Posted on 03/26/2013 8:16:55 AM PDT by topher
Chuck the telly!
At the Fullness of Faith, David has posted Throw away your Television, quoting a song by "Red Hot Chilli Peppers." He says
"Not only is the telly full of mindless junk, not only does it eat into spare time that could be used for prayer, study, family and Blogging...it is also largely inimical to all that our Catholic Faith stands for. Why do we pay to watch it in the first place?"
Well, I sold my presbytery's television in January 2003 and have not had one since. I thought this would be a sacrifice but actually, I never missed it, even slightly. I watch films occasionally, using a DVD player and a projector. Sometimes, I look at EWTN on the internet, especially if I want to get a good Catholic version of a major news story. It was great to see some of their coverage of the election of Pope Benedict. Again, very occasionally, I check an item on the BBC website for information; I am always pleased when there is a transcript available because reading through the text is so much quicker than having to watch the footage.
This issue is problematic for families. Their children are made fun of at (Catholic) school and I have often heard people involved at various levels in (Catholic) education speak as though the absence of a television makes a family abnormal so the peer-level comments are never effectively challenged. Yet families without a television (or where its use is very strictly regulated) do have a much richer life. It is natural that this should be so: they have so many more hours to do interesting things, visit interesting places, grow plants, look after animals, play sports, read books - and of course pray together.
A couple of good websites in connection with this are White Dot and The Center for Screen Time Awareness.
There is a story that St Elizabeth Ann Seton had a vision of the future in which she saw a mysterious black box in every home in America. In one version I heard, the devil was coming out of the box. In another, it had two wires, leading down to hell. She did not understand the vision at the time...
If anyone can confirm this or let me have a link or a reference, I'd be most grateful.
...
[Further down on this blog is:]
A true story that happened in Dallas, TX, was at the Parish of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in Plano, TX. There is a Marian group in Dallas that would put on Marian events(Queen of Peace Center). They had selected this parish at "random". The person who came as a healer was Ann Marie Hancock of the Richmond, Virginia area. This happened about 1994/1995. Ann Marie was accompanied by her spiritual director, a Benedictine Monk. Also at this service was Father Santos Mendoza, who came originally from the Philipines and is highly regarded as a holy priest (he had occasions where he would see his guardian angel). For the healing service, Ann Marie had brought a relic of the True Cross and a relic of Elizabeth Ann Seton. She did not know that the service was going to be in the Parish of Elizabeth Ann Seton. During the healing service, an image appeared on the wall -- like the image of a Televsion. It was Jesus on the Cross. Eventually, the healing was stopped and each person went near the image to venerate it. So people that I knew that I considered holy said they saw the "Immaculate Heart of Mary" and the "Sacred Heart of Jesus". I later investigated this by talking to the Abbott from Richmond, Virginia about the experience, as well as Father Santos Mendoza. People who were present did not talk about this event -- brag about it. They thought it was such a holy experience and was so moved by it that they did not share it with others. What does this story have to do with the Prophecy of Elizabeth Ann Seton and the Television? The image gradually disappeared by a TV image does when a TV is turned off. The image stayed on the wall for about two weeks before finally disappearing. After two hours, it was hard to make out the image. My personal interpretation of this event is that TV is causing Jesus great suffering in heaven -- the pornography, violence, foul language, other immoral acts, etc -- as well as the general twisting of morality (Virginity is bad -- fouling around and sex is good by TV/Hollywood standards). God bless... [old/invalid email address for "Chris Hoss"] Chris Hoss said...
13 vols. of letters, diaries, and documents by Mother Seton as well as information concerning her, are in the archives of the mother-house at Emmitsburg, Maryland; Sources
ROBERT SETON, Memoirs, Letter and Journal of Elizabeth Seton (2 vols., New York, 1869);
BARBEREY, Elizabeth Seton (6th ed., 2 vols., Paris, 1892); WHITE, Life of Mrs. Eliza. A. Seton (10th ed., New York, 1904);
SADLIER, Elizabeth Seton, Foundress of the Amer. Sisters of Charity (New York, 1905);
BELLOC, Historic Nuns (2nd ed., London, 1911).
It is possible that in the 13 Volumes of Memoirs/Letters/Etc by Elizabeth Ann Seton or in the 2 Volumes by her son Robert Seton, the Prophecy of the black box might be found.
All things have good uses and bad uses. 24/7 television is not so good; a return to test patterns might be in order here.
There was a second priest who attended this event -- Father Santos Mendoza -- who was also a mystic and would at times see his guardian angel.
I prefer Ned's Atomic Dustbin's "Kill Your Television."
If you are going to chuck the telly, the same argument can be made for the internet as well. There is crap on the internet and you are paying for it through your service provider, often the same companies that provide 'telly' service.
All you are doing by chucking the telly but keeping the internet is changing the box.
Get rid of both.
It is not mindless. It is purposeful.
Why do you think they call it "programming"?
yes. no tv in our house, means no mind control in our house. anything we really need to see is on the computer.
we look at no journalism, no ads, no tv, no polls, no surveys (hang up on all of it)...nothing outside of the unavoidable exposures outside the home. the protection of our kids from toxic culture, the peace of mind and spirtual liberation stemming from this simple choice is astounding. i advise it for all conservatives.
Worse content, only the box it comes out of is different. Even your money is probably going to the same people. As I pointed out above, to be consistent, chuck out the Internet as well.
funny.
I may or may not have been serious. The point is that if people are so upset about what is on Television and pat themselves on the back for getting rid of it but let just as bad if not far worse into their homes with the Internet.
It is about consistency.
Agree with your posts.
All I usually watch is televised sports, but I’d miss that very much.
Big screen HDTV has really made televised sports awesome.
good point. the internet is a superset of what is on tv and in journalism. but it is a superset that can be filtered on your terms, not the leftists.’
Concur on the good/bad. The printing press was seen as a bad thing when it first came out by some - yet it spread the Word like a wildfire. Today would you give up the single most printed volume, The Holy Bible, in place of eliminating Playboy?
I should say not. Judge a man by his character and actions - does he read the one or the other?
Don’t condemn the printing press for pornography, nor the television for a families falling away, nor the gun for murder.
I did not plan to stop watching television, but I did not like giving it my spare time. So I got busy replacing it with other down time activity and now I don’t watch it all.
One day it was rainy and cold and I sat down with a blanket to watch television...it was like entering an alternative insane and dark universe! The commercials...the shows I watched... I guess you get desentized to it if you follow it every day. It was so strange.
We watch movies we want to see. We listen to music we want to hear. That’s it for me.
There are commercials on the DVD's though -- ads for other movies.
But my DVD collection is based on my career (teaching) and Science Fiction.
Ouch. Truth can sure be painful.
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