Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 12, December 2003

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article below in your research. Be sure to cite the Seattle Sun as your source.

STAN'S LOOKOUT:

How I was weaned from TV

By STAN STAPP

(Editor's note: This column, courtesy of Stan Stapp's files, was originally published in the North Central Outlook on Nov. 24, 1960.)

When someone tells you, "I've given up smoking," or "I'm never going to take another drink," the usual reply is, "When did you start?" The most likely answer is, "Yesterday."

Whether we say it or not, we take the resolution, with a grain of salt, no matter how firmly stated.

So when I tell you I have given up television ... before you ask, may I add, "As of three months ago."

During that period, my total time in front of a TV set has not been more than three hours, most of that chargeable to intermittent viewing of the recent hydroplane race.

And I have not missed one minute of the 189 hours of time previously wasted in a three-months period lying on the living room rug soaking up the "culture" dispensed by this automation.

I vaguely realized this way of life was not entirely satisfying some craving of mine, but I had not the strength to step back and analyze just what was lacking.

Big watermelon

For television's bill of fare is like that of a watermelon. It's big, red, juicy and filling (even the commercials can be compared to the nuisance of having to spit out those black seeds), but no matter how much melon you eat, you can still grow weak from lack of nourishment. In the end, you need something with a little more protein to satisfy your wants.

In the same way, my mind was crying for something with more depth to satisfy its insufficiency.

The influence of this monster first gained hold of me six or seven months ago, some time after most of my friends and neighbors had already succumbed. We got our set for Christmas, and like most TV neophytes watched everything that came along, good or bad. On New Year's Day alone, I spent 15 hours in front of the thing taking in the various "Bowl Games."

After the novelty wore off, and I discovered that the old movies weren't as good as remembered, I became more choosy in selecting programs. But even so, I was still looking at some 16 hours of television per week.

When one is tired, or lazy, or just apathetic, it is the easiest thing in the world to turn on the switch and let someone else entertain you. But for anyone with discrimination, no matter how many channels available, be it one or 100, there is practically no choice of programs at all. Television's greatest drawing power and weakness combined is that it requires no ingenuity, nor response, from the viewer. It encourages a static way of life.

Most of us, if we were able, would prefer a more dynamic type of existence. In my case, not until later did I realize that both my physical and mental needs were being dulled.

My first break-away come about a year-and-a-half ago, when I became interested in folk dancing. It provided wholesome recreation entirely disassociated with home or business, and the opportunity to make many new friends. As my interest grew in this new activity, it waned proportionately in television, because that was the only place I could withdraw any time.

I soon discovered the time it took away from televiewing was not regretted.

This in itself did not cut out TV entirely. Although I had satisfied a physical need, it was not until several months ago that I began to re-fulfill a mental need, the broadening of my understanding and knowledge of men through books.

Not that books themselves had been strangers to me. I've had a library card ever since grade school days and have used it a great deal. But mostly to check out books for the "acquiring of information." I neglected the most important area of reading, which as suggested by Mortimer J. Adler, consists of books "for understanding more."

'How to' books

I had been reading books on photographic techniques, the newspaper business, "how-to" books on home improvements, and other practical material, but very little on my understanding my fellow man.

Now I am discovering, or anyway rediscovering, the wonderful world of fine literature written by the best writers. I can pick the subject I want when I'm in the mood for it, or ready to increase my understanding along a certain line, and read about it when it is convenient for me to do so, without having to consult TV timetables hoping to find a subject worth viewing, and then trying to juggle my day to fit someone else's schedule.

True, it is more of a struggle reading these books than watching television, for the authors I am interested in are not so apt to "write down" to the reader, as does television with most of its offerings. But I like it. I like the challenge thrown out by the great writers for me to raise my intellect a little bit. At least they are making me feel alive in responding to their ideas whereas most of the television might as well be shown an army of corpses for any answer that is required from the viewer. One book leads to another, so that there is a tendency to read several on the same theme. Recently I have been interested in such subjects as Psychoanalysis, Jewish History, and Man's Inner Self. A few of the books I have enjoyed reading are:

Karl Menninger's "The Human Mind," and "Love Against Hate."

Theodore Reik's "Of Love and Lust."

John Hersey's "The Wall," and Leon Uris' "Exodus."

Ivan Turgenev's "Fathers and Sons" and short stories.

Fydor Dostoyevsky's "Brothers Karamazov.

Mark Twain's short stories.

Mortimer Adler's "How to Read a Book."

Next in line

I don't know which way my tastes might turn in the next year, but I suspect that next on my list will be Proust, Pascal, Chekhov, Tolstoi, and Mann. From then on it's anybody's guess.

The beauty of this whole book-reading operation is that there are no limitations, of channels, subjects, taboos. For my little library card entitles me to borrow, practically free of charge, any one of a half-million books on hand in the Seattle library.

Television, I've succumbed to your charms for the last time! b