Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Today, on our national holiday, most will be giving thanks for what they treasure in their lives, whether it be a loving family, good friends, a solid roof over their heads, good food on the table, etc.
I suspect a sizable number will also be giving thanks, indeed perhaps even salivating (giving much-needed competition to that clichéd turkey) over the announcement that the upcoming throne speech will see the Harper cabal transforming itself into a 'consumer-first' government.
Apparently, one of the first crumbs it will toss to the masses is greater freedom to customize their bank of cable channels. According to Industry Minister James Moore, soon the misery of having to include unwanted channels in your cable selection will be a thing of the past. Say goodbye to the Shampoo Network, the Dog Grooming Channel, the Party Favours Channel, etc. (unless you really want them) and prepare to watch only what you choose to watch, thus ensuring that your hard-earned and increasingly scarce dollars (thanks to the abysmal record at job creation of our self-proclaimed economist Prime Minister) are spent on your viewing preferences.
Says our bespectacled savior, James Moore:
“We don’t think people should be forced to buy bundled television channels when they’re not interested in watching those channels and those shows”.
It is good to know that this regime has its head screwed on right. Bread and circuses, all day, every day, seven days a week. A fine strategy as a lead-up to the 2015 federal election where the newly-empowered may be coached off their couches to cast a ballot for a government that is finally giving the people what they want.
Can the legalization of other opiates be far behind?
How much for that bauble in the window? Too much, is my dark and pessimistic suspicion.
I share your suspicion of this announcement.
ReplyDeleteI customized my viewing a long time ago by getting rid of cable.
We didn't have tv in the house till the offspring was 4 and then it was because my husband missed hockey too much. When the offspring watched tv, I always ruined it for her by dissecting what she watched. I constantly asked if she could notice the manipulation in the programming as well as the advertising. I am not sorry I did that, but I made her childhood hard and sometimes lonely. Of course, she is a far more interesting and responsible citizen than any of the television addicts I work with, and in university now she has found more kindred spirits.
But this plan of his might backfire you know. If people customize their cable packages, the networks will have to compete for fewer places to put the nonsense. I think the proliferation of some of this crap has to do with a proliferation of channels. I know people who happened on some inanity they are addicted to just by channel surfing. If we choose the channels we watch most, and can't get the others, maybe we"ll find something else to do instead.
Let's hope!
I sorely hope your scenario plays out, Karen. From what I can see, most television, with the exception of a few quality series on cable, has little to offer except a wealth of reality shows that seem to invite us to mock our fellow human beings. Such fare can't be good either for citizenship or the soul.
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