Reply #69: Television

[H2O Man]

is a cross between hypnotism and novocaine. I would hesitate to say that it has created any large scale sense of awareness .... perhaps Jerry Mander sums up the results of television best in his book "In the Absence of the Sacred (The Failure of Technology & the Survival of the Indian Nations)." It was his follow-up to "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television."

An example of the damage that tv does to the human brain can actually be found elsewhere on this thread, where someone speaks about Gandhi and his errors in comprehending the Nazi threat. This was based on a short story, apparently, and not a tv show .... but the same lack of insight, specifically the inability to note the distinction between fact and fiction, comes in to play. Gandhi spoke and wrote at length about the differences between the British Empire and the Nazis.

Your point about "consumer-oriented information" is right on target.