I love my TV. You may have read about my trials and tribulations with getting HD over the air in the past. Well, I am reaping the benefits of it. I have been watching the Republican convention in HD of late and I came to a profound realisation. HD can be bad for you.
How? Well, you see now, we can not only see things in stupendous clarity (and I know some day this will be nothing compared to UHDV or whatever comes later on), we can also see them in jarring colour and detail.
As I watched the Republicans cheer on their leadership and the cameras pan around looking in vain for the odd chap who is deemed a minority, the camera frequently lands and focuses on absolutely ugly people. They were just as ugly before HDTV, but now, thanks to the wonderful technologies that we have invented, you can see hairy women, people in dire need of good dental care and even people in need of a hair cut or simply something to absorb the sweat and oil they have all over their faces.
This is distressing. We are surrounded by ugly people. We are, for the most part, not exactly pretty, whether on the outside or on the inside. But in the olden days, televisions helped hide that. You could escape into a world where everything was prettier and better than reality. Now, when you watch TV and you see these god awful looking people cheering on their fearless leaders... and you get to wonder... are we doing the right thing with all this HD programming? Add to that the regulars on TV. More and more, you have skin and bones (and botox) running TV shows. You know the ones I am talking about. Barbara Walters and the like. Do we really need to be able to see the effects of aging up close and personal on a rather LARGE screen with quite the level of detail? I think not. I don't know that I want to see the before pictures for those ads about skin care and those magical creams that will cure every woman's wrinkles away. I don't know that I want to see the nose hairs of the guy on TV cheering for John McCain. I don't know that I want to see the hairy lips of an otherwise attractive woman on TV. Lips on her face that is.
I suppose it could be worse. Imagine if you will a day when TVs beam over the aromas of the scenes you were watching? Great when you're watching a cooking show... not so great when you're watching a crowd of sweaty, hairy, ugly people. Up close and with your nose in the middle of it all. Yuck.
How? Well, you see now, we can not only see things in stupendous clarity (and I know some day this will be nothing compared to UHDV or whatever comes later on), we can also see them in jarring colour and detail.
As I watched the Republicans cheer on their leadership and the cameras pan around looking in vain for the odd chap who is deemed a minority, the camera frequently lands and focuses on absolutely ugly people. They were just as ugly before HDTV, but now, thanks to the wonderful technologies that we have invented, you can see hairy women, people in dire need of good dental care and even people in need of a hair cut or simply something to absorb the sweat and oil they have all over their faces.
This is distressing. We are surrounded by ugly people. We are, for the most part, not exactly pretty, whether on the outside or on the inside. But in the olden days, televisions helped hide that. You could escape into a world where everything was prettier and better than reality. Now, when you watch TV and you see these god awful looking people cheering on their fearless leaders... and you get to wonder... are we doing the right thing with all this HD programming? Add to that the regulars on TV. More and more, you have skin and bones (and botox) running TV shows. You know the ones I am talking about. Barbara Walters and the like. Do we really need to be able to see the effects of aging up close and personal on a rather LARGE screen with quite the level of detail? I think not. I don't know that I want to see the before pictures for those ads about skin care and those magical creams that will cure every woman's wrinkles away. I don't know that I want to see the nose hairs of the guy on TV cheering for John McCain. I don't know that I want to see the hairy lips of an otherwise attractive woman on TV. Lips on her face that is.
I suppose it could be worse. Imagine if you will a day when TVs beam over the aromas of the scenes you were watching? Great when you're watching a cooking show... not so great when you're watching a crowd of sweaty, hairy, ugly people. Up close and with your nose in the middle of it all. Yuck.
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