Books Speak as Loud as TV
This is an era filled with various scientific achievements, andtelevision is one of the most flamboyant among them,influencing several generations' behavior by molding them intothe same mindset regardless of their race, gender, andbackground. Intoxicated by the superficial success of TVculture, some throw the irresponsible statement that reading is not as important as it once was, forpeople can learn as much by watching television as they can by reading books. This is far from thetruth. Though television has become an integral part of our daily lives, the role that books play isstill irreplaceable and merits further advocating.
Admittedly, television gives us an option to traditional education through reading and classroomteaching. Indeed the vivid images it produces succeed in the education of children, who are muchmore inclined to accept visual information than abstract letters or characters. Television also raisesour consciousness by providing the latest news and discoveries, extending our horizon by suchdocumentary programs as "National Geographic" and "Discovery", whose contents mightotherwise be unapproachable in an entire lifetime.
Despite all these advantages, the shortcomings of televisions are equally, if not more, apparent.Television stations operate as profit enterprises. Consequently, television programs are profit-based, and their commercial orientation drives them to be entertaining more so than educational,for the latter are typically less profitable.
Furthermore, watching television can neither provoke abstract thinking, which is most crucial inadvanced scientific research, nor can it teach effective management and adequate control ofwritten language. Written language carries the utmost importance in inheritance and disseminationof knowledge. Books contain the collective human experience, knowledge and wisdom. Humantalents of abstract thought, logical dialogue, philosophy and writing style can be acquired onlythrough the reading, digesting, and rumination of novels, texts, essays and speeches. Shallow,short-sighted, entertainment programs offer no such enrichment.
In addition, watching television tends to overemphasize machinery, ignoring humanity. Open anancient book and read the comments by those living centuries ago, thousands of miles away. Thebook itself connects readers and writers across time and space, giving one the sense of belongingto one large human family. Lying on sofa watching television with popcorn in hand can only causeisolation, alienation and depression.
Borrowing the saying John Keats inscribed on his tombstone, we can describe television programsas "written on water". They are ephemeral. Whereas for books, as William Shakespeare wrote, “Nothing of him that doth fade, But doth suffer a sea-change into something rich and strange. ".