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Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television By Jerry Mander ( Harper Perennial )
Release Date: 1978-03-01
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List Price: $13.95
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Product Description
A total departure from previous writing about television, this book is the first ever to advocate that the medium is not reformable. Its problems are inherent in the technology itself and are so dangerous -- to personal health and sanity, to the environment, and to democratic processes -- that TV ought to be eliminated forever. Weaving personal experiences through meticulous research, the author ranges widely over aspects of television that have rarely been examined and never before joined together, allowing an entirely new, frightening image to emerge. The idea that all technologies are "neutral," benign instruments that can be used well or badly, is thrown open to profound doubt. Speaking of TV reform is, in the words of the author, "as absurd as speaking of the reform of a technology such as guns."
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 Was it just me???? ( lauraaugust )
or was that book almost impossible to read? I'm against children watching television and was hoping for a book that would support my view. I couldn't follow it, and in the end I didn't understand the four arguments. Okay, maybe it is just me, but I'll stick to Marie Winn's "The Plug-In Drug."
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 WOW WOW WOW ( lighthouselearning )
WOW! This book is amazing and so true. One of my college professors (who does not watch tv) recommended this book, after I read it, I stopped watching tv. That was one of the best choices I have made in a long time. This is a must read for everyone! BE TV FREE!!
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Intellectual View Of The Idiot Box ( theunknownsurfer )
This is one of the most thought provoking books I have ever read. Everyone who owns a television set should read this book. (Except maybe Ted Turner)
After I finished the book and watched TV, I started looking at what Jerry brought up in the book, instead of what was actually on the screen. Everything fell into place.
This book may have been published 30 years ago, but everything he says is applicable in today's television reality.
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THROW OUT THE IDIOT BOX !!!
They don't call it an idiot box for nothing. Television has morphed into a pathetic invention over the years. What started as a revolutionary invention, has become nothing more than CONSTANT advertising, biased news, and stupid programming. Reality TV is a great example. Take a bunch of pathetic wannabe's, put them in a house, and watch the BS unfold! Is this what people should be doing with their precious time on this Earth? Watching a steady stream of advertising and mindless programming? Our morals are also going down the toilet with graphic shows like CSI and so on. It's not enough to watch people die, now we have to see them die the most horrible deaths one can imagine. As you click through the channels you'll either be bombarded by commercials or assaulted by one stupid show after another. Kudos to this book. I have cancelled my cable service and will never again own a TV. At least the internet is content specific. There is a lot of bad stuff on the internet, but I don't have to click through it to get to my preferred content. The crap on the internet only shows up if I search for it. Whereas TV is an endless stream of crap. TV has become a mindless idiot box, which sucks the life out of people, by giving them a way to "hide" from reality. Let's not make new friends in real life, let's watch a show called "Friends" instead. Let's not read news from a number of online sources, let's be told what to think by our local news anchor. Let's not jetski, surf, run, play, travel, cook, date, etc., in real life, let's watch others do it on TV. GET A LIFE!!! Get out and live your life, and throw the idiot box in the trash where it belongs!
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Reality TV may be the biggest sham every produced for our viewing pleasure ( ramon@ramonthomas.com )
This is an important book because it outlines a cause to so many problems, that is so pervasive it goes unnoticed by the vast majority of people. Television was only introduced in South Africa in 1975, as it happens the year I was born, because the Apartheid government saw a threat to itself loosing control. It would be fascinating to know who finally made the convincing argument to get the government's approval. This book was published in 1978 or 30 years ago and it's not hard to imagine how much more entrenched this technology has become, especially given the rise of the so-called reality television programming.
Tom Leykis, the controversial Los Angeles based radio jock, has continuously pointed out what a sham reality television is, especially when compared to his daily 4-hour radio show. Many of the "ordinary" people in these reality shows, upon investigation, turn out to be unemployed or unknown actors. The simple fact that you can have a bazillion incarnations of Pop Idols or Survivor proves how mediocre the television viewing audience has become. You accept any garbage without the faintest hint of plausibility. An ex-girlfriend of mine competed twice in the South African Idols competition and never got beyond #75 and yet she performs weekly at gigs even in other countries. In my view the artificial failure she experienced in this reality show has caused her to loose whatever self-motivation she had before hand to get a recording deal and eventually release her own album.
Anyway back to Jerry Mander, the 4 arguments outlined in the book are:
1.The Mediation of Experience
2.The Colonization of Experience
3.Effects of Television on the Human Being
4.The Inherent Biases of Television
One of the first things that hit me was how important the idea of a mediated experience is, that in fact we first hand the replacement of experience, followed closely by the unification of experience. How can anyone growing in a televised world develop a uniqueness, a sense of self if the rest of humanity simply goes with the flow in their unified experience?
Another perspective I have learned from this book is simply this: the technology is not neutral. The simple fact that it exists does not mean we have to accept it, but we do. So if you accept nuclear weapons, you have to accept the military industrial complex that goes with that, and the scientific elite who control it. If you accept cars, you accept roads have to be built, oil has to be produced, steel has to be manufactured, etc and the vast industries, again, run by an elite, concentrated group of power brokers or businessmen. Only a handful of oil companies and car manufacturing companies own or control all these industries worldwide.
There is so much to explore in this book and it's exceptionally well researched. Each argument is broken down into specific points. What I want to leave with with that it is important that we each make a decision to avoid television and embrace real experiences, not those mediated by the giant media companies who dominate our landscape in the 21st century. There is a huge opportunity to update the contents of this book given that 30 years have passed and even more mounting evidence is likely to be available, to confirm the original findings and thesis espoused by Jerry Mander.
Highly recommended articles can be found at StevePavlina.com that deals with Reducing TV watch or Giving up TV completely.
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