Opinion: The noise from the television
If we are home the television is almost always on. The husband prefers the movie channels where there are no commercials.
I on the other hand, am like one of those people who watch the annual Super Bowl just for the commercials. Some of the advertising vignettes are funny the first time we see them but then the humor wears off. Too often the first time is the last time we see anything funny in the ad.
Those rare commercials that are funny every time we see them receive a hearty “still funny!’
Some ads are so mindless it seems the audience they are seeking must be teenagers or twenty-somethings that have been smoking too much mary jane.
The other ads that I don’t understand are the ones that are made up of beautiful people, enjoying fun activities until the last 10 seconds when a bank or a brokerage firm’s logo is shown. So to recap we are supposed to believe that if we patronize its bank or firm we too will be more attractive and have more fun? Somehow this seems pretty far-fetched.
I tend to worry how ads and television programs affects the behavior of children.
When I was a kid the old adage “Monkey see, monkey do,” frequently got me in trouble. I saw a kid on TV throw a fit when she didn’t get her way. Her parents gave in and she got whatever it was she wanted.
When I tried it on my dad he told me if I didn’t knock it off he’d give me something to cry about.
He believed in corporal punishment. Usually I would start crying and I would end up with two or three swats. The last time he spanked me I was in high school working on a project to raise money to fund sports and other extracurricular activities. A measure on an upcoming ballot was set to raise property taxes. He said he was going to vote against the tax. I was furious because I believed if my brothers were still in school playing football he would have voted yes.
Working on the premise that he loved my brothers more than me I stormed out the front door letting the screen door slam behind me.
He called me back in taking his belt off in the process. After the first swat I looked him in the eye and told him I hoped he was enjoying this because I wasn’t doing me a damn bit of good. Needless to say my smarting-off did not improve the situation any.
That is the thing about spanking kids. If they know you will follow through with the threat of a spanking you shouldn’t have to hit them very often.
My dad didn’t hit me more than five or six times my whole life. But I had no doubt I would see the “business end,” of his belt if I crossed the line.
Eventually I got very good at skating right up to the line without crossing it. Or at least not getting caught crossing it. The one thing I learned at an early age was to never lie to my father. No matter what I did, if I tried to lie my way out of it, when he learned the truth it would be much worse than if I confessed and took my punishment. And he always found out the truth.
On Aug. 25th my dad would have celebrated his 93rd birthday. He died Feb. 23, 1993. I still miss him every day.
Long days and pleasant, have a great weekend.
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Readers may contact Tami Jo Nix by emailing tamijonix@gmail.com or following@TamiJoNix on Twitter.
