___ ___ ___ ____ __ _____ __ ____ __ / __\ /__ \ /__ \ / __// | / /__ \ / / / / |/ | / /_/ // \ \// \ \/ /_ / /||/ // \ \/ / / / /| /| | / __ // / // / / __// / | // / / / / / / |/ | | / / / //___/ //___/ / /__/ / / //___/ / /__/ / / | | /_/ /_/______/______/____/_/ /_/______/\_____/_/ TEXTFILES ---------------------------------------------------------------------- #99 : Monday 24 July 2003 : http://addendumtextfiles.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Television, By Steak ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ ********************************************************************* We welcome you to this special channel forty-two exclusive Addendum broadcast, brought to you (in part) by the people who deliver twenty- four-hour-a-day entertainment and media information. Stay tuned for this awe-inspiring action packed transmission of unbelievable clarity, which promises to amuse with its fun-for-the-whole-family-to-watch approach to modern day living and free-to-air distraction. It’s a diversion from the world around you, a way for you to unwind and escape from the trivial pursuits of what you pretend to do all day. So shut off reality, ignore the screaming kids, divorce the husband, put your feet up, grab the remote, press the button and let yourself be completely engulfed by our all surrounding, all singing, all dancing continual fantasy that we create here in our studios and pipe, free of charge straight into your homes and brains through an unintrusive cable plugged into your set. And now a message from our sponsors: ********************************************************************* Walk into any household with children in any developed country at quater to four on any weekday and I bet you any money that those children will not be reading, playing, talking or otherwise expanding their minds but will instead be sitting, open mouthed, doe-eyed, staring blankly at a black plastic box emitting pictures and sounds, emotion only registering and executing when it’s told to do so. Imagine how many houses there are in your street, maybe ten to twenty? Then imagine how many there are in your block, maybe fifty to a hundred? Then in your suburb, maybe a thousand? Then in your city, maybe a hundred thousand? Then imagine how many there are in your country, and then add to that the rest of the developed world, streets, blocks, suburbs, cities, states and countries all with millions of households. In each and every one of these homes a perfect clone of the situation I described above is being played out daily. How did you feel when you missed that all-important show? I remember when I used to miss shows I wanted to watch, I’d feel like shit, I’d want to kick myself, I’d want to go back in time and press the record button, I’d even consider phoning up the television station and asking them if they perhaps had a spare copy of the show I missed on video that I could borrow. Doesn’t it ring true that perhaps this is just a little obsessive? Doesn’t it seem that maybe some people are getting just a little bit too much ‘into’ the television? It defiantly does to me; in fact I would go as far to say that the world today depends on television to relax in the same way that potheads depend on their drug to do the same thing. Television, on its arrival was hailed as an amazing entertainment vehicle and a worthwhile medium to bring education to the masses. But instead we have seen it completely commercialised and metamorphosed beyond recognition into a decedent force that is evidently just destroying our creativity, individualism and potential for artistic expression and appreciation. If a program fails to entertain us for a space longer than two minutes it’s declared ‘boring’ and ‘crap’ and is usually cancelled. - It comes as no surprise that you never see films like ‘2001 a space odyssey’ on the television, no one would bother to stick around until the end. But I’m no Luddite. I’ve watched my fair share of television in my lifetime so I’m not innocent. However during the last few years I have managed to block out television from my life completely. It’s so easy; just force yourself not to watch it for a month, don’t even record your ‘favourite’ shows and I promise you before you know it you won’t even remember what it was you used to see in that box. Don’t get bored, force yourself to do other things, take up a hobby, read a book, I know it sounds so unappealing to work your ass off to find something your interested in when you can just flick that switch and let the box put in the effort for you, but trust me it’s so much more fulfilling when you exert the energy yourself. You can quite easily watch movies from the video store, cinema is an art form and one that has just as much creativity involved in it as any painting or prose. Also with cinema what you watch is based less on how many S.U.V’s and crappy computers are going to be ultimately traded for your hard earned dollars. Imagine how much advertising you are seeing in every single day, how many companies are being given the chance to mentally control you and subliminally brainwash you into choosing their products over another (possibly more deserving) company. Bigger corporations with bigger advertising budgets are pushing the smaller companies out of the market place, the reason we have the bigger companies holding the monopolies these days is because these are the companies that can afford to advertise on television. Lets just take Safeway as an example, not for any reason other than it’s the first company that comes to mind (the door swings both ways suckers). Why is it that most people choose to shop there as apposed to other stores? I’ll tell you why; it’s because of their image as a no-nonsense, clean, friendly supermarket. This image hasn’t been earned; it’s been manufactured, by a team of pencil-neck-fat-cats sitting around a big brown table that costs more than the computer I’m writing this on. I know your thinking "but I don’t watch the ads, I only watch the programs" But I know people who say that, and I watch them staring blankly at the advertisements the same way they do the television programs. They know it’s a commercial, they know they are being subjected to a torrent of jingles and slogans but they are so frightened of missing even the first five minutes of their show that they don’t want to risk turning off the ads or even muting the sound. Because of all of this, because of all these advertisements and candy- pop media floating around the households of the world, children as young as two are developing a brand loyalty. That’s sick, fucking sick. So the question is whose fault is it that this problem is destroying the minds and spirits of not only our children but also the population as a whole? It’s easy to blame the big corporations, the advertisers, the fat cats, commercialism or just capitalism as a whole; they are big, inhuman, and faceless. They are the standard easy target and the standard scapegoat for most things these days, and although they are beyond help, beyond salvation and will most surely be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes, screaming at them until we are blue in the face will not help in the slightest, they are doing what they do best, finding a niche and exploiting it. You see they are just taking advantage of something we are giving them, exactly what they want - our undivided attention. The only way we are ever going to show them that we are better than that and that the human spirit for fun and adventure will always prevail over apathy and laziness is to turn off our TVs and show them that we have other things to do than be inundated with mindless crap. If after all that you still want the mindless crap, or argue that the crap they provide you with isn’t even mindless then perhaps you to are too far beyond help. I am holding up a mirror pointed at your lives and saying ‘look at this, it’s wrong, here’s the way out’ whether or not you take my advice is up to you. Next time when your thinking about pushing that big friendly button marked ‘power’ think to yourself ‘isn’t there something more worthwhile I could be doing with my time?’ If there isn’t then you have a problem, and I think you should devote some time to fixing it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclamer - This content of this issue of Addendum is copyrighted the respective author whose name or handle should appear at the top of this page. You may copy this textfile but please keep it in its original configuration. Please note that the views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of addendum as a whole. Thankyou. ----------------------------------------------------------------------