Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dan on December 7, 2009 at 2:19am

If you can afford the fee they charge for a 30 minute infomercial... then I'm sure you can get on just about any station.

That's how alot of the xtain channels start. That and public access.

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Permalink Reply by mram50 on December 7, 2009 at 2:25am

That's a start Dan.. I personally can't start a network or any of it because I'm 50 in poor health and might not live much longer, but I have grandkids I don't want to live in this quasi-theocracy. Mainly now I would like to see the discussion get going and new ideas out there and something on the air in big markets...not at 3:30 AM, but prime time 24/7, etc..
If they can do it for imaginary figures then we can do it for ourselves.. We're more important than imaginary gods and spooks..
Also this discussion isn't about what I can afford or you can afford, but what we as atheists can afford.. I have $2 to my name right now so I DO hope nobody is waiting for moi.
Do it for YOU, YOUR KIDS AND YOUR GRANDKIDS! STOP these "god goons" from taking over our lives. It HAS to be fought ON THE AIR instead of forums and "tweets"..

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Permalink Reply by elaine kilshaw on December 7, 2009 at 9:13am

This is the truth but I have been advocating this for a long time. On Sky I have flicked through religious programmes spouting off about how religion can save you, . I believe in fairness there should be a balanced programming and it is time for an atheist station.
Millionaires and billionaires do not want to part with their money, although they could obliterate poverty and injustices but i believe you might as well talk to a wall.
It will be interesting reading the feedback.
I suppose nowadays it is not what you know but who you know.

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Permalink Reply by mram50 on December 9, 2009 at 12:02am

I live in the DFW area and believe me..TV here BLOWS goats balls and goats rectums for that matter..
The big money people might be interested if there's a return on investment..you know.. ROI? That would mean commercials OR a cable network or both..
They have to know there's big bucks in it for them somewhere and I'm not 100% opposed to that as long as the atheist messages can get out to the public at large instead of just to people searching for it online. At the rate we're going it'll be a theocracy globally before ATV Atheist TV gets off the ground..
Ideas and brainstorming is what we need instead of: Well....other people suck so it won't work..
Ideas, ideas, ideas!

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Permalink Reply by Kirk Holden on December 7, 2009 at 12:48pm

Requirents for the enterprise

1. Ruthless self-promotion
2. Vastly flexible morals
3. Vanishingly small ethical restrictions
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10000. Talent
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googol. A Message

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Permalink Reply by mram50 on December 8, 2009 at 11:55pm

Yeah, the moral thing is likely to just sort of evaporate FAST but we can't have everything.
I'm not a big morals person anyway. I have mine and I don't like to lie or steal or cheat and so on, but I certainly wouldn't hold anyone to any moral standard on an atheist network except one, ..ok a few, but the biggest, NO PREACHING the happy horse sh*t by-bull then no stealing or generally embarrassing the network in any way that could bring it down in any manner. What people do while not working? Who cares? Atheism isn't exactly preaching some sort of high ground moral purityland thing anyway..
I just want to see more ideas and suggestions really..
The self promo..sure.. Flexible morality? Absolutely..ethics? Well...that one has to be watched because with ANY enterprise ethics can be a real downfall if not kept in check..

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Permalink Reply by Kirk Holden on December 9, 2009 at 12:03pm

It's a good policy to ask politely what someone's moral standards might be. But evolutionary psychology tells us that every sane Homo Sapien acquires moral reason from genes and environment. We each act "as if" we have some moral principals - even if we are not self aware of what those might be. Well informed folks usually have an ethical framework (a theory about moral principals) that informs their moral reason.

My particular problem with religious folks is that they report - with self deception - that their morals are the inflexible morals from sacred texts. An atheist without self knowledge of their innate morality may also report - with self deception - that their moral system is nihilism, StarTrekism, relativism or another "ism". In either case, without an ethical framework to understand the foundation of your actual innate moral sense you operate irrationally with respect to your reported moral beliefs. This IMHO leads to preaching, burning at the stake and voting straight ticket for one political party or another.

Provisional morality is flexible but only within limits - the kind of moral behavior we usually act on.

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

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Permalink Reply by mram50 on December 9, 2009 at 12:29pm

Well that's all cool, but how do we, as atheists break into the 24-7 global TV thing?
Sorry, didn't mean to sideline your theory of ethical behavior and all that, but... I was more interested in a TV network.
I'm not going to start one obviously because I'm 50, in poor health and broker than a stick, but I can try to get a discussion started (maybe) to get things headed in that direction and that right now is the primary reason for this thread...or I was hoping so anyway. ;)

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Permalink Reply by Jay Catt on December 9, 2009 at 12:58pm

PBS is what I would picture, lotsa science. Unbiased political shows ( as unbiased as one can get) and the closet thing to a reality show was the "1900 house" series.

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