Breaking News: Your Life Is Being Controlled!

Television news has some crazy goals: more viewers, higher ratings, more advertising dollars, and more profit. What they show to get the “job done”: murders, rapes, fires, end-of-days economic news, etc., and etc.

Guess what guys! These are not the only facets of our society. So why is it, that they won’t show us how non-profit organizations are helping millions, how the SPCAs are keeping pets safe, or any of the tons of other random acts of kindness that occur during the course of each night? The simple answer (which might be hard to swallow): if they showed these happy events, Americans wouldn’t be frightened. In fact, we might be inspired, optimistic, and cheerful enough to really change this country of ours.

People watch television news for exciting, intriguing, even exotic spoken words and pictures — not to find out what good things this country has to offer. Most of us would rather watch a hot car chase than see a scientist explain his new theory, which just might change civilization for the better. TV news must be fast — all short sound bites and quick cuts — because on today’s TV, time is limited by the viewer’s remote control finger.

Well, how can we solve this sick crisis? How can we demand change? Simple: turn off this idiot box, and you’ll soon realize that life without this constant fear has many benefits. Below are five examples that I could think of right off the top of my head. Read, and then heed:

Free up your schedule. I know this may seem weird, but you might not know what to do with yourself, now that you have this extra time in the day! When I first did this study, I remembered looking at my watch and thinking “Man, it is only 8:00 (I thought it was like 11:00 or later). Cool!” Those first few days, I was getting bored, until I realized how much I could do outside (that’s when my “OK” days turned into “seriously fun” days).

Energy out the wazoo. You’ll start going to sleep earlier (due to the fact that those network string-pullers won’t keep you up watching one show to the next, to the next …). More sleep equals better mornings, which equals more energy throughout the day (you see where this is heading, don’t you?). If you usually don’t know what’s going on ‘till your first cup of coffee you will definitely benefit from this experiment. You’ll be surprised at the chain reaction an extra hour of sleep will start for your mood, energy and stress levels.

Goodbye, extra pounds! You’ll be more active! You’ll actually want to go to the gym, play sports, or go to the beach to work off that extra energy you now have. Think about how much time was spent sitting on your butt, when you could have been out there enjoying life. Another thing you’ll probably do is eat a whole lot less (TV and snacks used to go hand in hand, remember?). Don’t let the junk-food giants get their hands on this valuable information — they’ll start spending their advertising dollars at the local parks (or put a Doritos [or other unhealthy stuff] Logo on the bottom of your community’s swimming pool).

Own your schedule. This is probably the best benefit. You’ll no longer have to schedule your time around a favorite show, or tell yourself, “I’ll do it after my show ends.” Have a TiVo and think you’re above this tip? Sorry, you’re not — this box only works in theory, not in practice. I had one, and guess what? It causes you to watch more TV, not less. For all but a slim majority, this Tivo thing will not work — it’s known to cause information overload.

Become a “thinking” person. You’ll read more (maybe, if you’re a reader. If not: you won’t). It’ll change you dramatically: all the learning and thinking processes that were fighting to get out, while you were pushing them back in, will now guide your rationale. Seriously though, if you ever wanted to learn a language or try a new hobby then toss the stinking TV away and make those dreams a reality. One more piece of sage advice: HDTV is for people with too much money, and not enough sense to see right through this national scam of keeping us sedate.

Daily blasts of violence and immorality are the staple of TV news networks . . . and they don’t even have to pay any stuffy directors or attractive actors to do it. “Look,” they say, “This is everyday life!” No, it’s not … my life looks nothing like this — my neighbor wasn’t murdered today, my village wasn’t plundered, and no: my bank wasn’t robbed, ending in a fabulous chase scene. Their garbage may look like real life, which makes it even more powerful, but these hyped-up stories are spread out all over the country, not all condensed in your own backyard. To the news networks: stop trying to terrorize us, we no longer want to be scared!

What can you do to stop this culture of fear? The answer: keep it going with this no-TV-watching stuff and you’ll be so much better off. Check out the internet news sources like Yahoo! News and Google News to get the un-sensationalized version of what is happening in your world. They also allow you to read through the story at your own pace — you can read it again to pick out extra details, or to help find other stories which will tell you more. Internet = good, TV = bad (remember this)!

Don’t want to go this far? Well, at least watch the TV news with a critical eye. Knowing the following will keep you safe: 1) it is designed to keep you watching clear through to the commercials; 2) it is edited so that the whole story is not presented (for a reason) and 3) a story without great sound bites or dramatic story lines will either be brushed over quickly, or not shown at all.

The news networks definitely have agendas and viewpoints (whichever slant and spin they use). Forming an opinion for yourself is the best way to have some realistic expectations. Think about what you watch, and try to find out why they’re showing you what they are. Don’t always believe what comes across on the TV screen — the news exists to sell on-air advertising, not to enlighten the watcher (this is a fact).

Tip of the day: Better yourself and your family’s life, not the Nielsen ratings of these modern-day captors! You’ll be lifting their huge cloud of fear almost instantly, and also be able to start a life of prosperity and hope!