Pro: Why You'll Never Get Me To Turn On TV
Jennifer Parker
October 1, 1998
Boob tube. Idiot box. Couch potato fertilizer. Whatever you want to call it, TV is here to stay, at least until the next big technological innovation. Whether you consider the revolutionary invention a blessing or a curse, it's difficult to arrange your life so as to avoid its influence. Last year you didn't have to own a television set to get caught up in the buzz about Ellen DeGeneres or Jerry Seinfeld. This year it's South Park and Ally McBeal. You can run but you can't hide. You can turn it off, but those pixels continue to stream through the air.
And frankly, I'm glad they do.
I must confess that I sometimes grow impatient with people who did not grow up watching television. They force me to break up the flow of images and allusions in my speech, because I must stop again and again to ask, "Did you ever see … ?" Talking with them is an exercise in cross-cultural communication.
With these people I have to force myself to avoid jokes or quotes that require knowledge of TV shows that I consider cultural icons. I have to explain the difference between the Munsters and the Addams Family, or to compare and contrast the Jeffersons, the Evanses (of Good Times), and the Huckstables (The Cosby Show) for someone who doesn't understand the socioeconomic nuances involved. Because we don't share the context, my metaphors get strangled, and my communication is, if not severely hampered, at least rendered less colorful and lively.
The point is that I am a media brat. I grew up watching—and still watch—a lot of television. Deep in the lush jungle of my brain, along with the Jungian archetypes, the Greek, Roman, and Norse mythological figures, and other ideas furnished by a western education, live Captain Kirk and Uhura, Ginger and Mary ...
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