Understanding Television
(Author's Request: Please turn off your television set as you read this article.)
In Karachi the murder and mayhem have been going on for years. "The only social activities left in the city are those related to death," wrote a Karachi newsmagazine editorial some years ago. "Funerals, burial, mourning." When you leave the home in the morning, you don't know whether you'll return safely that evening. Wherever you look, you can see fear, uncertainty, and depression. Yet, among all the fearing and grieving that accompanies the tragedy, the dish antennas on the rooftops has been flourishing.
In the past at times of catastrophes people would turn to Allah, would stop going to the cinema houses, and would repent from sins, even though temporarily. Today, there is an ever-increasing
In Saudi Arabia, one can find the imprints of Hollywood only a few yards away from the Haram, the most sacred of all sanctuaries of Islam. Videocassettes are easily available at stores. A hotel attendant, at a walking distance from the Haram al-Sharif in Makkah can be found busy watching English movies on the television in his office. At the Jeddah airport, the Umrah pilgrims can watch a European beauty contest courtesy of an Egyptian TV channel being broadcast to the airport television sets.
Throughout the world religious, moral and social values have been drastically undermined by this great "technological gift" of the century. And entire nations seem to be helplessly "enjoying" the invasion. When people are doing nothing, they watch television. When they are doing something else, they still have television in the background. The device has contributed to the addition of a new space in the architecture of the private home: the TV lounge. It is a space where perfect strangers come to pedal nudity, immorality, and hedonism. This is the space, which increasingly controls the entire house.
It is fashionable to complain about "excessive" sex and violence on television. Even those who make money from this enterprise willingly do that. CNN tycoon Ted Turner said in July 93 before a U.S Congressional subcommittee: "I don't need experts to tell me that the amount of violence on television today and its increasingly graphic portrayal can be harmful to children. Television violence is the single most significant factor contributing to violence in America." And a poll released in February 95 in the U.S. by Children Now, whose directors include TV producers and Warner Brothers Chairman, reported that most children believe that what they see on television encourages fornication, disrespect for parents, telling lies, and aggressive behavior.
The most significant thing here is that what the TV industry wants us to discuss (and we willingly follow) is what is ON television, not television itself. Everyone will wholeheartedly agree with the problems with TV programs and offer all kinds of advice. (Watch the programs with your children. Tell them what is wrong. Be critical. Be creative.) Irrational and meaningless as it is, this exercise will nonetheless soothe your irritation. In the meantime, keep on watching. It is fun. It is also unavoidable.
In about two decades, this "wonderful" technical development has played havoc with societies around the globe. But what is even more unprecedented is the ambivalence with which these societies face this greatest of all invasions. Underlying this is a strongly held belief that television is a neutral tool that can be used with equal facility for good or evil. Unfortunately, this position has been taken without any critical examination of the facts. It is about time that we approached the subject with an open mind.
Neutral Tool?
Is technology ever neutral? "[Every technology] has within its physical form a predisposition toward being used in certain ways and not others," writes Niel Postman, chair of the department of Communication Arts at New York University. "Only those who know nothing of the history of technology believe that a technology is entirely neutral." (Amusing Ourselves to Death, 1985).
What about television? It reflects the idea that serious discourse can be carried out through pictures instead of words. As Postman explains: "The single most important fact about television is that people watch it, which is why it is called `television.' And what they watch, and like to watch, are moving pictures__ millions of them, of short duration and dynamic variety. It is in the nature of the medium that it must suppress the content of ideas in order to accommodate the requirements of visual interest."
(Author's Request: Please turn off your television set as you read this article.)
In Karachi the murder and mayhem have been going on for years. "The only social activities left in the city are those related to death," wrote a Karachi newsmagazine editorial some years ago. "Funerals, burial, mourning." When you leave the home in the morning, you don't know whether you'll return safely that evening. Wherever you look, you can see fear, uncertainty, and depression. Yet, among all the fearing and grieving that accompanies the tragedy, the dish antennas on the rooftops has been flourishing.
In the past at times of catastrophes people would turn to Allah, would stop going to the cinema houses, and would repent from sins, even though temporarily. Today, there is an ever-increasing
In Saudi Arabia, one can find the imprints of Hollywood only a few yards away from the Haram, the most sacred of all sanctuaries of Islam. Videocassettes are easily available at stores. A hotel attendant, at a walking distance from the Haram al-Sharif in Makkah can be found busy watching English movies on the television in his office. At the Jeddah airport, the Umrah pilgrims can watch a European beauty contest courtesy of an Egyptian TV channel being broadcast to the airport television sets.
Throughout the world religious, moral and social values have been drastically undermined by this great "technological gift" of the century. And entire nations seem to be helplessly "enjoying" the invasion. When people are doing nothing, they watch television. When they are doing something else, they still have television in the background. The device has contributed to the addition of a new space in the architecture of the private home: the TV lounge. It is a space where perfect strangers come to pedal nudity, immorality, and hedonism. This is the space, which increasingly controls the entire house.
It is fashionable to complain about "excessive" sex and violence on television. Even those who make money from this enterprise willingly do that. CNN tycoon Ted Turner said in July 93 before a U.S Congressional subcommittee: "I don't need experts to tell me that the amount of violence on television today and its increasingly graphic portrayal can be harmful to children. Television violence is the single most significant factor contributing to violence in America." And a poll released in February 95 in the U.S. by Children Now, whose directors include TV producers and Warner Brothers Chairman, reported that most children believe that what they see on television encourages fornication, disrespect for parents, telling lies, and aggressive behavior.
The most significant thing here is that what the TV industry wants us to discuss (and we willingly follow) is what is ON television, not television itself. Everyone will wholeheartedly agree with the problems with TV programs and offer all kinds of advice. (Watch the programs with your children. Tell them what is wrong. Be critical. Be creative.) Irrational and meaningless as it is, this exercise will nonetheless soothe your irritation. In the meantime, keep on watching. It is fun. It is also unavoidable.
In about two decades, this "wonderful" technical development has played havoc with societies around the globe. But what is even more unprecedented is the ambivalence with which these societies face this greatest of all invasions. Underlying this is a strongly held belief that television is a neutral tool that can be used with equal facility for good or evil. Unfortunately, this position has been taken without any critical examination of the facts. It is about time that we approached the subject with an open mind.
Neutral Tool?
Is technology ever neutral? "[Every technology] has within its physical form a predisposition toward being used in certain ways and not others," writes Niel Postman, chair of the department of Communication Arts at New York University. "Only those who know nothing of the history of technology believe that a technology is entirely neutral." (Amusing Ourselves to Death, 1985).
What about television? It reflects the idea that serious discourse can be carried out through pictures instead of words. As Postman explains: "The single most important fact about television is that people watch it, which is why it is called `television.' And what they watch, and like to watch, are moving pictures__ millions of them, of short duration and dynamic variety. It is in the nature of the medium that it must suppress the content of ideas in order to accommodate the requirements of visual interest."
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