Friday, May 4, 2012

I guess this is preferable to "Brains, Brains, Brains..."



This used to be such a pretty song.  For those of you who don't remember, it's about a lovesick young man suffering the torture of unrequited love.  In the real world- cruel, harsh, intensely unfair- he can't be with the woman of his dreams.  But in his daydreams, he can hold her and tell her that he loves her, and he can imagine that she is holding him and returning that love.  Sweet, and Universal.

Ah, but this is the 21st century, and there's electronic crap to sell.  So now the song is sung by glassy-eyed zombies staring at their portable televisions---errr, "streaming devices."  Which device is being sold here?  Well, do we even care anymore?  And if so, why?

What a drugged-up culture we've created here.  A culture in which happiness is being able to download any video you want, any time you want to.  And watch it anywhere and everywhere.  And when you are done, watch something else.  Ad nauseum.

That would all be bad enough, but do we have to trash perfectly good classic songs in order to celebrate our addiction to electronic eye candy and a lifestyle that worships moving as little as possible?  Is this really all there is to life- "Stream, Stream, Stream?"  I mean, it's not like television and movies have gotten more worthy of our attention over the years.

But, who am I kidding?  In a society which is becoming increasingly Disconnected in the name of Connectivity, expressing undying love for the electronic device which never criticizes you, never talks back, and exists to pour junk into your brain is just par for the course.  I'm the outsider here, and I know it.  Not going to stop me from commenting on the carnage I see scattered all over the landscape,  though.


4 comments:

  1. At least they're not threatening us with having an ex-con burning our houses down if we don't buy them.....yet.

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  2. I dive for the mute button when this abomination comes on.

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  3. I mean, it's not like television and movies have gotten more worthy of our attention over the years.

    If anything, they've gotten less worthy as time goes on...thus the insistent need to plead with us to make society crumble so that we can watch garbage. Meanwhile, they blame their lost profits on the evil interwebs instead of the stream of gibberish they produce. I don't know about you but I'd rather watch squiggly lines in Zulu than anything with Jack Nlack in it.

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  4. I love the look of bafflement on a child's face when they learn the song isn't about water and isn't named "stream."

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