"Switch off and go bury your head"

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 441, 23 June 1992, Page 4

"Switch off and go bury your head"

by

Robert

Milne

"Television is the opiate of the masses" it has been said. If that is so then this week's "Great New Zealand Television Turn-Off" book-reading campaign could, if successful, provide the antidote to televisioninduced stupor. That's not to say watching television is necessarily a bad thing - there is good and bad television just as there are good and bad books. But too much poor quality television can numb the brain (speaking from experience). I for one won't be tuming off the box for the whole week, but our team do intend to ration our blobbing with more intelligence and cut out some of the trash (but don't you love picking those B grade pics to bits!?). I'm planning on reading one or two of the books that have cluttered up the bookcase through half a dozen house shifts. That's just as soon as I've watched Our World (so, so educational) and maybe a Sunday night play (such good drama), and maybe one of the better movies (the ones I missed out on at the theatre) and Married With Children (I've got a lot to learn on this subject) ... and Waiting for God (I might be old one day).... Hmm. Perhaps cold turkey for the electronic drug may be the only way. No, there's nothing else for it. After I've read the Bulletin, I'm going to bury my head (in a book!)