We have been watching Netflix, Amazon and Acorn, streaming them on Roku. We have been streaming with a Roku player for 5 years or so and it has accustomed me to television without ads. So, watching the first of five installments of the story of Menendez brothers, now in prison for more than 20 years for murdering their parents, I got confused. I was thinking about the amazing and horrifying story when suddenly I am seeing ice cream and waffles. What the devil? My wife explained that we were indeed watching the program but it had been interrupted, temporarily she assured me, by excellent photography and narrative aimed at persuading me to buy this brand of waffles and ice cream on my next grocery store visit.
Now, I remember. I used to see these "advertisements" all the time. I used to see breakfast cereal or automobiles in the midst of the WW II fighting in the Pacific. I used to accept that calmly. I remember I was not confused or mystified. I often try to find someone or something else to blame for my troubles even though I understand it mostly comes down me.
In searching for a place to lay blame, I considered Firefox, my go-to browser. It seems to be the thing in many cases these days, to entice me with an interesting article, like "How to Be Happy but Short", and then shove an ad over what I am reading. Firefox often offers a "reader's view" that instantly removes the offending interloper. I am not used to commercial ad-filled tv without tools to fight intrusions. So, between streaming without ads and Firefox tools, I have lost my patience with uninvited pests. I don't like door-to-door salesmen showing up, I don't like robo-calls and I am angered by tv ads.
