The Mind Casket

Now before anybody accuses me of being as dry as a callus on an enviromentalists sinewy finger, let me state quite clearly that I do in fact enjoy some television and I have programmes which I would follow religiously had I the inclination to chase up their listings in tv guides. There are some fine productions to be discovered if one can summon the patience to sift through the endless tide of garbage.
It is the TV addicts, the ones who kneel at the chins of soap stars and reality show judges, which I cannot abide. They make me sick to my stomach, which due to a lifetime of unholy binges on nefarious goodies takes some doing as my constitution rivals that of the most hardened Oxes and pathologists.
Some people will spend entire days and nights rooted to the glare of a screen being bombarded by cookery shows and endless advirtisements. There are even poor wretches who insist on leaving their idiot box ON in the background as if switching the infernal thing OFF would be like cutting off the oxygen supply in the room.
The rot in their brain must be as damaging as the havoc alcohol causes on livers of habitual drinkers. In fact, scrap the 'must be', it IS as damaging I have no doubt whatsoever on this. In short it is a living room lobotomy affecting everything from manners to the arts. Our grand culture is very nearly in tatters as Shakespeare and Wordsworth are shunned for The X Factor, and communication been reduced to snorts and grunts like baboons at a karaoke bar.
I realise im sounding alarmist (and probably hysterical to a few) but it matters little what I am; if video killed the radio star as the song went, then television killed the spirit. It has turned many of its stupefied audience lazy to the core and robbed them of the pleasures that children of not so long ago got from books or building things outdoors.
How many children (or adults come to that) actually pick up a book these days? How many rip the plug out of the entertainment system and disappear into the pages of a great novel? Very few I would wager and it is a real tragedy because books, especially those first ones we read as children, are so important in stimulating imagination and forming individual ideas. With television we simply create zombies, shuffling from one scene to the next without any real solid thought. Everything is spoonfed to the watcher until they are ready for bed.
And the less said about the cancerous celebrity culture which television promotes the better. Suffice to say that cheap looking glamour models and jack-of-no-trade-famous-for-nothing mutton heads have no substance or value, and one would be better looking into the bowels of hell to find a hero. That awful 'culture' is crass, tasteless, something so vile and empty that even pinheaded teenage tartlets ought to ignore its stench. (But of course they don't, perhaps even can't.)
A lot of parents are raising their children in the company of monsters. Helping them dance to a sordid tune made of jingles and paparazzi dust. Of course its not soley down to television and it would folly to try argue that it was but it does own a substantial piece of the destructive root which is finding its hold more secure each day.
It is not all apocalypse of course. There are jewels to be found at the end of a remote control; well written dramas/series and some truly fascinating documentaries. As I have already admitted, I love a bit of television. Im not an ogre buzzing off lofty ideals best suited to the Victorian age. Perish the thought! Give me my dose of dramas like Bones, Prison Break and The Sopranos and im as happy as a pen in ink. Or throw Spongebob Squarepants and National Geographic on and im just as thrilled.
Television is not a demon to me, its only when people throw themselves so totally at its mercy that it bares the sick side to its 'personality'. As with everything else in life, overuse inevitably leads to toxic results. And those results could be disastrous to society. Problems are already beginning to rear their troublesome heads with obesity levels in children risen in these past few years to way beyond what is considered healthy. It will take longer for the brain damage to make an appearance but I have no doubts whatsoever that it will. And I don't mean regular damage, but troubles to the mind both emotional and in creative ways.
It is unwise to allow the shimmering screen entertain any ages for long periods of time (and with the advent of games consoles and the internet even more so.) Moderation must be applied or society WILL become less lead by the spirit of Man and more tempted by shallow themes or vices. Inspiration will disappear from our grasp and our children will be content in merely sitting back and allowing others to think and sculpt, to write and paint. But there will BE no others and futures will be doomed.
Scoff if you must;. the idiots and soulless monsters in forthcoming years are in your care for now. And there are still those with a need to build. Repent those smirks only when the aerials have bound our wings and mindless entertainment has made us so fat that spirits fail to fly.