Panaceas for everything!

Television is chock full of diversions for the bedridden, house bound, poor, and very young who cannot get out and do other things. It is also a wonderful way to relax and do nothing while being entertained -- on some level.

Although it is a relatively new form of entertainment, the people behind the shows have already learned many very valuable tactics:

It's not the words, it's the tone that matters when you are speaking to crowds of zoned out people opening themselves up like candidates for hypnosis.

Ardent religious shows cry out in sing song tirades, like snake charmers of old, implying deeply ingrained and heartfelt empathy.

Quasi documentaries seem to prefer a male voice that always drops slightly at the end of a sentence, so it feels very matter of fact and true.

Afternoon talk shows rely on canned laughter and audiences who are unable to restrain themselves from expressing their unrelenting joy by hooting and yelping and whooping to express their irrepressible feelings.

And everyone knows that stage whispers let us in on secrets no one else knows, or information not generally released to the masses.

It really isn't necessary to turn up the volume any more. Just stare at the screen and let the modulations of sound do their work. The cadence and stage worthy actions will take care of the rest.

All the world's problems can be solved in forty eight minute segments, or less and at the same time, we can teach impressionable folks how to respond to nearly every situation with ten cent psychology and pseudo science. Panaceas for all with the flick of a remote!

And that is where the danger lies. People without the resources to understand this stuff is all for money and ratings fall prey to an indoctrination that is frightning. They believe the "doctors" selling magic cures, the wealthy families teaching twenty first century etiquette, the buffoons espousing their tactics for running the world and the distorted stories who all have a slant.  The illiterate, the lazy, and the semi literate can carry enough weight to actually bring about changes they are bamboozled into making even when these are not in their best interests.

Very little television is fit for children. It is best viewed in the way we once did side shows and carnivals. It's fine to watch. Just don't forget WHAT you are watching and if you let your children watch it, be sure to discuss it with them afterwards. It should be a diversion, not a blueprint for living.