“Headlines, in a way, are what mislead you because bad new is a headline, and gradual improvement is not.” – Bill Gates

In all reality the best thing we could do for ourselves is throw our television sets out the window.  Problem is, how often do we do what is best for us?

It astounds me the way the news media thinks we need all this news.  The local news repeats itself on the half hour for two and a half hours repeating the same news and weather forecasts.  Then comes the world news.  Does good news make the headlines?  Hell no!  Bad news is the king of the news world.   Good news doesn’t help your ratings or your newspaper circulation.

“The brains of humans contain a mechanism that is designed to give priority to bad news.” – Daniel Kahneman

No wonder there are so many people who suffer from depression in our world today.   We are constantly bombarded with bad news.   Then our air waves are filled with all these people who know what is best for us, even though most of them aren’t even qualified, and how to make our lives better.  Really?

Then for entertainment there is what I call “free for all shows” where people come on the show to air their dirty laundry.  Who is cheating on who, who is the father of my baby, that sort of topic.  They take lie detector tests and paternity tests.  The one I like is the lady who has had 14 different men on the show trying to find the father of her child.  Nope!  Last I heard they still haven’t found him.  If you think you are having a bad day turn on one of these shows and all of a sudden you realize that your day could be a lot worse.

Then as if they weren’t making enough money on advertisement they came up with “infomercials” and they have become quite popular.  I can’t tell you anything about them because I haven’t watched one.

Oh my gosh!  Maybe I was wrong.  Maybe television isn’t so bad after all.  I mean, you get bombarded by bad news all morning and they air a program where some one who can’t control their life, tells you how to fix yours.  Then to make sure they have helped you they air a show who has guests with problems that just turned your mountain of troubles into a grain of sand.  Last but not least they sell air time to someone so they can explain in a half hour why you need something you really don’t need.  Silly me, they were looking out for me after all.

I guess by now you have figured out that I am not a big fan of television.  I am old enough to remember when two people had to keep one foot on the floor when shooting a scene involving a bed.  Now days they don’t leave much for the imagination.  Even the children shows have become down right insulting in the name of education and political correctness, that’s my opinion anyway.  Hey, what do you expect from a man who cut his eye teeth on, The Roadrunner (beep, beep), The Lone Ranger, and Looney Tunes?  The sad thing is we know all this yet we keep turning the ole “boob tube” on letting it poison the minds of our children and ourselves.  I will admit it, I am guilty of it too.  What secret powers does this box of circuits, electrodes and other technologies have over us?  I really have no answer.  Next time I get the urge to turn on the “idiot box” I think I will grab a book instead.

Thanks for reading.  Hope you enjoyed it.  Remember, spread the love.