texts of our lives

WILL HOCHMAN (hochman@uscolo.edu)
Sun, 14 Sep 1997 11:47:23 -0600 (MDT)

helena/malcs wrote: >I just don't see how anyone who has read Noam
Chomsky, >Shakespeare or
Krishnamurti can have the time and patience for >the emotional
manipulation and enforcement of stereotypes (not to >mention the
trance-inducing lull of advertisements) of a medium >that is increasingly
mean-spirited and wallows in sarcasm as if it >were an advanced form of
wit.

I'm not sure why I enjoy tv so much but one thing I can say--there's good
stuff on discovery, weather and news that is very accessible (I can listen
to cnn or pbs news like a radio), and even prime time offers a slice of
america's eyeball
that is not without its information value.  I've read extensively in many
cultures' literatures (thanks sonny for Vivekananda who on page 77 of
his book, _Raja Yoga or Conquering the Internal Nature says, "Give up all 
argumentation and other distractions.  Is there anything in dry
intellectual jargon?  It only throws the mind off its balance and disturbs
it.  Things of subtler planes have to be realized.  Will talking do that?
So give up all vain talk. Read only those books which have been wrtitten
by persons who have had realisation.") and I'm not ready to ignore an
aspect of life so many live in...as a teacher I know the danger of tv
replacing "text lives" of tomorrow's thinkers, but I think this
interactive screen is one way to "fight" such "mental erosion" though I
doubt my ability to perceive whether tv is erosion or progression...ok,
ok, what I'm trying to say is that there is some wonder to tv and danger
too, like most things, I think. I love traditional texts--my heart beats
its literary life every day--but I don't think there's a good reason to
ignore newer texts in our culture's production, and I do think we have to
use our own predilections to get the most out of the texts we can
encounter.  I'm sorry for the block like text of this post, but it is
rather thick and "blockish" and I think I will think a long time before
these thoughts find their real poem...will