learning how to play poker in order to have "some old fashion fun" with your girlfriends. Please..Do you think this famly should have been gathered around a table playing a hand with their kids? Some people think this game only leeds to long term gambling problems (see you at Atlantic City?). I have a son 18 years old and a big screen TV and believe college dosen't compare in price. I know. You don't know anything about this family prior to them losing their jobs. Many working people in this country have lost work and have purchased TV's, Computers, Cars etc. (PRIOR TO LOSING THEIR JOBS) you futher stated that the wife had worked at a large retail chain which could be the reason why they were able to have this TV. You should'nt be so quick to pre-judge families situations based on "news clips." that you watched on your small television.
I respect the overall point that you are making but too often these points are made on surface observations of other people (especially in our communities). People claiming that they have the ubiquitous AA middle class lifestyle. Why because they chose to play board games or downloaned Audiophile books on their IPOD ? (nothing wrong with this). BEING JUDGEMENTAL might be a little strong in my critique of your blog (sorry). You have a baby girl, I have a 25 year old daughter and 18 year old son. I have used everything that was affordable to me to produce two very productive adults, so I can sit in my living room and enjoy watching a movie with my son and daughter. I hope you are able to have have as much joy as I have had...Goodluck
Unfortunately, television has replaced the fireplace of old. Before there was central heating, everyone sat around the fireplace. Now everyone sits around the TV and that's not a good thing. That's why the invented TV dinners because people wouldn't leave the TV to go and eat. That's why they invented TV dinners -- 3 courses and dessert on one tray and you don't have to move from in front of the television.
I wasn't feeling your column when I read your "Prada or nada" line, but I happen to agree with you about TV and its place in the home.
Okay, I get your point, reading and engaging with your children and family is fundamental. However, I am little put off by your oversimplification of that family based upon a television story.
You will never fully know another person's family situation especially by watching some television story. You don't know if the television was given to them by a friend or family member. Heck, they could have bought it used for a low price.
But, let's say they bought it full price. I still don' think it gives us a right to "judge" them so greatly by one 2 minute story. Everyone wants to be apart of the American dream. They want what everyone else has. It's easy to say that others should sacrifice when you are able to exercise your basic and unalienable American right to consume via purchases of Ipods, travel, downloads, partacke in fine meals from time to time, and are not as limited in your day to day existence.
Just a thought...
Isn't having a huge television set in your living room - whether or not you can afford it - part of what it means to be an american? Veronica, get on with it!
CG, not to challenge your main point, but an interesting show on PBS discussed the origin of TV dinners. They were name TV dinners becaused they LOOKED like TVs, not because you ate in front of them. This was during the 50's when TV was everyone's new obsession.''
I have to agree with Ms. Chambers, though, it is so accepted, and acceptable, not to question, or at least wonder, where Americans' priorities lie anymore.
The use of the tv can be taken figuratively if you like. I understand the article completely.
Note: I was born in northeatern PA and I can tell you that I saw the writing on the wall. With the coal mining industry in great decline, people did not take it upon themselves to move or retrain or band together to start a company. Nor did they work with government to attract new industry. No, the fellows got together at the local bar and whined. They complained about minorities and people who were doing better than they were. Believe me, they were not into spending quality time with their families.
I, a female saw this as I grew up, and realized that college was a must. I paid for my own college education and took out the loans I needed while I worked at various jobs completeing my degree. The majority of students at a local campus of Penn State transferred out to get degrees that got us jobs. Others got two year degrees in types of engineering that got immediate placement in southeastern PA or NJ.
It took movement in a positive direction. Hopefully, people will be inspired by Senator Obama to take a step in the positive direction rather than to critique him. I believe his message is that each one of us must be involved in attaining personal achievement, working/helping others and bringing out the best in ourselves and our country.
Thank you Ms. Chambers for bringing up the issue of consumerism regardless if it was a gift or whatever the source was to this family. In our age of "gadgets" we have forgotten what relationships are about b/c most of us have TV, radio or I-pods connected to our hearing in some fashion which then stops communication in our families. The poker night sounds like a great way to socialize w/friends w/o the seriousness of getting "hooked" on poker. I for one am so ready for change in our political climate and do appreciate the civil manner in which Obama is running his campaign even with Clinton throwing so much at him. She tends to forget that her husband was favored by the press when he first ran for president and that he had little experience at the time. It would be great to see our world become a more civil world that really cared about people. Thank you for bringing up the issue about change and what do we do with our families.
I admit I am surprised by these comments. Ms Chambers is right on track. While we don't know the situation of this *specific* family, there are far too many families in this country whose kids lack healthy food, supplies for school, books to read, or shoes that fit properly -- but still somehow manage to acquire a large, power-hungry television and to rent movies and even to pay the cable bill. When you pay your cable bill but make excuses to your landlord, you have a problem!
I can't tell you how many "poor me" people seem to be paying more than $200 a month for cable television and movie rentals. I am so frustrated with a perpetually broke co-worker who comes in every week with a fresh story about getting a $35 bounced check charge on her $4 movie rental.
In the center of my living room is: nothing. I have no television. More precisely, I have no interest in a television, despite having enough cash in the bank to buy the most expensive television sold at Circuit City. We read books and magazines, we stroll around the nearby park, we have friends over for dinner, we keep up with the family, we sing in the church choir, we do all kinds of things -- but we do not waste our lives in front of a television screen.
As a lifestyle choice, I recommend it, especially for educated women. (The research shows that higher intelligence people are naturally less interested in television anyway, so it's less of a change for them.) If you can "kill your television" for just a month, you'll start to wonder why you ever wanted it in the first place. However, I recognize that most people would rather have the entertainment today than money, knowledge, and good memories later. It just seems like a reform to make "tomorrow."
In the meantime, when you volunteer to be featured on national television as an example of a person who deserves sympathy for your financial situation, it is only common sense that you don't show off a big-screen television and then try to convince people that you're "deprived." It may be that you can fool some of the people most of the time, but I think most people are smarter than that.
