And this is entertainment?

[JMJ_coder]

I am becoming ever more disgusted with what is offered on television – even more than before. Shows such as Family Guy, reality TV in general, even commercials. I’m constantly asking – do people actually think this is funny? entertaining? worth wasting time on?

 

[edwest2]

Yes, they do. The TV has been the background noise for a few generations now. It’s almost automatic to come home and turn it on. Over the last 40 years, TV gradually and slowly poisoned hearts and minds by getting people used to a little then a little more, a little more…

Indifference is the problem and if the young aren’t taught that bad words remain bad words into adulthood, then they might buy the lie that there are shows for kids and shows for adults when the kids go to bed, like porn. Of course, it’s mislabeled “adult entertainment” as if that makes it OK.

And the comedians who can’t stop talking about sex or saying f*** or complaining and going on and on about how bad people are… No. it’s not entertainment. It pains me to see TV programs where attractive couples don’t fall in love but engage in ‘just sex.’ Don’t the actors and actresses realize that their public behavior is a bad example and a scandal? And the almost endless movies where a young couple move in together and are obviously engaged in a no-strings sexual relationship? Or hearing about Britney’s latest concert on the News where she will be performing in various states “of dress and undress.” Hey, it’s just the way it is, right? What are you going to do?

Turn it off.
Send emails to your local TV station asking them to stop with the dysfunctional programming. Tell them that a TV show about a young female doctor picking up a man at a bar for anonymous sex is not a fantasy worth having in an age of AIDS and STDs.
Talk about this with people you know.

Peace,
Ed

 

[lumenorientale]

Well, I guess people do find it entertaining. I don’t, personally, find much on tv anymore to be worth my time. My parents, not faithful Catholics by any stretch, regularly watch Family Guy. I’ve seen a few episodes when I’m over at their house, and didn’t find it to be particularly funny. Offensive, sure, but that wasn’t the only reason I don’t like the show…just not really funny.
Reality tv–I can feel my I.Q. losing a few points everytime I have the misfortune of stumbling upon a show while channel surfing. It makes me think of those commericals on nowadays that talk about how tv “rots your brain,” and some celebrity says that it’s all an alien plot to rule the world.
And they call religion the opium of the masses…hmmm, ironic.

 

[sharmin]

I find TV entertaining, although I am not a fan of Family Guy or reality shows. I love Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Medium, Brothers & Sisters, and shows like that.

 

[mlubczyk]

The programming is not the problem. it may at most be the symptom or result. The problem is that people don’t have a good Christian upbringing anymore. This is what secularism, individualism, materialism and Protestantism has spawned.

What you’re seeing on television is merely a reflection of society’s ills, not the cause of it.

Besides, it’s not like merely cleaning up the airways and programming is going to help society in any real sense. So what, we ban all programming except or religious programming and all the bad things in the world are going to somehow go away?

You’re analysis seems to be simple minded as always. Simple solutions to complex problems are not the way to go.

 

[malachi3]

I have a small circle of friends, but none like TV. We’re older, so some watch the old re-runs. I turn it off. Radio is better these days.

 

[Cat]

My favorite show, The Unit, was cancelled. :crying: No more weekly dose of Robert Patrick. :crying:

Other than that, I mainly watch football and figure skating.

There isn’t a lot of figure skating on network TV anymore. If you miss it and want to see more, subscribe to Icenetwork for only thirty dollars a year, and watch it on your computer, or hook it up to your TV and watch it on your television set. It’s one of the best deals ever!–for only $30, you get dozens of real competitions (not those cheesefests that are just excuses to advertise a product), and you get to see the ENTIRE competition, not just the half-dozen skaters that the TV journalist selects for airtime. And you can watch children’s competitions, adult competitions, synchronized skating (the best discipline, IMO!), theater on ice, etc. And you can stop it anytime you want and come back to it, or fast forward through boring skaters and teams, or do slow-motion replays to check to see if the skater landed the jump clean, or if everyone on the team held the spread eagle. The picture is not always the best, and sometimes there are technical difficulties. But for the most part, it’s heaven!

I think television will be more and more like Icenetwork, so that we’ll select what we want and watch it through our computers. That may improve the quality of TV for many families.

 

[livnlern]

I am becoming ever more disgusted with what is offered on television – even more than before. Shows such as Family Guy, reality TV in general, even commercials. I’m constantly asking – do people actually think this is funny? entertaining? worth wasting time on?

I’ll admit I watch some “reality"TV although I have to wonder how much reality there is to having a camera crew film your every move. I watch “18 Kids and Counting” because I think the family is interesting because it’s so huge and the kids all seem to be so nice and helpful. I don’t know how much editing goes on with these things but the kids seem to get along remarkably well and the family is very religious. It’s refreshing to see something like this on TV instead of smart-mouthed, too-old kids.
I also like “The Little Couple” about the newlywed little people who live in Houston. I like to see how they overcome all the obstacles in their lives. Especially Jen, who’s only 3’ 10” and is a doctor at a neonatal hospital. What an accomplishment! She always seems so cheerful and is such a good sport and I admire her courage.
Shows like this are interesting to me because I see how other people overcome the difficulties in their lives. I don’t watch any sitcoms or doctor or cop shows because I don’t find them entertaining.

 

[Jennifer_G]

Yes, they do. The TV has been the background noise for a few generations now. It’s almost automatic to come home and turn it on. Over the last 40 years, TV gradually and slowly poisoned hearts and minds by getting people used to a little then a little more, a little more…

Indifference is the problem and if the young aren’t taught that bad words remain bad words into adulthood, then they might buy the lie that there are shows for kids and shows for adults when the kids go to bed, like porn. Of course, it’s mislabeled “adult entertainment” as if that makes it OK.

And the comedians who can’t stop talking about sex or saying f*** or complaining and going on and on about how bad people are… No. it’s not entertainment. It pains me to see TV programs where attractive couples don’t fall in love but engage in ‘just sex.’ Don’t the actors and actresses realize that their public behavior is a bad example and a scandal? And the almost endless movies where a young couple move in together and are obviously engaged in a no-strings sexual relationship? Or hearing about Britney’s latest concert on the News where she will be performing in various states “of dress and undress.” Hey, it’s just the way it is, right? What are you going to do?

Turn it off.
Send emails to your local TV station asking them to stop with the dysfunctional programming. Tell them that a TV show about a young female doctor picking up a man at a bar for anonymous sex is not a fantasy worth having in an age of AIDS and STDs.
Talk about this with people you know.

Peace,
Ed

Even the news stations aren’t immune. Some comments or stories reporters/anchors say are a little too much information. Even on the news sites (MSNBC is the worst, followed by CNN. Even Fox News isn’t immune).

 

[johngh]

TV is much like the internet these days. Sure there is some good things on there, but the majority of it is a trashy, morally devoid wasteland.

I remember watching an episode of Family Guy from this year, the one about atheists. Not only did I not laugh once, but I felt so offended and angry at the stupidity of it all. The idea that people could actually find nonsense like that entertaining, and even worse “true”, just honestly makes me feel like there is almost no hope for this world.

 

[johngh]

The programming is not the problem. it may at most be the symptom or result. The problem is that people don’t have a good Christian upbringing anymore. This is what secularism, individualism, materialism and Protestantism has spawned.

What you’re seeing on television is merely a reflection of society’s ills, not the cause of it.

Besides, it’s not like merely cleaning up the airways and programming is going to help society in any real sense. So what, we ban all programming except or religious programming and all the bad things in the world are going to somehow go away?

You’re analysis seems to be simple minded as always. Simple solutions to complex problems are not the way to go.

While I agree that society definitely has some blame, you cannot remove blame from the TV stations. While finding a true answer to the question of whether the media reflects society or helps to create it is near impossible, one thing that is clear is that it is at the very least a bit of both. Yes trashy TV does in some way reflect out society, but at the same time it also makes society more trashy. So long as people keep playing this game of blaming either the media for producing trash or people for paying for trash instead of trying to hold everyone responsible, we will never get anywhere.

 

[jorgeraul3]

My favorite show, The Unit, was cancelled. :crying: No more weekly dose of Robert Patrick. :crying:

Other than that, I mainly watch football and figure skating.

There isn’t a lot of figure skating on network TV anymore. If you miss it and want to see more, subscribe to Icenetwork for only thirty dollars a year, and watch it on your computer, or hook it up to your TV and watch it on your television set. It’s one of the best deals ever!–for only $30, you get dozens of real competitions (not those cheesefests that are just excuses to advertise a product), and you get to see the ENTIRE competition, not just the half-dozen skaters that the TV journalist selects for airtime. And you can watch children’s competitions, adult competitions, synchronized skating (the best discipline, IMO!), theater on ice, etc. And you can stop it anytime you want and come back to it, or fast forward through boring skaters and teams, or do slow-motion replays to check to see if the skater landed the jump clean, or if everyone on the team held the spread eagle. The picture is not always the best, and sometimes there are technical difficulties. But for the most part, it’s heaven!

I think television will be more and more like Icenetwork, so that we’ll select what we want and watch it through our computers. That may improve the quality of TV for many families.

We do something similar at our house. We watch Netflix through our xbox, there are tons of TV shows on there. You can pick what you want to watch when you want to watch it. Not just shows but movies too.

But I have to agree once services like these become more widely available this will change the way we watch TV, and then everyone can more easily pick what they want to watch.

 

[WillieWonka]

How about the library? Is it full of books you don’t consider interesting or worthwhile? Are there portrayals of behavior that you don’t think is proper?

Same with book stores. I think an average Barnes & Nobe has 250,000 volumes. So, maybe 75,000 titles? Take a walk in and look at what is being offered. Should the libraries and book stores be purged of things you don’t like?

 

[edwest2]

The programming is not the problem. it may at most be the symptom or result. The problem is that people don’t have a good Christian upbringing anymore. This is what secularism, individualism, materialism and Protestantism has spawned.

What you’re seeing on television is merely a reflection of society’s ills, not the cause of it.

Besides, it’s not like merely cleaning up the airways and programming is going to help society in any real sense. So what, we ban all programming except or religious programming and all the bad things in the world are going to somehow go away?

You’re analysis seems to be simple minded as always. Simple solutions to complex problems are not the way to go.

Here is the record:

1960 Birth Control Pill introduced.

1968 The Pope has Humanae Vitae published. He warns against artificial birth control and what will happen. Infidelity will increase, promiscuity will increase.

Send in the Hippies. Free love! Sex with anyone. Smoke dope!

1969 The movie Bob, Carol, Ted and Alice introduces people to adultery, now relabeled Swinging.

1973 So-called Adult Bookstores open everywhere selling graphic images of prostitutes. No one asked me what I thought. Topless go-go bars put in place partly with the help of high priced lawyers arguing freedom of expression.

It’s OK to kill your baby in the womb. The Catholic Legion Of Decency closes its doors.

1978 The campaign to turn men into the enemy and to strike fear into the hearts of women is going full steam. The National Organization for Women promotes Women’s Liberation. “Sisters! Throw off the chains of your oppression!”

The perfect marketing campaign for…

1980s No-Fault Divorce. No kids? $75 and you’re out. Call 800-DIVORCE.

Porn on cable. Once again, no one asked me and I certainly didn’t request it.

1990s Into the abyss. Profanity and Partial Nudity on ABC. No one told me I could turn on NYPD Blue and see bare behinds. And this was done why? To ‘advance’ the story line? Give me a break.

Shock jocks on the radio spewing filth. Rap music giving offense to women, promoting killing and gangsterism. The internet filled with porn.

Chuch parking lots are almost empty while mall parking lots fill up.

The reasons are clear. The media allowed filth, profanity, partial nudity, sexual perversion and comedians who can’t stop complaining and saying f*** to appear. I asked for none of it.

I watch or listen to about 15 minutes of TV a week. That’s it.

Grey’s Anatomy should be called Fornication Hospital. Brothers and Sisters should be called The Dysfunctionals, because that is the average character template today – the profoundly dysfunctional.

Go to the Grey’s Anatomy web site and you’ll be greeted by the Dictatorship of Relativism, where everything is just shades of grey.

Pray for the people involved with these shows.

Peace,
Ed

 

[edwest2]

How about the library? Is it full of books you don’t consider interesting or worthwhile? Are there portrayals of behavior that you don’t think is proper?

Same with book stores. I think an average Barnes & Nobe has 250,000 volumes. So, maybe 75,000 titles? Take a walk in and look at what is being offered. Should the libraries and book stores be purged of things you don’t like?

There are already laws that do not allow someone under a certain age to go into a so-called “adult” bookstore. Porn isn’t clearly labeled porn, it’s called “adult” entertainment as if that somehow makes it OK.

If I was in charge of cultural affairs for the United States, I would never, ever send certain things to other countries as examples of American culture. All societies need standards which represent not just individuals but the identity of that particular society. In a country of the people, by the people and for the people, certain high standards need to be set both as an example to our fellow citizens and to the world. To create a Dictatorship of Relativism leads to anarchy and an erosion of a shared vision for any society.

Whether you are religious or not, ancient wisdom survives to this day because of its value. A society of shared values is a good if those values are built on decency, respect, including self respect and sincere concern for our neighbor.

Peace,
Ed

 

[emma411]

This is my very first time replying. My response to your post is:

AMEN!!! TV encourages hardly anything positive now a days. Marriages are ending, with no encouragement to fight for them. The media added to it.

It’s okay to have relations with anyone why? Because the media has poisoned minds. The media doesn’t think they are to blame. Why? Why was it that the FCC jumped all over the Super Bowl incident with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, causing her to reveal part of her chest. Yet the FCC doesn’t jump on the regular indecencies and vulgarity we see all around us and hear all around us . So AMEN to the truth you shared.

I too find I am keeping a more vigilant eye of what too is on tv…however EWTN is my favorite!

 

[mlubczyk]

This is my very first time replying. My response to your post is:

AMEN!!! TV encourages hardly anything positive now a days. Marriages are ending, with no encouragement to fight for them. The media added to it.

It’s okay to have relations with anyone why? Because the media has poisoned minds. The media doesn’t think they are to blame. Why? Why was it that the FCC jumped all over the Super Bowl incident with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, causing her to reveal part of her chest. Yet the FCC doesn’t jump on the regular indecencies and vulgarity we see all around us and hear all around us . So AMEN to the truth you shared.

I too find I am keeping a more vigilant eye of what too is on tv…however EWTN is my favorite!

It’s no the media. It’s the people themselves. Media is but a mirror image.

 

[WillieWonka]

There are already laws that do not allow someone under a certain age to go into a so-called “adult” bookstore. Porn isn’t clearly labeled porn, it’s called “adult” entertainment as if that somehow makes it OK.

If I was in charge of cultural affairs for the United States, I would never, ever send certain things to other countries as examples of American culture. All societies need standards which represent not just individuals but the identity of that particular society. In a country of the people, by the people and for the people, certain high standards need to be set both as an example to our fellow citizens and to the world. To create a Dictatorship of Relativism leads to anarchy and an erosion of a shared vision for any society.

Whether you are religious or not, ancient wisdom survives to this day because of its value. A society of shared values is a good if those values are built on decency, respect, including self respect and sincere concern for our neighbor.

Peace,
Ed

Ancient wisdom has survived to this day. Unfortunately too much did not because of the self-appointed book burners who took it upon themselves to decide for everyone who came after them.

 

[WillieWonka]

This is my very first time replying. My response to your post is:

AMEN!!! TV encourages hardly anything positive now a days. Marriages are ending, with no encouragement to fight for them. The media added to it.

It’s okay to have relations with anyone why? Because the media has poisoned minds. The media doesn’t think they are to blame. Why? Why was it that the FCC jumped all over the Super Bowl incident with Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake, causing her to reveal part of her chest. Yet the FCC doesn’t jump on the regular indecencies and vulgarity we see all around us and hear all around us . So AMEN to the truth you shared.

I too find I am keeping a more vigilant eye of what too is on tv…however EWTN is my favorite!

EWTN is a channel I don’t want, but I found my cable provider wouldn’t allow me to drop it because it was part of a bundled package. It works both ways.

 

[lumenorientale]

EWTN is a channel I don’t want, but I found my cable provider wouldn’t allow me to drop it because it was part of a bundled package. It works both ways.

Block it, I guess, if you find it to be so “indecent.” However, I seem to think your argument is rather silly because showing a cherubic-faced old nun praying the Rosary is quite different from the soft core pornography on prime time tv. There is an obvious difference, that you cannot deny.