" make one pause and wonder. What Real Conservative would allow perverts at his wedding? He lasts because the information he puts out is accurate. O' Reilly plays both sides of the fence. Letterman likes him and I'd like to spit in both of his faces. As to getting elected, fuggetaboutit. This country is finished because the heads of everybody but Conservatives contain little more than leftist cant and infantile crap. Their liberal teachers and parents didn't force them to grow up. Yesterday on Jeopardy some guy admitted he wet his bed. 50 years ago that was unmentionable. With people like this running society, the Norks don't need the bomb. All they have to do is wait.

Lyneuss Fields | 3.2.13 @ 12:18PM

This attitude, "let's just wait for Wall Street to crash" is going to kill the Republican Party. Wealth creation and its preservation, is the keystone economic philosophy of Conservatism. For a Conservative to wait—as you say—for a Wall Street crash, is behavior antithetical to wealth creation and preservation, two fundamental economic tenets of Republicanism. Therefore, corporations—including Capitalists who say they are waiting for America’s markets to crash— aren't Conservative or Republican.

effinayright| 3.3.13 @ 12:38AM

Heh. since when has election to political office been a pre-condition to being an effective critic of office holders?

Ever hear of Mencken, Lippman, Kronkite, the Alsops, and a host of other members of the political commentariat?

Right there, you betray your stupid-i-tude.

Petronius| 3.3.13 @ 11:44AM

Yes. We could use a Mencken to gobsmack the beltway establishment, along with Chris Mathews, Ed Schultz, David Brooks, Mark Shields, the staff off CNN and the rest of the moronarchy. Somebody put in a call for P.J. O'Rourke. Please!

Bob K| 3.2.13 @ 8:55AM

Michael Savage also has problems with "interlocking directors" on all those print, radio and television boards. Give him a phone call some day. Your encounter should be entertaining!

effinayright| 3.2.13 @ 7:31PM

"But more to the point, four (get this 4) Corporations own all print, radio and television media."

Name them, please.

effinayright| 3.3.13 @ 12:35AM

Silence is golden, isn't it, LYNEUSS?

Or is it simply a case that you don't want to come out and scream what you're claiming, which is:

"They're all owned by the JOOOOOOOOOOS!!!"

Lyneuss Fields | 3.3.13 @ 9:54AM

The Walt Disney Company, News Corporation, Time Warner and Viacom.

BuckeyeInCA| 3.1.13 @ 6:57PM

I offer up as worthwhile viewing something no one has mentioned... Turner Classic Movies. My DVR is crammed with the stuff. Since I started dedicated viewing about a year ago (having given up on the modern crap) I think I've seen 150-200 titles that I've never seen before, from the 20's to the 50's, over the past year. All with better-than-average to excellent rating. Seriously. Good stuff. A treasure trove of fantastic cinema. I love old Hollywood. Those were the days. And Robert Osborne/Ben Mankiewicz offer up really interesting commentary before and after in the evening/on weekends. I watch little else other than the occasional carefully selected items from Netflix. It's all about (good) movies, for me.

Bill8472| 3.1.13 @ 9:02PM

Sadly, the homogenized, predigested ideas of TV have made Americans receptive to a national govenment without the sovereign state governments. Much less complicated that way.

homme nike air max BW | 3.2.13 @ 12:17AM

Orwell laughs. If only it required barbed wires and guard towers to force people to tune in to Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, my faith in my fellow man might be reinvigorated. Alas, millions view willingly. Can I secede from the human race now? http://www.shoxinfr.com/nike-shox-r3-c-8.html

cicero| 3.2.13 @ 9:10AM

Every television I have ever owned had a channel changer, and an off switch. Viewing is not mandatory. The producers know that those buying commercial time will pay for what is watched by the most people. Therefore, they shoot for the lowest common denominator. The easiest to sell is sports for men, and soaps of any stripe for women. Nothing wrong with that. If you are looking for philosophy, or soul searching, turn the silly thing off, and go to the library. If you are in the mood to be entertained, turn on the television, and pick your poison, or passion, however it may present itself.

effinayright| 3.3.13 @ 8:29PM

???

These folks list a lot, lot more than four:

http://www.freepress.net/ownership/chart

Is the NYT owned by the four you cite? How about the Boston Globe?

Who owns Gannett? Who owns ComCast? etc etc.

Face it: you're a crank.

hrgfue | 3.3.13 @ 10:38PM

thank you for your New post on that site.which is the best blog for us.we are enjoy it and will show them to everyone.

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