Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television

Written by a former "big six" ad executive, "Four Arguments" is a book that CONSIDERS the long term effects of television and other post industrial revolution technologies on: 1. The critical thinking skills of human beings 2. Our relationship to natural environments. 3. The physical and mental health of human beings. 4. The knowledge/power balance in a democratic society. (not in that order) CONS 1. Not a simple read. This book is probably organized too well. Mander coherently and methodically plumbs through each argument and sub argument with no regard for the lazy or quick fix reader. His adherence to his own structure is relentless. The payoff is cumulative as the book gathers momentum. Clear but tedious. 2. This book is pretty depressing. For me the resulting sobriety was worth the cold shower, but perhaps not for everyone. Only the most determined of readers will be able to reject all of ideas presented in this book, and unfortunately this book offers a bleak but well painted picture of our predicament. Blue pill enthusiasts beware. PROS 1. This book asks important and obvious questions(You'll say "yeah that is a good question!, why didn't I think of that?) about how man made technologies and environments are affecting us. They are questions that most of us would agree need to be answered, yet amazingly, few if any of which have been adequately answered to this day. (The book was written in the 70's) 2. This book is both spell binding and spell breaking. Mander reaches into the silent, unsure parts of our minds that we have become experts at ignoring. After making it about a third of the way into the read, I experienced a tremendous feeling of relief at being able to fully identify and articulate concerns that had previously eluded the full grasp of my conscious mind. For better or worse, my fears now had a voice that I could engage in the light of reason. 3. Mander presents a well supported and balanced argument. He is very clear about the fact that he is merely raising questions and considering issues. He admits his shortcomings in not being a scientist, and repeatedly apologizes for not being able to make hard scientific conclusions. He is consistent about differentiating fact from opinion Although the book at times feels somewhat conspiracy theory- ish, this is probably more due to the nature of the topic, than to lack of rigor or objectivity on the part of the author. Perhaps one of the most convincing reasons to check this book out is the reactions of its critics. They consisently use words like "insane, ridiculous, and nonsense" ...in violent wholesale rejections of the ideas in this book. Its always fascinating to me when people idignantly deny their dependence/addiction to a particular habit/technology while simultaneously baring their teeth at anything or anyone suggesting that they curb their use of it. "4 Arguments" is both disturbing, and compelling. In all fairness, I should probably mention that

Tune in again and again... This book has all the classic elements of a conspiracy theory: mass hypnosis, broad alteration of neurochemicals, a reordering of perception, social structure and thought to the benefit of a select few, an addictive nature, the list goes on. The scary part is, we all know that what Jerry Mander points out is true. He pushes our awareness of the evils of television to new heights, but he doesn't weave a fantastic yarn...he puts concrete evidence behind things people have been thinking for a long time. TV is addictive. TV watching is indistinguishable from hypnosis, affects sensory deprivation, is disorrienting and leads to hyperactivity and insanity. TV encourages mass passivity, burns images permanently into our brain that are chosen by an elite few and trains people to accept authority. Television limits and confines human knowledge. It accelerates our alienation from nature and leads to its destruction. Television homogenizes those who watch it, making the population more efficient cogs in the economic system, making the population easier to control. Television is inherently antidemocratic--furthermore it aids the creation of societal conditions which produce autocracy, and it dulls our awareness that this is happening. Television, as a technology, is inherently biased towards these effects--they cannot be eliminated by better management or better programing. Oh, and it causes cancer too. This would all sound like a crazy conspiracy theory yarn to me, too, if I hadn't read the book. Mander makes logical and cogent arguments, but most of all, he points out things that we can all see for ourselves. Don't belive that TV burns images into your mind that you can't ever get rid of? That an elite few select what is to be emblazoned into the memory of entire populations? Try this: The Energizer Bunny. Can you picture it in your head? OK, now erase it. As with everyone else, you can't--it has been placed involuntarily, and permanently into your being. Try another experiment...think of one of your favorite sports stars or entertainer (i.e. Merle Haggard) that you have seen in person. Visualize an image in your head... Was that image one that you saw in 'real life' or one that you saw on TV? Having a difficult time recalling reality from TV reality? Most people do--and that's the scary part. The elite few who control TV content involuntarily place permanent images in your head that you are unable (without careful attention) to distinguish from reality. Suppose, hypothetically, that there was someone out there who would stand to gain from altering your image of the 'perfect family' to one that owns a nice suburban home, drives two cars, goes to church, works hard until retirement in a 'good' job, supports the government in times of crisis, etc. Fortunately for us, that kind of thing only happens in George Orwell books... We all already know that TV, or at least too much TV is bad, but what are we really supposed to do about it

Mander presents four main arguments, and dozens of corollary arguments, against having television as any part of our lives. Any one of them alone might seem plausible but perhaps overblown, but the overall effect of their combined presentation is overwhelming. I closed the book absolutely revulsed by the nature of this technology and how it has manipulated us. I can anecdotally attest to its ill effects in my case, certainly -- I can recognize thousands of brands but only a few plants. My direct knowledge of the world has been reduced by about 20,000 hours' worth of actual experience interacting with real people, time that I spent instead glued to the boob tube, absorbing hundreds of thousands of commercials. I don't have a TV anymore, but whenever I am around one that's turned on, I find myself hypnotically drawn to stare at the screen, irrespective of content. This occurs even if I am in the middle of an interesting conversation -- to my embarrassment and dismay, my eyes dart as of their own accord toward the flickering images. I have to stand facing away from the TV to prevent this. What I consider to be my natural aesthetic sense has been perverted such that I can hardly look at a man or woman -- or myself in a mirror -- without automatically, subtly judging the person's appearance against an internal metric, a deep and narrow palette of beautiful faces and lithe body parts, implanted by hundreds of thousands of advertising images. This phenomenon subtly cheapens and distorts many interactions I have with people. .... Just scan the table of contents to Mander's book, ..., and you will begin to see the array of influences these forces have in our culture and in our individual minds. Please buy the book, give it to everyone as gifts this year, ***especially to parents of small children***. I see parents use the TV as a pacifier, but as you will read, it is an incredibly high price to pay just to keep the kids temporarily quiet. ....

Written in the late 1970's by a former advertising executive, Four Arguments is a coherent diatribe against television. He explores four areas: (1) Television as a poor mediator of experience; (2) television as a way to influence audiences' perceptions en masse; (3) the "dumbing-down" effects of TV on the human being; and (4) the inherent biases of television and how they limit real information flow. The first couple of arguments are more attacks on capitalism and the development of television as a capitalist tool, but overall, they are solid statements that stand on their own. However, TV has become a central part of the American lifestyle, and it would be hard, if not impossible, to get rid of. But I definitely feel the truth of his arguments. When I was in India, much of the time at my host family's place, they would sit around watching television while doing chores. It felt empty somehow. Where was the richness of the culture? Here I am in India, and I'm sitting here watching a stupid Hindi movie instad of interacting in a meaningful way. And when I came back home, I felt the shock of the media doubly. Everything on TV looked slick, fake, contrived, absolutely ridiculous. We have been so inoculated to all of this by now that it's hard to see unless you go away and come back again. It's tough to break any sort of addiction, and I think television is an addiction. It is part of the problem of a society that always looks for the next best thing, that promotes the loudest, noisiest, most violent thing, that can't sit still for half an hour to soak in the beauty of quiet stillness. In some ways, this book is hard to read. It's easy to grasp but it's difficult to take this kind of attack on such a commonly accepted lifestyle even though you know it's wrong. Plus it's a lot of information coming at you at once; I had to digest it in little bits and pieces to give it time to sink in.

Jerry Mander shows how TV is an integral part of late capitalism.Although it was invented in the 1920's,TV was not put to use until after 1945, to promote the consumer society with advertising and a materialistic lifestyle.Most critics of TV are concerned about program content, but Mander shows that TV by its very nature is detrimental to human well-being.Like modern society as a whole, TV creates artificial experience, causing people to lose touch with their own nature, their true needs, other people and the natural world.TV puts the viewer into a passive hypnotic state.Mander shows how TV implants images in our brain, even against our will.Although nothing on TV is really "real", it tricks our mind into thinking that the pictures portray reality.Negative behaviors such as fighting, killing,rage and hate are very suitable for TV, but gentleness, affection,caring and the like is boring on TV.Mander says you cannot make TV "better", it must be eliminated.This book deserves a wide audience, because Mander gets to the root of what is wrong with television.