two choices

 In 1953 the Federal Communication Commission set the standard for color television broadcasts. I was born in July of that year. By the late 1950's color tv was relatively common. Like most new technology some embraced it right away despite the cost. Others, like my family, just waited until the prices became more affordable. I believe the first color television set we had was a Motorola in 1967. It was the latest technology and boasted all its' "works" were in a drawer. What we call solid state technology today the technician could slide out that drawer to work on the thing. It didn't have a single vacuum tube! The first time the technician had to replace one of those electronic components Dad went through the roof! Too expensive! Why we used to just take out tube to the store and test it, buy new if necessary and plug it back in. This newfangled stuff wasn't a very good idea at all. You have to call a trained tech to fix it and he had to take the works with him to even repair it! 

  In thinking about that, the switch to color television, I'm thinking that was the beginning of the end of a way of life. In my house it was anyway. Before color television we had exactly two channels that we could watch. Things were pretty much black and white in everyday life as well. This was right, that was wrong. But when color television arrived at my house so did "cablevision." That was the name of the company that provided cable television service. I remember watching as they built a huge tower with antennas on it and began running cables to everyone's home. It was pretty amazing and took some time before it was available in my neighborhood. When it arrived the variety of programming expanded and new, and very different programming was available. The world just got a lot smaller. By 1978 the Supreme court got involved asserting the right of the FCC to censor the programming deemed indecent! As with most new technology there were those that found a bad use for it. The world was changing for sure.

  Television is slowly being replaced by video platforms like You Tube, Net Flix, Tic-Toc and a host of others. Apparently, the only censoring on those platforms is done by the user. I'm not much of a techy guy but am aware of privacy settings on my computer and what are called filters. I can filter out most content I don't want to see. There is much concern about all of that in general as our children can access information graphically displayed that the FCC certainly would deem indecent. The internet has become a gutter of that sort of thing. In fact, stats show the majority of websites, by a large margin, are pornographic in nature. Is there a correlation between that and what is happening in society today? I can't say for sure but when I was growing up, watching those shows in black and white, the themes were centered more on America, God and good values. The heroes always won, and the bad guys got hung! That isn't the case today with television or social media/video platforms. What I do know is we didn't have the problems back then that we do today. No, things were pretty much cut and dried! 

  It was the advertisers that brought us television programming. That is simply how that was funded. As with all advertising it was targeted to the audience. Back in my day it was mostly automobiles, appliances, and toys. Oh, the cigarettes companies were heavy sponsors with their catchy jingles. Beginning in 1948 advertisements for liquor were banned. It's interesting to note that the ban was self-imposed by the liquor companies. That ended in 1996 when Crown Royal started airing commercials. Today the objective is to get rid of the advertising altogether. It's becoming possible, for a fee. Yes, you can pay extra to not see the advertisements. I suspect that may be even more profitable for the corporation. I can't see any other reason to offer that option. Hey, I'm not giving up revenue to satisfy you! 

  A lot has changed since color television became the normal thing and almost limitless channels are available. It was a concern all those years ago, the kids are watching the boob tube and not learning anything, they need to get outside. Today our kids take all that with them everywhere they go. They are bombarded with information that perhaps they aren't ready to receive. Our children are being stripped on their imaginations. Perhaps that is why some have begun to believe things like multiple genders and receiving the wrong assignment at birth. Both of those are a stretch of the imagination for sure. Pepe LePew had no such problems. His only issue was he was a skunk, which all children knew would stink, and he was too aggressive in finding his true love. He wasn't a predator, he was just a lovable misguided skunk. Pepe was black and white too. I'm thinking it is all a lesson lost. This is a binary world after all. No matter how much you color it, no matter how much you advertise, there really are only two choices, right and wrong.