April 24- Quick Sven Turn On and TV Turnoff

Hmmm…maybe I should have re-titled this blog- or some people might expect me to be writing- “my quick turn-ons are
warm nights with thunderstorms, a candle-lit coffin for two…”-when, in reality, I just wanted to give you loyal blog followers a quick way to zip to the blog! Thanks to our WCIU web crew, all you have to do now is use this quick and easy address-
  www.wciu.com/blogs/svengoolie
That’s the new shortcut that will bring you directly to this Sven blog page- but wait! There’s more! If you click on the “Svengoolie” logo at the top of the blog page- that will bring you to the main Svengoolie page, with its many features! It’s
a sneaky backdoor to the Sven page, without having to go to the main WCIU page and click on the “Svengoolie-open the coffin” box. Hopefully, this will make your “Sven connection” easier…
I was informed that, not only is this “Earth Week”- but it’s also the much-ballyhooed “Turnoff Week.” Yes, this is the one week a year when we’re all supposed to turn off the television, yank out the plug, and do without TV for seven days. Those who’ve read my blogs before know how much I dislike this idea. First of all- they’re telling people, directly or indirectly, not to watch my show and my station-which is the source of my income. So, let’s all deprive me of making a living so we can act like we’re such intellectuals! Oooh, we have to turn off the TV so we can do other things! Somehow, these television-abstinence preaching geniuses act as if they have never heard of moderation. I’m sure there are some people who are addicted to TV- but I would hope most people would be smart enough, and have enough self-control, to not let television keep them from doing other things. Quite honestly, do you think their “turnoff” is going to be taken seriously by the people who truly aren’t wise enough to use moderation in viewing? They might miss a few seconds of “Steve Wilcos!”
As I’ve said before, I especially love running into the nose-in-the-air pseudo-intellectuals who delight in telling everyone who will listen- “oh, we don’t watch TV- and we don’t let the kids watch it.” Great- deny yourself and your kids of seeing news and events as they happen. Let them be totally ignorant of popular culture- or the thrill of watching a sports event. Keep them from learning about major personalities in the world, from the political and scientific communities. And- PLEASE don’t let them enjoy entertainment- just for entertainment’s sake. Does that mean you also won’t let them read a book, if it’s just for entertainment? Your attitude seems to be- wow, there’s a lot of junk on TV- so let’s get rid of it. Cool- in the newspaper today, I saw a lot of junk- articles about useless celebrities, ads for (ahem) “massage parlors” and various cures for …uh…certain male problems. There’s a lot of junk in the papers –maybe we should get rid of them. Don’t let them watch a movie on TV- in fact, don’t let them go to a theater either.
This year, they’ve even added the addendum that maybe you should turn off ANYTHING with a screen- including video games and computer screens! Once again- god forbid we use moderation…or acknowledge that a computer is a source of information, not just mindless browsing or game playing.
The bottom line, as I’ve said many times before- is that TV is like everything else- used wisely, it’s fine. Instead of teaching your kids that TV is an evil to avoid, teach them to use good judgement in what they watch-and be smart enough to know how much viewing time is good.
Hey- I know what I do is not “Masterpiece Theater”-it’s just entertainment. But- sometimes- a little fun entertainment is necessary to blow off steam, and forget about the daily grind. So- to all you  Turnoff” geniuses- tell me what business YOU’RE in, and I’ll be happy to boycott it for a week. In fact, I’m feeling generous- how about a month?   #    #    #