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For
that reason, I think television can be a great thing for those who want to
learn about the boundless numbers of living things found in far-away places.
And it can be wonderful for kids who never see much of anything but the
creation of man, trapped inside a concrete world, crowded with people and
automobiles.
The
channels where you find those awesome films are varied, British Broadcasting,
Animal Planet, National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and others. One I found
not long ago is a channel produced by Brigham Young University. I encourage you to watch them when you
are inside for any reason. All the
master naturalists out there need to see this unbelievable modern day miracle
of photography from some of the best camera-naturalists ever. It makes me wish that when I was young
I would have gone that direction with my love of the outdoors.
I
also get a kick out of seeing old television shows from my boyhood, like
Gunsmoke and Bonanza and the old westerns. Are there any modern television shows which even make you
want to watch them, filled with the debauchery of modern times, and the sex
oriented situations which television people think is great viewing? Are there any modern-day stars which
compare to Jack Benny and Jackie Gleason or Bob Hope?
The
old time movies and television shows needed a few good naturalists as
advisors. I saw John Wayne
shooting pheasants once, supposedly in a time when those birds didn’t exist in
this country. Some show about
Billy the Kid showed pheasants flushing where there should have been prairie
grouse, and once I saw a grizzly bear in a movie set in Kentucky.
Fess
Parker made a great Daniel Boone, but I would have loved to tell them that having
him packing around tanned furs didn’t look convincing at all. Furs taken by ol’ Daniel would have
been bloody and stiff, thrown over his shoulder. And there wouldn’t have been any arctic fox hides amongst
them, as I often saw.
In
the westerns of that time, you could be shot in the shoulder by a Colt .45 or a
30-30 Winchester and be up and around in just no time at all, ready to fight
the bad guys again. The bad guys
fell stone dead in just a second and you often didn’t see any blood at all. That
just wasn’t the way it was. When
Matt Dillon took a bullet in vital areas, somehow Doc and Kitty were able to
save him!
But
mostly I object to the fact that in the old movies, they got the natural world
really goofed up. Not today though,
with those nature films that show places like Alaska and New Zealand and the
Australian outback, or the depths and coral reefs of the Atlantic Ocean. The jungles and wild creatures of
Africa or South America, I can see and learn about.
My
grandfather never knew about them except from the stale black and white photos
in magazines and books he read by lantern light in his little cabin. Would he have ever been awe-stricken if
he could have seen those films!
So
I urge you to find those channels and watch them with your kids and grandkids,
and stay away from CNN and NBC and CBS and channels like those that are out to
deform the minds of those who watch.
Satan never found a better way to destroy our nation!
I
am pretty much uninterested in television except for the old westerns and
baseball games, and anything with Red Skelton or Bob Hope or those old time
people from my boyhood. Direct
T.V. and Dish Network are about the only ways you can see those handful of
channels that I watch when I am not able to be out in the woods or on the
river.
You
and I and everyone else knows they are very dishonest and deceitful businesses
that are going to try their best to get much more money from you after a brief
period than they first promised they would charge. But in today’s world, you can’t fight them. If you get big enough, you can lie,
steal and cheat with little consequence. Maybe that goes along a little with
modern times. But if I was in that
business, I think maybe I would just worry about getting people those nature
channels.
I
hope you find them and watch.
There is another world far beyond the Ozarks that we will never get to
see and appreciate any other way, and those places and those living things are awesome.
Can
you remember the first movie you ever saw? When I was about five, my Grandma
took me to see the Saturday afternoon matinee at the Melba theatre in Houston
Missouri. The movie was titled,
“The Creature From the Black Lagoon”.
It scared me so bad I swore I would never be in a dark place again
without a blanket over my head. I
slept that way for quite a spell, and for a good year or so I wouldn’t ever go
out that long path to the outhouse after dark.
But
as we went to other Saturday afternoon matinees, I watched Tex Ritter and Lash
Larue and Gene Autry always get the bad guys. I guess I have turned out so bad because I got my own
gun and holster set and rode around our little place on Indian Creek on an
imaginary horse, shooting dozens of bad guys, quite a few Indians and a bear or
two. When I went to get my little
grandson a gun and holster years ago, they didn’t have any. Couldn’t even find a solitary cap
pistol! I kind of wonder if that
attitude which we have developed today about what it takes to raise a boy has
made the world better.
When
Roy Rogers was every kids hero, we had the best of times, and we lived in a
society that was simpler and safer and yet greater than any we will ever see
again. Today there just aren’t any
good guys left!
If
you would like to inquire about getting our new summer magazine or one of my
books, just call my executive secretary, Ms. Wiggins, at our executive office
on our executive phone. The phone
number is 417 777 5227. Or you can
write to me at Box 22, Bolivar, Mo. 65613, or email me at
lightninridge@windstream.net
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