My noodle

    Omnipresent; to be present everywhere at the same time.  When Corbett Trubey states, “The omnipresent box sitting somewhere in our homes, workplaces, and just about everywhere else has a much greater hold on our lives than we think,” speaking of course, of the television, he is implying that our televisions are always affecting and controlling us more than we could imagine.  To realize that this mere box could control our actions, our thoughts, even our weight, would lead to the conclusion that practically any randomly named American could not go for a long period of time without it.

I believe that this statement is true…somewhat true.  I truly beleive that television is a huge part of American culture.  I mean, look anywhere  -  from banks, to bars, to households, even urinals;  you can’t take a left turn without coming across some kind of television set.  It is a part of our culture, and a huge growing form of entertainment.  But when he states that it has more control over us than we think, I believe his logic becomes tainted.  Americans are intelligent human beings, and regardless of the countless hours we spend wasting our gray matter watching the tube, we know how much television we watch, and we know the impact.  Most just choose to disregard it or justify it, talking ourselves into believing that it is something positive.  Of course, we could be outside in the “3-D world,” actually interacting with nature, but why do that when you can enjoy it from the comfort of your couch?  Lets face it, Americans are lazy, and they know it.

They know hours are wasted on the tube, but who can say it is all a waste?  They could be spending hours watching Discovery Channel, expanding their minds and knowledge about nature.  On the other hand, they could be chanting, “Jerry, Jerry” from their couch, and doing nothing but dumbing themselves down to that level.  Either way, it is a form of entertainment, and the American people love to be entertained.  That’s why it’s so hard for us to buy into “TV turn-off week.”  Most don’t see what the point is.  What good would it do?  So yes, we know what effect it has on us.  We just choose to ignore it.