Cable is Evil

The other night there was a meeting.  A revival meeting of sorts...to cast out a demon from our college campus.  Cable Television.  I wouldn't have been involved if I hadn't been asked to speak.  I think I was supposed to talk about the evils of cable TV...but ended up re-telling an episode of the Simpsons - you know, the one where Marge helps get Itchy and Scratchy taken off the air...

The thrust of the meeting consisted of arguments concerning the "problem" of cable "addiction".   A part of me was a little uncomfortable with the way the word "addiction" was thrown around.  Should we start a support group?  Is there a 12 step program?  I'm not denying the power and allure of the "idiot box"...but just turn the thing off, for Pete's sake!

Just for the record, I originally supported the motion to get rid of cable - but not because I think cable is evil.  The so called cable problem is a symptom of a deeper issue:  What is the purpose of college education?  More and more it seems we are running a hotel / resort - a very expensive hotel / resort.  Academics just seem to get in the way of the more important things going on.  Oh, yeah, I shouldn't use the word "academics" - it wreaks of intellectualism.  I guess I can't use the word "scholar" either...when suggested that a student's role for four years is that of scholar - eyes roll.  We are America, after all, a democracy...and what's more democratic then cable TV.  On cable TV all ideas are equal...and the TV watcher has the ultimate power of veto - the channel changer.  There is nothing more un-American as the notion of "academics" or "scholar".  Such language reflects a "youthinkyourbetterthenmeism".  And we certainly can't have that.

 

I realize that getting rid of cable is not the cure all.  There are many other avenues of distraction, some even more influential then cable TV.  Such distractions are not always a bad ... we need them from time to time to get some perspective, or just be entertained.   But when I hear of students  threatening to transfer if cable TV is taken away?  Hmmmm...I have to wonder....