From Analog TV to Digital Television
The switch from Analog Television to Digital television caused quite a stir. The worry at the time was that any television produced after 1995 had the capacity to not only receive but also to broadcast signals. What this meant was that it was potentially possible for the television to broadcast signals of images from your home. Apparently, hidden boxes inside converter boxes and televisions would allow Corporations and the government to spy on ordinary citizens. The fact that the Government gave out coupons which encouraged citizens to make the switch from analog to digital was cited as evidence that it was obviously a government conspiracy. Alex Jones from Infowars.com stated that soon to come was:
“the ultimate Big Brother scenario whereby the majority of Americans and Europeans will have Orwellian telescreens watching their every move”
He stated this in response to a Youtube clip which revealed a hidden camera inside a digital converter, and the internet took off. Later the video producer admitted the video was a hoax. The switch from Analog to Digital was not any type of mass conspiracy. It was, however, further evidence of an incompetent and inefficient government. $1 billion dollars spent on “Digital Coupons” for poor people to get Digital Televisions, of all things? A bizarre waste of money and a strange priority for an administration to have, ensuring that every house has a television, particularly when TV is on the way out in any case as people turn to smaller portable devices and laptops where they can stream online for free, and get access to alternative media. Technology does quite well in becoming cheaper and more efficient all by itself when open sourced and unsupervised by the government, who tend to make everything worse.
A platform for Mind Control
Some of the more radical conspiracy theorists have formulated their own theory in relation to the introduction of the television. The television allows a centralized platform where information can be disseminated into the living room of every house in the world. Thus it is advocated as a mind control system. The stories propagated do not have to be true, they can be completely made up and the public would be none the wiser, particularly in an age where pictures, videos and sound can easily be edited. However, it is the theorists who are more often at the end of the previous statement that the official authorities, as the claim that television is all a mass propaganda campaign is a little far out.
The people who believe that television is no more than a tool to control the masses are usually the same people who believe that 9/11 was staged, that Aliens rule the world and that every natural disaster is caused by Elites using HAARP technology to depopulate the planet and enrich themselves. Thus there is little in the way of common ground for debate.
Imminent psychologist Alan Watts, among others, have commented on the bizarre nature of modern society, where people go to homes after work and, instead of socializing each worker goes into his/her respective homes and sits watching a 2 dimensional screen of pixels instead of interacting with wider society. Theorists take this a step further and argue that the television was designed such that it would break up society, making it more artificial, and also provide a platform for propaganda to be spread to the masses.
Effects of Mass Media
While the introduction of the Digital Television may not have been orchestrated and controlled by the Elites, as contended by radical theorists, the effect that television has on mass consciousness cannot be avoided. In the 1950’s the three main American TV networks created shows which appealed to family values. At the time families would gather together in the sitting room to watch these shows. The shows outlined the conservatives values of white middle class life. Of course even within the small segment of the white middle class it did not constitute an accurate representation of life for the typical family, not to mention the families of all the different minorities and African Americans in particular.
Today the shows and options are much more diverse, and there are a range of appliances for watching shows and movies on the go. But the theme has remained the same. Shows are still being aired which portray an image that the consumer imagines or accepts is the standard. The consumer will inevitably try to reach this standard and fail because it is an ideal, a TV show can only be an inaccurate reflection of human life. Thus there are shows such as Suits which encourages bright eyed graduates into the legal profession, as apparently all they do is wear fancy suits and negotiate million dollar agreements. And it results in women who actually try to adhere to the commonly found “demented prostitute” look simply because it is what is in vogue, as well as actively starving themselves because they think that this is what they are “supposed” to do. And at present the rise of something called “skinny jeans” has caught on and sadly not among women. To the disgust of those born in the leather jacket wearing era of the 70s and 80s male Millennials have been convinced/conditioned/programmed that altering their sexuality to become more cosmopolitan is what’s in vogue. If people can be conditioned to believe anything (and apparently they can) then the Television is a dangerous appliance, and it may be prudent to watch what is mentally consumed.
Conclusion
While not an Illuminati mind control agenda the results of mass media on individuals can be just as devastating. There is no need to construct some crazy conspiracy theory when your children spent 10 hours a day hooked to a screen of some sort. And while the claim of Digital Television being introduced solely for the purposes of spying on the masses is ludicrous, it should be remembered that there is a mass surveillance operation in force whereby the NSA actively spies on U.S citizens as a matter of National Security, and that is not a theory.