Tuesday, January 6, 2009

I've seen one too many commercials

I don't really watch that much TV. But I seem to get in a little bit every day & I've noticed something. On television, in commercials especially, people who are very sick are leading a lot fuller & more active lives than I am.

First, I notice everybody does yoga. The diabetic, the person suffering from debilitating bone loss, the Alzheimer's patient, the COPD guy, everybody, apparently, who has a serious, even terminal illness on television does yoga.

The diabetic coaches football. The COPD people walk up flights of stairs, and probably train for marathons, never once explaining how they manage to BREATHE. Even with drugs.

And they all do yoga, 'cause people with serious illnesses are all cool and otherworldly I reckon.

I've known people who were seriously ill, and in most cases, they were not enjoying themselves. They were not working on their abs while being wheeled into the operating room. Or doing squats in between vomiting. Generally, they went thru a ton of misery.

I suppose this is just a continuation with my history of disconnect with television - it goes back to a very young age, before 1st grade even, when I realized that (especially on commercials) the reality depicted did not jive with the reality I knew. People said things and held assumptions that just were not familiar to me and were not a part of the society I lived in. My world was not part of their paradigm and they didnt even know it. Now that I think about it, I knew more about them than they did about me, even though had they been confronted with the fact, they would have swore that it wasnt true. At least I knew there was something called moo-goo-gai-pan, even though I did not have a clue what it was. They had no clue there was anything called Hindman, Kentucky. I'm pretty sure about that.

Anyway, coming back to the present, the reality I'm familiar with is that people who have a hard time breathing frequently have a VERY hard time breathing, and there is no way to sugar coat it. Many diabetics have serious, serious complications that keep them from getting to their yoga classes. People who suffer from bone loss frequently fall and break bones, making it extremely hard for them to keep up with their yoga. Many people who are really ill, don't eat right, don't take care of themselves, don't get enough exercise, and couldn't if they wanted to. That is reality.

I don't know why it disgusts me so much. I don't know why I'd expect anything better from a TV commercial.


Martin MY said...

If there is one pet hate it is commericals on TV. The trouble is the producers of the ads are too good at their job convincing millions of mistruths. Youre diagnosis is so true not just in that genre but as a generalisation. If only more poeple realised that it is all a con, perhaps they would or have to change direction a bit. I just don't bother watching TV as it is quite winds me up!

Anonymous said...

That is why I record TV shows and re-play them with the DVR so I can fast-forward thru the commercials!

A Valdese Blogger said...

Martin: Well, you know, sometimes I rant. Thanks again for reading.

Anon: But Anon, unless you close your eyes, you just see more faster. Your brain fills in the rest. Subcounsciously. Without you knowing it, even.