For Buffy Neophytes and Fans

[William S. Lear]

On Thursday, February 25, 1999 at 16:36:04 (-0500) Doug Henwood writes:
>...
>I don't remember the exact numbers, but the average American watches 4-8
>hours of TV a day, and something like 98% of U.S. households (including
>around 90% of poor households) have TVs. It's the way most people get their
>news. It's a major way fashion and popular culture are disseminated.
>Phrases from ads enter the language, and ads themselves do a lot to
>fetishize the commodity. As the old man said, when an ideology grips the
>mind of the masses it becomes a material force, and TV has a lot to do with
>the process. This all seems painfully obvious to me - am I missing
>something?

Just one minor addendum: another way to look at this is that TV is
poor continuing education for a poorly educated citizenry.  I think TV
should be coupled with education, at least at some point, when we
analyze it.  A good deal of TV is (anti-)educative...

I remember some poll done somewhere that compared the average European
(Swedish?) citizen's grasp of salient political issues against that of
the Average American's.  The gap was breathtaking.  Largely due, if I
remember, to the Swedish having media that in part actually
represented portions of the population --- labor channel or some such.

Bill