824 Comments
User's avatar
⭠ Return to thread
Alfred's avatar

All I will say is that the movie Wag The Dog was not fiction. But people still believe what the liars in charge of our country tell them on the TeeVee.

Expand full comment
TriTorch's avatar

"American people don't believe anything's real until they see it on TV" -Nixon

Think about how powerful that makes the Tel-a-vision...

Expand full comment
Roman S Shapoval's avatar

Amazing isn't it? Those TVs carry infrasonic frequencies that make it past our cognitive defenses. Why you should never try to win an "argument with a man whose television is larger than his bookshelf." (anon)

Expand full comment
Kathleen Janoski's avatar

If I go into someone's house and do not see any books, I want to go out screaming.

Expand full comment
Copernicus's avatar

We were discussing with our young person the strange phenomenon of one of the neighbor kids who seems capable only of playing video games or watching YouTube. If this kid can’t do those here at our house (say, our young person has used their screen time for the day), the kid leaves. We have plenty of other alternative entertainment.

Our young person remarked that they don’t think that kid’s family has any books in their house. Now, I would imagine they have *some,* *somewhere,* because owning absolutely none just is so unfathomable to me.

However, our young person has never seen any.

Meanwhile we have so many books that we need to buy several more large bookshelves. We probably could pass for an underfunded small town library with all of the books we own. 😆

Expand full comment
Based Florida Man's avatar

Parents got us a Britannica Encyclopedia set (in the 70's).

I read the whole set! Over the course of a year.

But these days books are old fashioned I guess.

Expand full comment
Amy's avatar

Me too! Childcraft, too.

Expand full comment
Jay Horton's avatar

My Sister told me last week that she still has the set my Dad bought us back in like 71 or 72. I could not believe that she has been keeping those all this time.

Later Jay

Expand full comment
Copernicus's avatar

Oh, man, if I could pick up a used encyclopedia set somewhere cheap…. Of course then we need a shelf for it. I’m serious. We have bankers boxes of books, and it’s even worse now that we homeschool, lol. I have the boxes labeled by historical era, or by which field of science they contain….

Expand full comment
CMCM's avatar

My parents got a set of World Book Encyclopedia in the 1950's while we were living in England, where my Air Force dad was stationed. My entertainment was to choose a volume and start reading it. I would choose a different one each day. I loved it, and learned so much from just that particular reading activity. I'm sure I read everything in all the volumes!

Expand full comment
JSR's avatar

I have a book buying problem lol

I tell my family that someday there may not be libraries so I will be ready

Expand full comment
CMCM's avatar

😆 My husband says my book habit is out of control. I'm always trying to figure out where to stash all my books. My many bookshelves are full.

Expand full comment
Emumundo's avatar

Books are important. Ebooks can just disappear at the whim of Amazon. I had a book disappear once when Amazon banned it and even scrubbed it from peoples libraries. Buy books. You’ll always have that knowledge.

Expand full comment
LamedVav disavows all vaxes.'s avatar

Books are better than gold.

Expand full comment
Lynn Faulkner's avatar

That's my excuse too.

Expand full comment
BBS's avatar

Just curious. Why do you say "young person" instead of son, daughter, niece, nephew, 17 year old neighbor etc.

Expand full comment
Copernicus's avatar

Someone somewhere suggested it as a term of respect, referencing the personhood of the son, daughter, etc. As an alternative to “child.” That’s all.

I have no problem with the other terms, although in this public forum I preserve as much anonymity as possible and so do not refer to our son/daughter with gendered terms, no to myself or my spouse with gendered terms. I assume you all can understand that. Given the age of our child, who is growing out of childhood, I sometimes refer to them as a young person. That’s all. Nothing complicated about it.

Same reason for not identifying the sex or age of the neighbor. Protect and respect privacy and anonymity.

Expand full comment
My Favorite Things's avatar

I just asked the same question before reading your post. It’s bizarre liberal speak.

Expand full comment
Copernicus's avatar

How is it liberal speak? Genuinely curious.

I don’t even use it all the time.

Someone somewhere suggested it as a term of respect, referencing the personhood of the son, daughter, etc. As an alternative to “child.” That’s all.

I have no problem with the other terms, although in this public forum I preserve as much anonymity as possible and so do not refer to our son/daughter with gendered terms, no to myself or my spouse with gendered terms. I assume you all can understand that. Given the age of our child, who is growing out of childhood, I sometimes refer to them as a young person. That’s all. Nothing complicated about it.

Expand full comment
MayBella82's avatar

I agree that is liberal speak.... it reminds me of preferred pronouns. I personally thinks it de-values the person you are talking about. It also distracts from what you are trying to say... because it sounds so weird.

Expand full comment
My Favorite Things's avatar

Paranoid much? It’s liberal speak. You could have said son, daughter, niece, nephew, cousin etc. and not given your identity away. A few years ago, that’s what you would have said son or daughter.

Now I know you have at least one child. So what? Millions of people have children. I have two children. Please tell me who I am with only that information.

Expand full comment
CMCM's avatar

When my daughter was 5 in 1975, I remember going to a used book store and getting her an armload of books to read (she already liked to read at 5!). When I was paying for the books, the woman who was doing the transaction commented how rare it was for moms to come in to buy books for their children. She said women usually bought romance novels, but rarely a book for the children who were there with them. I grew up without TV, and when our kids were young we didn't have one either. By choice. We were all voracious readers, which has continued to this day with not only me, but also my three siblings.

Expand full comment
Copernicus's avatar

Most of the books I buy are for our kiddo. Not for myself. 😆

Expand full comment
Roman S Shapoval's avatar

Thanks for sharing that Copernicus. Hey, you never know! You just may have to bail us all out and become that library when no one knows anything anymore.

Ever see the movie The Book of Eli?

Expand full comment
My Favorite Things's avatar

Is your “young person” gender neutral? Why can’t you say son or daughter? Asking for a friend.

Expand full comment
Copernicus's avatar

It’s called protecting their privacy and our family’s anonymity.

Expand full comment
Anecdotal Anonymous's avatar

Worked out of the country for quite a while, all involved spoke very general about home relationships. Until you understand targeting and the way it works, allow the unenlightened to live the binary dream. The best security practices are the ones you use, not the ones that are odd to others...speaking for a friend.

Expand full comment
CStone's avatar

You would love my house, then. Almost wall-to-wall books. Books in bookcases. Books on tables. Books, usually on the kitchen table.

Expand full comment
Lynn Faulkner's avatar

Friend: "You have a book problem."

Me: "Storage! I have a book storage problem."

Expand full comment
MayBella82's avatar

lol... I am going to use this one. I have books all over the place.

Expand full comment
rolandttg's avatar

My now deceased best friend was an every day dope smoking (even at work) bolshevik. I asked him one time why he considered us friends, as one Halloween party he hosted I went as Reagan . He said "you are the only friends I have who read books. He was a huge war between the states reader, and WWII. I have heard that from others. Books bolshevik pundits and politicians write don't sell because their faithful don't read.

Expand full comment
Becky's avatar

Books! Five years ago I received an email from a gentleman who was starting a local chapter of the G.K. Chesterton society. As a fan of Chesterton, I had joined the national organization, and they had given this gentleman their mailing list for our zip codes. I attended the first meeting and all I can say is that leaving that first meeting, I knew I had found my tribe. Overthinkers willing to discuss ideas of all sorts, yet remain curious, cordial and mirthful. We read and discuss Chesterton’s books. It took us almost a year to get through “What’s Wrong with the World.” No one ever stalks out or shouts over someone else, but rather everyone remains attentive and thoughtful. It’s a haven of sanity. GKC himself said, "The success of argument is to disagree to agree. The failure of argument is to agree to disagree.”

Expand full comment
MayBella82's avatar

Love this... I would love a group like this. His books are so thought provoking and I love going down the rabbit holes too!

Expand full comment
Becky's avatar

Perhaps there is a chapter near you. If not, you can start one!

https://www.chesterton.org/local-societies/

Expand full comment
Agent 1-4-9's avatar

We have over two thousand books, with a bookshelf in every room except the dining room. 😁

Expand full comment
Lynn Faulkner's avatar

I lived on a sailboat for years and my then husband would complain because any time he had to work on something, he'd have to first remove bags of sealed up books.

Expand full comment
Dee's avatar

You wouldn’t see any books in my house because the hard copies are in my private home office, not visible from the doorway (I’m mostly minimalist in the common areas). But you might spy one of my three kindles.

Expand full comment
Roger Beal's avatar

Remember the film, "Fahrenheit 451"?

At what temperature does a Kindle ignite? (Asking for the future fascicts).

Expand full comment
CMCM's avatar

As a lifelong book lover, I just don't like reading on Kindle or a tablet. I gave it a try with a few books when it first came out, but I quickly abandoned it. Give me a book every time!

Expand full comment
SadieJay's avatar

Me too!!! And, sometimes they do have books and the spines are to the wall. Arrrrrgh!!

Expand full comment
AB's avatar

For decoration. I don’t get it. It’s the most ridiculous thing

Expand full comment
My Favorite Things's avatar

I use books as decorations. I collect antique books and they’re beautiful. However, I also read them. I think more people should read antique books like “The World’s Greatest Orations.” George Washington in his farewell speech predicted everything that’s happening in our country right now.

Expand full comment
Copernicus's avatar

But, the spines are the interesting parts…

Expand full comment
Copernicus's avatar

Wha????!!!

How does that even make any sense. They obviously do not read them.

Expand full comment
SadieJay's avatar

Exactly. I like the home reno shows, but when they build a beautiful library room with so many book shelves and even a ladder and place all the books with the spines in, it just killed me.

Expand full comment
Susan Clack's avatar

Perhaps they’re afraid some sharp-eyed viewer will be able to read the titles and find offense at the books that were put on the shelf...or else the authors might receive an unintended endorsement, getting an HGTV sales bump or something...don’t we see people on various shows who have to put tape over their clothing’s corporate logos so as to avoid paying a royalty or whatever it might be? 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️I dunno...

Expand full comment
Copernicus's avatar

Someone did that?

That is downright bizarre. Why have a library???????

Maybe for the show, if it was my library, and I didn’t want the world seeing all of my shelves full of dissident literature…. 😆 But I would just leave them empty and shelve my books later because who wants to turn them all back around. Except I guess maybe if they paid me enough money for my renovation to be on TV. Lol.

Expand full comment
SadieJay's avatar

It would have been a beautiful room with all the books put out the right way. All show no go. Stupid is as stupid does. Dissident literature! Right on baby. See you in the gulag. Haha. Funny? Not funny? Ugh!

Expand full comment
JenMcK's avatar

I mentioned that to my son as bizarre and he brought up that there might be copyright issues with them being on tv? So easier to turn the books around to show how the library would be set up and the books get turned back around later?

Expand full comment
Bandit's avatar

How ugly. Also would make it hard to remove the books from the shelves for reading. ☹

Expand full comment
CH's avatar

I guess they like the way it looked when they saw it on HGTV. 🤦‍♀️

Expand full comment
Amy's avatar

My personal pet peeve is when books are color coordinated. I was a cataloging librarian for 25 years.

Expand full comment
Kathleen Janoski's avatar

That's when you know the books are just for show, not reading.

Expand full comment
Roman S Shapoval's avatar

hahahahahaah! Does People magazine count?

Expand full comment
SusanMc's avatar

Confession. Back in the day I subscribed to. Liked the personal stories of non-celebrities; backstories of crime stories, & yes, even celebrity ones. Liked letters to editor. Then the mag started changing.... when Ellen & her “bride” appeared one cover. End of People mag for me. Never bought or read another copy.

Expand full comment
PamelaZelie's avatar

“Many people, myself among them, feel better at the mere sight of a book.”

Jane Smiley

Expand full comment
WP William's avatar

I get ill with seeing OBAMA books, OPRAH, CLINTON, CLAPPER, all sort of B.S. or the converse; GW Bush President of Faith, Trump and Jesus, Boebert's Guide to Christian Mothering. C'mon man what a waste of paper and ink! Talk about Books that SHOULD be Banned

Expand full comment
Lynn Faulkner's avatar

Unless it's the library at the retirement center where I live, that contains endless rows of cheesy romances.

Expand full comment
Heterodox Introvert's avatar

I have been in a couple of those houses. It's jarring, and frightening.

Expand full comment
Fla Mom's avatar

Ours are mostly in our home library, with floor-to-ceiling shelves, not in the living areas. (And our books are shelved spines out, of course; it's a *library,* so we can see and use the books.)

Expand full comment
MaryAnn's avatar

My place is small so only a few essential books (bibles) but my e-reader is chock full! 😊

Expand full comment
Joseph Kaplan's avatar

I was a real estate broker for over twenty years. One of things I enjoyed was touring houses and looking for what people were reading. Years ago most homes had some kind of library. In recent years more and more homes had no books at all. This became very depressing. Grant a lot of people, myself included are using kindle, but that’s not the whole explanation. To me it explains the gross ignorance we displayed everyday in this country.

Expand full comment
Roman S Shapoval's avatar

It's great that you at least noticed the trend! Shows the importance of paper. Many old recipes that our elders have will never be on the interwebs, right?

Plus kindle has blue light, which at night lowers melatonin and can destroy our growth and testosterone hormones: https://romanshapoval.substack.com/i/107636609/blue-light-affects-our-hormones

Expand full comment
Susan Clack's avatar

@Joseph Kaplan...Winner, winner, chicken dinner....💥💥💥👏👏👏🔥🔥🔥⚡️⚡️⚡️🎯🎯🎯😫😫😫

Expand full comment
Becky's avatar

I love to look at interiors on Zillow, and whenever there’s a bookcase I zoom in to see what the people living there like to read. Same with magazines. I’ve been known to get out a magnifying glass to read the titles. In this way I’ve learned about and read many books I otherwise wouldn’t have known existed.

Expand full comment
TriTorch's avatar

Indeed. Fun fact, television can hypnotize you and this fact was mainstream news in the beginning: https://bitchute.com/video/8tnyaSGArZFt [32mins]

Given they've had nearly a century of practice to perfect this subtle mind control, do you imagine that they've gotten better or worse at it?

Something interesting was hidden in 1960s TV signoff: https://bitchute.com/video/VQpW81naCuDb [3:27mins]

Expand full comment
Merry McIntyre's avatar

I haven’t watched tv for over 14 years. Now when I am around a tv that’s on, I either have to leave the room or turn it off. It feels so dissonant that my brain is in danger of exploding. 🤯Especially with the ads. More especially the pharmaceutical ads. TV puts you in a hypnagogic state where you are easily controlled. The toilet paper psyop during covid was a trial run. Very successful.

Expand full comment
TriTorch's avatar

I feel the same Merry. It's like stepping into a room full of discord.

Expand full comment
Roman S Shapoval's avatar

Imagine what phones can do? A good reason why we should abandon them, and stick with our hardwired desktop + computer glasses.

Thanks for the links - I'll try not to watch them on my samsung monitor later tonight (: seriously tho thanks.

Expand full comment
TriTorch's avatar

Agreed, I look at smart phones as kyroponite to everyone but especially children. Screens and speakers radiating bad information and ideas into their soft minds all day every day.

Expand full comment
Cathy's avatar

Why is hardwired any different than blue tooth? Could you explain?

Expand full comment
Roman S Shapoval's avatar

Good question Cathy. Blue tooth is wireless radiation, the same as our Wi-FI, which operates at 2.45 Ghz (our brian hears a pecking/pulse sound 2.45 billion times per second) whereas our brains were meant to only hear background noise at 8-50/60 times per second.

Hardwiring eliminates wireless radiation from bluetooth and wifi, which is a class 2b (probable) carcinogen

https://romanshapoval.substack.com/p/how-airpods-cause-brain-damage

Does that help clarify?

Expand full comment
Cathy's avatar

Yes! Thank you.

Expand full comment
Roman S Shapoval's avatar

Ok good! Thanks for letting me know Cathy.

Expand full comment
Emumundo's avatar

That’s terrifying. I wonder how many times I watched that.

Expand full comment
rolandttg's avatar

So true. Saw an excellent documentary on the Tell A Vision. What's on the TV? Programming. Bastards don't even hide what they are doing to us.

Expand full comment
TriTorch's avatar

rolandttg, Do you happen to have a link for that documentary? Or even a name? That would be very beneficial for my archive

Expand full comment
Tom's avatar

It occurs to me that TV was invented by Philo Farnsworth, who "got" the idea while plowing a field as a boy.

The last few days, the idea of "inspiration" coming from a "Muse" has been bouncing around my head for some reason. What is a Muse? What is inspiration? What is the etymology of those words?

I mention in passing that Farnsworth was a Latter-Day Saint.

Expand full comment
Roger Beal's avatar

"The inspiring goddess of a particular poet":

https://www.etymonline.com/word/muse

Expand full comment
Tom's avatar

Exactly.

Expand full comment
Jan Dickmeyer's avatar

I don’t believe anything is true if it’s on tv. Why can’t all of these drum beating war mongers just move to their own island and beat the hell out of each other. No money in it. Lindsey needs just one more war.... cmon guys.. just one more. Same thing Peters says about ice cream cone ops. Just one more.

Thanks for getting into the Godzilla weeds Jeff. Looking forward to more .

Expand full comment
AngelaK's avatar

That is VERY TRUE and sadly, for many, if not most, that means mainstream propaganda media.

Expand full comment
devoalan's avatar

Tale a vision. Fixed it for ya.

Expand full comment
Maureen ODH's avatar

Te LIE Vision....

Expand full comment
PamelaZelie's avatar

Oh, I like that one!

Expand full comment
CH's avatar

It is a "program"

Expand full comment
SB's avatar

Think how many still watch and believe MSM news sources

Expand full comment
SM's avatar

Hilariously, they watch each other’s stations and believe themselves 😂

Endless entertainment for the endlessly ignorant and offended consumers!

Expand full comment
WP William's avatar

The Deep State was ALL Over the fratricide in Yugoslavia and profiting off the misery they incentivized there. Where was the UN, EU, and NATO to stop criminal oligarchs and the uniformed murderers from the brutality? Now it's all forgotten, swept under the rug, and clean(sed).

Expand full comment
RU's avatar

Maybe not the most popular idea, but let's face it, you're right...and it's not the TV's fault. It's the fault of the people who can't think for themselves or regulate their own emotions and behavior, and so have become dependent upon the TV. All the problems always come back to the same underlying issue: too many dumb / lazy / greedy / undisciplined people. Taking away or replacing the TV (say, with the Internet, which is basically a gigantic electronic book) only shifts the problem in a different direction. The problem still exists as-is.

Expand full comment