Why Do You Think They Call It "Programming"? (Part 1)

Started by The Good Reverend Roger, January 24, 2011, 04:50:23 PM

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The Good Reverend Roger

It's an interesting notion that while television was commercially available since the late 1920s, it wasn't marketed on any scale until after World War II.  It's also interesting to note the different cultures represented by that gap in time.

The "roaring 20s" were infamous for partiers, flappers, illegal hootch, driving too fast, and rampant individualism.  On the other hand, the 40s and 50s were known for lockstep conformity (Having a different cut of suit could cost you your job, or at least stunt your career, as you were considered to either be a radical or "putting on airs".).

Now, while there were other factors that explain the delay (the depression, WWII), which of those two cultures was more susceptable to programming?  Hell, to this day, there are people who think that if it wasn't true, they couldn't air it.  Anyone who pays attention knows better, of course, especially given Fox News having established in court that they are free to just make shit up and call it reporting.

I mean, why pound square pegs into triangular holes, when you can have a population of people that are not only happy to be triangles, but also demand that everone else be triangular?  After a while, of course, people were born and raised in the right shape, given that their principle source of information was the TV.

And it's not just the news...We ALL know THEY lie.  It's the programming in general.  The X-Files and Lost were both intentionally designed to be one cliff hanger after another, mostly so that people would keep watching - hoping for the payoff that deliberately never arrived - so they could see more commercials for drugs to make their dicks hard.

Children's television is a masterpiece of conditioning.  Anyone remember that piece of shit program Captain Planet?  Kids were taught from age 5 on that pollution was caused by eco-terrorists who wanted to pollute just to be evil.  It wasn't cars, refineries, industrial processes, etc...It was a group of bad guys who apparently made toxic waste just to throw around, muhaha.  This show - and others like it - were designed to get people to think of the problem as a small core group of bad guys, not 6.87 billion monkeys all doing their little part to make the planet uninhabitable.

Funny thing is, later on, they're told that they can save the world by recycling aluminum and newspaper.  Also useless, but now the monkey is very, very confused.  Confused monkeys do one of two things:  They go looking for easy answers ("Climate Change is a liberal myth" (denial) or "Shut civilization down" (unworkable)), or they shut the problem out of their mind forever.  

Now ask yourself...Why are the (very few) corporations that control TV programming so interested in abolishing "net neutrality"?  It isn't so they can bill you more (though that's a nice payoff), it's so they can control the content you receive there, too.  For radio, there are about three nation-wide providers.  For television, there's less than a dozen, once you follow the stock.  There's NOBODY for the internet, but that won't last forever.

One other contrast...On the internet, you can control how much information you receive, and of what type.  Television, on the other hand, is deliberately geared to flood you with volumes of information designed to induce stress (ie, mostly shit you can't do anything about) and self-loathing (Why aren't you beautiful like these people...Oh, yeah, because you're FAT, because you spend all day in front of the TV).

This information stress means you need more filters...Which they are happy to provide, either with Sean Hannity's Two Minute Hate, or with an endless array of pills.  These pills make you chemically dumber and lazier, so you watch more TV.

Now, while there are a few people furthering this agenda (talking to you, Roger Ailes), most of the Conspiracy is unaware of what they're doing...As Philo Drummond said, it's a vast conspiracy of dunces and rubes, not evil masterminds.

The best part of all of this is, it's a conspiracy you can defeat (at least on a personal level) simply by turning the damn television off.  All you have to do to overcome 66 years of programming experience (longer, if you count the radio) is turn the fucking thing off.  Don't throw it away, it's still good for movies and video games, but for fuck's sake, ask yourself what the hell you're watching, and whether or not you actually feel different - or feel ANYTHING - after losing an evening watching the damn thing...Other than, of course, feeling that "You're Loving It", and really wanting some horrible fast food shit/pills/beer.

Just kill it.

Or Kill Me.

" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

LMNO

Didn't radio have those cliffhangers, too?  And there's always the apocraphal "Christmas Story" bit about Ovaltine.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: LMNO, PhD on January 24, 2011, 05:03:06 PM
Didn't radio have those cliffhangers, too?  And there's always the apocraphal "Christmas Story" bit about Ovaltine.

Oh, sure.  And that's not very apocryphal.  That advertising gimmick was widely used.

But programming-type advertisments really came into their own when visual media (television) became widely available, as they could present a standard that was always just out of reach of the average American.

Another interesting note:  Television stations, you may recall, used to "sign off" for the night, from about 11PM til about 6 AM, leaving the test pattern up.  Now they broadcast 24/7, and people actually watch - I shit you not - 30-60 minute infomercials.  They really sit and watch the whole thing, according to Neilson...And the fact that people keep making them.  They're aired between 2AM and 4AM, when people are most susceptable to suggestion.

And then there's the damned Shopping Network.  If you want to be horrified by your nation, turn that bastard on for 30 minutes.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Adios

I was flipping through the mail and saw an advertisement that lead off with "AS SEEN ON TV". I always sort the mail while standing over a trash can and immediately dropped the ad in.

The other day I was flipping through 200 channels on the TV and for the first time noticed how many shopping channels there are. A repulse impulse made me turn the TV off.

As a kid I was lucky that the only kids programming was old cartoons. You know the kind, just good old fashioned violence like in The Roadrunner Show. They were only on Saturday mornings and it wasn't a big must watch kind of thing. It may have been for the town kids, but not us country kids.
We had our heroes, sure. Roy, Gene, and many others. Looking back, it was 'programming'. Setting values, expectations. No one wanted to be the bad guy, we all wanted white hats.

The TV did have the strength of the Word of God though. "I saw it on TV always ended arguments as to whether something was true or not.

Yes, radio carried the same messages. Notably, so did the printed news. Remember those old relics? Newspapers? People actually read them in those days, I swear, I saw it. Even read more than a few myself. Every medium carried adverts. Something about making money.

As life went on TV kept taking more time to watch. (verb) Gradually there were more ads and more ridiculous ads. The people who worked to make the shows got in our heads, deeply inside. They wanted to be number 1 and they learned to know you better than you even know yourself. This information they used to slowly get you addicted. An addiction to equal any drug.  Now you can even watch your TV when you are away from it on your 'phones' and computers.

We can't escape from it, it is ingrained into our very social construct. Most offices conversations revolve around TV shows, the actors, who they are screwing, who got married or divorced. We have allowed these actors to become icons. And half of them couldn't pour piss out of a boot with the instructions on the heel.

We were led, but we followed willingly, blindly and happily.

P3nT4gR4m

:mittens:

Quoteit's a vast conspiracy of dunces and rubes, not evil masterminds.

That's why it's the new religion! Newscasters think they're providing a public service. Celebrities believe in their own worth. Everyone stays distracted and, when an emergency is declared (usually just before 6:00pm, weekdays) Everybody dials the number and buys the shit.

And you're right - all you have to do is turn it off ...

... but the nice man said "don't touch that dial"  :?

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on January 24, 2011, 05:38:06 PM

... but the nice man said "don't touch that dial"  :?

Soon he'll be TELLING you not to touch it, and you'LL DO WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE TOLD.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Richter

Damn topical, I spewed somethign similar onto Facebook, which got a good numebr of meaningfull replies  (5-6, but better than a 17 reply string of "LOL TV").  I was doign laundry, being bombarded by noise from 3 differnet screens.  One Howled news, one teen drama (disney WTF), and one howled "Spongebob Squarepants".  A fucking Babylonian chorus of crazed innanity.

I don't have TV at home.  There's a television set, sure, but it's jsut a viewing aparatus for gamign systems or movies.  No cable comes into it, and the broadcast is muted out by the horsehair plaster and lead paint in the walls.  I only see "real" TV a few times a week now, and when I do it reminds me of work.  Everything is urgent RIGHTTHEFUCKNOW, the delivery is fast paced, and I get that nasty tightness creeping up the back of my spine into my neck.  The difference is at work I can DO something about it.  Watching TV is certain to bring to my attention a bunch of shit I didn't do that I am not supposed to, or equiped to fix.  I hear enough stories while I am making money, I cannot be expected to partake of any I don't really want to when I'm off the clock.  

"Aren't you worried about the state of things?  Aren't you jsut stickign your head in the sand?"

When has my stressing and shitting myself over the economy / war / goverment / environment / fuckign anything ever solved the problem?
Everything I see on television is a ploy for ratings, ad revenue, or donations.  At the cost of my sanity and calm.  It is useless to me, and as far as I can tell there is no more entertainment to be had on it.  Except Mythbusters, which Netflix has now.
Quote from: Eater of Clowns on May 22, 2015, 03:00:53 AM
Anyone ever think about how Richter inhabits the same reality as you and just scream and scream and scream, but in a good way?   :lulz:

Friendly Neighborhood Mentat

Adios

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 24, 2011, 05:49:39 PM
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on January 24, 2011, 05:38:06 PM

... but the nice man said "don't touch that dial"  :?

Soon he'll be TELLING you not to touch it, and you'LL DO WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE TOLD.

And the 'nice' part will evaporate.

P3nT4gR4m

It's all about thinking, innit. I'm fast arriving at the conclusion that, to the vast majority of the earth's population, thinking is some kind of anathema. They'll do anything to avoid it. There's a power vacuum in the average brain and the network is all to ready to step in and fill it.

"We'll tell you what to wear and what to eat and how to think about this and that, so that you don't have to."

I'm pretty sure if some new channel came out with that as their tagline, they'd have near 100% of the viewing population by the end of the first night's broadcasting.

I'm up to my arse in Brexit Numpties, but I want more.  Target-rich environments are the new sexy.
Not actually a meat product.
Ass-Kicking & Foot-Stomping Ancient Master of SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
Awful and Bent Behemothic Results of Last Night's Painful Squat.
High Altitude Haggis-Filled Sex Bucket From Beyond Time and Space.
Internet Monkey Person of Filthy and Immoral Pygmy-Porn Wart Contagion
Octomom Auxillary Heat Exchanger Repairman
walking the fine line line between genius and batshit fucking crazy

"computation is a pattern in the spacetime arrangement of particles, and it's not the particles but the pattern that really matters! Matter doesn't matter." -- Max Tegmark

Adios

Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on January 24, 2011, 06:18:07 PM
It's all about thinking, innit. I'm fast arriving at the conclusion that, to the vast majority of the earth's population, thinking is some kind of anathema. They'll do anything to avoid it. There's a power vacuum in the average brain and the network is all to ready to step in and fill it.

"We'll tell you what to wear and what to eat and how to think about this and that, so that you don't have to."

I'm pretty sure if some new channel came out with that as their tagline, they'd have near 100% of the viewing population by the end of the first night's broadcasting.

All you need in the tag line is "All the cool kids are doing it" being said by inhumanly beautiful people.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on January 24, 2011, 06:18:07 PM
It's all about thinking, innit. I'm fast arriving at the conclusion that, to the vast majority of the earth's population, thinking is some kind of anathema. They'll do anything to avoid it. There's a power vacuum in the average brain and the network is all to ready to step in and fill it.

"We'll tell you what to wear and what to eat and how to think about this and that, so that you don't have to."

I'm pretty sure if some new channel came out with that as their tagline, they'd have near 100% of the viewing population by the end of the first night's broadcasting.

Thinking is poor behavior in a pack, unless you're (an) the alpha for that pack.  It's actually detrimental in primitive societies, and is therefore selected against.

We're fighting 2 million years of evolution, not to mention the "religion meme".
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Charley Brown on January 24, 2011, 06:20:44 PM
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on January 24, 2011, 06:18:07 PM
It's all about thinking, innit. I'm fast arriving at the conclusion that, to the vast majority of the earth's population, thinking is some kind of anathema. They'll do anything to avoid it. There's a power vacuum in the average brain and the network is all to ready to step in and fill it.

"We'll tell you what to wear and what to eat and how to think about this and that, so that you don't have to."

I'm pretty sure if some new channel came out with that as their tagline, they'd have near 100% of the viewing population by the end of the first night's broadcasting.

All you need in the tag line is "All the cool kids are doing it" being said by inhumanly beautiful people.

Look again.  They aren't beautiful...In fact, they're kind of grotesque.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Adios

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 24, 2011, 06:51:33 PM
Quote from: Charley Brown on January 24, 2011, 06:20:44 PM
Quote from: P3nT4gR4m on January 24, 2011, 06:18:07 PM
It's all about thinking, innit. I'm fast arriving at the conclusion that, to the vast majority of the earth's population, thinking is some kind of anathema. They'll do anything to avoid it. There's a power vacuum in the average brain and the network is all to ready to step in and fill it.

"We'll tell you what to wear and what to eat and how to think about this and that, so that you don't have to."

I'm pretty sure if some new channel came out with that as their tagline, they'd have near 100% of the viewing population by the end of the first night's broadcasting.

All you need in the tag line is "All the cool kids are doing it" being said by inhumanly beautiful people.

Look again.  They aren't beautiful...In fact, they're kind of grotesque.

Like skin tightly wrapped around a sneering skull.

Don Coyote

This is why I am glad I spent most of my childhood not watching TV, mostly because we would frequently be unable to afford cable and we didn't really llike the hassle of getting the antena to work properly.

Really odd thing, on the date I had on leave, the chick I took back to my hotel room was baffled when I didn't turn on the tv right away, or at all.

The Good Reverend Roger

Quote from: Canis latrans eques on January 24, 2011, 06:55:16 PM
This is why I am glad I spent most of my childhood not watching TV, mostly because we would frequently be unable to afford cable and we didn't really llike the hassle of getting the antena to work properly.

Really odd thing, on the date I had on leave, the chick I took back to my hotel room was baffled when I didn't turn on the tv right away, or at all.

Did she get all Don Sutherland on you, pointing at you and howling?

Because that would have been hot as fuck.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.