Validation of a Possible Defense

I've been noticing a little oddity for some decades that may be of some use. Careful observation and testing of the oddity has yielded a possible yet simple defense against invasion. I'm sure I'm not the only person to observe this oddity, still I've not seen it pursued to any correlations.

Perhaps I should elucidate, since I do not materially participate in the material culture, being a technologically obsolete human. I have had a lot of unoccupied time, so I've volunteered large chunks of time, some of it in retirement homes. The oddity is that a large percentage of the elderly when watching television, either in the commons or in their own rooms, talk back at the television. OK, big deal you're thinking, alot of old folks do that, so what?

Well, for one thing it's the manner in which they talk back, they are contradicting, deriding and contesting what is said or displayed as if the TV can hear them. They are using humor, wit, irony, outrage, sarcasm, laughter and occasionally profanity to assert themselves and subvert a top down hierarchical medium. OK, big deal,so I met some crazy cranky old folks who think the TV set can hear them, so what?

Well, when you talk to these folks away from the TV, you might expect them to have just as negative an outlook, as their comments suggest. But no, they are cheerful, sociable, engaging, outgoing, involved in their community as much as they are able. Generally they do not belive the world has become a terrible place, but they do object to the TV trying to make it so.
They don't mind telling it so in a clear and direct manner. They are, by acts of self assertion, deprograming the propaganda of an impersonal dictatorial medium by personalizing a vacuum tube! OK, big deal, so what?

Here is another side of the situation, the percentage of elderly who do not talk back to the television exhibit very different behaviors away from the TV. They are much more solitary, much more fearful and worried. Almost constantly reacting to events in their own lives as if they were the worst possible scenario. Investing large amounts of time and energy in making themselves miserable by importing the horrors on TV into their lives. While watching TV they are passive yet absorbed, concentrating on what is said and shown. The only amelioration of this condition occurs when they overhear someone else talking back to the television. Then it's as if they remember that they are a person with their own point of view, and it's almost as if this shocks them. Often tho' with continued passive viewing they become entranced again.

Occasionally, one will engage in conversation with one or more of those talking back and begin talking back to the TV themselves. When this does occur, their outlook on life away from the TV undergoes a transformation. They become more sociable, cheerful, friendly, active, even philosophical about where they are in their life.

So, talking back to the television is not crazy, it's actually a sane defense against invasion of your mind by the talking heads on television. It actively resists the dehumanizing, demoralizing, depressive, disordering and disenfranchising effects of passively accepting outside programming. It does so in a way that is beneficial to the individual, increasing cognition and metabolism as well as improving their outlook on life. It is unclear if talking back evolved out of their need to maintain a positive outlook or if talking back creates the positive outlook.

However it is simple, start contradicting what the media is having to use the powerful medium of moving images to convince you of. Use derision, humor, irony, laughter, sarcasm, wit, even cuss the idjuts out, whatever works for you to maintain your interdependence. Remember, if it's a moving image screen, the contents are either a set of lies, a mixture of lies and small truths or it's a distraction from the much more important real world of people, creatures, plants, rocks, wind, fire, waves and light. If it were true, it could be stated in a few words of conversation or print, it would not require the immersion in persuasive moving ( and possibly 'doctored') pictures. If it were true it would not need to be 'sponsored' by major corporations intent on 'selling' you what you do not actually need or even want.

As for the TV being able to hear or see you, well in the past it never really needed to ( what you think not being important to what it was telling you ) and technically it wasn't able to. Now however, there are multiple networks of receiving and transmitting towers dotted every few miles almost over the entire planet. So if you might believe it's still not possible, please recall that if *you* have a cellular telephone and you can not remove the battery, simm card, backup battery and insert a shorting pin into the headset jack, then you are walking around with a tracking and audio surveillance device designed to be remotely activated even when "off". If your "cell" has a camera and a memory card, your stored images are vulnerable to remote control as is whatever your camera can see, even when "off".

So those crazy, deluded, cantankerous old folks may be far more correct than you'd ever care to admit.
1984 happened almost four decades ago.
Start talking back!
©3-20-02011 Cee Are