That Marvellous Magical Box

That Marvellous Magical Box
by Josh London

A new year has started, a new millennium is just round the bend (I don't care what anyone says, the new millennium starts with 2001), and my new-years resolutions are already long forgotten. As the new year approached, I felt harangued and badgered by people who wished to share their dirty little secrets, dreary wishes, pathetic hopes and simple fears. I also felt distinctly besieged by people wishing to convey to me their predictions for the future and commentary on the past millennium.

I assure you that, short of listening to Anthony Robbins or reading L. Ron Hubbard, you are unlikely to ever encounter a more oppressive barrage of mindless drivel. There was, however, a positive common denominator running through all that mental mush; a very simple, almost, self-evident common denominator at that. I refer, of course, to the magic box: television. It was clear to me that every thought uttered, every idea expressed and every pose taken was produced solely through the images disseminated by the magic box.

Once upon a time, the common denominator of "intelligent" conversation was the printed word. Now, thankfully, it is mostly television. This seems obvious. Indeed, it is obvious. The single most significant change in the way that ordinary people living in the industrialized, Western world have lived their lives over the last century is directly attributable to the magic box.

Over the course of a lifetime, an average American will spend more time watching that magic box than in any other waking hour activity. Imagine that. Man has prioritized his life so that the top priority in his brief span on this planet is given over to a diversion that didn't exist even 100 years ago. It is a most powerful magic box. Today, the obsession with mass media begins in infancy-some 20 years before full-time work usually commences-and continues in retirement years, long after employment has ceased. A normal American spends more time in the course of a life watching the magic box than in working at all the jobs he has ever held, combined.

Motion pictures arrived at the very beginning of this era, and with the advent of radio less than twenty years later, and television at mid-century, the ceaselessly expanding entertainment industry penetrated every home. Now, with the advent of computer games and the Internet, man can spend even more vast amounts of time doing nothing at all.

As it is the average individual now devotes 28 hours a week to television. True, the average hours in a typical work week have been reduced, but even if we accept the optimistic notion that the typical work week has gone down ten hours in a hundred years, how do we make room for the balance of the new 18 hours (and often much more) we spend on the tube, videos, and movies?

That time comes from human interaction: relationships with family members, friends and neighbors. As people spend more time watching the magic box or surfing the net, the relationships that used to be recognized as central to humanity have started to occupy an even lower priority. Consider that a typical citizen works eight hours each workday, sleeps eight hours each night, and watches television four hours daily. This leaves a grand total of only four hours for every other endeavor-including commuting, eating, exercising, house cleaning, community groups and all private relationships.

Many decry this new condition. Many moan about how cultural standards have fallen into the crapper, and wring their hands about how the magic box has lowered the general standard of living for all, and ruined the socialization of generations. And they are largely all correct.

But so what? How does whining to me help anything? Personally, I love the magic box. With the press of a button I can watch The Sopranos, Ben Stein, The Man Show, The Simpson's, and the occasional episode of Law & Order. With another click of the button I can watch classic, brilliant and artistic movies like Mr. Majestyk, Death Wish, The Evil that Men Do or Bloodsucking Pharos in Pittsburgh. Sure you can also watch Discovery or The Learning Channel but why bother when there is Comedy Central and HBO. It doesn't get any better than that.

Besides, who can refuse the temptations of the magic box? Well, in Israel, it seems quite a few people.

Israel's leading ultra-orthodox rabbis have issued a ruling banning the internet from Jewish homes, arguing that it is "1,000 times more dangerous than television" and threatens the survival of the country. The ruling, issued by the Council of Torah Sages, is an attempt by the rabbis to halt the infiltration of "sin and abomination" from the internet into the homes of the ultra-orthodox, whose children have hitherto been shielded from the temptations of the modern world.

The rabbis recalled that they banned television 30 years ago, and said that the dangers from the internet were even greater. They said it "puts the future generations of Israel in grave danger in a way that no other threat has since Israel became a nation." Hmm... Sounds like some Israeli minds are sealed tighter than Israel's borders.

The Israeli ultra-orthodox ruling notwithstanding, I, as an American modern orthodox Jew, must dissent. I love the magic box and feel it has helped me enormously in my life. I know my rabbi is probably reading this now and wondering whether or not I'm on drugs. No, rabbi, I'm not on drugs...except for NyQuil and Sudafed. Nor am I being facetious.

If television were a less potent force in this culture, if more people were literate, spent time forging quality relationships and contributing to the betterment of society, I would not seem nearly so good. As it stands I, with minimal effort, can pass as terribly intelligent, well mannered, very mature, cultured, and well centered. I currently have people thinking the world of me, and it requires very little effort.

But the moment that the magic box loses its grip on society, my competitive edge, and that of people like me, will start to ebb. Right now my competitors in the job market are almost all idiots. Now, of course, spending less time in front of the magic box will not instantly imperil my façade, but I'm not taking any chances.

I encourage everyone to spend more time watching the magic box and less time reading books. Knowledge is highly overrated and manners are for the effete.