His message got me to think about the nature of TV commercials in the earlier days of TV. In contrast to those in the present era they flowed smoothly, being in sync with normal human tempo, and both video and audio were relevant to the advertised product or service. Watching them may not have been entertaining, but they were certainly acceptable.

While the overabundance of commercials themselves is very annoying, as Jalbert noted, the one second visual bites that characterize most, and virtually all TV previews, are contrived mind manipulations. The sawed-off, rapid-fire, continuously shifting visuals allow only one of our vital senses to be really engaged — our eyes. The others, also critical to balanced functioning, get repressed. As a result, we viewers can quite easily be misled into making decisions that may not be in our best interest.

These shrewd methods of getting our attention reflect an unwelcomed, dark side of capitalism and are intrusive, and frankly, stink.

Norm Gellatly, Auburn