David Mills, in a new op-ed for Aleteia, picks up on some themes I discussed in my recent Ethika Politika piece, “The Protection of Souls and the Banning of Books.” Instead of focusing on books, however, Mills takes aim at the idiot box. Here’s an excerpt:
Except for the occasional football or baseball game, I don’t miss having a television and think other people should get rid of theirs the way we did ours. I know that people who talk about their giving up television affect most people the way joggers and early risers affect me. I want to say bad words and frighten them into silence.
I also know giving up television’s not for everyone, that it can teach you things, that you can stream classic movies and great documentaries, that reading can be almost as mind-vacating an activity as watching television, and that even those of us without televisions have the internet with which to fill up our time.
Yes, true. But even if television were better than it seems, we have to police what goes into our minds and if we have children what goes into theirs, and that policing ought to be a lot more stringent than it usually is. It’s usually like the genial English bobby of children’s story books, willing to look the other way, when it ought to be like a North Korean border guard.
Mills is dead right that we need more self-policing when it comes to television or any form of media for that matter. Be sure to read the entire article.
