What's he on about now?

In case the articles, essays and opinions throughtout this site just weren't enough for you, here's my online diary (a.k.a. 'blog'). It's as close as you'll come to the inside of my head, so don't say I didn't warn you
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   Tuesday, September 10, 2002

A LOVER SPURNED

Television has always received little respect. As a medium, Ernie Kovacs famously said, "it is neither rare nor well-done." I've always defended it though, for its immediacy with news, its broad reach, and its relative affordability. Also, drama and comedy programs on TV are generally better-written than most American films these days. No, I've argued, television is not the problem -- it's the advertising that the medium exists to serve that truly binds us.

How, then, do I react to what TV is up to this week? No advertising on any major network all Wednesday, yet round-the-clock features, footage and interviews on an anniversary that I fervently wish we could overlook. Will any of this propaganda truly help the grieving people who couldn't even bury their loved ones? I don't think so, though I'd like to be wrong.

I've spent a year trying to erase certain images from my memory and -- call it denial if you must -- but I refuse to allow the screens I've been so fond of to flash those images back into my brain. My TV is turned off this week.