Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television
A 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...
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A 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."
IntroductionIThe Belly of the Beast13Adman ManqueEngulfed by the SixtiesThe Replacement of ExperienceThe Unification of ExperienceIIWar to Control the Unity Machine29Advancing from the Sixties to the FiftiesStyle Supersedes ContentTelevision at Black MesaThe Illusion of Neutral TechnologyBefore the Arguments: A Comment on StyleArgument 1The Mediation of ExperienceIIIThe Walling of Awareness53Mediated EnvironmentsSensory-Deprivation EnvironmentsRooms inside RoomsIVExpropriation of Knowledge69Direction EducationMotel EducationVAdrift in Mental Space86Science Fiction and Arbitrary RealityEight Ideal Conditions for the Flowering of AutocracyPopular Philosophy and Arbitrary RealitySchizophrenia and the Influencing MachineArgument 2The Colonization of ExperienceVIAdvertising: The Standard-Gauge Railway115The Creation of "Value"Redeveloping the Human BeingCommodity PeopleBreaking the Skin BarrierThe Inherent Need to Create NeedBuying Ourselves BackThe Delivery System's Delivery SystemVIIThe Centralization of Control134Economic Growth and Patriotic ConsumptionThe Trickle-Down TheoryBeneficiaries of the Advertising FantasyThe Effect on IndividualsFlaws in the FantasyThe Depression Never EndedDomination of the Influencing MachineArgument 3Effects of Television on the Human BeingVIIIAnecdotal Reports: Sick, Crazy, Mesmerized157Invisible PhenomenonDimming Out the HumanArtificial Touch and HyperactivityTelevision Is Sensory DeprivationIXThe Ingestion of Artificial Light170Health and LightOutdoors to IndoorsSeeking the LightSerious ResearchXHow Television Dims the Mind192HypnosisTelevision Bypasses ConsciousnessTelevision Is Sleep TeachingTelevision Is Not RelaxingXIHow We Turn into Our Images216Humans Are Image FactoriesThe Concrete Power of ImagesMetaphysics to PhysicsImage Emulation: Are We All Taped Replays?Imitating MediaXIIThe Replacement of Human Images by Television240Suppression of ImaginationThe Inherent Believability of All ImagesAll Television Is RealScientific EvidenceThe Irresistibility of ImagesArgument 4The Inherent Biases of TelevisionXIIIInformation Loss263Bias against the ExcludedFuzzy Images: The Bias against SubtletyThe Bias away from the SensoryXIVImages Disconnected from Source283The Elimination of "Aura"The Bias toward DeathSeparation from Time and PlaceCondensation of Time: The Bias against AccuracyXVArtificial Unusualness299Instinct to the ExtraordinaryThe Bias toward Technique as Replacement of ContentIn Favor of "Alienated" ViewingThe Bias to Highlighted Content: Toward the Peaks, Away from the TroughsXVIThe Pieces That Fall through the Filter323Thirty-three Miscellaneous Inherent BiasesPostscript: Impossible ThoughtsXVIITelevision Taboo347Acknowledgments359Bibliography363
