Essay, Research Paper: "Crack And The Box" Response To Hammill

Television poisons the mind and sucks the life out of it’s viewers, exactly like hard-core drugs (cocaine and heroine) do to it’s addicts, according to journalist, Pete Hamill, in his article, “Crack and the Box.” Television viewers and drug addicts, which are viewed as each others equivalents, desperately depend on their “fix” (either television or crack), focus on nothing else except their “fix”, which leaves them as completely asocial beings. Studies have shown that if a group of children were provided with the choice of giving up television or their fathers, one-third claimed their fathers would go; the same case proved true in a similar study done with drug addicts and their families. At the tip of your fingers, television alters the viewer’s consciousness and state of moods at the click of a button to various genres of television programs, which is compared to the simplicity of popping a pill or injecting a needle. This source of false and short-term escape from reality is a completely passive activity and requires no intellectual processing at all, unlike activities such as reading a book. The numbing effects of watching television and using drugs, like cocaine and heroine, prevent the addicts from distinguishing the differences between reality and fantasy, leading them to believe that life should always be smooth and easy. And if there are complications in the real world around them, addicts believe that they have no say or effect on the outcome of the situation, so they just flip the channel or snort another line of cocaine. This addiction problem is sweeping the nation far and wide, stupefying the future generations, and threatening the offspring of our nation. The solution to this devastating addiction to television is to watch less, think more! Participate in activities that require greater amounts of intellectual processes, go outside more often with your children and friends, and surround your self with knowledge. Schools and parents need to teach children the technical aspects of television (like a subject in school), and the differences between reality and fantasy. Of course, the television addiction is not going to be wiped out completely but society can start to pave the path to a “ television-safe” nation. In the fight to stop the abuse of television, deeper thought and increased reading is your “twelve-step” program back to an addiction-free lifestyle.


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