To TV or not to TV, that is the question
Having read the opinions concerning television, I have to take a firm and definitive stand. I agree with all sides.
Newton Minnow gave a speech regarding the state of TV in 1961. It became known as the “vast wasteland” speech. Although that phrase has been the hallmark of his statements, his assessment at that time was that TV could be a great “public interest.”
The article on E.A. Sparger in Spencer, the comments by David Whisenant, and the comments by Mr. Creel in the Salisbury Post all make perfect sense.
We’re not one-dimensional creatures. We view, read, think, exercise and take in the world around us with all the senses God gave us. It is the very step above all other things that humans possess to filter and consider “all” information from “all” different sources that put us as His keeper of the world.
I watched Elvis Presley on Ed Sullivan way back on an old black and white Philco. Dizzy Dean and PeeWee Reece called the games every Saturday, and Dad and I played catch after the games. A president was slain, a man walked on the moon, candidates debated. Andy, Barney, Opie, Aunt Bee and Mayberry are alive in my heart, Walter Cronkite will forever be the only newsman. And, so a million other visual images have entertained and informed us.
Just as important is the ability to make a monumental statement in the form of the written word. Abraham Lincoln didn’t use a teleprompter when he said “four score, and seven years ago….” Yet, always there was the written word in the form of the newspaper to report, clarify, provide a forum and be available when other media was not.
Never close your minds to all avenues of information available to you.
ó A.J. Moore
Salisbury