These past few weeks when I was hopping around on crutches or otherwise immobile (thank god that's over... with all the technology we've come up with, you'd think they could have made crutches more comfortable by now), I spent a lot more time sitting around with my foot propped up and staring at a screen than I'm accustomed to. In 2.5 weeks I must have watched close to 24 hours of TV total, which is astronomical for me, considering I probably average less than 5 per week, unless I have time to catch a Rangers game.
During that time I watched pretty much whatever my housemates put on and this included some gems like:
VH1s 50 Greatest Pranks
100 Dumbest People (one of those marathons like cop chases and stuff)
The T-Ocho Show (Terrell Owens and Chad Ochicinco's sport's talk show)... numerous times
Jersey Shore (after about 20 minutes I had to hop up stairs and do something else for fear of permanent brain damage)
With the help of a painkiller here and there, I continually thought of the phrase comfortably numb while laughing with my housemates at other people's stupidity and recognizing all the while that what I was doing with my time was tantamount to "absolutely nothing". I kept justifying my inactivity by telling myself there wasn't much else that I could do without uncomfortably crutching about (which I did plenty of; consider my Christmas shopping just about done) and that all the TV watching was quality bonding time with my housemates who I do enjoy spending time with. Another thing that stood out to me was the fact that whenever we would all laugh at the same moment or crack a joke that the rest of appreciated were the most enjoyable times and that otherwise, sitting around watching TV is pretty boring. If my housemates hadn't been there I don't think I'd have made it through more than an hour of programming; the small amount of interaction that the TV created between us was it's only saving grace, really.
And then I ditched the crutches and started going to the gym again, spent more time out of the house running errands and got back to my usual TV free (except for Rangers games) lifestyle where I question everything I hear and live in a vague paranoia fueled by the fear that the governments of the world have no problem keeping us dumbed down while they profit and eventually destroy the planet. All jokes aside, however, a few guys from the New Paltz hockey team were talking the other day about how they (experts, I suppose) say we have about 40 years worth of oil before we run and out and how they just hope they're dead before that happens. Seriously? I fully understand where they're coming from because a big part of me thinks I would rather be dead than live through the crisis we will face when we ultimately do run out of oil (and part of me says 40 years is probably an optimistic estimate intended to avoid immediate fear and panic), but the attitude is all wrong.
How about we DO SOMETHING in our lifetime to try and save this planet? Don't look at me because I don't know what to do, but I don't think the apathy and "we can't change it so let's get drunk and have fun before we're old and the world is ending" attitude is helping. I know what isn't helping; all of the TV I watched the past couple of weeks. It's all carefree bullshit that has no relevance or value but keeps us happily distracted from facts like: We ARE running out of oil fast. Distracted. That's just about the only thing TV is good for. It keeps us distracted from hundreds of other things that we COULD be doing if sitting on our asses all day wasn't the most comfortable and convenient option. Like I said, I don't know what CAN be done about our environmental and societal problems, but I have a feeling that if millions of people devoted just a few of the hours they spend watching TV EACH DAY that we could probably come up with something better than "have fun and hope you're dead before the shit hits the fan". People who are out of shape say they want to get fit, and when they finally get off the couch and hit the gym for an hour a day instead of staying home to catch Dancing With The Stars, their problem kind of solves itself. Maybe if we all decide we'd rather not watch our planet die from pollution and deforestation we can do the same thing. One thing is for certain -- We have nothing to gain from sitting in front of the television. The news isn't news. The entertainment is without value. It serves one purpose and that purpose is distraction. It kept me distracted from my injury when I couldn't walk around for a couple of weeks and it keeps Americans distracted from all of the ways in which the same corporations who own the television channels are (not so) slowly destroying the world we live in.
But then, my opinions never have been very popular.
