Re: FC: Forget Internet restrictions -- how about banning TV?

On Thu, 9 Jul 1998, Declan McCullagh forwarded from TIME:

>...
>   The revolution will not be televised -- at least not in Afghanistan.
>   The Taliban government today banned TV, and gave Afghans 15 days to
>   get rid of all sets and VCRs. After that, if the organization's
>   enforcers find one in your house, it will be destroyed and you will be
>   punished.
>...

    sounds good to me; I've raised 5 children who know how to _read_.

    I've never owned a television, never saw the need to bring cancer
    into the home. TV could have been one of the greatest educational
    tools in the existence of mankind --and, what is it? nothing more
    than bread and circus for the mass, a tool for social reoganization 
    and the destruction of the family.

    babysitter?  momma's little helper? not really; a creator of a
    vast unthinking social wasteland --which, of course, fits the
    policy goals of Hillay's Global Village where everybody is just
    another butterscotch pudding to her recipe.

__________________________________________________________________________
    go not unto usenet for advice, for the inhabitants thereof will say:
      yes, and no, and maybe, and I don't know, and fuck-off.
_________________________________________________________________ attila__

attila writes:
> 
> On Thu, 9 Jul 1998, Declan McCullagh forwarded from TIME:
> 
> >...
> >   The revolution will not be televised -- at least not in Afghanistan.
> >   The Taliban government today banned TV, and gave Afghans 15 days to
> >   get rid of all sets and VCRs. After that, if the organization's
> >   enforcers find one in your house, it will be destroyed and you will be
> >   punished.
> >...
> 
>     sounds good to me; I've raised 5 children who know how to _read_.
> 

[rant against tv deleted]


While I agree that TV is a brain-sucking void, banning any
form of dissemination of information is a Bad Thing and
a sign of serious government oppression.


First the came for the TV sets, and I didn't say anything because
TV is merely bread and circuses for the masses.

Then they came for my radio, and I didn't complain because
I can't get Rush very good anyhow.

Then they came for the newspaper, and that really pissed me off, so
I wanted to protest.  I wanted my protest to get a lot of exposure, so
I went to call the TV and radio stations but they don't exist any more.


>     policy goals of Hillay's Global Village where everybody is just
>     another butterscotch pudding to her recipe.


I'd rather be dealing with Hillary than the Talliban.


-- 
Eric Murray  Chief Security Scientist  N*Able Technologies  www.nabletech.com
(email:  ericm  at  lne.com   or   nabletech.com)          PGP keyid:E03F65E5

On Thu, 9 Jul 1998, Eric Murray wrote:
> [snip]
>
>Then they came for the newspaper, and that really pissed me off, so
>I wanted to protest.  I wanted my protest to get a lot of exposure, so
>I went to call the TV and radio stations but they don't exist any more.
>
    point duly noted.  however, TV as a degenerative (self eating 
    watermelon) force is an option --which I took by refusing it
    the privilege of its one eyed stare. never owned one as the
    fraction of worthwhile programming is overwhelmed by mind-fuck.

>>     policy goals of Hillay's Global Village where everybody is just
>>     another butterscotch pudding to her recipe.
>
>I'd rather be dealing with Hillary than the Talliban.
>
    by all means. Hillary is an unprincipled, amoral automan who
    expects her comforts.  

    the Talliban/Taleban/or_however_whichever_network_spells_it is
    religious fanaticism; no worse than the Catholic Inquisition I
    would expect, but that's not saying much.

    Hillary can be beaten back into her cage...  Taleban fanaticism
    ends only with their death(s).

    There is no safety this side of the grave.  Never was; never will be.

 ________________________________________________________________attila__

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On Thu, 9 Jul 1998, attila wrote:

> On Thu, 9 Jul 1998, Eric Murray wrote:
> > [snip]
> >
> >Then they came for the newspaper, and that really pissed me off, so
> >I wanted to protest.

[...]

>     point duly noted.  however, TV as a degenerative (self eating 
>     watermelon) force is an option --which I took by refusing it
>     the privilege of its one eyed stare.

However you have the right to choose not to watch TV, and we have the
right to watch TV.  Its not weather TV is good or bad, but do we have the
ablity to make that decistion on our own.  Indeed if I wish to do
something that is degenerative and self-destructive I should be allowed
to.


- -- 
Please excuse my spelling as I suffer from agraphia see the url in my header. 
Never trust a country with more peaple then sheep.  ex-net.scum and proud
You Say To People "Throw Off Your Chains" And They Make New Chains For
Themselves? --Terry Pratchett.

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In <Pine.BSF.3.96.980709213822.4532E-100000@hun.org>, on 07/09/98 
   at 09:47 PM, attila <attila@hun.org> said:

>Hillary can be beaten back into her cage...  Taleban fanaticism
>    ends only with their death(s).

Yes, but more importantly: Is there a bag limit?

- -- 
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On Thu, 9 Jul 1998, William H. Geiger III wrote:

>-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>
>In <Pine.BSF.3.96.980709213822.4532E-100000@hun.org>, on 07/09/98 
>   at 09:47 PM, attila <attila@hun.org> said:
>
>>Hillary can be beaten back into her cage...  Taleban fanaticism
>>    ends only with their death(s).
>
>Yes, but more importantly: Is there a bag limit?
>
    bag limit? heavens, no! in fact, the last I heard there was a $5/ear
    bounty.  and someone else told me they, like lawyers, taste "just
    like chicken"   --bok-bok--

__________________________________________________________________________
    go not unto usenet for advice, for the inhabitants thereof will say:
      yes, and no, and maybe, and I don't know, and fuck-off.
_________________________________________________________________ attila__

On Thu, 9 Jul 1998, attila wrote:

> On Thu, 9 Jul 1998, Declan McCullagh forwarded from TIME:
> 
> >...
> >   The revolution will not be televised -- at least not in Afghanistan.
> >   The Taliban government today banned TV, and gave Afghans 15 days to
> >   get rid of all sets and VCRs. After that, if the organization's
> >   enforcers find one in your house, it will be destroyed and you will be
> >   punished.
> >...
> 
>     sounds good to me; I've raised 5 children who know how to _read_.
> 
>     I've never owned a television, never saw the need to bring cancer
>     into the home. TV could have been one of the greatest educational
>     tools in the existence of mankind --and, what is it? nothing more
>     than bread and circus for the mass, a tool for social reoganization 
>     and the destruction of the family.

I suspect one day someone will be saying something similar about the
net.

I have a small TV and cable, which sits a few feet away from my computer.
If I could, I'd just fly around the country going to Mets and Yankees
games.. and of course during the "slow season" I can always go to football
games. 

TV is what you make of it. I suppose if a kid sits in a room by himself
and vegges out in front of it, it does more harm than good.. on the
other hand, when you're 15 years old and can't talk to your dad about
much because its just that time in life, I'd be willing to bet baseball
or sports is still neutral enough territory. I don't see much wrong
with crowding around the idiot box as a family or group, if it gives
people something to talk about. Politics and religion can be fun now and
then, but we all get weary of fighting the same battles. 

Sure, lots of TV is garbage.. but hell.. look around.. a whole lot of
the net is too. 

It isn't TV's fault, and it isn't the net.. the reason why so many things
suck is because we made them. More often than not, we're the garbage.

hmm.. I had hoped this message might be uplifting. Guess not.

Michael J. Graffam (mgraffam@mhv.net)
http://www.mhv.net/~mgraffam -- Philosophy, Religion, Computers, Crypto, etc
Be a munitions trafficker: http://www.dcs.ex.ac.uk/~aba/rsa/rsa-keygen.html

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