Craig Hill
KC Hill
Paladin
Oracle of DelphiTV - Did I miss something?
September 16th 2006 11:56
Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of television to Australia and some commentators say that in another 50 years it will be no longer with us, overtaken by the you tube and the like. I had the singular good fortune of growing up in a household which had no television. When I was five years old burglars broke into our house and stole tools from the garage and the TV. My father had the good sense to invest the insurance money in a decent library rather than replacing the TV. This arrangement had a number of considerable advantages. I learned to read and cherish books from an early age and I leaned to spend long hours seated by the fire chatting with my family. It also made us more sociable.
When there was something really important on TV such as a rugby union test match (I grew up in NZ where rugby is a religion) we would go to a friend's house, watch the match, then turn off the TV and discuss the finer details of the tactics deployed by the two teams. One friend was so fanatical as to video the match while we watched it and he would then review the thing play by play for analysis and assessment. If you must watch TV that's the way to do in - in a large group with plenty of lively discussion.
Of course that was in the days of amateur rugby when the matches actually meant something. Professional sports involves being entertained by two highly trained teams of elite mercenaries who would play any sport for any country if the price were right. There is a distinct division between the entertainers and the entertained.
When rugby was an amateur sport the men who ran out onto the field were lawyers, dockers, farmers, salesmen - people to whom the crowd could relate. They were their representatives doing battle with the best players from another country. Quite a different spectacle.
Having no television also had other advantages. I used to travel to school each day on the train. I would sit in a group of friends and the conversation would inevitably turn to the TV programs of the previous night. To avoid the humiliation of not knowing anything about these programs I soon developed the facility to listen intently as my friends summarised the programs and to ascertain the genre, the main characters and the likelihood of a certain scene being played out in the program. I would then interject "Oh that car chase was spectacular" or "...and when she went to the darkened window - very moving" and everyone would think I had seen the program. This in known in primary school comprehension exercises as "getting the main idea" and "inference from context" but you would be hard pressed to find a more effective classroom for the skill then a crowded railway carriage and a peer group of vindictive teenagers
Today I have two children and no TV. Frankly I can't see them missing out on anything. Roger Scruton certain agrees when he says
Television has confined each young person from childhood onward before a box of intriguing platitudes, so that without speaking, acting, or making himself interesting to others, he nevertheless receives a full quota of distractions. The TV provides a common and facile subject of communication, while extinguishing the ability to communicate. The result is a new kind of isolation, as strongly felt in company as when alone.
When there was something really important on TV such as a rugby union test match (I grew up in NZ where rugby is a religion) we would go to a friend's house, watch the match, then turn off the TV and discuss the finer details of the tactics deployed by the two teams. One friend was so fanatical as to video the match while we watched it and he would then review the thing play by play for analysis and assessment. If you must watch TV that's the way to do in - in a large group with plenty of lively discussion.
Of course that was in the days of amateur rugby when the matches actually meant something. Professional sports involves being entertained by two highly trained teams of elite mercenaries who would play any sport for any country if the price were right. There is a distinct division between the entertainers and the entertained.
When rugby was an amateur sport the men who ran out onto the field were lawyers, dockers, farmers, salesmen - people to whom the crowd could relate. They were their representatives doing battle with the best players from another country. Quite a different spectacle.
Having no television also had other advantages. I used to travel to school each day on the train. I would sit in a group of friends and the conversation would inevitably turn to the TV programs of the previous night. To avoid the humiliation of not knowing anything about these programs I soon developed the facility to listen intently as my friends summarised the programs and to ascertain the genre, the main characters and the likelihood of a certain scene being played out in the program. I would then interject "Oh that car chase was spectacular" or "...and when she went to the darkened window - very moving" and everyone would think I had seen the program. This in known in primary school comprehension exercises as "getting the main idea" and "inference from context" but you would be hard pressed to find a more effective classroom for the skill then a crowded railway carriage and a peer group of vindictive teenagers
Today I have two children and no TV. Frankly I can't see them missing out on anything. Roger Scruton certain agrees when he says
Television has confined each young person from childhood onward before a box of intriguing platitudes, so that without speaking, acting, or making himself interesting to others, he nevertheless receives a full quota of distractions. The TV provides a common and facile subject of communication, while extinguishing the ability to communicate. The result is a new kind of isolation, as strongly felt in company as when alone.
| 42 |
| Vote |
subscribe to this blog
Content on this site is written and mediated by Craig Hill
Go to Craig Hill's home page for information about corporate training courses, university preparation courses and writing services available
Go to Craig Hill's home page for information about corporate training courses, university preparation courses and writing services available
