On Sunday afternoon, I went with Meg to take the little guy to a health clinic for "Urgent " type of problems. He had a choking sounding cough and she didn't want to try to go through the night with it.He received excellent care and is now feeling much better. I felt grateful as always about how fortunate we are to be able to access excellent health care when we need it.What I didn't enjoy was the "idiot box" blaring at me in the waiting room and I resent that this seems to be the new norm in every kind of waiting room that I happen to find myself in.
What was playing for the sick (I mean physically) people's entertainment was an interview with a murderer.It was actually a detailed description of how the crime was committed by the convict who was still in prison.It was all presented in the most matter of fact way like we would be interested in hearing about it.I was getting angry about this noise pollution and when he wanted to share some more details about his "abuse" as a kid I decided that I had had enough.I asked the receptionist to please turn it off. She looked at me as if I was crazy. Five or so minutes later she located the remote because the T.V. was mounted very high on the wall.If I could have reached it I would have turned it off the moment I walked in. She attempted to solve the problem not by turning it OFF but by fumbling to try to change the channel. At that time we were called in to the triage desk. I couldn't help but notice that the SAME channel was playing the same sordid show for the waiting room all sitting there held hostage to this filth.
My daughter was embarrassed that I had to say something and couldn't I just ignore it? The answer is no. Not only no, but Heck no. I am so sick of this mindless propaganda being poured into every public space from hotel lobbies to the muffler shop to even the check out line in Wal-Mart until recently. It was a pretty Sunday afternoon.I like to think my own thoughts. I also enjoy a little small talk. I most certainly do not like being treated like I am some kind of an idiot that can't pass 30 minutes of time reading or talking to the family members that I arrived with. In another doctor's office that I go to there is a big sign on the T.V. saying that it cannot be turned down. Apparently, they built the walls with such thin insulation that the noise of the T.V.covers up the voice of the patient on the other side of the wall. I figured out that Hell for me would be a loud T.V. turned on and blaring at me 24/7 with all the airbrushed "beautiful people" telling me what to think about.
Watching T.V. offends me. Although some of the best people I know enjoy T.V. without ill effects, I usually find myself getting very angry, very quickly. In my opinion, most of the stuff that is on is inappropriate for my children and myself. My world doesn't have to be so big that I need to be brought up to date on the inner workings of the mind of a murderer. My little grandson is entertainment enough and if he got tired, I had a book with me. If I forgot my book I could have perused the pages of a magazine to look at recipes.Truth be told, most of the magazines are full of slime and outrageous articles and are as inappropriate for children and adults as the T.V programming is! That's another story, especially in check out lines when one is blessed with good readers!
The main point that I am trying to make is that watching T.V. is a personal choice. There certainly are some worthwhile programs at times. If I want to watch something specific, (which never happens), I will do it at home with full control of the remote because you never know what they are going to say next. It is not something that I choose to be bombarded with wherever I go in public without any ability to shield both myself and my children from distasteful, desensitizing and useless drivel. I would much rather have a few minutes of quiet in which to think or chat with the people around me.
What to do? I will continue to ask receptionist "mood-setters" to please turn off the T.V. while I am there and plan on having everyone bring a book or crayons etc if the kids and I will have to wait somewhere. We are definitely in a "Culture War". I am not going gently into that dark night of tainted JUNK to put it nicely, without a fight. I will try to be pleasant about it and keep things happy and light as long as I am getting my way and the trash is turned off while I and and any other human beings are present!
