With all these new flat screens, they can’t really call it the “idiot box” anymore. What, “idiot slate”?
Just remember: the medium is the message. And if you’re watching the idiot box, what does that say?
I get the biggest kick out of the vision of our society painted by Idiocracy, a film I don’t plan to see but haven’t stopped meditating upon since I read about it (warning: the linked essay is not appropriate for our kids—because our culture isn’t). In the projected future of our TV-saturated America, the leader of the nation is “Dwayne Elizondo ‘Mountain Dew’ Herbert Camacho,” announced in the House of Representatives with appropriate fanfare as “five-time Ultimate Smackdown Champion, porn superstar, and President of the United States.” Is that really so far-fetched?
The other joke that has come to my mind often from that movie is one that targets America’s rampant consumerism and scientism. Instead of using water to irrigate their fields, the Americans of the future use “Brawndo, the Thirst Eliminator!”
Thank you, idiot slate. I’m sorry; I just don’t have time for you. I don’t need you to be relevant.
Plus, I’ve got a nice computer which does everything you can do…
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