Life Angles: LIFE Acronym #5 - Lame Infomercials Fill Evenings

LIFE Acronym #5:
"Lame Infomercials Fill Evenings"

I am actually not going to be talking about infomercials in this post. But I'll be talking about something related to infomercials: TV!

If you're a TV lover, please don't get offended at this post. Just respect my opinions, and take from this post whatever you feel is truth.

I am a fairly opinionated person when it comes to TV. But, as everyone believes about their own opinions, I feel that mine are pretty valuable, and for a large part are aligned with truth.

I've been a success-minded person since I was quite young, and I can date that kind of mindset back to at least age 15. I was a dreamer even at that age. I had big plans. I loved learning, and I loved archeology, science, inventing, etc. I had a concept of the importance of productivity, and I knew the rightful place of entertainment.

Growing up, TV wasn't a focal point in our home, and it was actually rather discouraged. But, when I was 15, I was watching about 4 hours of TV per day. After living like this for a little while, finally something clicked.

One day, I realized that all this TV-watching was hampering my productivity, and was a massive waste of time. You've heard me say it before... Time is life's most precious asset!

So, I simply decided to stop. To this day, I can still vividly see where I was sitting when I made that decision.

I stopped TV entirely, and it wasn't even hard. Today, THIRTEEN YEARS LATER, I have still NEVER resumed a habit of watching TV. I stopped watching TV BEFORE REALITY TV WAS INVENTED!!!

As far as I can remember, the show "Survivor" was the first big reality TV show. I can vividly remember people talking about that show. It was a sensation. It was everywhere!

That was my first time experiencing what it feels like to not be familiar with a show that had become somewhat ubiquitous in American households. And that feeling was to become a very familiar feeling over the next 13 years.

The only traces of TV that I've caught over the years, has been when I've been at someone else's house and they had TV on.

Here are my estimates of the only TV I've seen over the last 13 years:

Survivor: 15 minutes
Friends: 5 minutes
Seinfeld: One episode
American Idol: 10 episodes
So You Think You Can Dance: 5 minutes
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody: 20 minutes
Ice Road Truckers: 1/2 episode
Survivor Man: 2 episodes
Man Vs. Wild: 5 episodes
Mythbusters: 5 or 10 episodes
Simpsons: 5 or 10 episodes in my entire life.
Family Guy: 1/2 episode
South Park: 1 episode (very offensive)
Prison break: 15 or 20 episodes (my roommates used to have Prison Break parties at my house.)
The Office: 20 or 30 episodes (all due to my sister and brother-in-law, who I spend a lot of time with.)
Smallville: 20 or so episodes (all due to my sister.)
Lost: 10 episodes (once again, due to my sister)
The Bachelor: 1 episode
[That show where they renovate houses]: 2 episodes
Glenn Beck: 20 or so episodes

That's it as far as I can remember. And NOT ONE SINGLE BIT OF IT (except for Glenn Beck) has been because I purposely turned the TV on of my own accord. I can honestly tell you that I have NOT ONCE turned on the TV in the last 13 years (except for Glenn Beck).

I cannot even BEGIN to count how many times people have mentioned TV shows that I had never heard of. And I can't count the times when I've had to ask "what's that?".

I have never once been ashamed or embarrassed about my lack of familiarity with certain TV shows or commercials. In fact, I am PROUD of the fact. I am happy to openly announce, in any social scene, that I stopped watching TV 13 years ago.

And when I meet a new girl, then check out her Facebook profile and see tons of her favorite TV shows listed on her Facebook page, it's an instant turnoff. The bigger the list, the smaller the odds of her having a chance with me.

When I am married and raising my own family, I envision watching very little TV in my household. And yes, I have actually met a few girls who, just like me, DO NOT WATCH TV.

Now is the portion where I explain some of WHY I am so opinionated when it comes to TV.

Let's start with society's backsliding morals. In just my own 28 years, I have personally witnessed MUCH societal decay. Society's morals and values have been CRASHING DOWN to ever-lower depths, and it leaves me intensely thinking, "What lies at the end of this road?!!". That's a picture that I do not want to see.

I hold a PERSONAL VENDETTA against the many people who are responsible for the various sitcoms and other types of shows that have come out over the last 4 or 5 decades or so.

I am not pointing fingers at every TV producer and TV watcher, nor am I pointing fingers at every TV show. I admit that some of them are relatively wholesome. Yet I still don't get around to watching even the wholesome ones.

I wouldn't mind watching a little wholesome TV here and there, as long as it's monitored and kept within proper bounds. But so far I just simply haven't gotten around to it. I am always doing other things.

It's what I consider to be the "bad" shows that anger me. And believe me, some of the shows on my "bad list" would be on your "good list", because I'm sorry to say it, but you are desensitized to some degree or another.

Any show that I believe has added to the decline of Western Civilization is on my "bad list". Here's why:

I have personally noticed a striking, and SCARY fact! Please THINK ABOUT THIS AS I WRITE IT (or, technically, as you read it)!!!

I have noticed that whatever is portrayed on the sitcoms, begins to become accepted as the way people really are, and as the "normal" way to act.

THIS IS A HORRIBLE, HEINOUS FACT!!!!!!!

Think about it! People see these family situations played out over their TVs for decades of their lives! Kids grow up on it!

These disgraceful "Situation Comedies" are funny, yes they are. I give them that. But, the producers and writers throw so many caustic ideas into these shows! They make bad things look good and normal!

In nearly EVERY SINGLE Sitcom I've ever seen, they portray a screwed-up type of family life. They portray people arguing and being mean to one another. They portray people lying. They portray immorality as normal and acceptable behavior.

They portray off-color humor. They take everything that is sacred, dress it in an antithetical guise, and parade it across the stage of our minds as "the norm".

Think about it!!! 6 or 7 short decades ago, pre-marital sex was widely considered to be inappropriate and wrong, and engaging in such damaging behavior was considered to be pernicious (which was true then, as it is still just as true now).

For DECADES, flippant and accepting attitudes toward pre-marital sex have been displayed across millions of TV sets in America's living rooms. As a result, people now treat pre-marital sex as normal and harmless behavior (and yes, I am aware that there were many other contributing factors to this sad outcome).

Yet, these people have deliberately chosen to ignore the countless studies that have been done, which prove that sex is not a toy or a pastime. These studies have shown that when people engage in sexual behavior outside of a committed relationship, there are psychological and even physiological effects that can seriously alter the course of one's life.

And I haven't even mentioned the sanctity of marriage, nor the fact that God has tried to teach us repeatedly that He considers sex to be very sacred, and desires that we only use that sacred procreative power within the bonds of a proper and legal marriage.

I don't think that anyone would argue that TV has helped contribute to the decline of society's morals.

If you look past all the humor and to the essence of what these shows are really portraying, you will begin to see my point of view.

Here are some of the words that today's TV shows bring to mind: rude, selfish, inconsiderate, brash, obstinate, uncivilized, offensive, dishonest, emotionally abusive, unethical, disrespectful, immoral, indecent, impure, pornographic, violent, profanatory, sacrilegious, suggestive, etc.!

If you argue with me, it just means that you are desensitized like everyone else. Here's the sad fact about desensitization: when people are desensitized, they rarely have any idea that they are. They feel that they are perfectly in touch with what's really wrong and right. And THAT'S THE SCARY PART.

When people grow up seeing these things all the time, it becomes a part of them, and shapes their paradigms; it shapes the way they see the world, and shapes their opinions if what they hold to be true.

HERE'S A PARADIGM FOR YOU. Allow me to get a little more religious here if I may...

Picture all those TV shows. Picture the portrayals of pre-marital sex, lying, arguing, disrespect, immodesty, and off-color humor that goes on in those shows.

Now, picture a stark contrast to all of that. Picture the most righteous, pure, loving, and perfect being who ever walked this Earth; even Jesus Christ.

He is our perfect example. The scriptures tell us that it is our job to do our best to be like Him.

We are commanded to be "perfect". We know that we will never reach perfection in this lifetime, but it is our quest to get as close as we can. In the original Greek, the word "perfect" meant "complete", "finished", "fully developed".

Once you reach the pinnacle of your perfection, do you think that you will be partaking of such low-quality, debased, degrading, hollow and meaningless types of entertainment?

And most importantly, can you picture The Master Himself sitting down and watching such things? These shows are in almost direct opposition to everything that He stands for.

If He wouldn't, then why do YOU partake in such empty forms of entertainment? Can't you find something better to do with your time than to fill your mind with filth, and desensitize yourself?

Do you really want your kids to see disrespectful, uncivil arguments portrayed as normal?

That kind of thing may have been normal in your house, and you may be tricked into thinking that that is the way that family relationships are supposed to be.

But, allow me to be a voice against the grain; an example of the other side of the story. There IS another way.

In my house, there was very little arguing, and relative peace throughout all my growing up years. I don't think that I've ever once heard my mother raise her voice. And I've only heard my father raise his voice maybe five or ten times in my entire life.

Even though there were nine of us kids, we were for the most part, one big happy family. Arguing was NOT the norm in our house, nor was disrespect and dishonesty, NOR WAS SARCASM.

I was home-taught. I was raised the good-old-fashioned way, similar to the way that people used to raise their children a long time ago. My parents DID NOT leave it up to the world, the TV, the school, daycare, or any other outside influence to raise us. MY PARENTS RAISED US THEMSELVES! What a thought!

Did it work? Did I turn out alright? Do I fit into this society, or am I an outcast or a weirdo?

Go ahead and talk to me. You won't think that I'm Amish (I'm not saying that Amish people are bad, I'm just saying that they stick out like a sore thumb in this society). You won't think that I'm socially awkward either. But this post isn't about me, is it. It's about YOU.

This post is about whether or not you can learn and apply anything useful from my thought processes and musings. I hope that you do.

I'm just asking you to open your mind to other possibilities; to realize that just because the majority of people live a certain way, doesn't mean that it's the best way to live.

In fact, unfortunately, if something is done by the majority of our society, these days that's more of a sign that you probably SHOULDN'T be doing that thing.

I want you to arrive at a place where you are no longer floating through life and being pulled along by the current of society, but instead are actively shaping your habits to reflect your innermost ideals.

I want you to take the helm of your own progression, and DECIDE what you will allow to be put into your mind, and shown to your eyes, and played for your ears to hear.

If you feel that you are already at the helm, then I want to REMIND you of the importance of these things, and reinforce them.

The mindset of treating TV seriously is not something to scoff at, it's something to emulate. And I hope that you do.