http://www.wliw.org/funds/Quote:
The House of Representatives is about to vote on whether to cut federal funding for public broadcasting by 45 percent * the largest cuts in history.
PBS signature series * Nature, Nova, The NewsHour, Sesame Street, Antiques Roadshow, and many others * will all be affected.
They (random people on the internet) say that the government has been dying to get rid of public television and their alternative point of view.
Thoughts?
What's the purpose of Public Television again? Why does our government have to fund a tv station? I know, I know... You've got your cute little conspiracy theories about how they want to shut the voice of the left down because we all know that everybody is glued to PBS hours daily and it is brainwashing the masses. Yay.
PBS isn't just left-wing stuff, they do a lot of interesting scientific programs as well as some great children's programming. You righties can gnash your teeth at how you hate someone with a different POV getting some of your 'hard earned tax dollars' but getting rid of PBS is just a bad idea all around. If you don't see it now, you will someday.
Nova had a show on Feynmann once, and that's enough for me to support public television. And then there were those great Baseball and Jazz documentaries.
I grew up watching Sesamie Street and 321 Contact and all that shit. It was about the only Television I watched in the 4-10 range.
I don't even have television anymore, but still, this is really sad for me man.
its disheartening to see the news, I heard about it a month back and donated some cash to the Houston PBS people, i guess that made me a member or something but with all this coming it wont matter for long. Houston PBS however is pretty popular and from what i've heard the local folk around here have been raising hell trying to talk to congress people and shit, I hope this doesn't go through. PBS is really the only thing i watch thesedays, and its more beneficial than people think. If PBS goes away, where will educational programming be offered for people who can't afford cable or satellite... Nein sucht thats what. Fuck this budget cutting.
There's a petition going around to help save it... I think this is horrible, because to me it's like art and music in school: sure it may seem like it's wasted money, but it's a great part of our society that is even more important to our children. Personally, I watch PBS quite often, esp. the HD channel in my area.
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Originally Posted by NoboruWataya
Yea.. I feel the same way. I've watched tons of PBS for all the great documenteries like Burns' Baseball..etc. I love Nature, NOVA, Scientific American Frontiers, all the cooking shows (I don't get Food Network). You should see some of those shows (like Nature) on HD..its amazing.
Growing up I also watched 321 Contact, Carmen Sandiego, Reading Rainbow and yes.. even Mr. Rogers (what else would I watch when I was 5?).
I also like a recent series on PBS here in NYC called "New York: The Way it was"..it sorta went through the history and all the great places in every borough of NYC..it was neat seeing all the things that are in NYC and the historical places I could visit (if I wasn't so damn lazy).
Granted I don't watch none of the news shows, political stuff, financial shows..etc on PBS but for educational stuff its all good.... except for Poobah which is mega evil. My pal's daughter was watching that thing and that show is beyond drug induced.
There are a hundred channels out there that provide similar programming. If these PBS shows are so good, they'll survive in the private market by getting picked up by one of those hundred channels. Seriously, do you think PBS offers anything that isn't offered elsewhere many times over? I'm not even anti-PBS, because I actually love a lot of the stuff that has come out of there, but at least I can be objective enough to realize that that quality of programming isn't going to be lost if PBS goes away. It's just not. There are alternatives.Quote:
Originally Posted by g0zen
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Originally Posted by Scourge
That is true but there are still plenty of people out there that still do not have cable because either its still for some reason not available or they simply do not want to spend the money on it. PBS at least is a free option for them. I understand your point though.
This is exactly my boat. I (well my roomate) only have an antenna.Quote:
That is true but there are still plenty of people out there that still do not have cable because either its still for some reason not available or they simply do not want to spend the money on it. PBS at least is a free option for them.
Why should the government only do things they HAVE to do. It's quite a nice little favor to the american public to broadcast some good enducational programming for it's children and even adults. Like I said I grew up with PBS, and I think I'm a better person for it.Quote:
Why does our government have to fund a tv station?