Tom Ault
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
I was asked the other day why I enjoyed television so much more in years gone by rather than today since there are so many more stations, types of visual entertainment and special (immediate) broadcasts.
The answer I gave was simple: "I enjoyed television that cost me nothing; the advertisements were few; the shows were ones that I, as well as my young sons, could enjoy without hearing beeps for every other word. All in all, it was a time I could relax."
Today, you listen to and watch advertisements telling you to sue your neighbor, take this pill or that pill, most of which have more side effects than you wanted to cure in the first place. You have continuous "news" ads advertising the station news you were going to watch anyhow, but suddenly after seeing their ads and "breaking news," which too often were yesterday's headlines, I tire very quickly of seeing any of it. My nerves are jostled to the point of a slow, if any, return to normalcy, and suddenly, I discover a need for a pill - a sleeping pill so I can go to bed at night after a tough day at work, an evening of everything I came home to escape from that has made me more of a nervous wreck. I hope to fall asleep and with luck get some rest from the turmoil of the news media and the television.
No doubt I am wrong because apparently, most people love this misadventure in life. The polls tell you so, right?
Call me old-fashioned, stuck in the past or whatever you choose, but for the most part, coming home in those wonderful old days to a loving family that was not filled with hate and anger and disrespect being shown us on a daily basis these days was a lot easier on my nerves. And I didn't need a pill to sleep either.