I'll whole heartedly admit that I'm hyper-sensitive to what is shown on television. I can't even watch CBC's The National without having a panic attack in the middle of the night and having to do a crossword puzzle or brush my dog before I can get back to sleep. I should teach my dog how to play Scrabble. Or maybe I can teach her to roll the dice for me and we can play a biased game of Yahtzee at 3am. You're probably sitting there thinking, holy crap, Rhonda...take a Valium and deal with reality already. We all need to know what's going on in the world. We all need to be realistic about what is occurring in our lives on a daily basis. And I agree, we do, to a degree. But I really, really didn't need to know that a psychotic man went on a killing rampage and raped and slaughtered his own family members. That information truly doesn't help me to become an informed citizen. It's not enlightening.
I have had several friends comment on the television I own. I have a Baycrest television, which was a brand that the Hudson's Bay Company used to sell. It has "The Bay" logo on it which I've always thought was a super cool design. I have tried to Google an image of my Baycrest beast to show you what one looks like, but they're so obsure and obsolete that I can't find one. It still has tubes in it, and whenever a night scene is shown, my television screen goes completely black. When Alexander plays Wii Ski he can't put it on the night setting because then he perpetually smashes in to snow drifts and ends up going down icy caverns on his Wii Ski ass. The dusty VCR that sits on top of it has not had a VCR tape in it for years, but it houses all of the cords and plugs that regularly would go into a modern television. I hope that VCR never caffs because then I'm up shit creek without a Wii paddle. (As a side story, we watched a bit of a children's movie at my sister's house last week and I asked if it was a different version to Kung Fu Panda because I didn't recognize some of the scenes. Then I stopped myself and thought, Oh. The movie's the same. It's the tv.The difference is that I can actually see it. haha)
But the point is that I don't want to get a new television for two reasons. The first one is that my sister gave me that television when I started university. It was on its way to a garage sale, but "it just needed a new tube" as my dad put it, and lo and behold it was an awesome set. And the remote? Wow, it's hardcore retro and really, I could probably sell this television on eBay or to a set design company that focuses on the early 80's for a lot of money. (You might also want to check out my blog about objects of desire, and you may start to see a pattern forming...) But the main reason that I haven't broken down and spent the big bucks is because I don't want to watch the shit that oozes out of that darkened, shadowy, orange-faced screen. It's poisonous, and if I make the choice to turn on that television, it's like having a loaded gun pointed right at my brain, because in a split second I can be blasted with an atrocious image that will forever scar my mind; imprinted in the grey matter that is just supposed to suck it up and move on. Channel surfing is Russian roulette, especially if my child is with me. It was 8pm when I watched that horrific show (thankfully alone). It was a 20/20 documentary. My son could have very easily been beside me watching it. 8pm is not late for a nine year old boy. That would not be good, even if I had just been cruising by....
So, instead I live in a more controlled happy Facebook bubble world, where I learn everything that I need to know through the links, blogs, postings, and groups that others choose to share with me. But the difference is that I make the choices as to whether I want to accept their generousity or not. To date, I have not randomly come across a gruesome visual that has traumatized me or my son on Facebook or the other links that I have chosen to add to my favourites. Instead, my son and I laugh at the flatulence of Powdered Toast Man, and type "dogs that drag their butts" in the youtube search engine. I download CBC's DNTO podcasts and listen to them on weekends, and scan CBC online to see how much of an asshole our politicians were today. I also get to talk to many friends regularly, and keep up with positive things that are occurring in their lives on a daily basis. We talk about music, and art, and our children. I once commented that sometimes it feels like I'm back in high school, sitting at the cafeteria table chatting with all of my friends before period 3. So, I chose to keep my brain as worry free as possible in this helter skelter chaotic world, because you know, I don't think my dog is going to be too impressed with me if I keep on demanding games of Yahtzee at 3am.
And by the way, my computer monitor and speaker system is pretty pimpin'.
CBC Radio's Definitely Not the Opera link
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