NO TV DAY: Our Revenge Against The MSM (Vanity)

After reading the scores of vanities and replies to threads regarding the blatantly treasonous actions of the MSM, I've yet to hear anyone mention a possible means of driving the stake through the heart of our nemesis.

So I'd like to make a proposal to everyone within the forum, in the hope that as a movement it wll catch on and gain some momentum. It's really quite simple, and at the same time it's even something that is good for all of us. What am I proposing?

Since the election will hopefully be over today, and tomorrow we'll get to see the river of tears from the left after their loss, we should be able to pick a date in the near future for our 24 hour boycott. I know that just having those of us in here refusing to power up our TVs for 24 hours won't be noticed by the MSM - at least not at first.

But there are side effects to leaving the TV off that many of us who never watch TV can attest to. These effects include - but are not limited to - spending quality time with your loved ones engaged in actual conversations, or having the time to actually live some of the values we grew up with. By keeping the kids away from the idiot box frees up their time to actually help around the house as well. Essentially, you gain freedom away from the box - your life doesn't revolve around what's on and when. You get to decide your life's schedule. Most importantly, being away from the box (even if just for 24 hours) allows you to begin deprogramming. Yes, deprogramming. To TV watchers, reading the words "TV Programming" merely means when things are scheduled on television. In reality, the programming has nothing to do with the television - it is merely the medium or tool used to do the programming. You, the viewer, are the one being programmed.

Here in the forum we all tend to think of ourselves as being independent thinkers, that the MSM doesn't put any thoughts into our minds, that we're unlike the dull-eyed mouth breathers of the liberal side of life. Sorry, not so fast there. While we definitely are better equipped in mental ability, we are not immune to the constant effects of TV. TV tells you (or worse yet your kids) what is cool or not cool, what they or you need to own to be cool, what you should think about nearly every subject, and what they think is the future of the world and America's place should be in this new world. If you have a TV on in your home - even just as "background noise" - you are being programmed. Many who read this thread will disagree vehemently with these assertions. These are the people most severely effected by their TV masters.

It's been almost 9 years since I've watched (or listened to) more than just a few minutes of TV. I become exposed to it in other people's homes on occasion, and it now seems unbelievable that I used to be your average American who constantly had the TV on. When going through the deprogramming it felt as it does when you are under water and rising to the surface. Your mind becomes less cluttered. Your thoughts are your own. You have things to talk about with others that don't relate to TV. Here in FR, reading threads that deal with TV personalities or what's on TV at the moment seems so silly for lack of a better word.

If you honestly believe in the 'new media', for its' integrity, for its' ability to disseminate news in a truthful way that is unbeatable for speed and adaptability, then why continue to support the Dan Rather's and the Tom Brokaw's? There's only one way to make them all completely irrelevant: TURN THEM OFF, AND LEAVE THEM OFF! All I'm asking is for us here in FR to start the movement to replace the MSM with the new media. I propose that we make the first try at a 24 hour boycott of TV this Friday.

I realize that possibly events will make this Friday an impossibility to start this, but we'll know better tonight. I'd like to request that any who agree with this please keep it bumped to keep it in front of the forum for as long as possible.

Writing letters to the MSM execs and their advertisers is a waste of time - they know you'll tune in if you're concerned enough to write them. The only way they are going to actually DO something about their behavior is if they see their ratings fall away, and in order to do that the MSM must be unplugged.

What we need is for Rush, Drudge, etc. to pick up on this and run with it as well. Why wouldn't they? It's not going to hurt their medium one bit, and they have been maligned by the MSM often enough to have motivation in assisting this cause. I'd certainly appreciate it if anyone who has good access would forward this to them.

Come on FReepers, you can't have it both ways any longer - they've been out to destroy our nation and our political views for nearly 12 years now. Don't support them with your viewership. Let's do them in once and for all.

I support economic boycotts against companies that promote the Left's agenda. That said, a boycott is only effective if the target company knows that it's being boycotted. As the saying goes, If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to hear it....

Unless you are one of the approximately 26,000 Nielsen Families by which the media corporations judge the viewing "standards" (or lack thereof) of America, then no one will hear you as you turn off your TV in silence.

The exception to this are TiVo users, because the TiVo box is a giant TV SpyWare device that reports is user's viewing habits back to TiVo headquarters. But even TiVo users represent only a tiny percentage of the US population. And anyone who owns a TiVo is probably too much of a TV junkie to take part in any TV boycott.

Don't get me wrong: I'm all for American's reducing their consumption of TV (and Hollywood movies, and video games, and Leftist newspapers, and sex-stuffed magazines, and anti-social music, etc.). I just don't see a general "turn off your TV" effort among us making an impact. Even if the mainstream media did notice and even if they had some way of measuring the number of sets turned off, if it's only for one day, they probably wouldn't give a damn. For example, if millions of people didn't drive their cars for one day to protest the depletion of natural resources, do you think oil companies would suddenly decide to quit making gasoline? Back to the media companies: I sincerely doubt that a one-day blanket boycott would affect the programming decisions of any entertainment shows. I know it won't have any affect on the biased agenda of the "news" networks like CBS, ABC, NBC because they have a Leftist political agenda they are pursuing and that will trump everything else, including their own profit motives. That's why Dan Rather is still on the job despite "memogate."

If you really want to do something, I suggest specifically targeted boycotts at the advertisers of the programs that offend you: the advertisements provide the financial means for the Left to advance their agenda. The Left has been very coordinated and aggressive at this type of boycott and they have had considerable success: witness the homosexual lobby's attacks on Anita Bryant and Dr. Laura. Unfortunately, conservatives have rarely demonstrated the determination and unity required to make these types of boycotts work.

One factor working against us is that, conservatives being more independently-oriented, are less likely to engage in the type of groupthink required to make boycotts effective. In fact, I find it often surprising how much we conservatives bicker and battle among ourselves over various issues. But at least we do realize that their are many complexities to any single issue and possess the ability to rationally analyze and debate the points. The Left, on the other hand, is much more single-minded (usually to the point of being numb-brained zombies) when it comes to pushing their causes. For example, many on the Left protest laws against criminal violence to a baby inside a pregnant woman, because they are unwilling to accept anything that might diminish Roe v. Wade.

Secondly, conservative generally lack any pre-organized social structure, whereas the Left has the labor unions and other activist groups already well-established. The one exception to that rule is the NRA. And yet, even with the NRA's huge membership, massive financial resources, powerful political lobby, and unity of cause, they are usually ineffective at stopping the gradual erosion of our Second Amendment rights. In fact, many gun "control" laws are passed with the nod of approval by the NRA. Can you imagine the homosexual lobby ever approving any legislation that diminishes their "rights"? We can't even get them to accept society's status quo on the most important cultural tradition ever devised by civilized man: that marriage is a union between a man and a woman for the purposes of establishing and raising a family!

The final factor working against us is that, frankly, most conservative and "regular" Americans are simply too content in their daily lives to exert the effort and make the sacrifices necessary to wage effective boycott campaigns. Example: the Dixie Chicks. Yes, they did lose sales in the wake of their America-bashing comments (no doubt, somewhat offset by sales gains from the Left). But I recall, at the time, many members of Free Republic (and other "conservatives") who continued to patronize the Chicks by buying their albums and attending their concerts. They simply valued their own entertainment more than they valued taking a stand for America.

This last point will be the hardest for us to overcome as a group, and I doubt we will improve significantly in this area any time soon. At least not until our society is really crashing down around us in a free-fall towards national socialism/communism. Of course, by them, it will likely be too late. As Edmund Burke remarked: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

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