🚀 go-pugleaf

ab> Alex Bunker
sm> Stephen McIntyre

sm> Citizens become more susceptable to propaganda precisely because they lack
sm> a good education.  With T.V. and commercial magazines doing the thinking
sm> for them, people are killing off their minds, strangling the very thing
sm> that could protect them from irrational pinheads with a presuasive voice
sm> and power on the mind. So, what can we do then? Keep TV from the people?
sm> Regulate the hours a station can run programming? I don't know. Any sug-
sm> gestions?

ab> Simple, restrict television advertising. 

  Well, there goes the freedom of expression. How many other freedoms are you
  planning to trash on your way to an all-Good, all-knowing, all-wonderful
  world government? It's beginning to sound more and more like 1984 to me. 

ab> Television will become more educational and less commercially-consumer
ab> advocating pander to the lowest common denomenator.

  Interesting. Get rid of ads, and we get better TV. Um, how does this TV 
  get paid for in the first place? Advertisers. You make it sound as though 
  advertising itself is some kind of evil thing. Sorry, but if you remember
  creating a resume, you were advertising yourself. Basically, without it,
  the flow of information decreases greatly. Again, your future world sounds
  less and less inviting and desirable the more you talk about it.

ab> Look the best television is on the channels without commercials PBS TVO
ab> BBC etc...

  Here in the US, the Discovery channel and A&E are doing quite well, and
  presenting quite good TV, with commercials too! I think I'll take a stu-
  pid commercial every 15 minutes over interminable "pledge drives" any day.

  Believe it or not, capitalism is not the source of every stinking festering
  problem facing the world. If there's one thing your posts indicate, you 
  have become radicalized by reading the Net. I remember a kindler, gentler
  Alex Bunker a short time back. Relax, and get mellow. No need to sound so
  final and declarative and know-it-all.

--
Gary Strand                      Opinions stated herein are mine alone and are
strandwg@ncar.ucar.edu            not representative of NCAR, UCAR, or the NSF