I Called Your Bluff So Now I'll Fold

For months, the government had warned us that everybody must switch to a digital converter box. They had constantly pushed back the date of the official change and the more the deadline was pushed back, the more I was felt skeptical about it happening. Finally, after months of so called dilly dallying the government kept true to their decision and any home that didn't have a digital box in their home lost their cable. Even though the government is providing free TV converter boxes for people who can't afford them, I still believe that there is some sort of gimmick. How do you tell people in an unstable economy that adapting to the digital world should be a top priority to them? When people wake up one morning and find that they don't have any cable, then the most probable thing that they will do is panic. If people start panicking about having no cable then they're going to run to their local cable store and start demanding to have their cable boxes. I understand that it is easier for cable stations to transmits signals if everyone has a digital receiver but they picked a poor time to put this change into effect. In my opinion, the government made it to appear like some sort of threat and I think a lot of people called them bluff. I honestly don't think many people believed the government would put this into action until after our economy had reached some stability. Now we have plenty of people complaining about having no cable in their homes. I'll admit that it's partially their fault because the government did give them plenty of time to go out and get converter boxes. On the other hand, I don't think it was handled properly and should have put more efforts to make sure that every single American that owns a television could wake up to "The Today Show", "Good Morning America", or "Good Day, New York" that day.

So what do you think? Did the government do the right thing in enforcing the switch to digital cable? Did the government put in enough effort to make Americans ready for the change or do you think they faltered? I would like to hear your thoughts and opinions on this one. Suggestions are welcome too. Just remember the media thinks they control us, but we control them with the change of a channel.

This has been Ian Feldman speaking words of wisdom