Could I Sue?

[Maine farmer]

It had come to my attention that my brain is filled with all sorts of information I don't want. I don't care about Charlie Sheen, yet I know too much about him. The same for "Brangelina", Jennifer Aniston, Brittiany Spears, Alec Baldwin, etc. Yet I have trouble remembering the quadradic eqation that I learned in high school algebra, and I increasingly use a calculator instead of doing simple math in my head. The media has filled my brain with so much junk that it has pushed out useful knowlege and abilities. I WANT MY BRAIN SPACE BACK!

 

Can I sue the media for media incuced cognitive disfunciton? (I'm not even sure how to spell "cognitive" anymore!) Is there a lawyer on this site?

[Qfwfq]

A lawyer might need to know what jurisdiction you're under. :)

 

What you can certainly do is what I do: chuck out the TV set and choose which news items to read or watch. I'm not sure you can lay a claim for brainwashing, though it might be nice if there were laws against it. ;)

[C1ay]

I suspect you could try to sue yourself for displaying a lack of self-discipline.

[CraigD]

It had come to my attention that my brain is filled with all sorts of information I don't want. I don't care about Charlie Sheen, yet I know too much about him. The same for "Brangelina", Jennifer Aniston, Brittiany Spears, Alec Baldwin, etc.

Sue?! You better watch out - if the owners of the intellectual properties your brain is filled with figure out a way to make you pay for your copies of them, some industry group of them may sue you!

 

Can I sue the media for media incuced cognitive disfunciton? (I'm not even sure how to spell "cognitive" anymore!) Is there a lawyer on this site?

IANAL, but seriously, in the US, you can, or course, sue anyone for anything, but the legal precedent for suing media organizations or individuals isn't promising.

 

A short, serious synopsis:

Starting in 1932, laws were enacted that were interpreted to mean, among other things, that newscasters could be sued for lying on radio or TV. This interpretation reached something of a peak around 1959, when federal law was enacted to require that game shows not lie. (see the wikipedia article quiz show scandals)

 

Ca 1980, as US government increasingly promoted policies helpful to businesses, this interpretation declined, falling below a critical point around 2000, when a Florida state count overturned a lawsuit in which a TV station admitted to fabricating a news story and firing reporters who objected to it, on the grounds that this this is not legally actionable. (see the project censorship webpage The Media Can Legally Lie)

 

This legal precedent appears to remain in force through the present, with news organizations, predominantly Fox News, repeatedly broadcasting known false information, yet prevailing in lawsuits against them for doing so (see this recent Crooks & Liars blog)

[Maine farmer]

Just to be sure, I want to say that my comment was meant to be tongue in cheek, but I agree that tossing the TV is a great idea. Actually, recyling woulde be better. Any suggestions on making good use of an old TV?

[CraigD]

Any suggestions on making good use of an old TV?

Always keep a good CRT TV around for old cathode ray timing pointing devices, like my favorite old GunCon2 PS2 controller.

 

I've yet to try the next generation of precise pointing devices (ah, who am I kidding - video game guns), which rely on multiple inferred emitters attached to the edges of a flatscreen. 'Til I do, don't know if they'll equal the old CRT ones. The Wii controller (which uses an infrared camera to resolve an infrared LED bar) most certainly does not.