Actually I'm pretty sure that if you take away the strawman (i'm not saying people don't change channels, I'm saying their remote usage isn't governed by critical thinking, it's governed by easily manipulated emotions) it is the norm, and advertising rates are determined scientifically by those data points.

Interestingly, people who feel they aren't manipulated by the meta-reality and it's subconscious suggestions are just as suspectible to being manipulated by the metareality.

You can make big generalizations about people's usage of TV because they have the same neurological responses to it, which is the reason advertising works, and the meaning of 'the medium is the message' and the subject of a bunch of scientific research done by corporations to manipulate you into thinking you need axe body spray. Did you know Procter Gamble uses the same propaganda techniques early communist china did, over the air? Politicians calculate exactly what effects an ad will have on a specific demographic based on the profile of the audience of the show they watch.

You give people to much credit. It large numbers, like in tv viewers, their behavior is very hivelike.

Thank goodness for the BBC - no adverts, quality drama,factual,news,entertainment etc :)

High quality circuses for you to enjoy while the british government continues it's quest to make 1984 come a few years late and your world slides into chaos. I didn't realize "the circuses are really good" was a defense for an accusation that a culture centered around circuses is destructive to your ability to act more like a person and less like a monkey.

And you are subtly programed by the people who control the BBC rather then the american corporate interest. I fail to see a big difference.

I see a difference. Just because the British government is increasing surveillance doesn't mean it is also as monolithic as its parallel in 1984. Watching the BBC does not preclude active citizenship. More to the point, I doubt viewers who can appreciate the humor in Blackadder or the drama in Rome are completely incapable of questioning things they read or hear.

The difference between 1984 and the way the british government would like to do things involves technological maturity and distribution of that technology. The intentions and thinking is the same.

"Just because the British government is increasing surveillance doesn't mean it is also as monolithic as its parallel in 1984."

Please can we stop this silly misconception that the UK government is engaged in surveillance en masse. It's a ridiculous fantasy.

Individual businesses have closed circuit TV, to catch criminals and protect their premises. The video goes onto a video, which in a few days is used again and taped over. It can be requested by the police, if they feel it may help with a criminal case. End of story.

I believe the practice started to take off in the 70s/80s when video cameras became cheap enough for the average person to have one, and they were shown to catch shop lifters etc. Also possibly to catch people like the IRA planting bombs.

OK, so it's destructive to my ability to act more like a person and less like a monkey. But I don't want to "act more like a person", I want to escape reality.