TV For Chickens

2009-09-27 · letter vlog · John · 3:06 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Pop culture (also: Science & nature) · mode: Personal essay · tags: community lore

John describes artist Tea Mäkipää's 'TV for chickens', a video that calms hens raised in dark farms, and argues it shows contemporary art can raise real questions: about what TV does to humans and whether it is better to have miserable chickens or none at all.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — TV for chickens as a band name; dating Sarah and contemporary art shows; contemporary art thought stupid

• ★ John says that when he and Sarah (the Yeti) started dating he had to attend contemporary art shows he knew nothing about, secretly wishing for regular dates. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Sarah Urist Green
• ★★ John says it is normal in today's culture to think contemporary art is stupid, but that there is in fact a lot of good and interesting contemporary art. — 00:00:00

00:00:40 — Tea Mäkipää's TV for chickens: hens in dark farms watch chickens outdoors and become calmer

• ★★ John says Sarah is working with the artist Tea Mäkipää, who is Finnish, lives in Germany and has an exhibition in Indiana. — 00:00:40 · Sarah Urist Green, Indiana
• ★★★ John says Mäkipää's project, a few years ago, showed thousands of hens that had lived their whole lives in a dark farm a TV show of chickens outdoors doing chicken stuff. — 00:00:40
• ★★ John says the hen farm gives the chickens no personal space and keeps them in the dark, never seeing daylight, to keep them calm. — 00:00:40
• ★★★ John says the chickens love the show: it makes them less anxious, less likely to peck at themselves and much less likely to kill other chickens. (playful) — 00:01:09

00:01:38 — What TV does to chickens and humans; eating eggs; chickens would go extinct; art asks questions

• ★★ John says chickens killing other chickens is apparently a huge problem on chicken farms. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:38
• ★★★ John says TV for chickens makes chickens more passive and more likely to accept their bad lives, and wonders what TV does for humans. — 00:01:38
• ★ John jokes that angry YouTube commenters need to watch more TV to wash off their aggression. (joke) — 00:01:38 · YouTube
• ★★★ John suggests that if chickens need TV to avoid killing each other, maybe he shouldn't eat so many eggs, but calls that response inadequately complex. (hedged) — 00:01:38
• ★★★ John says if everyone stopped eating eggs and chickens, chickens would go extinct: their natural defenses have been bred out, and they exist only because they are delicious. (playful) — 00:02:08
• ★★★ John says TV for chickens, which may not first have seemed like a great art piece, turns out to ask all kinds of interesting questions. — 00:02:08
• ★★★ John asks Hank and Nerdfighters a non-rhetorical question: which is it to be, a world where chickens need TV for chickens to avoid homicidal psychosis, or a world with no chickens at all? — 00:02:08 · Nerdfighteria, Hank Green

00:02:37 — End of the non-rhetorical question; plug for tomorrow's paperback winners; the Yeti and the second button

• ★★ John says he will announce several exciting things tomorrow, including the winners of the Paper Towns paperbacks. — 00:02:37 · Paper Towns

Humor (significant)

• John names the topic of the video. — 00:00:00

  “TV for chickens, which, by the way, would be a great name for a band.”

• Dating Sarah, John sat through contemporary art like a lady licking her own feet, feigning interest while wishing for regular dates. — 00:00:00

  “other places where people don't lick their toes in public”

• TV makes chickens passive and less murderous; John thinks of angry YouTube commenters. — 00:01:38

  “dude, you need to watch more TV. It'll wash that homicidal aggression right off you.”

• John asked the Yeti whether to unbutton his second button to bring sex appeal to Nerdfighteria. — 00:02:37

  “sweetie, you know I love you, but you're just not a two buttons kind of guy.”

Threads in this video

• callback · John's wife Sarah as 'the Yeti' (2007) — John calls Sarah 'the Yeti' recalling their early dates, and again when she rules out his unbuttoned second button. (00:00:00)
• restate · What do humans owe animals (pets, livestock, wild animals)? — John suggests maybe he shouldn't eat so many eggs given the chickens' miserable lives, then calls that inadequately complex since without eating them chickens would go extinct. (00:02:08)
• restate · What is art for? — John argues TV for chickens shows contemporary art can be good by raising all kinds of interesting questions. (00:02:08)
• asked · John asks Hank and Nerdfighters: chickens that need TV, or no chickens at all? (2009) — John puts a non-rhetorical question to Hank and Nerdfighters: a world where chickens need TV to avoid homicidal psychosis, or a world with no chickens at all? (00:02:08)
• postponed · John: announce the 10-word challenge contest winners on Friday (2009) — John says he will announce the Paper Towns paperback winners tomorrow (Monday), after the Friday he had promised. (00:02:37)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• John: announce the 10-word challenge contest winners on Friday (2009) — kept late

Mentioned

Central: contemporary art · Tea Mäkipää · TV for chickens

Also: animal ethics · Germany · Indiana · intensive animal farming · Paper Towns · Sarah Urist Green · YouTube

Also centred on contemporary art: In Defense of Contemporary Art

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