TV is Smarter Than Ever... But American Audiences Aren't

Face it: America stands at a crucial turning point in history, now more than ever. At a time when political heat is boiling, with Social Security melting and military offenses blowing away amongst the hot desert sands, the collective social consciousness needs to be on its highest guard. Yet most U.S. citizens just sit, coolly reclined in their darkened dens, cracking cold Budweisers and illuminating themselves with their windows to the world - their television sets. These windows do not reflect a friendly reality, however, and a wide variety of grim truisms have risen as a result; eating disorders, emulated violence, sexual misconduct, racial stereotyping, etc., have all become a staple in our contemporary age that nobody, seemingly, can remove. That is, unless the television sauntered over to the power outlet and [in an ironic twist of fate] unplugged itself. Unfortunately, that would never happen - the TV has a business to tend to. The TV's business is one that will never slow down, let alone stop; it will only continue to build momentum through the years, mutating its messages and imagery, providing an opiate for the masses of culture-consumed Americans.

Author Steven Johnson, in his piece titled "Watching TV Makes You Smarter," argues that television has made a considerable improvement in its programming - e.g., shows have more complex structure in their plots - and, therefore, requires more from viewers in terms of deductive reasoning. It is Steve, however, who lacks the deconstructive rationality - he has ruled out the fact that millions of people throughout the country are sulking their way through life. Channel after channel, hour after hour, night after night, people are fattening themselves up on whatever is fed to them through the boob tube. Regardless of whether it's Emmy-worthy or not, it's still junk food for the brain... and it's unpalatable.

Johnson even says so himself [unwittingly], allowing a fallacy to slip by in his argument, "...The true test should be whether a given show engages or sedates the mind" (Johnson). Realistically, there are no shows that engage the mind; no progress in television has brought about any significant or specific social progress. Over the past decade, specifically the time frame following the grievous 2000 presidential elections and subsequent 9/11 terrorist attacks, no broadcasted message has ever brought any viewers out of their seats and persuaded them to think long and hard about the world outside of their dens. Instead, they just sit. And as long as they continue to sit, people whom they do not know will continue to exploit them for their money and their consciousness.

Too many Americans do not realize how their culture factors into this - it is a refined symbol born out of the pursuit of happiness. They'd rather settle for something else: a Paris Hilton clone, a triple cheeseburger, or an unattainable self-image. Whatever the TV has to offer, they'll buy it, as long as it's easy to swallow. Unfortunately, those are the same Americans whom seemingly never find happiness and, after a few tragedies and/or a mid-life crisis, they only find a gaping hole where a life adorned with education and cultural exploration should be.

Perhaps that's why this country is so jaded - its citizens are forced to battle with themselves internally. On part of them wants to sit at home, relax, and indulge themselves. The other part yearns to escape, explore the realms of imagination, and, ultimately, change the world for the better. It's a day-to-day battle that cycles through the postmodern debate over reading difficult literature slowly, deciphering song lyrics, discovering distant corners of the internet, listening to the President's weekly radio address, or watching Urkel on syndication. It's yet another truism - a byproduct of media's commercialism. Campbell, Martin, and Fabos explicate it well in their book Media and Culture, "...Postmodern culture represents a way of seeing - a condition (or malady) of the human spirit. Chiefly a response to the modern world, controversial postmodern values are playing increasingly pivotal roles in our daily lives" (Campbell et al., pg. 24).

So far, the TV world has managed to sell us almost everything: drugs, sex, more than a few wars, political lies, Thighmasters... the list goes on. Outside in the real world, however, thrills carry no price tags. An endless landscape is filled with adventure and ideas - culture thrives on freedom and is only there to be discovered by those whom live the same way. Still, America's culture is spread out - atop mountains and, sometimes, in easily accessible valleys - but it's always out there. Like the ancient buffalo, it roams and reproduces, forever on the lookout for the ones who'll sell it out - mount it's head in the den, adjacent to the TV set.

In the end, the superfluous culture will just die out. Whether it just freezes or starves to death in the wilderness, undiscovered, or is crowded out of its habitat and is killed on the freeway, culture's doom is inescapable. All of its offshoots will be piled next to it on display at the zoo, like nostalgic exhibits at the Smithsonian. That is why all Americans must learn to search it out, to track it on the map, and to preserve it. Otherwise, it may become just another relic forgotten in time - something not worth buying or selling. TV doesn't need it, unless it feels like turning it out and restructuring it into some recycled cliché. The American viewers surely don't need it; they're busy chatting around the water cooler about something else while some crook or some terrorist is plotting his next move, or his next sales pitch to keep the masses inside their dens.

Works Cited

Campbell, Richard , Christopher Martin, and Bettina Fabos. Media & Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communication. 4 ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2004.

Johnson, Steven. "Watching TV Makes You Smarter." The New York Times 24 April 2005, Late ed.: Sec. 6, pg. 55.