Discovering the Darker Side

Saturday morning as I continue to hide under my covers pretending to be in need of another 12 hours of sleep, I hear my Dad bellowing at my sisters downstairs to change the channel. Apparently they have been watching the Family Channel, getting another view of non-reality, watching spoiled kids who have no responsibility demonstrate a complete lack of any sense. My Dad wants them to get a dose of scientific reality so they don't end up living at home until they are thirty because they are unable to survive in the real world. "Channel 42 or shut it off. Watch something that's going to expand your mind not shrink it" he warns. So my younger sister flips it to Discovery and starts to watch Mayday. Great. Just as we are planning for a trip to Florida she is seeing planes falling out of the sky, people screaming, and rescue workers trying to save the mortally wounded. Ooops. Try again Dad.

Later that day we come back from a nice girls-only outing and my Dad is doing some work on his computer watching Discovery - his favourite show - apparently trying to expand his mind. Destroyed in Seconds is just ending with Deadliest Catch close on its heels. How is this expanding his or our minds? I am told that Discovery has been providing factual information for 15 years focusing on the science and nature of things. Well I do recognize that Physics is playing a role in Destroyed In Seconds and nature is somehow connected to the killing of innocent crabs in Deadliest Catch, but I still don't fully understand what shows like mayday are teaching us. Not to get on a plane perhaps?

Sure there are some cool things like How Its Made that demonstrates human ingenuity, and Myth Busters that does use the scientific method to try and disprove ridiculous beliefs which is all great for education, but then along comes Machines of Malice that shows how humans have invented and experimented until they find the best way to kill each other. Nice.

In small doses, Discovery can provide a look at things we might otherwise not have learned about while watching the sitcoms, drams, and music videos, however parents may want to reconsider what they are requiring their children to watch when they recommend channel 42.