Television has a malign influence on society

Freedom of choice, is not granted by law, nor by religion. Freedom of choice, as in free will, is innate to mankind. Ok if you are already correcting me, I would be glad if you could show source or scientific proof of your conclusion. Meanwhile, it would be useful to check some things first: Freedom of choice- Right to exercise one's freedoms in any manner one may choose except where such act may obstruct or prevent others from exercising their freedoms, put oneself or others in danger, or exceeds a statutory limit. UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTSArticle 18. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance. [source: . http://www.un.org...] My opponent asked what if they wanted to indulge in 1 hour of subjective reality (drama), why shouldn’t they? Well, although it’s rhetorical question, I’m still willing to do my best to answer. I admit it is matter of freedom of choice, as no one can forbid them to watch drama [not related to North Korea, etc. ], but what they do not have influence on is content of broadcasted program which is determined by public demand, as you said in previous round. Television is mostly directed to films and shows that have commercial purposes but little cultural value: Television has become a temple of mass production, shallow values and stereotypes that have a great influence on modern society. This negative effect spreads with the growing popularity of TV, especially among young people and children. It defiantly changes our society for the worse, trivializing culture and making us all conform to a bland, "Hollywood" model of entertainment in which regional traditions and diversity are lost. As I’ve already mentioned, I find it necessary to pay more attention to one of the terms from last paragraph. Stereotypes Stereotypes are generalizations about a group of people whereby we attribute a defined set of characteristics to this group. People from stereotyped groups can find this very disturbing as they experience an apprehension (stereotype threat) of being treated unfairly. For much of its history, the movie industry portrayed African-Americans as being unintelligent, lazy, or violence-prone. As a result of viewing these stereotyped pictures of African-Americans, for example, prejudice against African-Americans has been encouraged. In the same way, physically attractive women have been and continue to be portrayed as unintelligent or unintellectual and sexually promiscuous. When we judge people and groups based on our prejudices and stereotypes and treat them differently, we are engaging in discrimination. This discrimination can take many forms. We may create subtle or overt pressures which will discourage persons of certain minority groups from living in a neighborhood. Remember bad Russian guys from last round? [source: . http://remember.org...] I also find this statement “a simple dose of logic, grammar and rhetoric in every man, woman and child’s education will do it. “ quite interesting. Don’t you think it is maybe hard to develop certain level of logic if we are since we were born, constantly exposed to negative influence of television and its content. There is too many factors included which doesn’t allow statement above to be true just as that. It’s too idealistic. A lot of people should take a bigger dose of logic, grammar and rhetoric. As my opponent haven’t included any new arguments, and also haven’t successfully negated mine, I’m going to say one or two words more, in totally different direction. Relating television use to free-time activities Nowadays many people spend the biggest part of their free time watching television. According to the statistics, the average American child watches 26 hours a television per week. That’s how TV programs reduce the quality of real life by narrowing people’s outlook, limiting the variety of free time activities, affecting family relations by reducing conversation, and even having an impact on health by discouraging exercise. “Children spend more time watching television than any other single free time activity, and Vandewater and her colleagues want to understand how this affects childhood health and behavior. They surveyed time use in 2,900 children ages 12 and under around the United States and analyzed all of the children’s activities over two 24-hour periods, one randomly chosen weekday and one weekend day. A child’s primary caregiver was generally responsible for entering data into time-use diaries. The researchers compared television use with time spent on homework, reading, creative play (such as arts and crafts), active play (such as soccer) and interaction with parents and siblings. Increased time watching television was associated with decreased time interacting with parents and siblings and playing creatively. The researchers also found that older children who spent more time watching television spent less time on homework. ” [source: . http://www.physorg.com...] With all that being said, it shouldn't be difficult to vote on any of these arguments. I've tried to make these points as clear as possible.