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Summary: My TV has now been disconnected 4+ months...
Review: ...and as I peruse this book it only assures me I should not and can not "go back to the way things were".It has been praised by other reviewers far better than I could, so all I will say is that it is a very UNIQUE book. It covers statistics and surveys you will never find in Time magazine, and it examines even the physics behind the images, the way camera shots change frequently, etc. I have not even read every page, there is just SO much in there! The parallels to "Brave New World" or "1984", in terms of the power this one technology has in controlling masses of people... Well, it's simply staggering. The little tidbit about the TV "news" program being almost a miniature "family"... Well, that was news to me but in hindsight makes a lot of sense. I am now extremely skeptical of the value and the benefit of TV as a whole. I pray more people hear about this book, written in the 1970's but even MORE timely today! Don't read this if you are too weak to give up your music videos and mindless sitcoms... Perhaps you would be happier remaining one of millions of "sheeple". Maybe buy a copy and give it to your kids, while there's still time - they're our hope for the future!
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Summary: APOLOGIES FOR ENTERING A 2nd COMMENT
Review: The reviewer "thecodingmonkey" says in her review below that she depends on the TV to keep her children quiet. My wife's sister Helen also uses the TV to baby-sit her children. At age 11, her oldest boy Edward was diagnosed as dyslexic. After examinations and tests, they found there was nothing physically wrong with him. It turned out that his dyslexia was induced. He had watched so much TV that the part of his brain that processes written words and sentences had not developed. Edward's years from ages 12 through 15 were awful because he had to learn to read and write while his classmates zoomed ahead of him.
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Summary: Out of the Garden
Review: This book has made my year. I cannot believe the reviews (and I have read them all) that blast Mander for badly constructed arguments.
Call it what you will; Mander has created a master review of the relationship between our banishment from the Garden to a life of servitude to work and to the attainment of knowledge. Television, in its perverse way, has kept most of us from that knowledge, because of its inherent flaws.
It is inherently boring, but in the gross cooption and misadaption of artistry and faith among the best of us, television has reduced us to our lowest common denominator: boring people without self understanding.
We are ALL suspect; I am just as guilty of being a stupid TV couch potato as anyone. In all my years of watching it, I cannot say that I have learned any real lesson in life from it.
Like Mander says, television robs the brain of its ability to think. When one sees a movie after reading a novel - Lord of the Rings is yet another example - our imagination is replaced by the "reality", and we forget what we have imagined before.
If critics of this book believe otherwise, I hope they can tell us how the substitution is better than our individual imaginations.
I only hope that Mander is fast at work on his second set of arguments!
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Summary: The most ridiculous book I've ever read
Review: After reading all the good reviews on this book I decided it must be worth reading. While I agree that there are alot of problems with watching television the arguements he gave were insane. Half of the book didn't appear to have anything to do with television. He blames things such as people commiting crimes and mental health problems to watching television. He also said something about people substituting telelvision light for real, natural light. He also talks about evolution and, as a christian, I don't buy into that and don't want to read a book that teaches that as a fact. It's definately a book that I wouldn't recommend to anyone.
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Summary: Much more than just TV
Review: 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? Is this guy actually suggesting that we eliminate TV entirely? Yes, he is, and his message goes far deeper than just Television. In an economy and society committed to newer, faster, more and never-ending growth, Jerry Mander makes the argument that we must at some point develop the ability to achieve balance, to pick and choose which technologies we want, or can afford, to use. The elimination of television would be difficult...we may even have to occaisionally talk to people, but to pass on an "advance" is a step that we must realize is more than necessary--it is possible.
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Summary: APOLOGIES FOR ENTERING A 2nd COMMENT
Review: The reviewer "thecodingmonkey" says in her review below that she depends on the TV to keep her children quiet. My wife's sister Helen also uses the TV to baby-sit her children. At age 11, her oldest boy Edward was diagnosed as dyslexic. After examinations and tests, they found there was nothing physically wrong with him. It turned out that his dyslexia was induced. He had watched so much TV that the part of his brain that processes written words and sentences had not developed. Edward's years from ages 12 through 15 were awful because he had to learn to read and write while his classmates zoomed ahead of him.
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Summary: This is insane
Review: Television is the only thing I have to look forward to, my life is sad and depressing and oh god I am going to cry *** :( Get rid of television? are you insane?, how else would you get the children to shutup
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Summary: GOOD ADVICE (THAT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE)
Review: The other reviewers have already explained what the book is about. "Four Arguments . . ." very clearly explains what TV does to you, and how it damages you in many different ways. My wife and I were married 32 years, and we haven't seen a TV program since 1971. Of course we were very busy with work, gardening, hiking, and mountain climbing (and reading!). We both read, and we didn't miss TV at all. When "Four Arguments" came out in 1978, we bought it. What it says is true. You become impatient because TV teaches you to expect instant gratification. So you have difficulty in your life with things (like relationships or school) that require stamina and self-discipline. You find that you have no interest in reading a book or newspaper (you're impatient, see above). Do you find it odd or unusual that you (or your children) don't like to read and have no interest in books? When you go to the dentist or doctor, do you find yourself fidgeting because you have to wait 30 or so minutes before you see him? You don't have anything (any TV, that is) to occupy you while you wait. Of course the other people sitting around you are perfectly happy reading books. You become shallow and stupid because you get all your information from TV soaps and TV news. Of course TV news isn't information, just headlines with no backup. No explanation of whether it is true or not, or why it was fed to you. A year later you find the TV lied to you ("WMD," or "9/11," or "the Patriot Act" sound familiar?), but you don't do anything about it because now TV is distracting you with a whole new series of lies. If you want to see very clearly exactly how people think you are stupid and that you will believe anything they tell you, read "Lies, and the Lying Liars That Tell Them," by Al Franken. Instead of watching TV, you should be reading the NY Times and your local paper. Buy books from Amazon.com (or borrow them from your library) about things in which you are interested. If you (or your children) want a full and happy life, put your foot through the TV and set it out on the curb with the other junk.
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Summary: In Defense of Jerry Mander
Review: I had to write this review to rebut those disatisfied with Mr. Mander's book. The medium is the message, and Mander makes a very convincing case for its darker side. As for those critical of the science he quotes, I must contradict them. The psychological studies referenced may not have gotten a lot of airplay, but they are sound and have withstood the test of time (50+ years in some instances) without being put aside. Any reading, thinking person who watches television these days would see that the corporate agenda Mander posits is being consistently realized in front of us, chillingly so. TV does an excellent job of selling, so much so that billions of dollars are spent every year to put a certain kind of TV show on the air; television programming is so dreadful because that's what plays best on TV, and sponsors know it. I'd get rid of your television if I were you.
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Summary: Makes one want to sue the author for the wasted time
Review: Despite its promising title and back cover content, this book is worthy of a Fox TV special. The so-called four arguments are sloppy and incoherent and whenever the author calls upon "real research" to make his case, he ends up abusing science and exposing his complete scientific illiteracy (the section on light "emanations" is especially poor). His socio-political arguments border on the extreme and in many cases take a dip into paranoia (e.g. positing that TV conditions for "autocratic control"). At the occasional point where the author was on the verge of making a very good point, he ruins it by going beyond what his premises warrant and into the pit of unqualified speculation. Overall, this book is saddening to read not only for what it is, but also for what it could have been.
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