Change Is Not Always Bad

In response to Ms. McKinley’s blog “Jumping the Gun, Free TV not so Free anymore,” I would have to say that I agree with her but only to a certain extent.  Ms. McKinley’s blog is about the switch that the Bush administration made from analog to digital television and all the problems that are included with it such as having to purchase a converter box and antennas along with having to readjust them more often than not.  I remember at that time I was working as an Event Rep for T-Mobile at 7 Wal-Mart locations in Austin.  It did seem to bring a lot of discomfort to many Austenite’s, especially the ones that really didn’t keep themselves informed and missed the deadline for the vouchers and had to pay out of pocket for the new necessary equipment or those that waited till the entire shipment was gone and had to travel 45 minutes to an hour out of their way to get to a location that still had some in stock.  I also find it very humorous that people believe that this is the government’s way of “spying” on us with the digital boxes now in every house, especially after learning that they’re tapping into our cell phone usage.  I’m just not too sure that this was necessarily a bad change.  It was simply a change that had to be done, not because of politics but because of the advanced technology that we are constantly inventing.  The government had to step in and completely convert us as a whole to the new way otherwise it would be a big mess and there would be even more problems.  This, in my opinion, was an example of us holding the President or even the government accountable for something that was not in their hands.  As we learned in class, it’s unfortunate but true to just throw the blame on them.  I think that the government actually helped a lot by providing the vouchers as oppose to what I’m sure the manufactures of the new digital television sets were looking forward to because they wanted a new TV in every house.  It could have been that way, but the politicians knew that wouldn’t be right or fair for those who could not afford or see the need in a new TV.  So this whole situation was and will continue to be uncomfortable for those that have the converters and antennas but we cannot blame it on anyone, it’s just the way of technology.  I’m sure if we ask our grandparents or great grandparents if they’re happy with IPODs, CDs, or $5 burgers we’ll hear hours of stories of the way everything was cheaper and different but just because it wasn’t mandated by the government doesn’t make it any fairer.  Overall, Ms. McKinley had really good points and a lot of voice in her blog which made it very interesting.