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An Ode to the Mute Button

With excellent hearing in all ranges, I find the sound of a TV jarring, especially football games. It puts me on edge. As a musician, I can't tune it out. That's one reason why I never bought a TV.

Six years ago, my then-boyfriend bought me a smart TV. He said I was socially deprived. I laughed. He hooked it up, thank goodness (I'm inept with electronics). I subscribed to Netflix. A movie buff, I enjoy laughing at intelligent comedies in these dark times.

I love what Lily Mooney wrote in An Ode to the Mute Button.

"Where I currently live, the TV goes on before 7 a.m. each day and stays on until p.m. every night. The awkward staccatos of morning news cascade into an endless cacophony of cable — the dour melodies of WWII documentaries, the tinny early-Western gunfights, the crunch and wail of cop dramas audible in every room.

"This aural overload persists into the evening whether or not someone is watching, as if the TV were a scented candle or a clock rather than the roaring content waterfall that it is. Wherever I go, I hear it all, I receive everything, and I enjoy almost nothing.

" I choose my battles carefully. Occasionally, when someone leaves to take a walk or run an errand — inevitably leaving the TV on — I sprint on frayed nerves to the TV room and give myself a gift, the highlight of the day, the joy of all sad pandemic joys: I press mute.

"Never possessive, only inviting, patient, kind, the mute button beckons my surrounding world closer, and nudges me, in all my cabin fever, a little closer to the world."

Isabel Allende

"Soft music can contribute to making the meal a sensuous experience, which is why the spectacle of people who sit at the table with the roar of a football game or bad news blaring from the television is so abominable," Isabel Allende wrote in her deliciously sensual book, Aphrodite- A Memoir of the Senses.

[nbcnews.com]

LiterateHiker 9 Oct 18
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8 comments

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1

I hardly ever have the tv on. I don’t need white noise in my household

2

Thanks be to Agnostic.com.

1

The sound quality of TV is deliberately made bad, so that people will spend extra money on speakers, I was told by the sales in our local electrical goods store. And if they admit it.

1

Ah yes the television, my long lost flickering blue parent. I never realized how clear the filming of the 1950s westerns were, and the mute button is excellent. 😉

1

I gave up cable/satellite and stopped watching commercial TV years ago. When I watch TV at all it is only a couple of hours before bedtime and is limited primarily to YouTube and an occasional movie. Your mileage may vary.

1

An history high school teacher I had gave a name to TV sets. He called them "clown boxes".

I have called TVs "mind fucking" devices.

2

We just recently got a small antenna to augment our internet TV (for occasional local(Phoenix) news, cooking shows (I have yet to see Emeril make anything I'd eat) and Jeopardy).

The number and dishonesty of political ads especially is shocking. I'm getting deeply frustrated hearing how president tRump is 'saving' our healthcare system including folks with preexisting conditions. I would immediately support and vote for a government fact checking service with massive retroactive fines for ads that lie.

I didn't realize how good we had it avoiding broadcast TV. We should give the FCC some teeth to hobble the obnoxious extraction capitalism advertising monster that is running (and ruining) our country.

1

I'm not criticizing your personal choice. I'm just mentioning that television is our modern equivalent of the stage in past times, and has made available some of the finest comedy, drama, and even tragedy I've ever vicariously experienced; not to mention current events and the shared experience of news events in real time. I will never forget some of the moments in history, tragic or inspiring, that I've shared with millions through live news.

Also, there are controls that would let you fine tune the sound to your preference so it's less jarring. I prefer a high mid range myself, to compensate for some hearing loss I've had. 😉

@Paul4747

With the looming election and threats from armed militia men to disrupt polling stations- egged on by Trump- I feel overwhelmed and anxious.

I spend too much time on the computer reading the latest news on Slate, NBC, Huffington Post, CNN and ABC. It's not good for my mental health.

In 2014, my then-boyfriend bought me a smart TV. He said I was socially deprived. I laughed.

He hooked it up, thank goodness. So, I subscribed to Netflix. Love laughing at intelligent comedies in these dark times.

Reading, sewing, exercise, hiking, and volunteering as a college mentor are welcome distractions and respite.

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