Television: Awakening The Reptile Mind
Victoria Hardy
August 22, 2008
Sometimes I´m pretty sure we are de-evolving, regressing in time to the state of our nearest kin, the apes. This, of course, is not a natural evolution, this is designed by man for one reason only - to maintain the power structure. This de-evolution we are undergoing is quite insidious and ingeniously created and sold to the masses. Television, with the addition of mind numbing additions like fluoride, mercury, pharmaceuticals and aspartame, is the tool that brings us down to our baser thinking and the lowest denomination of humanity and we love it. We certainly have a herd mentality or should I say "monkey see, monkey do" and the media does a fine job of keeping us on the path.
We learn a lot from television and movies, political ideas, styles, morals, fashions, "common" knowledge, body image, sexual behavior and diet come through the screen and into our homes and into our minds. We accept this transfer as a normal part of being, but how often do we question what is sneaking into our brains? Into our children´s brains? Most of us watch television and have them in multiple rooms and even our children have televisions in their bedrooms and we believe watching the flashing box is harmless entertainment and in many cases, educational. But what is happening in our brain as we relax and watch the pretty colors?
In 1969 researcher Herbert Krugman decided to understand what happens to the brain while watching television. He found that in as little as thirty seconds of viewing the brain switched from beta waves, indicating alert consciousness, to alpha waves, an unfocused daydreaming state just below consciousness. When Krugman´s patient began reading a magazine, instead of watching television, the beta waves resumed. Further research has shown that the left hemisphere of the brain, the part that processes information logically, tunes out while viewing television and the right hemisphere, emotional and non-critical, steps forward. Dr Krugman concluded that television transmits "information not thought about at the time of exposure." Brainwashing
Studies have also shown reduced activity in the higher brain or the neo cortex, the most highly evolved part of our brain responsible for reason, memory and cognition, while viewing television. Whereas the lower brain, the limbic system, shows increased activity. The limbic system is responsible for regulating our emotional state and mood; it is associated with feelings of anger, fear, rage, sexual arousal, pleasure, and sadness and is often referred to as the "reptile brain". The limbic system is also part of our natural "fight or flight" instinct and cannot discern the truth of what is being viewed; to the reptile brain it is all reality. And interestingly enough, the limbic system is also where many psychiatric disorders are hatched. So the harmless entertainment that the average household spends hours a day pursuing is not so harmless after all.
Television has also become the babysitter for our children and we soothe ourselves with ideas of educational programming, but neuroscientists have shown that environmental experiences significantly shape the developing brain and repeated stimulus in a child´s environment may strongly impact mental and emotional growth. Regular television watching, particularly when children are at the age of developing language and social skills negatively affects the brain and results in lower academic performance, especially in reading and reading comprehension. Also the stimulus provided by the television may lend to attention disorders. The neo cortex develops through childhood and adolescence, leading to self-control and critical thinking and television inhibits the development of this higher learning center. International Child and Youth Care Network
By the time the average American child has reached the age of 13 he has viewed more than 100,000 acts of violence on the television. And in viewing this violence his reptile brain awakens which can lead to immunity to the horror of violence, accepting violence as a way to solve problems, acting out aggressively to mimic what was seen and identifying with either the victim or the victimizer. Could this have something to do with the bizarre murders we see daily in the news these days? Could it have something to do with the rash of child on child and child on adult crime?
Unfortunately, though, we Americans love our televisions and refuse to accept that we are being molded and changed by what we are watching, catch phrases and moral examples are being insidiously introduced while we believe we are the ones in control of our thoughts and ideas. In a recent study by the Parents Television Council they examined all scripted prime time entertainment programs on the major broadcast television networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and the CW) during four weeks at the beginning of the 2007-2008 television season (September 23-October 22, 2007) for a total of 207.5 programming hours (reality shows were not included). And what they discovered was that once taboo subjects for television were now found in prime time television, including references to threesomes, partner swapping, pedophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, masturbation, pornography, sex toys, and kinky or fetishistic behaviors. According to PTC president Tim Winter, "Behaviors that were once seen as fringe, immoral, or socially destructive have been given the stamp of approval by the television industry."
The study also found that network television seemed to shy away from references of marital sex, but embraced discussions of masturbation, oral sex, anal sex, manual stimulation, sex toys, bondage or kinky or fetishistic sex, with 74 examples during the study. The hours between 8 and 9pm, known in the television industry as the "Family Hour", contained the most references to non-martial sex versus marital sex by a ratio of 3.9 to 1. During the 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm hours, the references to non-marital versus marital sex dropped to 2.5 to 1. And references to incest, pedophilia, partner swapping, prostitution, threesomes, transsexuals/transvestites, bestiality, and necrophilia combined outnumbered references to sex in marriage on NBC by a ratio of 27 to 1. ParentsTV
What we need to understand is that this didn´t just happen; it has been designed and created with purpose. It is social engineering and we are being engineered to embrace our lowest form of existence, to surrender critical thinking and morality and accept simply what the flashing box displays as normal behavior. The box informs us when to be angry, what to fear and how our sexuality should be expressed. What raises us above the animals is our neo cortex, our ability to reason, express self-control, weigh options and consider consequences, but the television tells us that that portion of our brain is a hindrance and actually has the power to disconnect the cognitive power of our mind.
The change in our society has been slow, like increasing the heat under that poor frog soon to be boiled to death and we accept the change as "modern" times or enlightenment or tolerance of others, but the result is the same and the frog still dies. As time unfolds and we can no longer live safely under the threat of sudden and inexplicable violence by strangers and we can´t leave our home out of fear of exposing our children to the humans engaged in sex in the streets, perhaps we will look back and discern what happened. Or perhaps the brain washing will be complete and we will all function like predatory animals led only by our reptilian brain.
August 22, 2008
Sometimes I´m pretty sure we are de-evolving, regressing in time to the state of our nearest kin, the apes. This, of course, is not a natural evolution, this is designed by man for one reason only - to maintain the power structure. This de-evolution we are undergoing is quite insidious and ingeniously created and sold to the masses. Television, with the addition of mind numbing additions like fluoride, mercury, pharmaceuticals and aspartame, is the tool that brings us down to our baser thinking and the lowest denomination of humanity and we love it. We certainly have a herd mentality or should I say "monkey see, monkey do" and the media does a fine job of keeping us on the path.
We learn a lot from television and movies, political ideas, styles, morals, fashions, "common" knowledge, body image, sexual behavior and diet come through the screen and into our homes and into our minds. We accept this transfer as a normal part of being, but how often do we question what is sneaking into our brains? Into our children´s brains? Most of us watch television and have them in multiple rooms and even our children have televisions in their bedrooms and we believe watching the flashing box is harmless entertainment and in many cases, educational. But what is happening in our brain as we relax and watch the pretty colors?
In 1969 researcher Herbert Krugman decided to understand what happens to the brain while watching television. He found that in as little as thirty seconds of viewing the brain switched from beta waves, indicating alert consciousness, to alpha waves, an unfocused daydreaming state just below consciousness. When Krugman´s patient began reading a magazine, instead of watching television, the beta waves resumed. Further research has shown that the left hemisphere of the brain, the part that processes information logically, tunes out while viewing television and the right hemisphere, emotional and non-critical, steps forward. Dr Krugman concluded that television transmits "information not thought about at the time of exposure." Brainwashing
Studies have also shown reduced activity in the higher brain or the neo cortex, the most highly evolved part of our brain responsible for reason, memory and cognition, while viewing television. Whereas the lower brain, the limbic system, shows increased activity. The limbic system is responsible for regulating our emotional state and mood; it is associated with feelings of anger, fear, rage, sexual arousal, pleasure, and sadness and is often referred to as the "reptile brain". The limbic system is also part of our natural "fight or flight" instinct and cannot discern the truth of what is being viewed; to the reptile brain it is all reality. And interestingly enough, the limbic system is also where many psychiatric disorders are hatched. So the harmless entertainment that the average household spends hours a day pursuing is not so harmless after all.
Television has also become the babysitter for our children and we soothe ourselves with ideas of educational programming, but neuroscientists have shown that environmental experiences significantly shape the developing brain and repeated stimulus in a child´s environment may strongly impact mental and emotional growth. Regular television watching, particularly when children are at the age of developing language and social skills negatively affects the brain and results in lower academic performance, especially in reading and reading comprehension. Also the stimulus provided by the television may lend to attention disorders. The neo cortex develops through childhood and adolescence, leading to self-control and critical thinking and television inhibits the development of this higher learning center. International Child and Youth Care Network
By the time the average American child has reached the age of 13 he has viewed more than 100,000 acts of violence on the television. And in viewing this violence his reptile brain awakens which can lead to immunity to the horror of violence, accepting violence as a way to solve problems, acting out aggressively to mimic what was seen and identifying with either the victim or the victimizer. Could this have something to do with the bizarre murders we see daily in the news these days? Could it have something to do with the rash of child on child and child on adult crime?
Unfortunately, though, we Americans love our televisions and refuse to accept that we are being molded and changed by what we are watching, catch phrases and moral examples are being insidiously introduced while we believe we are the ones in control of our thoughts and ideas. In a recent study by the Parents Television Council they examined all scripted prime time entertainment programs on the major broadcast television networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and the CW) during four weeks at the beginning of the 2007-2008 television season (September 23-October 22, 2007) for a total of 207.5 programming hours (reality shows were not included). And what they discovered was that once taboo subjects for television were now found in prime time television, including references to threesomes, partner swapping, pedophilia, necrophilia, bestiality, masturbation, pornography, sex toys, and kinky or fetishistic behaviors. According to PTC president Tim Winter, "Behaviors that were once seen as fringe, immoral, or socially destructive have been given the stamp of approval by the television industry."
The study also found that network television seemed to shy away from references of marital sex, but embraced discussions of masturbation, oral sex, anal sex, manual stimulation, sex toys, bondage or kinky or fetishistic sex, with 74 examples during the study. The hours between 8 and 9pm, known in the television industry as the "Family Hour", contained the most references to non-martial sex versus marital sex by a ratio of 3.9 to 1. During the 9:00 pm and 10:00 pm hours, the references to non-marital versus marital sex dropped to 2.5 to 1. And references to incest, pedophilia, partner swapping, prostitution, threesomes, transsexuals/transvestites, bestiality, and necrophilia combined outnumbered references to sex in marriage on NBC by a ratio of 27 to 1. ParentsTV
What we need to understand is that this didn´t just happen; it has been designed and created with purpose. It is social engineering and we are being engineered to embrace our lowest form of existence, to surrender critical thinking and morality and accept simply what the flashing box displays as normal behavior. The box informs us when to be angry, what to fear and how our sexuality should be expressed. What raises us above the animals is our neo cortex, our ability to reason, express self-control, weigh options and consider consequences, but the television tells us that that portion of our brain is a hindrance and actually has the power to disconnect the cognitive power of our mind.
The change in our society has been slow, like increasing the heat under that poor frog soon to be boiled to death and we accept the change as "modern" times or enlightenment or tolerance of others, but the result is the same and the frog still dies. As time unfolds and we can no longer live safely under the threat of sudden and inexplicable violence by strangers and we can´t leave our home out of fear of exposing our children to the humans engaged in sex in the streets, perhaps we will look back and discern what happened. Or perhaps the brain washing will be complete and we will all function like predatory animals led only by our reptilian brain.
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10:06 AM
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