by Melissa Flores

Whose Culture Is TV Destroying?

Nothing bothers me more than people who say, "I hate television. It is the downfall of our culture." Whose culture are they talking about? I don't know where they grew up, but in my world TV was a huge cultural influence. It wasn't until I got to middle school that I even met kids who had never watched TV. And we made fun of them. Now I'm not going to defend every program that flickers across the screen. There's plenty of crap that I won't watch. Frankly, I think Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and those Survivor shows suck. The Millionaire show feeds our problem with thinking that money will make you happy. And, like my boyfriend said the other day, those Survivor shows are probably going to end with someone dying. However my friends and I would get together to have Survivor parties that were a hell of a lot of fun. The show was stupid, but the beer was good and it's just plain fun to get with a group of people who whoop and holler and yell at the TV, "Eat the rat! Eat the rat!"

People who blame TV for their kids being violent and knowing about sex, they bother me the worst. TV is teaching our kids to be materialistic, immune to violence, and overly sexualized. Kids have to learn to be social or they act like primates. Their first teachers are parents, but we have parents who think that if they buy their kids enough stuff, if they shove them off to enough "cultural events", they won't have to spend time with them. And then they expect these kids, who've never been shown right from wrong, never been treated like they were special human beings deserving of attention, and who've seen their parents leave each other when the passion has left the relationship, to be compassionate, patient, forgiving, people who value other people more than their possessions.

My family was poor. They couldn't afford to pay for baby sitters for us so they could run off and do their own things. They couldn't afford to take us to the opera, fine art museums, the symphony or other sophisticated events. But they could afford one television. That was something we could do together. Our culture was our family. God knows we weren't perfect. And I don't think they planned for it to be a formative, educational experience. They were just people in charge of raising kids who did the best they could. And we turned out fine.

As soon as I got to college, like a lot of people, I went through a really snooty, academic phase where I started to snub everything I had grown up with. I began to prefer tabouleh and hummus to McDonald's. I preferred plays and literature to television. If I went to the movies, it was to see some artsy film with subtitles or some plot that was depressing as allget out. I turned up my nose at anything associated with common folk. I despaired that I had not been brought up with real culture. My college education was my ticket to a better life, so I guess I wanted to distance myself as far as I could from my old life.

Thank God, I got over that. Now I listen to Cristina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez with no shame. I admit openly that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my favorite show. When I go home I watch telenovelas with my Grandmother, and I laugh when she threatens to throw a chancala at anyone who disturbs her. I complain about how loud the house is when the TV, Playstation and radio are all going at the same time. I catch myself starting to worry about how fattening and heart clogging all the food I'm fed is. But then I remember that this is who I am. I'm smart enough and capable enough to be an intellectual, stuffy, rich person.

I also can pass, if you know what I mean. But I don't want to. I like being from where I'm from. I like being who I am. And I blame it all on TV.