At least once a month I like to review the topic of a al carte cable television. I know that sounds boring but please bear with me. I may not be a Luddite but I'm far from a techno geek. We receive 16 channels on our television and the cable has to be strung across the floor every time we turn it on. Consequently, I only see Fox News or any other cable channels when on vacation. I have dial up for Internet. I do have an Iphone but it is the original model and other than taking an occasional picture or watching a YouTube, I've never experienced the numerous capabilities that it has. XM Radio and a GPS are the only treats that I have given myself. This limited television has probably had an effect on me but I won't speculate on what it might be.
I will say this though. I believe that television has more of an influence on us that we might realize. I know that it does with me. I waste time. I watch nonsense and I can chortle like a blithering idiot while watching Everybody Loves Raymond. I'm not happy with my own habits but this actually reinforces the concept that I'm about to talk about. Mark Noll wrote a terrific book a few years back on today's Christian culture called The Scandal Of The Evangelical Mind. (isbn 0802841805) We can be passionate about issues, we can read a lot and our churches can be busy places but we do not have a rigorous mind when addressing many issues. This is a symbiotic relationship with the whole culture. Respected theologian J. I. Packer was once asked about the Puritan giants of the past. Packer responded that it was not that the Puritans were giants, it is rather that we are Pygmies. We don't like to hear things like this. So, back to television.
We are captive to an enormous amount of stations that we have to accept if we want popular channels like ESPN, The History Channel, and cable news networks unless we settle for the basic networks package. The question that I am posing here is, does the availability of so much entertainment lure us into 1) wasting our time and 2) offering our minds up to subtle teaching sources like 24 or 60 Minutes? The standard response is "Just don't watch them!" Well, thanks for the encouragement. I can't even give up Raymond! It was much easier for me to just subscribe to only 16 channels. I think that I would fail miserably with 100 stations. There has been legislative attempts to give the public a la carte, or a choice where we can pick only the channels that we want but there is a lot of opposition as some cable networks would suffer.
Those in favor of this, are so because they believe that it would lower our cable bills. I believe that James Dobson has come out for a la carte so I'm not the only one thinking that this would be a blessing on the American mind. It might take a few years to see results but we can speak with a powerful voice to networks if they see that no more do we bring their product into our homes. They just might change! I've said this before, please consider how this option might stymie this postmodern onslaught on our minds. Admittedly, there is no momentum here but the Republicans want new ideas,well here's one, a la carte cable, not for financial gain but freedom of choice in television and the power to tell the entertainment and news industry that their grasp on our minds has been broken!!!
I will say this though. I believe that television has more of an influence on us that we might realize. I know that it does with me. I waste time. I watch nonsense and I can chortle like a blithering idiot while watching Everybody Loves Raymond. I'm not happy with my own habits but this actually reinforces the concept that I'm about to talk about. Mark Noll wrote a terrific book a few years back on today's Christian culture called The Scandal Of The Evangelical Mind. (isbn 0802841805) We can be passionate about issues, we can read a lot and our churches can be busy places but we do not have a rigorous mind when addressing many issues. This is a symbiotic relationship with the whole culture. Respected theologian J. I. Packer was once asked about the Puritan giants of the past. Packer responded that it was not that the Puritans were giants, it is rather that we are Pygmies. We don't like to hear things like this. So, back to television.
We are captive to an enormous amount of stations that we have to accept if we want popular channels like ESPN, The History Channel, and cable news networks unless we settle for the basic networks package. The question that I am posing here is, does the availability of so much entertainment lure us into 1) wasting our time and 2) offering our minds up to subtle teaching sources like 24 or 60 Minutes? The standard response is "Just don't watch them!" Well, thanks for the encouragement. I can't even give up Raymond! It was much easier for me to just subscribe to only 16 channels. I think that I would fail miserably with 100 stations. There has been legislative attempts to give the public a la carte, or a choice where we can pick only the channels that we want but there is a lot of opposition as some cable networks would suffer.
Those in favor of this, are so because they believe that it would lower our cable bills. I believe that James Dobson has come out for a la carte so I'm not the only one thinking that this would be a blessing on the American mind. It might take a few years to see results but we can speak with a powerful voice to networks if they see that no more do we bring their product into our homes. They just might change! I've said this before, please consider how this option might stymie this postmodern onslaught on our minds. Admittedly, there is no momentum here but the Republicans want new ideas,well here's one, a la carte cable, not for financial gain but freedom of choice in television and the power to tell the entertainment and news industry that their grasp on our minds has been broken!!!
