ok, i know that this may seem like a petty issue to a lot of us since after all it is JUST TV! but the more i think about it the more angry it makes me.
Why are we allowing our government to take yet another of our freedoms and auction it off to the highest bidder?
After all, that was the whole point in the switch to digital. So that the gov could sell the old airwaves. so now the old airwaves will be controlled by att&t and verizon. And apparently in order for us to have ANY airspace reserved for public good (emergency announcments etc.) someone had to come up with a minimum bid (which wasn't met by the public sector), and so those were sold too. Don't you love government run capitalism?
So now we have about 90 million toxic tv sets going into the landfills, and 6.5 million tax dollars & 4.5 BILLION out of consumers pockets in an already tough economy going to china to buy new converter boxes so that the only industry in the us that ISN'T hurting right now can forward it's one-sided, hollywood agenda. To make more money of course. Now instead of just using the electronics you buy, you will have to pay them in order to use them. Want to record that rerun of seinfeld? $3 please. They have legislated just about all of the tv communications rights right into the hands of major corporations without even a whisper until it was already done.
And the scary part? No one is complaining. instead of the outrage you would expect when you find out that congress just walked into your living room and cut the plug off of YOUR tv that YOU paid for, and just said "it was old anyway!, go buy a new one, here's $40! I know that won't cover it, but you take care of the rest." Everyone is calling up their local cable company, or running out to buy converter boxes and saying "wow, i sure am glad i'm READY!" And then they sit on the sofa and wait for something magical to happen. My gosh, how much tv have people actually WATCHED in this country to be so brain dead that they go out and spend their money just like that, without question just because some gov official told them too.
Well, i won't be buying a converter box. And if it means that I lose my tv privleges, then so be it. I have more important things to lose. Like my dignity. And my ability to think rationally. Oops. that last one may be gone already
.
It does make me angry though that we are forced to choose between "use your tv the way we say so, or do't use one at all."
That is not freedom. And last time i checked we were supposed to at least still have the freedom of speech. I guess we are only allowed to speak on radios or newpapers though. otherwise too many people might hear us.
Why are we allowing our government to take yet another of our freedoms and auction it off to the highest bidder?
After all, that was the whole point in the switch to digital. So that the gov could sell the old airwaves. so now the old airwaves will be controlled by att&t and verizon. And apparently in order for us to have ANY airspace reserved for public good (emergency announcments etc.) someone had to come up with a minimum bid (which wasn't met by the public sector), and so those were sold too. Don't you love government run capitalism?
So now we have about 90 million toxic tv sets going into the landfills, and 6.5 million tax dollars & 4.5 BILLION out of consumers pockets in an already tough economy going to china to buy new converter boxes so that the only industry in the us that ISN'T hurting right now can forward it's one-sided, hollywood agenda. To make more money of course. Now instead of just using the electronics you buy, you will have to pay them in order to use them. Want to record that rerun of seinfeld? $3 please. They have legislated just about all of the tv communications rights right into the hands of major corporations without even a whisper until it was already done.
And the scary part? No one is complaining. instead of the outrage you would expect when you find out that congress just walked into your living room and cut the plug off of YOUR tv that YOU paid for, and just said "it was old anyway!, go buy a new one, here's $40! I know that won't cover it, but you take care of the rest." Everyone is calling up their local cable company, or running out to buy converter boxes and saying "wow, i sure am glad i'm READY!" And then they sit on the sofa and wait for something magical to happen. My gosh, how much tv have people actually WATCHED in this country to be so brain dead that they go out and spend their money just like that, without question just because some gov official told them too.
Well, i won't be buying a converter box. And if it means that I lose my tv privleges, then so be it. I have more important things to lose. Like my dignity. And my ability to think rationally. Oops. that last one may be gone already
.It does make me angry though that we are forced to choose between "use your tv the way we say so, or do't use one at all."
That is not freedom. And last time i checked we were supposed to at least still have the freedom of speech. I guess we are only allowed to speak on radios or newpapers though. otherwise too many people might hear us.
