Television is Turning Us Into Zombies

We have been addicted to TV which puts our reptilian right-brain in charge, changing us into consumption-crazed zombies.

Makow Comment: Since this article was written in 2001, television and the movies increasingly have become like junk food, designed to degrade and starve us spiritually and intellectually. Watching them today is like watching caged hamsters defecate on wood chips. People are portrayed as worse than animals, concerned only with power, money and sex. Animals have more dignity and grace. 

by Wes Moore

(abridged by henrymakow.com) 

Television is an
addictive opiate, and one of the most potent
mind control devices ever produced. And I’m not just basing this on
intuition. I have the neurological evidence to prove it.

Any behavior that leads to a
pleasurable experience will be repeated, especially if that behavior
requires little work. Psychologists call this pattern “positive
reinforcement.” This is what we mean, technically speaking, by
addiction. In this sense, television certainly fits into the category
of an addictive agent.

When
you watch TV, brain activity switches from the left to the right
hemisphere. In fact, experiments conducted by researcher Herbert
Krugman showed that while viewers are watching television, the right
hemisphere is twice as active as the left, a neurological anomaly.1 

The crossover from left to right releases a surge of the body’s
natural opiates: endorphins, which include beta-endorphins and
enkephalins. Endorphins are structurally identical to opium and its
derivatives (morphine, codeine, heroin, etc.). 

Activities that
release endorphins (also called opioid peptides) are usually
habit-forming (we rarely call them addictive). These include cracking
knuckles, strenuous exercise, and orgasm. External opiates act on the
same receptor sites (opioid receptors) as endorphins, so there is
little difference between the two.

Indeed,
even casual television viewers experience such opiate-withdrawal
symptoms if they stop watching TV for a prolonged period of time. An
article from South Africa’s Eastern Province Herald (October 1975)
described two experiments in which people from various socio-economic
milieus were asked to stop watching television. In one experiment,
several families volunteered to turn off their TV’s for just one
month. 

The poorest family gave in after one week, and the others
suffered from depression, saying they felt as though they had “lost
a friend.” In the other experiment, 182 West Germans agreed to kick
their television viewing habit for a year, with the added bonus of
payment. None could resist the urge longer than six months, and over
time all of the participants showed the symptoms of opiate
withdrawal: increased anxiety, frustration, and depression.

THE TV ADDICT

The
signs of addiction are all around us. The average American watches
over four hours of television every day, and 49% of those continue to
watch despite admitting to doing it excessively. These are the
classic indicators of an addict in denial: addicts know they’re doing
harm to themselves, but continue to use the drug regardless.

The
television set works as a high-tech drug delivery system, and we all
feel its effects. The question is, can an addiction to television be
destructive? The answer we receive from modern science is a
resounding “Yes!”

First
of all, when you’re watching television the higher brain regions
(like the midbrain and the neo-cortex) are shut down, and most
activity shifts to the lower brain regions (like the limbic system).
The neurological processes that take place in these regions cannot
accurately be called “cognitive.” 

The lower or reptile brain
simply stands poised to react to the environment using deeply
embedded “fight or flight” response programs. Moreover, these
lower brain regions cannot distinguish reality from fabricated images
(a job performed by the neo-cortex), so they react to television
content as though it were real, releasing appropriate hormones and so
on. Studies have proven that, in the long run, too much activity in
the lower brain leads to atrophy in the higher brain regions.

It
is interesting to note that the lower/reptile/limbic brain correlates
to the bio-survival circuit of the Leary/Wilson 8 Circuit Model of
Consciousness. 

This is our primal circuit, the base “presence”
that we normally associate with consciousness. This is the circuit
where we receive our first neurological imprint (the oral imprint),
which conditions us to advance toward anything warm, pleasurable
and/or protective in the environment. The bio-survival circuit is our
most infantile, our most primal way of dealing with reality.

EFFECT OF RIGHT BRAIN CONTROL

Herbert
Krugman’s research proved that watching television numbs the left
brain and leaves the right brain to perform all cognitive duties.
This has some harrowing implications for the effects of television on
brain development and health. For one, the left hemisphere is the
critical region for organizing, analyzing, and judging incoming data.
The right brain treats incoming data uncritically, and it does not
decode or divide information into its component parts.

The
right brain processes information in wholes, leading to emotional
rather than intelligent responses. We cannot rationally attend to the
content presented on television because that part of our brain is not
in operation. It is therefore unsurprising that people rarely
comprehend what they see on television, as was shown by a study
conducted by researcher Jacob Jacoby. Jacoby found that, out of 2,700
people tested, 90% misunderstood what they watched on television only
minutes before. As yet there is no explanation as to why we switch to
the right brain while viewing television, but we do know this
phenomenon is immune to content.

For
a brain to comprehend and communicate complex meaning, it must be in
a state of “chaotic disequilibrium.” This means that there must
be a dynamic flow of communication between all of the regions of the
brain, which facilitates the comprehension of higher levels of order
(breaking conceptual thresholds), and leads to the formation of
complex ideas. High levels of chaotic brain activity are present
during challenging tasks like reading, writing, and working
mathematical equations in your head. They are not present while
watching TV. 

HAZARDOUS TO SELF ESTEEM; MAINTAINS STATUS QUO 

In
addition to its devastating neurological effects, television can be
harmful to your sense of self-worth, your perception of your
environment, and your physical health. Recent surveys have shown that
75% of American women think they are overweight, likely the result of
watching chronically thin actresses and models four hours a day.

Television
has also spawned a “culture of fear” in the U.S. and beyond, with
its focus on the limbic brain-friendly sensationalism of violent
programming. Studies have shown that people of all generations
greatly overestimate the threat of violence in real life. This is no
shock because their brains cannot discern reality from fiction while
watching TV.

Television
is bad for your body as well. Obesity, sleep deprivation, and stunted
sensory development are all common among television addicts.

All
other drugs apparently pose a threat to the established social order.
Television, however, is a drug that is actually essential to
maintaining the social infrastructure. Why? Because it brainwashes
consumers to throw money at the gaping void of their meaningless,
terror-filled lives. And by brainwashed, I mean they’ve been
hypnotized using very subtle and established techniques which, when
coupled with television’s natural effects on brain waves, make for
the most ambitious psychological engineering ruse ever concocted.

Psychophysiologist
Thomas Mulholland found that after just 30 seconds of watching
television the brain begins to produce alpha waves, which indicates
torpid (almost comatose) rates of activity. Alpha brain waves are
associated with unfocused, overly receptive states of consciousness.
A high frequency alpha waves does not occur normally when the eyes
are open. In fact, Mulholland’s research implies that watching
television is neurologically analogous to staring at a blank wall.

I
should note that the goal of hypnotists is to induce slow brain wave
states. Alpha waves are present during the “light hypnotic” state
used by hypno-therapists for suggestion therapy.

When
Mulholland’s research was published it greatly impacted marketing and advertising. Realizing viewers automatically enter a trance state while
watching television, marketers began designing commercials that
produce unconscious emotional states or moods within the viewer. 

The
aim of commercials is not to appeal to the rational or conscious mind
(which usually dismisses advertisements) but rather to implant moods
that the consumer will associate with the product when it is
encountered in real life. When we see product displays at a store,
for instance, those positive emotions are triggered. Endorsements
from beloved athletes and other celebrities evoke the same
associations. If you’ve ever doubted the power of television
advertising, bear this in mind: commercials work better if you’re
not paying attention to them!

An
addictive mind control device . . . what more could a government or
profit-driven corporation ask for? But the really sad thing about
television is that it turns everyone
into a zombie, no one is immune. There is no higher order of
super-intelligent, nefarious beings behind this. It’s the product
of our very human desire to alter our state of consciousness and
escape the hardships of reality.

While
AdBusters has their highly ineffectual “TV Turnoff Week,” I’d
like to announce a campaign of my own. Starting next week, we will
celebrate what I like to call TV Pawn-Off Week. I encourage you all
to sell your televisions, and use the money to buy some books.

We’re
living in a Brave New World, only it’s not so brave, or even that
new. In fact, it’s starting to look more and more like the Dark
Ages, with the preliterate zombie masses obeying the authority of the
new clergy: Regis Philbin and Jerry Springer.

 1. Krugman, Herbert E.
“Brain wave Measures of Media Involvement,” Journal of
Advertising Research 11.1 (1971): 3-9. Krugman later became manager
of public opinion research at General Electric.

–

This article is from Vol. 2, Issue No. 2 pages 59-66

© 2001 CENTER FOR COGNITIVE LIBERTY AND ETHICS

All rights reserved worldwide. 

Thanks to Andrew for sending this. 

2012-11-13 20:45:43

Source: http://www.henrymakow.com/opiate-of-the-masses-televis.html