VLVL2 (1) Robberds essay

[Mike Weaver]

Paul wrote
>the conflict between, eg, 'TV brainwashes the viewer'
>and 'TV-as-popular culture is a contested site upon which hegemonic
>control is never complete'

Interesting book on TV which covers this area is The Glass Teat by Harlan 
Ellison. It's the weekly TV columns he wrote for the LA Free Press from 
October 1968 through  January 1970.
Here's how it starts:
Hello. You ought to be frightened. You ought to be scared witless. You 
think you're safe, all snuggled down in front of your picture tube, don't 
you? They've got you believing all you're seeing is shadow play, 
phosphordot lunacies sprinkled out of a clever scenarist's imagination. 
Clever of them. They've lulled you. McLuhan was right: give me your young 
every Saturday morning from eight till noon, and they're mine till I send 
them off to die in a new war (don't ask me which one, Mommy and Daddy, I 
haven't checked my schedule for this week; but I'll consult TV Guide and 
see what prime-time they have open next year and that's where I'll send 
your bouncing baby boy).
They've taken the most incredibly potent medium of imparting information 
the world has ever known, and they've' turned it against you. To burn out 
your brains. To lull you with pretty pictures. To convince you nothing's 
going on out there, nothing really important. To convince you throwing 
garbage in the river after your picnic is okay, as long as the factories 
can do it, too. To convince you all those bearded, longhair freaks are 
murderers and dumb Communist dupes. To convince you that Viet Nam is more a 
"struggle for Democracy" than a necessity for selling American goods. To 
convince you that certain things should not be said because it will warp 
the minds of the young. To convince you that this country is still locked 
into a 1901-Midwestern stasis, and anyone who tries to propel us beyond 
that chauvinism and bigotry is a criminal.
I want to start gently, with this first column, to ease you into the world 
as-it-is with some questions and some observations. For instance: I want to 
talk for a few seconds about the war on dissent, as manifested on that big 
momma mammary we call The Tube. (Marvel, gentle readers; at the cultural 
shorthand: The Pill, The Man, The Tube. You can only use that kind of 
shorthand when you've got one, only one of each, and everyone knows it. 
Yeah: The Establishment.)
I want to ask the right questions, because every time I leap into learned 
discussion with my straight-shooting, clear-thinking contemporaries or 
adversaries, they whip it on me that there is no concerted war against 
dissent in this country, and sure as hell not on television. (That most 
public of-possessions given into the trust of the networks. And God knows 
no one named General Sarnoff would use that public trust to back up The 
Establishment! Men of honor, all!)










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