tv-b-gone!

I'm incredibly, overflowingly pround of my friend Mitch, whose invention TV-B-Gone has generated a ton of unexpected press over the past couple of days (there's a good article in Wired, for instance). For those who've called him a jerk for inventing a device capable of turning off the incessant barage of corporate propoganda spewing into our public spaces, I'm tempted to say you wouldn't dislike him so much if you actually met him. But, no, you probably would. His personality is the antithesis of what television promotes. Mitch's gentle demeanor doesn't drown out anyone's voice and the quiet confidence he has in his convictions doesn't change according the fashions of the seasons. Not unlike his invention, Mitch's personality seems to open up space in which real conversation and communication can occur.

A few months back I walked with Mitch around the Castro while he demonstrated a prototype. It was late on a Saturday, so we had plently of anonymity on our side. We tested it in neighborhood bars, dance clubs, and late night pizza joints. We weren't obnoxious about it -- we targeted TV's that were just part of the "ambience" and not, say, TV's showing a baseball game to a crowd of fans. For me, the joy of seeing TV-B-Gone in action was located somewhere between that of a childhood prank and an act of civil disobedience.

Between then and now I ran into Mitch only a couple of times -- and each time the tiredness in his voice betrayed the amount of work he was putting into getting this thing to undergo the transformation from a set of microchips he burned in his in apartment and manually soldered onto a circuit board to a cute but deceptively plain-looking, factory-produced "fob" that fits on a keychain or in your pocket. TV-B-Gone had been a dream of his for over decade and he was giving it that final, exhausting push over the crest of a mountain separating daydream from reality. The exhaustion showed, but he seemed genuinely happy, if a bit overwhlemed. Which is about 1/3 of the reason I'm so delighted to see that his invention is in production, selling, and getting lots of attention -- I'm incredibly happy for him and his struggle to get this done has been nothing short of inspiring for me. He's one of the many reason I've felt such an inner push to put more effort into actively shaping -- or at least putting down the foundation for -- a life I want to live rather than hoping that it will be handed to me by circumstance. Not sure what changes that push will bring, but I can feel them on the horizon.

Another third of my delight comes from the simple fact that I'll soon be running around town myself with one of these things.

And the final third is that I honestly believe the dumbing-down effect of television, which intensifies as time goes on, is largely to blame for the dissolution of our democracy. Certainly this small device won't change that overnight. But the fact that TV-B-Gone exists at all is reason to hope.

So, Mitch, if you get a chance to read this between interviews and emergency rebuilds of the TV-B-Gone website, I couldn't possibly offer a congratulations as big as your accomplishment, but -- congratulations anyway!

And thank you.