John Schaefer, Curator of Education at the Salt Lake Art Center and director of the Salt Lake Ethics Project, led a lively discussion at the November general meeting of the Humanists of Utah. He pointed out that while we often consider ourselves in Utah to be different from everybody else, we really are more like everyone else in the world than we think.

The average child watches 5 hours and 15 minutes of television every day. After the age of four, most of this time is NOT public television. Public Television is compelling; unfortunately most of the other available broadcast material is not compelling. The television is the "myth-maker, the heart of our society; we couldn't be in worse hands in my opinion." Schaefer utilized several video presentations to facilitate the discussion. The first clip demonstrated how a "magician" could predict which playing card 95% of the viewing audience will identify by watching a simple flipping through of the card deck. By deftly pausing a split-second longer on any given card, that card will imprint on the majority of people's minds. The artist can then "magically or psychically" identify the card that the average person on the street only "thinks" about.

There are many ways to control the mind. People in the television industry are aware of many of these methods. Schaefer is currently teaching a Media Literacy class at West High, helping young people to understand (interpret) what is spewing from the boob tube. The people who control the television media are all the same: they have a single goal of making money. They are not necessarily malicious towards us, they only want to make money.

Schaefer posed the question, "I ask children, teachers, anyone: 'what is the purpose of the news on channels 2, 4, 5, and 13?' and without exception they always reply, 'to get information, to learn about the weather, to find out what's going on.'" This is not the correct answer. The purpose of the "news" is to sell things. 99% of society does not know this. For example, crime is down drastically, but the reporting of crime on the local news is up almost 400%. This is a skewed look of who we are. Senior citizens get most of the information about society from the TV. Consequently many older people are afraid to leave their own homes. The "news" is a television program; its main purpose is to sell things, not to pass along information.

Television commercials are about the dumbing down of the masses. If you don't have skepticism when viewing TV, you are in trouble. Four hours after a tornado hit Salt Lake City, it became an "event" complete with a name: Tornado Terror, complete with a logo. It became a TV show, it became a vehicle to sell.

Some of television is rich, full of content, and compelling. Most of the material on PBS is of this nature. Unfortunately there are no media literacy classes below the level of college in Utah. Schaefer believes that this subject should start being taught at the Kindergarten level. After all, since we spend so much time with the TV, we should understand what it is doing to us.

--Wayne Wilson