After my husband and I were laid off at the same time, we turned off the cable TV hoping to save some money. (We did. Bill went from $110 to $41 for just internet. Suck it Time Warner.) People stare at me agast when I say this. Someone accused me of being a “reader” the other day. When he first said it, I thought he said “breeder” and I think I just stared at him. When it sunk in, it struck me as such a sad statement. Like I am some annoying NPR-listening, liberal smartypants who doesn’t get out much. Oh wait, I am. Shit.
Thing is, we haven’t missed much being sans TV. We still get our John Stewart and Stephen Colbert on Hulu. There are movies to watch. There are TV shows on DVD. And on DVD you don’t have to wait till next week to get the ending of the cliffhanger.
As for my morning TV addiction, it may suprise you, but I found it was amazingly easy to switch from Gail Guiardo on Channel 8 to Carson Cooper on the local NPR. Maybe it’s because I don’t have to watch Carson get his lips plumped at the newest South Tampa salon at 5am and pretend it’s news.
I did miss much of the Michael Jackson hoopla. And the Ted Kennedy funeral. Which is to say that I haven’t missed anything.
You know, I loved Ted Kennedy as much as the next Irish Catholic liberal with a chronic medical condition. I read and listened (NPR, you know) to all the memorials with a heavy heart. But I am not sure why we had to watch the funeral. I discovered it was being aired when I visited my mother and found it on all the TVs. Of course, since it was my mother’s house, the TV was up full blast. Mourning with the volume on 20.
(The Kennedys were very gracious about all the wackos coming to visit them after the senator’s death. They allowed crazy people in red white and blue spangled clothing to sign condolance books and shook the hands of these “mourners” in reception lines. All while they were going through their own very real grief. Which leads me to wonder if they are amazingly polite and well-bred or if they’re a bunch a whack-a-doo’s themselves. Hard to tell. )
Would there be less whack-a-doos without TV? Think of a world without Fox News. A world without the phrase “death panels.” And we could all do with a little less Simon Cowell.
My point being, turn off the TV. Really. It’s not so bad being a reader. Because it seriously diminishes your chances of sporting any red, white and blue spangled clothing.
FaithieP Online 