One of my favorite reads, SFGate columnist, Mark Morford, has captured questions I had myself after the release of a recent study by the General Social Survey on the correlation between unhappy people and their TV habits.
"...Why are studies like this not more accurate? Why are studies like this not more comprehensive? They manage to get 30,000 people on the phone and all they ask them is, "Are you unhappy?" followed by "How much TV do you watch?"
And then they hear this heavy sigh and a long pause as the person on the other end of the line pours himself a giant tub of gin and flicks something hard and yellowish from the corner of his consciousness, and says:
"A lot, actually, especially reality TV -- gotta love reality TV, especially those shows that make you feel soiled and sad and are so debasing you'd have to be a tree fungus not to feel a little bit better about yourself after watching them -- which I don't, actually, feel any better that is, which is pretty sad, so the answer is yes, I'm unhappy, and I watch a lot of TV."
"Very good, sir. Thank you so much for your ti--"
"Wait. I also dream about being eaten alive by giant angry candy corns, and then being reborn as a small squash, fated to be chopped up and boiled in a vat of peasant soup in rural China. Who's calling, please?"
