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361 lines
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361 lines
21 KiB
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<xml>
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<p>Turn Off Your <ent type='ORG'>Television</ent>!!</p>
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<p>by L. Wolfe </p>
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<p>Hey buddy, I'm talking to you. Yes, you, the guy sitting in front of
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the television. Turn down the sound a bit, so that you can hear what
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I am saying.
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Now, try to concentrate on what I am going to say. I want to talk to you
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about your favorite pastime. No, it's not baseball or football, although it
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does have something to do with your interest in spectator sports. I'm
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talking about what you were just doing: watching television. </p>
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<p> Do you have any idea about how much time you spend in front of the
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television set? According to the latest studies, the average <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> now
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spends between five and six hours a day watching television. Let's put that in
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perspective: that is more time than you spend doing anything else but sleeping
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or working, if you are lucky enough to still have a job. That's more time than
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you spend eating, more time than you spend with your wife alone, more time
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than with the kids. </p>
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<p> It's even worse with your children. According to these same
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studies, young children below school age watch more than eight hours each
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day. School age children watch a little under eight hours a day. In 1980, the
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average 20-year-old had watched the equivalent of 14 months of television
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in his or her brief lifetime. {That's 14 months, 24 hours a day.} More
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recent figures show that the numbers have climbed: the 20-year-old has
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spent closer to two full years of his or her life in front of the
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television set. </p>
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<p> At the same time, the researchers have noted a disturbing phenomena. It
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seems that we <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>s are getting progressively more {stupid}.
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They note a decline in reading and comprehension levels in all age groups
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tested. <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>s read less and understand what they read less than
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they did 10 years ago, less than they have at any time since research
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began to study such things. As for writing skills, <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>s are, in general,
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unable to write more than a few simple sentences. We are among the least
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literate people on this planet, and we're getting worse. </p>
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<p> It's the change--the constant trendline downward--that interests
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these researchers. More than one study has correlated this increasing
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stupidity of our population to the amount of television they watch.
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Interestingly, the studies found that it doesn't matter what people watch,
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whether it's "The <ent type='ORG'>Simpsons</ent>'' or "McNeil/Lehrer,'' or "<ent type='PERSON'>Murphy Brown</ent>''
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or "Nightline':' the more television you watch, the {less literate, the
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more stupid} you are. </p>
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<p> The growth in television watching had surprised some of the researchers.
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Back a decade ago, they were predicting that television watching would level
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off and might actually decline. It had reached an absolute saturation point.
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They were right for so-called network television; figures show a steady
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dropoff of viewership. But that drop is more than made up for by the growth of
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cable television, with its <ent type='ORG'>smorgasbord</ent> of channels, one for almost every
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perversion. Especially in urban and suburban areas, <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>s are hard-wired
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to more than 100 different channels that provide them with all
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news, like <ent type='ORG'>CNN</ent>, all movies, all comedy, all sports, all weather, all financial
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news and a liberal dose of straight pornography. </p>
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<p> The researchers had also failed to predict the market penetration of first
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beta and then VHS video recorders; they made it possible to watch one thing and
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record another for later viewing. They also offered access to movies not
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available on networks or even cable channels as well as home videos,
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recorded on your own little camcorder. The proliferation of home video
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equipment has involved families in video-related activities which are not
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even considered in the cumulative totals for time <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>s spend
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watching television. </p>
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<p> You might not actually realize how much you are watching television. But
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think for a moment. When you come home, you turn the television on, if it isn't
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on already. You read the paper with it on, half glancing at what is on the
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screen, catching a bit of the news, or the plot of a show. You eat with it on,
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maybe in the background, listening for a score or something that happens to a
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character in a show you follow. When something you are interested in, a show
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or basketball game, is on, the set becomes the center of attention. So
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your attention to what is on may vary in intensity, but there is almost no
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point when you are home, and inside, and have the set completely off. Isn't
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that right? </p>
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<p> The studies did not break down the periods of time people watched
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television, according to the intensity of their viewing. But the point is
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still made: you compulsively turn the television on and spend a good portion
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of your waking hours glued to the tube. And the studies also showed that many
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people can't sleep without the television turned on! </p>
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<p> Brainwashing
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Now, I'm sure you have heard that watching too much television is bad for
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your health. They put stories like that on the evening news. Bad for your eyes
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to stare at the screen, they say. Especially bad if you sit too close.
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Well, I want to make another point. We've already shown that you are
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addicted to the tube, watching it between six and eight hour a day. But
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it is an addiction that {brainwashes} you.
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There are two kinds of brainwashing. The one that's called {hard}
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brainwashing is the type you're most familiar with. You've got a pretty good
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image of it from some of those old <ent type='NORP'>Korean</ent> war movies. They take some guy,
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an <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> patriot, drag him into a room, torture him, pump him full of
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drugs, and after a struggle, get him to renounce his country and his beliefs.
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He usually undergoes a personality change, signified by an ever-present
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smile and blank stare. </p>
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<p> This brainwashing is called {hard} because its methods are
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overt. The controlled environment is obvious to the victim; so is the
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terror. The victim is overwhelmed by a seemingly omnipotent external force,
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and a feeling of intense isolation is induced. The victim's moral strength is
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sapped, and slowly he embraces his torturers. It is man's moral strength
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that informs and orders his power of reason; without it, the mind becomes
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little more than a recording machine waiting for imprints.
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No one is saying that you have been a victim of {hard}
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brainwashing. But you have been brainwashed, just as effectively as
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those people in the movies. The blank stare? Did you ever look at what you
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look like while watching television? If the angle is right, you might catch
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your own reflection in the screen. Jaw slightly open, lips relaxed into a
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smile. The blank stare of a television zombie.
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This is {soft} brainwashing, even more effective because its victims
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go about their lives unaware of what is being done to them. </p>
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<p> <ent type='ORG'>Television</ent>, with its reach into nearly every <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> home, creates the
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basis for the mass brainwashing of citizens, like you. It works on a
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principle of {tension and release}. Create tension, in a controlled
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environment, increasing the level of stress. Then provide a series
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of choices that provide release from the tension. As long as the victim
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believes that the choices presented are the {only} choices available,
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even if they are at first glance unacceptable, he will nevertheless,
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ultimately seek release by choosing one of these unacceptable choices. </p>
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<p> Under these circumstances, in a brainwashing, controlled environment,
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such choice-making is not a "rational'' experience. It does not
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involve the use of man's creative mental powers; instead man is
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conditioned, like an animal, to respond to the tension, by seeking release. </p>
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<p> The key to the success of this brainwashing process is the regulation
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of both the tension and the perceived choices. As long as both are
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controlled, then the range of outcomes is also controlled. The victim is
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induced to walk down one of several pathways acceptable for his
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controllers. </p>
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<p> The <ent type='ORG'>brainwashers</ent> call the tension-filled environment {social
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turbulence}. The last decades have been full of such {social
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turbulence}--economic collapse, regional wars, population disasters,
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ecological and biological catastrophes. {Social turbulence} creates
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crises in perceptions, causing people to lose their bearings. Adrift and
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confused, people seek release from the tension, following paths that appear to
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lead to a simpler, less tension-filled life. There is no time in such a
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process for rational consideration of complicated problems. </p>
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<p> <ent type='ORG'>Television</ent> is the key vehicle for presenting both the tension and the
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choices. It brings you the images of the tension, and serves up simple
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answers. <ent type='ORG'>Television</ent>, in its world of semi-reality, of illusion, of escape
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from reality, {is itself the single most important release from our
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tension-wracked existence.} Eight hours a day, every day, through its
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programming, you are being programmed. </p>
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<p> If you doubt me, think about one important choice that you have made
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recently that was not in some way influenced by something that you have
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seen on television. I bet you can't think of one. That's how controlled you
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are. </p>
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<p> Who's Doing It
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But don't take my word for it. Ten years ago we spoke to a man from a think
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tank called <ent type='ORG'>the Futures Group</ent> in Connecticut. <ent type='PERSON'>Hal Becker</ent> had spent more
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than 20 years of his life manipulating the minds of the leaders of our
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society. Listen to what he said: </p>
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<p> {"I know the secret of making the average <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> believe anything I
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want him to. Just let me control television. <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>s are wired into
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their television sets. Over the last 30 years, they have come to look at their
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television sets and the images on the screen as reality. You put something on
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television and it becomes reality. If the world outside the television set
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contradicts the images, people start changing the world to make it more like
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the images and sounds of their television. Because its influence is so
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great, so pervasive, it has become part of our lives. You lose your sense of
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what is being done to you, but your mind is being shaped and
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moulded.''} </p>
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<p> "Your mind is being shaped and moulded.'' If that doesn't sound like
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brainwashing, I don't know what is. <ent type='PERSON'>Becker</ent> speaks with the elan of a
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network of <ent type='ORG'>brainwashers</ent> who have been programming your lives, especially
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since the advent of television as a "mass medium'' in the late 1940s and
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early 1950s. This network numbers several tens of thousands worldwide.
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Occasionally one appears on the nightly news to tell you what {you} are
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thinking, by reporting the latest "opinion polls.'' But for the most
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part, they work behind the scenes, speaking to themselves and writing
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papers for their own internal distribution. </p>
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<p> And though they work for many diverse groups, these <ent type='ORG'>brainwashers</ent> are
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united by a common world view and common method. It is the world view of
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a small elite, whose financial and political power rests in institutions
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that pass this power on from generation to generation. They view the common
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folk like yourself as little better than beasts of burden to be controlled
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and manipulated by a semi-feudal international oligarchy, whose wealth,
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power and bloodlines entitle them to rule. </p>
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<p> One of the oligarchy's institutions for manipulation of
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populations is located in a suburb of <ent type='GPE'>London</ent> called <ent type='ORG'>Tavistock</ent>. The <ent type='ORG'>Tavistock</ent>
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Institute for Human Relations, which also has a branch in <ent type='GPE'>Sussex</ent>, <ent type='GPE'>England</ent>, is
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the "mother'' for much of this extended network, of which <ent type='PERSON'>Becker</ent> is a
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member. They are the specialists in {both} hard and soft brainwashing. </p>
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<p> <ent type='ORG'>The Tavistock Institute</ent> is the psychological warfare arm of the
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<ent type='NORP'>British</ent> Royal household. The oligarchs behind <ent type='ORG'>Tavistock</ent>, and similar outfits
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in <ent type='GPE'>the United</ent> States and elsewhere, are determined that you should be a
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television addict, sucking up a daily dose of brainwashing from the "tube;''
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that is how they control you. </p>
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<p> Like his fellow <ent type='ORG'>brainwashers</ent>, <ent type='PERSON'>Becker</ent> prides himself in knowing the
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minds of his victims. He calls them "saps.'' Man, he told an interviewer,
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should be called "homo the sap.'' </p>
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<p> "Soft'' brainwashing by television works through power of
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suggestion. <ent type='ORG'>Television</ent> watching creates a state of drugged-like oblivion to
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outside reality. The mind, its perceptions dulled by habituated
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viewing, is ready to accept any new illusion of reality as presented on the
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tube. The mind, in its drugged-like stupor of television watching, is
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prepared to accept that the images that television {suggests} as
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reality {are} reality. It will then struggle to form fit a
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contradictory reality into television image, just as <ent type='PERSON'>Becker</ent> claims. </p>
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<p> Another <ent type='ORG'>Tavistock</ent> brainwasher, <ent type='PERSON'>Fred Emery</ent>, who studied television for
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25 years, confirms this. The television signal itself, he found, puts the
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viewer in this state of drugged-like oblivion. <ent type='PERSON'>Emery</ent> writes: "<ent type='ORG'>Television</ent> as
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a media consists of a constant visual signal of 50 half-frames per second.
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Our hypotheses regarding this essential nature of the medium itself are: </p>
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<p> "1) The constant visual stimulus fixates the viewer and causes the
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habituation of response. The prefrontal and association areas of the cortex are
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effectively dominated by the signal, the screen. </p>
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<p> "2) The left cortical hemisphere--the center of visual and
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analytical calculating processes--is effectively reduced in its functioning
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to tracking changing images on the screen. </p>
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<p> "3) Therefore, provided, the viewer keeps looking, he is unlikely to
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reflect on what he is doing and what he is viewing. That is, he will be aware,
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but unaware of his awareness.... </p>
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<p> "In other words, television can be seen partly as the technological
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analogue of the hypnotist.'' </p>
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<p> The key to making the brainwashing work is the {repetition of
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suggestion} over time. With people watching the tube for 6 to 8 hours a
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day, there is plenty of time for such repeated suggestion. </p>
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<p> Some Examples
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Let's look at an example to make things a bit clearer. Think back about
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20 years ago. Think about what you thought about certain issues of the
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day. Think about those same issues today; notice how you seemed to change
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{your} mind about them, to become more tolerant of things you
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opposed vehemently before. It's your television watching that changed your
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mind, or to use Becker's terms, "shaped your perceptions.'' </p>
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<p> Twenty years ago, most people thought that the lunacy that is now
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called environmentalism, the idea that animals and plants should be protected
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on an equal basis with human life, was screwy. It went against the basic
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concept of <ent type='NORP'>Christian</ent> civilization that man is a higher species than and
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distinct from the animals, and that it is man, by virtue of his being made in
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the image of the living God, whose life is sacred. That was 20 years ago. But
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now, many people, maybe even you, seem to think otherwise; there are even laws
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that say so. </p>
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<p> This contrary, anti-human view of man being no more than equal to animals
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and plants was inserted into our consciousness by the suggestion of
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television. Environmental lunacy was scripted into network television shows,
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into televised movies, and into the news. It started slowly, but picked up
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steam. Environmental spokesmen were increasingly seen in the favorable glow
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of television. Those who opposed this view were shown in an unfavorable way.
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It was done over time, with repetition. If you weren't completely won over, you
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were made tolerant of the views of environmental lunatics whose statements
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were morally and scientifically unsound.
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Let's take a more recent example: the war against <ent type='GPE'>Iraq</ent>. That was a war
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made for television. In fact, it was a war {organized} through
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television. Think back a year: How were <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>s prepared for the eventual
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slaughter of <ent type='GPE'>Iraq</ent>i women and children? Images on the screen: <ent type='PERSON'>Saddam Hussein</ent>,
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on one side, Hitler on the other. The images repeated in newscasts, backed up
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by scenes of alleged atrocities in <ent type='GPE'>Kuwait</ent>. Then the war itself: the
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video-game like images of "smart'' weapons killing <ent type='GPE'>Iraq</ent>i targets. </p>
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<p> Finally, the <ent type='NORP'>American</ent> military commander-in-chief Gen. Norman
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Schwartzkopf, conducting a final press briefing that was consciously
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orchestrated to resemble the winning <ent type='EVENT'>Superbowl</ent> coach describing his victory. </p>
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<p> Those were the images that overwhelmed our population. Only now,
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months later, do we find out that the images had nothing to do with reality.
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The <ent type='GPE'>Iraq</ent>i "atrocities'' in <ent type='GPE'>Kuwait</ent> and elsewhere were exaggerated. Our
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"smart'' weapons like the famous <ent type='ORG'>Patriot</ent> anti-missile system didn't
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really work. Oh, and the casualty figures: it seems that we murdered far
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more women and children than we did soldiers. Hardly a "glorious
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victory.'' But while it might have made a difference if people knew this while
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the war was being planned or in progress, polls show that <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>s no
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longer find the war or any stories about it "interesting.'' </p>
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<p> Looking at the question more broadly, where did your children get
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most of their values, if not from what they saw on television? Parents might
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counteract the influence of the infernal box, but they could not
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overcome it. How could they, if they themselves have been brainwashed by the
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same box and if their children spend more time with it than them? Studies
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show that most of television programming is geared to a less than
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5th grade comprehension level; parents, like you, are themselves being
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remade in the infantile images of the television screen. All of society
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becomes more infantile, more easily controllable. </p>
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<p> As <ent type='PERSON'>Emery</ent> explains: {"We are proposing that television as a simple
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constant and repetitive and ambiguous visual stimulus, gradually closes down
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the central nervous system of man.''} </p>
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<p> <ent type='PERSON'>Becker</ent> holds a similar view of the effect of television on American's
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ability to think: {"<ent type='NORP'>American</ent>s don't really think--they have opinions
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and feelings. <ent type='ORG'>Television</ent> creates the opinion and then validates it.''} </p>
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<p> Nowhere is this clearer than with politics. <ent type='ORG'>Television</ent> tells <ent type='NORP'>American</ent>s
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what to think about politicians, restricting choices to those acceptable
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to the oligarchs whose financial power controls networks and major cable
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channels. It tells people what has been said and what is "important.''
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Everything else is filtered out. You are told who can win and who can't. And
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few people have the urge to look behind the images in the screen, to seek
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content and truth in ideas and look for a high quality of leadership. </p>
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<p> Such an important matter as choosing a president becomes the same as
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choosing a box of laundry detergent: a set of possibilities, whose limits are
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determined, by the images on the screen. You are given the appearance of
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freedom of choice, but that you have neither freedom nor real choice. That
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is how the brainwashing works. </p>
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<p> "Are they brainwashed by the tube,'' said <ent type='PERSON'>Becker</ent> to the interviewer.
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"It is really more than that. I think that people have lost the ability to
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relate the images of their own lives without television intervening to tell
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them what it means. That is what we really mean when we say that we have a
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wired society.'' </p>
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<p> Turn It Off!
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That was ten years ago. It has gotten far worse since then. In coming
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issues, we will show you the <ent type='ORG'>brainwashers</ent>' vision of a hell on earth
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and how television is being used to get us there; we will discuss television
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programming, revealing how it has helped produce what is called a
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"paradigm'' shift in values, creating an immoral society; we will explain how
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the news is presented and how its presentation has been used to destroy
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the English language; we will discuss the mass entertainment media, showing
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who controls it and how; we will deal with America's addiction to
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spectator sports and show how that too has helped make you passive and stupid;
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and finally, we will show where we are headed, if we can't break our addiction
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to the tube. </p>
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<p> So, after what I just told you, what do say, buddy? Do you want to
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stay stupid and let your country go to hell in a basket? Why don't you just
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walk over to the set and turn it off. That's right, completely off. Go on,
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you can do it. Now isn't that better? Don't you feel a little better already?
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You've just taken the first step in deprogramming yourself. It wasn't that
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hard, was it? Until we speak again, try to keep it off. Now that will be a bit
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harder. </p>
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<p>From <ent type='NORP'>New Federalist</ent> V6, #29. </p>
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