Project Vision 21

Francisco Miraval

At the end of the day, if I can, I like to watch some TV program, mainly those called “intelligent entertainment” (Intelligent?) as a way to relax and, at least for a few minutes, to forget about the problems of that day. However, I not watching those programs with the same frequency as before, because I feel sick just watching some TV commercials.

I am not saying that there too many commercials, and I am not talking about those long and loud commercials. My concern is that many of those commercials are constantly trying to sell “us” some kind of disease.

It is almost impossible to watch TV without watching a commercial presenting some kind of painful, mostly incurable disease. In many cases, those diseases have very strange-sounding names. And the commercials present such horrifying details that it seems you are watching the TV channel of some school of medicine.

To make thinks even worse, some commercials include a long list of undesirable side effects that, in many cases, seem to be even worse than the disease. And, of course, there are commercials about “health” (health?) issues where the people talking about the diseases are not physicians, but lawyers. No surprise there.

It is useless to change channels, because you will find the same commercials, or similar ones, in all the other channels.

So, at the end of the day, when you just want to know more about the lives of African elephants or to verify if there is a monster living in this or that lake, you end up learning about everything that is potentially wrong in your own body or at your workplace.

These commercials are so powerful and the self-suggestion so intense than soon after watching the commercials you begin to experience the symptoms there described, so you do not know if you have to call a doctor, a lawyer, or a funerary company, or the three of them at the same time.

Some people may think I am exaggerating. It is true, I am. However, the exaggeration is minimal. There are many recent studies showing that the so-called parasocial relationships with imaginary TV characters have very real and sickening effects on the minds and bodies of those watching TV.

To complicate matters, when I want to church on Sundays, hoping to enjoy a good time of fellowship and praise, the pastor, during the time of prayers, usually pray for people affected by some illness. Obviously, there is nothing wrong with that. However, I do not like the pastor sharing details of the medical history of those he is praying for their healing.

At times, I think we live in a society obsessed with disease, but not with health. In fact, in perfect Orwellian style, the Health Department usually deals with diseases, not with health.

What are the alternatives? Listen to music, read a good book, meditate. Perhaps our grandmothers knew what they were doing when they shared good, positive stories with us before going to sleep.