Friday, September 28, 2007

Random Thoughts Fueled by Too Much TV

I hear that the TV show "Kid Nation" caused an uproar because one of the kids killed a chicken. So? Shouldn't kids (and, for that matter, adults) realize where their food comes from? Life only comes from death. That has been a fact of life since at least the Cambrian Period. If you only feel sorry for the warm-blooded animals you eat, you are not fully recognizing plants as "life". That is discriminatory. Good for that kid for taking responsibility to provide food, even if the situation is contrived. I haven't seen the show, so I really don't know how the matter was handled.

Speaking of eating creatures..... I get really tired of seeing catch-and-release fishermen on TV commercials. How is hooking a fish for no other reason than "recreation" more noble than only doing so for the purpose of getting food? Isn't that just kind of a "feel good" thing? How is it different than going deer hunting and only shooting-to-wound the deer, and then letting it go after your photographs? I'd be willing to bet that a lot of those fish die afterwards.

At least it seems like the glut of "cop glorification" programming garbage has finally peaked. About the only cop program I ever identified with was The X-Files. It was probably the most anti-government program ever on TV. The rest of the shows either show cops as above-the-law or as noble saviours; saving "us" from ourselves. Phooey on that. For that matter, I can't stand the stuff that glorifies freelance bad guys either. Like the mafia jerks or others who murder, kidnap, steal, threaten, and beat up other people without a shred of conscience. Not at all like the decent outlaws of Firefly. Let's have some good anarchist heroes on TV again.

Last and possibly least: Not TV related, but still random: Government, any form other than self-government, is a hideous thing. I know this with every fiber of my being. So why don't more people see this fact? They cling to a stone-age concept that some people should lord over the rest of us. Come on people. Evolve already.