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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (May 1, 2002)
Opinion TI ie CI ac I ìamas P rìnt L WEdNEsdAy, M ay 1, 2002 Be strong: Turn School shootings shock population off your television Last week was TV Turnoff Week, a yearly event promoted by, among others, the Adbusters Media Foun dation iwww.adbusters.org'). The point of this event is to encourage people to turn off their sets long enough to see how much they are missing by whiling away the hours in front of them. The effort is nice to see, and I hope that it succeeds with a few people. I’ve got my own rea sons for not watching television. About two years ago, I was sit ting in a class in high school. The teacher wanted us to watch yet an other movie on the television, and my friend Mike and I became fed up and turned our desks away from the television set. As we faced the rest of the class, who were all staring blankly at the set, I made an interest ing observation: People watching TV are incredibly ugly. Just from observing people, it be came obvious this culture was be ing spoon-fed to the people around me through the medium of television. People were playing out roles as signed through TV, incorporating TV melodrama into their everyday lives, mimicking the characters on TV. I decided to stop watching televi sion altogether. I suffered withdrawal at first. After I got over that, I no ticed that things began changing in my life; I began to see the world more clearly, my very perception of the world changed, my perception of time changed, and I felt more alive. One of the best books I have ever read is “Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television” by Jerry Mander. Mander was once presi dent of an advertising agency, but he and his partners dissolved the agency when they realized that their growing awareness and concern for the well-being of the planet was at conflict with their corporate work. From this book I learned much about the human body and mind and why television has the effects that it does. A friend of mine has two children who watch TV at their grandpar ents’ house and at their babysitter’s. Over the last couple years, I’ve seen what TV does to kids. The young est, Nathaniel, is an excellent ex ample. He tells jokes that make no sense, but are structured just like the jokes on TV. He doesn’t have to get a joke on television because the structure and the canned laugh ter have taught him when to laugh. The longer he watches TV, the more ill-behaved he becomes when the set is turned off. My friend told me the way he behaves after watching Power Rangers scares her. I recently read an essay by Marie Winn that appeared in the 1977 book “The Plug-In Drug.” In this essay entitled “TV Addic tion,” Winn discusses the mean ing of addiction and how it applies to television. She quotes a “heavy viewer” (a college English instructor): “I find television almost irresistible. When the set is on, I cannot ig nore it. I can’t turn it off. I feel sapped, will-less, enervated. As I reach out to turn off the set, the strength goes out of my arms. So I sit there for hours and hours.” 7o reach Jesse Gurzynski e-mail heterodox@onebox.com or drop by B-104. Do you want to go head to head with one of our writers? Bring it on! ■ntSend your opinions to cccp^n. ■ 10« lackamas^c.or.us ords or stop by B- it saved on a disk. When I heard that a 19 year- old, angered German teenager walked into a school armed with a shotgun and,a pistol and shot 15 adults and two students be fore killing himself, I was in deep shock. The shooting occurred last Friday in a small German town called Erfurt, not too far away from where I used to live. The gunman who was dressed all in black killed 14 school employ ees, a police officer, two girls, himself and left at least six wounded people behind. Of course, the attack evokes images of the Columbine High School shootings in Colorado three years ago. Once again, an angered student who suppos edly couldn’t handle life any more and was upset about school decided not to only take his own life but also the ones of many other innocent people. I know that German people have always considered their country to be far less vulner able to the violence that has afflicted U.S. campuses. I can imagine that this incident must have sent shock waves across the whole nation. However, ac cording to the Oregonian, this is the forth homicidal attack in fewer than three years. The Oregonian reports that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said that citizens were stunned and horrified and he urged people to examine the social as well as political fail ures that might have contrib uted to the tragedy. I am pretty sure that there are social fac tors that contribute to inci dents such as this. However, I also think that a lot of teenag ers see and hear about all these tragedies happening somewhere else and get their ideas from there. I know that handguns in Ger many are largely prohibited ex cept for members of the armed forces and police. Germans who want to buy a hunting rifle for example must undergo ex tensive background checks lasting up to a year. But still, it seems like for many teenagers it’s quite easy to get a gun. They just have to go to a big ger city or go to a neighboring country such as Poland or the Czech Republic. Maybe this is an issue that has to be looked at. It should not* be that easy for teenagers or any individu als to have a gun without ac quiring a license. I would have never thought that such an incident would happen to a city such as Erfurt. All the things you always here on the news seem so far away and you never think it could happen to you. But I guess it could happen anywhere to any body. Now I wonder how things are going to change in Germany. I’m pretty sure they will. Just like new rules and new safety measurements have been established at schools in the U.S. to make schools a safer place, things will change in Germany as well. And prob ably for a good reason because you should be able to go to school without being scared of being shot at a place where you are supposed to learn some thing and get prepared for life. To reach Maggie Jirasek e- m a i I bunny_97222@yahoo.com or drop by B-104. Viewing t.v. show pilots is not all it’s built up to be JENNIFER KANE Staff Writer I wouldn’t be an American if I didn’t enjoy free stuff. So when a friend of mine told me she got four free tickets in the mail for a television preview session, I was more than happy to go along. The pamphlet that came with the tickets explained that we would be joining about 200 other people in a hotel conference room to watch the pilot episodes of two T.V. shows, and some commercials. We would then have to fill out a simple survey stating out opinions on the pro grams. Sounded easy enough, and maybe even a little bit en joyable. We might even get some free grub out of it. Oh, how naive I was. We ar rived to a large group of impa tient people waiting outside the room. Upon entering the room, I see four 32-inch television sets and folding chairs. Nowhere do I see the movie screen and com fortable seats that I came to ex pect from the pamphlet. Then we were handed the sur vey. The front of it asked for our names and addresses. Not know ing exactly with whom I was dealing, this made me a bit un comfortable. But then we were reassured the documents were Heartwarming, eh? Afterwards my friend and I shredded in three months. Gull ible, I realize. A few days later, gave each other the same look. the company tried to reach me at The look that says, “What and my house 17 times. And this is the hell did we just sit through?” in no way an exaggeration; caller I went to give her husband the same look, but turns out he I.D. is a splendid thing. I opened the packet to find slipped out of the room within pictures of everyday household the first five minutes of the items. We were to simply circle show. Smart man. The second pilot was a sitcom which items we would normally called “City.” Turns out it was use. What this has to do with pilot episodes is still beyond me, actually made in “The Mary but I was trying to keep an open Tyler Moore Show” days, but mind. After the 27th page, it be they decided to show it to us for came a bit monotonous. Why do kicks and giggles. This show they need to know what was not nearly as bad as the first, barbeque sauce or feminine pro and I actually found myself laughing out loud on a few oc tection brand I prefer? Finally after about half an hour casions. But I just couldn’t get of this silly survey, they started past the fact that it was based in 1975 and not very relatable. the television programs. All in all, two hours of my life The first episode was a drama entitled “Soul Mates,” and I can were completely wasted with this honestly say it was some of the television preview extravaganza. worst television I have ever There wasn’t anything free out watched. The story line goes of it—no food, no drinks (not that a woman seems to find her even water), no stickers, no pen soul mate in one of her therapy cils even! And the television patients. But while under hyp shows were on the borderline of nosis, he confesses to commit awful. So my warning to you is if ting a murder. This bothered her, you ever get the chance to do but she couldn’t see past the something like this and think it “true love.” The show ended sounds interesting, don’t be a with the man parting town, only sucker. To reach Jennifer Kane e-mail leaving behind a letter to the jenk403@aol.com or drop by woman stating that if it were truly B- 104. their destiny, they’d be together.
