Well, it's Sunday, a day of boring television - not that I watch a lot - when it seems that the entire weeks worth of soaps is regurgitated just in case we missed an episode and can't bear to have to wonder what happened to the cast this time out.
Avoiding television - it's a tool of brainwashing after all - and sitting out in the sunshine for what is a lovely October day seemed a far wiser way to spend my time.
However, damn my brain, it kept thinking about TV and the unwritten rules regarding minority groups in soaps and dramas, so it seemed a good starting point for an article.
Here are just a few observations, there are probably many more to add, but these certainly appear to be the rules most television soaps/dramas abide by.
Minority is always to be promoted in a positive light. In dramas and soaps they are to be the victim wherever possible, seldom the perpetrator. To this end there will be at least one character who despises them, due entirely to prejudice.
Minorities struggle against oppression and misunderstanding from majority is always to be documented, and minority will win out.
Usually those oppressing them realise the errors of their ways, minority is unanimous in forgiveness, and all live happily ever after.
We are to be conditioned for change - take the Doctor Who episode where Britain had a black queen, again a strong and heroic character.
Morality is to be presented as the domain of minority, the unscrupulous and amoral are to be portrayed as white, usually male.
An enriching presence in the local community is always the outcome of a minority introduced to a TV show, they are to be shown as a force for positive change.
Should - increasingly common - mixed race relationships occur then in nearly every instance prejudice will originate only from the white family/parents involved, and the local white community.
Indeed, prejudice as a whole should only ever originate from the white, heterosexual community of any given TV program.
Minority is to be patriotic and caring. Eastenders covered Nigerian Mercy Olubunmi eagerly organising royal wedding celebrations, feeding white battleaxe Dot Cotton, before getting detained by UKBA officials because she was here illegally.
When, sometimes it has to be done just to keep up appearances, minority is portrayed doing something negative there is always a mitigating factor or an excuse to hand. It is never really their fault.
There we go, the unwritten rules of minority in soaps and dramas. Watch a few - if you can bring yourself to waste time on the tripe - and tell me that I'm wrong.
Most of us have probably wised up long ago and learned to avoid the trash propaganda turned out under the guise of entertainment, but sadly far too many seem to take their definition of reality from the television, and treat the soaps like they are real people and real events.
Television does play an important role in indoctrinating the masses, and certainly does not present anything like an unbiased or accurate portrayal of life.
These simple rules should prove that to anyone with doubts, how often do you see a soap break them?
The unwritten rules are there for a simple reason, and that is to tell people what to think, to nudge them in the direction of an agenda.
Reality takes second place to an idealised presentation of a flawed social ideology, and the avenue of so called television entertainment is an excellent medium to drip feed it to people, especially the young, in order to condition them to accept it as desirable and accurate.
Well, it's Sunday, a day of boring television - not that I watch a lot - when it seems that the entire weeks worth of soaps is regurgitated just in case we missed an episode and can't bear to have to wonder what happened to the cast this time out.
