I'm sorry, did you say anything?

Norman Mailer urges that we ban television commercials. In a recent article in the Sunday supplement, Parade, he argues that our ability to concentrate is being destroyed by the barrage of commercials that interrupt television shows every few minutes and dramatically reduce the viewers' attention span. Mailer notes that the number of books read annually by teenagers declined more than 25 percent from 1982 to 2002.

Mailer wants us to pay for television, so that the need for commercial sponsorship could be eliminated. I doubt that people will support such a radical step, although I certainly would. But I do see realistic hope for eliminating some harmful commercials.