Can TV turn you mad??

It's ine of my top favourite songs of all time - I love REM

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Strange story behind R.E.M.’s song "What’s the Frequency, Kenneth"

CBS News anchor Dan Rather, renowned for his unusual expressions and sayings, has led a colorful life. However, one bizarre event really takes the cake.

One night in October 1986, Rather was walking down a Manhattan street when he was punched from behind and thrown to the ground. His assailant kicked and beat him while repeating, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?"

No one could explain the event, and the rumors flew fast and wide. Some speculated the assailant was a KGB agent, while others claimed the attack was the work of a jealous husband. Rather himself couldn’t shed any light on the subject. His explanation at the time?

I got mugged. Who understands these things? I didn’t and I don’t now. I didn’t make a lot of it at the time and I don’t now. I wish I knew who did it and why, but I have no idea.


Apparently the strange event moved R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, who said of the incident:

"It remains the premier unsolved American surrealist act of the 20th century. It’s a misunderstanding that was scarily random, media hyped and just plain bizarre."

The attack inspired the 1994 R.E.M. hit "What’s the Frequency, Kenneth." Being a good sport, Dan Rather even accompanied the band when they performed the song on a Late Show with David Letterman appearance.

In 1997, based on a tip from a psychiatrist, Rather’s attacker was identified as William Tager. According to the psychiatrist, Tager, who was currently serving time for killing an NBC stagehand, blamed news media for beaming signals into his head, and thought if he could just find out the correct frequency, he could block those signals that were constantly assailing him. Hence the enigmatic inquiry.

On August 31, 1994, Tager shot and killed Campbell Theron Montgomery, a technician employed by NBC, outside of the stage of the Today show. Tager had attempted to enter the Today studios carrying a weapon; Montgomery died preventing Tager access to the studios. Police apprehended Tager after the shooting.

Tager stated he believed that television networks were monitoring him and beaming messages into his head and that he had assaulted Dan Rather. Prosecutors brought first degree murder charges against Tager.

On November 29, 1996, Tager was given a sentence of 15 to 25 years. As of 2007 he was incarcerated in Sing Sing prison in New York state. Tager was denied parole in 2007, and can reappear before the parole board in October 2010.

A NEW question for the modern Digital age :

"Which came first - the TV or the 'madness' ?"

OR,  how about :

"Why did the TV cross the road ?"

"How many TVs does it take to screw in a lightbulb ?"

Hahahahaha this man claims the TV spoke to him lol

Do you think TV does make us dumber? Or is it the reverse Wolfe?

MAYBE it's the type of TV shows that people choose to watch ?

LIKE so many of those mindless "reality" TV shows..
OR some of those cheap and sleazy "gosip" shows..

AND what about those so-called "comedies" that need 'laugh tracks' to tell viewers when to laugh ?
IF a show is genuinely funny, it doesn't need a laugh track..
 
They don't call the TV an "idiot box" for nothing -- although I do think using that phrase is overly 'stating the obvious'.


OF COURSE, there are a few reasonable quality shows..
For example :  the NCIS franchises, CSI Cyber, Blacklist, Person of Interest, Dr Who, Downton Abbey, Doc Martin, Death in Paradise, Game of Thrones..  

AND, some former masterpieces : M.A.S.H., the various Star Treks, Northern Exposure, Spooks, Dark Angel, X_Files
And the list goes on...    

Do people still watch TV for hours at a time nowadays? I thought everyone was on their Xboxes, laptops, and other more advanced techie gadgets.

One of my favourite song of all time, REM's 'Everybody hurts'.

I think a lot of people do still watch TV yes, I don't tend to. I like American box set dramas or serials.

I don't really watch reality shows anymore - Big Brother was a great concept when it came out, a really brilliant idea, a social experiment we could all watch and take part in, but then it got silly and became all about ratings and the people on it were just fame-hungry

I think there is really smart TV, really dumb TV and a vast sea of mediocrity between the two. I would rate watching the whole run of dramas like Breaking Bad and Mad Men, or comedies like 30 Rock or Arrested Development, as an intellectually rewarding activity. Luckily there are enough media outlets now that somebody has to make smart shows just to stand out from the herd.

On the topic of "WTFK," Trager reminds me quite a bit of a topic I've been fascinated with for a while -- "targeted individuals."

"Targeted Individual" (TI) is an umbrella term coined by paranoid cranks who insist that they are all, individually, on the receiving end of a massive covert harassment conspiracy of highly convoluted malignant intent. As is to be expected (because paranoid delusions respect no borders), TIs are found around the world—from North America and Western Europe[2][3][4] to Asia.[5]

The vast majority of TIs consider themselves to be victims of inchoate, ongoing and relentless "touchless torture" plots. The nature of these alleged "attacks" vary among TIs but can generally be pretty much anything that combines asinine drama with pseudoscientific flummery and/or improbable, coordinated malicious actions, including: microwaves,[6] "psychotronics"[7] (basically a variety of hypothetical electronic [8] weaponry[9]), secret mind control,[10] actively enforced "gangstalking",[11] "remote sexual abuse",[12] surgical insertion of alien implants[Note 2][13] and even reptilian involvement.[Note 3][13]

Predictably, TIs identify the usual suspects as their belligerents, ranging from various governments and NGOs to large corporations. Unsurprisingly, most TIs deny that anyone in the movement suffers from mental illness, and many emphatically insist that psychiatric care or medication are actually the vehicles for the malevolent plot(s) directed against them.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Targeted_Individuals

These people get online and assure one another they're not mentally ill and that what they perceive happening to them is real, making them far less likely to seek help.

I don't normally watch reality shows like Big Brother, but I did watch it years ago when the Jade Goody row kicked off. I sat there one morning watching Jermaine Jackson sweeping the floor for about half an hour before I came to my senses and thought - what the heck am I doing?

Wow. That is mind blowing actually! A bit like the mad helping the mad!

I love the American shows, I am totally USA all the way with my TV picks lol

eddie wrote:Wow. That is mind blowing actually! A bit like the mad helping the mad!

I love the American shows, I am totally USA all the way with my TV picks lol

I know, it's bonkers. I first found out about it when I heard about (and read) the novel 1996 by Gloria Naylor, which is a semi-fictional account of what she says happened to her in that year:

I realize at one point, that I was being followed, and then I began to see the surveillance that was going past the road on my house. And so, these cars began to surveil me. People began to follow me around, and it did, it was very disrupting to think that your privacy was being violated, and for no reason that I could come up with. Since I'm not, basically, a political writer, I'm a fiction writer, for the most part. And so, I just didn't, I didn't understand it. I knew about CoIntel Pro, which is because I'm African-American, and in those years, the FBI did many shameful things to disrupt black nationalist organizations. But since I wasn't a part of any of that, I thought that I would be immune, basically, from the government having any interest in me.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5168026

The thing that makes it so fascinating to me is that Naylor is basically a genius:

Naylor's debut novel, The Women of Brewster Place, was published in 1982 and won the 1983 National Book Award in the category First Novel.

She also won:

National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 1985
Guggenheim Fellowship, 1988 [5]
Lillian Smith Award, 1989.[2]

Ben_Reilly wrote:I think there is really smart TV, really dumb TV and a vast sea of mediocrity between the two. I would rate watching the whole run of dramas like Breaking Bad and Mad Men, or comedies like 30 Rock or Arrested Development, as an intellectually rewarding activity. Luckily there are enough media outlets now that somebody has to make smart shows just to stand out from the herd.

On the topic of "WTFK," Trager reminds me quite a bit of a topic I've been fascinated with for a while -- "targeted individuals."

"Targeted Individual" (TI) is an umbrella term coined by paranoid cranks who insist that they are all, individually, on the receiving end of a massive covert harassment conspiracy of highly convoluted malignant intent. As is to be expected (because paranoid delusions respect no borders), TIs are found around the world—from North America and Western Europe[2][3][4] to Asia.[5]

The vast majority of TIs consider themselves to be victims of inchoate, ongoing and relentless "touchless torture" plots. The nature of these alleged "attacks" vary among TIs but can generally be pretty much anything that combines asinine drama with pseudoscientific flummery and/or improbable, coordinated malicious actions, including: microwaves,[6] "psychotronics"[7] (basically a variety of hypothetical electronic [8] weaponry[9]), secret mind control,[10] actively enforced "gangstalking",[11] "remote sexual abuse",[12] surgical insertion of alien implants[Note 2][13] and even reptilian involvement.[Note 3][13]

Predictably, TIs identify the usual suspects as their belligerents, ranging from various governments and NGOs to large corporations. Unsurprisingly, most TIs deny that anyone in the movement suffers from mental illness, and many emphatically insist that psychiatric care or medication are actually the vehicles for the malevolent plot(s) directed against them.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Targeted_Individuals

These people get online and assure one another they're not mentally ill and that what they perceive happening to them is real, making them far less likely to seek help.

we have a few resident ones of that there is no doubt

you can hear them stiring up sh1t and then crying "infamy, infamy, everybody's got it in for me"

Lord Foul wrote:we have a few resident ones of that there is no doubt

you can hear them stiring up sh1t and then crying "infamy, infamy, everybody's got it in for me" Rolling Eyes

I left my statement purposefully open to broader interpretation

I think adverts can drive you mad. That's why I don't watch TV really, and I hardly even watch Corrie on the iplayer any more.

They're louder than the TV programme for a start, and there are too many of them. Then they're either stupid and annoying, or they're unrealistic and make everyone think they should be having the "perfect life".

eddie wrote:Hahahahaha this man claims the TV spoke to him lol

Do you think TV does make us dumber? Or is it the reverse Wolfe?

Yes TV makes you 'less mentally active' it is a passive form of entertainment. you sit and it just beams at you regardless of your attention

a Book or Video game on the other hand, if you stop engaging your brain the entertainment stops too.

Some one posted that 'they only watch the shows from here in the states'; odd how many of our sitcoms are duplicated from BBC shows that you all have been enjoying over there. 

For example: The Office - Benny Hill {I still think that our Laugh-In was a copy from Benny Hill} - Lord of the Manor {can't quite remember if I've got that worded correctly} but lots of the night time Dynasty - Dallas were right along those BBC shows.

Tiz possibul but not many on here as they are mad now.

Stormee wrote:Tiz possibul but not many on here as they are mad now.

Well, that's always plausible

If crazies that walk among us can obtain messages from their records {played backwards} and shoot wonderful artists/musicians like John Lennon  --- then anything is plausible for those secret sounds coming out of the BOOB-TUBE!

aspca4ever wrote:Some one posted that 'they only watch the shows from here in the states'; odd how many of our sitcoms are duplicated from BBC shows that you all have been enjoying over there. 

For example: The Office - Benny Hill {I still think that our Laugh-In was a copy from Benny Hill} - Lord of the Manor {can't quite remember if I've got that worded correctly} but lots of the night time Dynasty - Dallas were right along those BBC shows.

It was me. I love the American dramas and I like American comedies, though I do think our original "the office" was better.

It was eddie, the cast from BBC's The Office was far superior then our's...they had some skits and a few cast members --- but none that could compare to BBC's original show!~

aspca4ever wrote:It was eddie, the cast from BBC's The Office was far superior then our's...they had some skits and a few cast members --- but none that could compare to BBC's original show!~

Yes I have to admit I didn't really like the American office - which suprised me as I usually prefer US comedy tbh
Can't beat those big Sky Atlantic box set dramas - loving Breaking Bad and loved Dexter

Watching a comedy called New Girl at the moment. Really like it.

veya_victaous wrote:

eddie wrote:Hahahahaha this man claims the TV spoke to him lol

Do you think TV does make us dumber? Or is it the reverse Wolfe?

Yes TV makes you 'less mentally active' it is a passive form of entertainment. you sit and it just beams at you regardless of your attention

a Book or Video game on the other hand, if you stop engaging your brain the entertainment stops too.

I have to admit that TV is a relaxant for me, I watch it when I'm tired or can't be bothered to speak on a forum lol

Nothing beats a book though IMO

eddie wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:
Yes TV makes you 'less mentally active' it is a passive form of entertainment. you sit and it just beams at you regardless of your attention

a Book or Video game on the other hand, if you stop engaging your brain the entertainment stops too.

I have to admit that TV is a relaxant for me, I watch it when I'm tired or can't be bothered to speak on a forum lol

Nothing beats a book though IMO

I've noticed that there's much to be said for just having 'SOUND' of some kind playing in the back ground --- even if it's my radio or my stereo CD player; the rhythm of whatever music is pounding out of the speakers can be an inducement to get up and complete a very non-favorite task/chore.

If 'Breaking Bad' tickled your entertainment senses you might enjoy the A&E series of 'Bates Motel'; I wasn't going to get hooked into yet another long scenario like 'Breaking Bad' and then a friend told me to WATCH BATES MOTEL. 
She said it was a must see; and she was right...it hooked me and that young man playing young Norman...OMG superb actor.  And his mother, well...there was a validation for pushing young Norman over the edge to insanity

Yes, I fancied Bates Motel actually - just have to wait for it to come on to the sky box sets.

Not finished BB yet so no spoilers people!!

Still love Dexter (great name for a dog too), and Michael C Hall was easy on the eye
He was also in six feet under - another great US drama.

'Six Feet Under'; OMG, I was so hooked on that and it went off the air far too soon.  That mortuary dry/twisted humor was --- LMAO so funny and all of the characters were perfection to their parts.

It was superb! I also thought the theme tune was brilliant too. The black comedy was fantastic and the acting was second to none. I'm hoping they'll repeat it.

Cried my eyes out when Nate died

Syl wrote:Do people still watch TV for hours at a time nowadays? I thought everyone was on their Xboxes, laptops, and other more advanced techie gadgets.

One of my favourite song of all time, REM's 'Everybody hurts'.

The power of multitasking :

TV or radio turned on;
Laptop or tablet in front of you;
Newspaper and/or magazines beside you..

Stormee wrote:Tiz possibul but not many on here as they are mad now.

 

I might be mad,  but at least I'm not crazy !