Four Arguments for the Elimination of TelevisionA 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." |
Contents
13 | |
29 | |
FOUR ARGUMENTS FOR | 49 |
EXPROPRIATION OF KNOWLEDGE | 69 |
ADRIFT IN MENTAL SPACE | 86 |
Argument | 113 |
THE CENTRALIZATION OF CONTROL | 134 |
Argument Three | 155 |
How TELEVISION DIMS THE MIND | 192 |
How WE TURN INTO OUR IMAGES | 216 |
THE REPLACEMENT OF HUMAN | 240 |
Argument Four | 261 |
xrv IMAGES DISCONNECTED FROM SOURCE | 285 |
ARTIFICIAL UNUSUALNESS | 299 |
THE PIECES THAT FALL THROUGH | 323 |
TELEVISION TABOO | 347 |