[lbo-talk] Why is America so violent

Jim Straub rustbeltjacobin at gmail.com
Sun May 13 22:17:48 PDT 2007


It was a day or two back, but people were expressing incredulity about the 4 hours of tv a day thing. Just wanted to mention that making comparisons between a member of left business observer's list serve who does not own a television and presumably has an extraordinarily high degree of education and political savvy, and Joe and Jane Twelvepack, is unwise. I think the 4 hour figure is dead on the money and am only surprised it ain't higher. Usually when I am working 50+ hours a week I watch a lot of tv (coasting on my savings right now I watch a whole lot less and read 100 pages a day- go figure!). 4 hours in an evening is a big binge for me but again being part of the small population in this country that still reads books, there's only so much time to get to all the different pasttimes.

But when out housecalling workers, thats the number one activity you catch people at, when they're at home not at work. People love to watch the tv.

And the whole tv thing just leads to a more intractable problem for us. Many workers are relatively satisfied with the current status quo because, even under declining real wages that have driven families to adopt two or three-income plans or else have a real tough time of it, most people are in general pretty pleased and entertained with the variety of technological gizmos, tv music and movie entertainment, and other assorted consumer pleasures, that 36 grand a year in the society of the spectacle will bring ya.

And I can see their point. TV has had better and better entertainment on, the popcorn-crunching movies are endlessly diverting, the internet and cell phones are fun and useful, driving to work is way easier than the busses and bikes I used to use, and the suburban life I had outside las vegas was largely hassle-free, undistracting and pleasant. What does the left offer instead?



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