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Kill Your TV
Kill Your TV
Kill Your TV

Cigarettes are a nicotine delivery system. TV is an idiocy delivery system.

Kill Your TV
Kill Your TV
Kill Your TV

Cigarettes are a nicotine delivery system. TV is an idiocy delivery system.

The Kill Your TV Website:

http://othello.localaccess.com/hardebeck/

No this is serious. He claims that Sesame Street may teach your kid to recognize letters and numbers, but it shortens their attention span.

It happens that, when I was a kid, I stopped watching television when my sister left for college. I had never really actively watched TV before, but would sit passively while she changed the channels. With my sister gone, I would at first just sit in silence in the empty house. But I started listening to music which, unlike TV, allows you to devote your attention to other things while you listen.

I read a lot, ground telescope mirrors, acted in the high school theater and eventually became the set director, started college at 16 while still attending high school, scored 890 out of a possible 900 on the SAT Math II achievement test and was accepted into CalTech, where I published in the astrophysical journal and did research on the 200" and 60" telescopes.

I still don't watch TV, and have a successful software consulting business.

Mike

Note - you can find refs to my papers in the "Publications" section of my resume. Abstracts are available online. I didn't say it in my original letter but the work that was published I did while employed as a research assistant the summer after my freshman year.

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Kill your TV

...but if you are intelligent and proactive about the things you hear and see noone will be able to brainwash you. Are you so afraid that big bad Dan Rather is going to convince you that Elian should be sent back to Cuba, and that you should smoke Camels, drink Bud and buy Nike?

Ok, we are getting offtopic, but I can't resist biting at this one :) I don't watch TV (ok, I'll admit an occational Simpsons :), and my radio listening is minimal (I won't listen commercials.) But as you can see, I do participate in the internet. A discrepency? I don't think so. I see the internet as fundamentally different from TV.
The internet allows me to choose my content and view it when I want. TV says "You will watch X program at X time. VCR taping is hardly practical
The internet allows me to filter my content. I block banner ads. I use search engines like Google that don't use ads at all. TV, however, bombards you with ads every 10-15 minutes. Where are the TVs that block commercials?? You'll never see one as long as the Networks have total control over the medium.
And finally, my biggest reason I support the internet over TV: Interaction. Slashdot may have it's share of problems, but where else can you dialog with so many diverse people than on the internet? TV is 100% passive, no interaction, you take what you are given. Have a problem with how the news is reported on ABC? Tough, there's no forum for you to post your dissention, or read about others views on the news.

I'm sorry, but TV is a tool use to push propaganda and keep people from thinking for themselves. Yes, I agree that intelligent people can "fight the brainwashing" but even the best of us can be swayed over time without knowing it...and I don't think most people (Americans in this case) fall into that category. One of my favorite web sites on this is here: Kill your TV


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Make sure you read the feedback section, the "your web page sucks" comments really show how far the needle goes.
Kill your TV


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There are many people who claim to only watch TV "for the news." Well, this kind of crap is enough reason for me to abandon the news altogether. Seeing is not believing when ratings are at stake. Kill your TV


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kill your TV