- In what field of activity does television work? Culture? Art? Maybe education? Ha ha ha. BUSINESS. Show Business. Since we became monopolists in this area, we only do what we buy and sell. Sell and buy again. We're businessmen, not clowns, Richard. We sell laughter, fear, anger, love, emotions, opinions, thoughts, faith. We have distributed these products on all TV channels and glued price tags on them. And the only task assigned to the modern sofa-button viewer is to flip through our bright price list using the remote control. And we did our best so that morality and decency were not on this list. We made it so that honor and compassion are not valued today. We did this, so intelligence and kindness are worthless. We have filled people's lives with cheap values. We have arranged a sale of human vices. We have the biggest discounts on lies and hypocrisy. You can get ignorance as a gift. Only today and here. Hurry up!
Hurry to our capital show! Who else wants to be a MILLIONAIRE? Spin the drum! Roll the dice, but know that sooner or later you will have to answer all our questions. And the main thing here is not at all the answers, but WHAT exactly the presenter asks. And while the EXPERTS are puzzling over very important questions: how many paws a praying mantis has, in what year did we become independent, what is fashionable to wear on our heads today, how much oil will cost, is there life on Mars, who will win football, who will win the elections, why Angelina Jolie got divorced … they will never answer the questions: who are they, why did they come to this world, what is the purpose of their life.
In this game, everything belongs to us and questions and answers to them. We are the hosts, directors and writers of their lives, in which they are obedient elimination players. Rats in a barrel, ready to eat each other on command, to climb over the heads eliminating rivals by any means just to get to the super final and snatch a bloody piece of their prize.
And what is the main product we make? Movie? Cartoons? Programs?.. Businessmen, by definition, are not capable of doing anything on TV except ADVERTISING, no matter how it is called - a film, cartoon or TV show. We spend all our strength so that the naive man in the street does not realize that it runs 24 hours a day on each channel and is interrupted only for it. And while viewers look at pads and sneakers with the firm conviction that no propaganda acts on them, we advertise patterns of behavior: lust, aggression, drug addiction and alcoholism, stupidity, primitivism and vulgarity.
The advertisement is engine of the trade. And now this inexorable roar of the engine of our capitalist machine is heard from everywhere. We set the pace. Faster and faster, pushing people to the edge of the abyss with "hot" proposals. Fast loans. Fast payments. Fast shipping. Fast food. Fast relationship. Fast life. A quick death. Enjoy … Only FAST! Not only do we drive them like a herd, we also show the path that SHOULD go. They do not understand for a long time that they have disaccustomed to making decisions on their own and that what they consider to be their choice is a clear marketing formula that can be solved only in ONE probabilistic way. Cleverly?
At a subconscious level, we inspired people that THEY are helpless children, lost in the labyrinths of their own ignorance, misunderstanding, worthlessness and insignificance, and all they can do is to look with entreaty at everyone who will take to show the right path and promise to bring them out at last, to such desired freedom. Our task is to drive them forever through this labyrinth. We ourselves built it as an unofficial prison, an invisible pen, the ghostly walls of which are lined up in the form of this beautiful pyramid, which, thanks to its geometric features, allows us to sit on top, observe and manage this tent. And now we are becoming benefactors, idols, superstars, legends, a little bit more and we will become saints, Richard. They already look at us as gods from the million-dollar iconostasis of their televisions and wait in a single religious ecstasy for our word, which thanks to modern technologies will multiply several million times and strike an endless echo in their ears filled with sacred trembling. They cannot live without us, as livestock cannot live without their owner. They need us as much as a complete drug addict needs an injection. We threw them into this pool, and we are extending our helping hand.
One way or another, you have to pay for everything. And believe me, everyone will pay. Although the word "WILL PAY" is more appropriate here, because money worries us least of all. These are soulless scraps of paper that come to life with the help of the exchange rates we have announced. Everything material has long been in our hands: palaces, yachts, gold, bank accounts and capitals of entire states … Money for us is not a goal, but a means, it plays the role of fuel. We make a fire of them, over which hangs this pot with the name "human society".
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We just need to keep it boiling. This is the real purpose of our work. Maintain a constant temperature and release steam on time. Season with lies, add a little wine, add spice, sweeten something, and annoy someone. Do you smell that roasted meat flavor? M-mm. A little more and the "dish" will be ready. You just need to wait and all of humanity will lie on our saucer with a blue border and then we will devour it WITHOUT REMAINS. We will do it with you. Time.
Time, Richard, here's the main viewer pay. Simple math: The average person watches 3 hours of TV a day. Trivia, someone might say. This is only about 13% of the day. Do you understand? Ha ha ha. This is 13% of all life. How do you like this price? We have a controlling stake for 13% of the LIFE of each person! Add to this the fact that it takes CONSCIOUS time to watch TV, take time to sleep and work, and what do we get in the end? … To hell, Gazprom, Microsoft, General Electric and other transcontinental corporations with their billions of pathetic pieces of paper. But that's not all!
TV is watched by about 70% of all people in the world, a little calculations and you will find out that this is almost FIVE billion people! And everyone, Richard, everyone watches us an average of 3 hours a day. Five billion people - FIFTEEN billion man-hours. 625 million man-days or 1,712,328 man-years! Everyday. People give us the most valuable thing - the TIME they are made of. What would you do if you had 1,712,328 years of free time? What opportunities would be open to you? HA-HA-HA! This is the currency with which we stuff our pockets and the familiar phrase that time is money takes on completely new semantic shades. And I already see in your eyes a perplexed question: why do we need THAT that is impossible to accumulate or cash out?
Oh, this is quite a moot point, Richard, what is TIME for you? The second hand on your always lagging watch? Time is not a measuring device or a cuckoo in a clock, TIME is a POSSIBILITY. Just change these words and much in this world will immediately fall into place. If you look at things from this point of view, it becomes obvious: for those who have time, nothing is impossible. Moreover, such a trifle as cash out and even hold time in hands. Yes, we certainly use their time. Do you think it's impossible? IMPOSSIBLE - this does not mean that it is impossible, impossible - it means that you have NO OPPORTUNITY. HA-HA-HA! Do you dare?
But nature, as you know, abhors a vacuum. And here we operate on the principle of a pump, something like an oil rig. Here is a visual brainwashing process in every detail! Trillions of ideas, plans, intentions, failed cases fly into the pipe, and the emptiness they create behind them greedily sucks in, like a vacuum cleaner, all the dirt we threw up. WE create a vacuum in our heads and WE fill it. We suck out some thoughts and pump others, over and over, non-stop, until weak brains burst and splatter the walls of social networks with the necessary slogans and appeals, filtered by thoughts, thrown in ideas and spelled out opinions. Now take a calculator and scale it all up to humanity. Blind faith and unconditional obedience in exchange for 1,712,328 years of endless shows, sneakers, comedy club,political debates and TV series about cops that humanity needs to watch every day before seeing the REALITY, but what will it be after 1,712,328 years of propaganda ?! HA-HA-HA! And turning off your TV, the show is just beginning. Show Must Go On!
Humanity has long been enslaved, but does anyone think about it? We steal 1,712,328 years from people every day. They just DO NOT have time to think. 1,712,328 years. Irrevocably. If you only knew how much hasn't happened over the years! We didn’t become better, we didn’t become smarter and kinder, we didn’t stop wars, we didn’t eliminate poverty, we didn’t build a bright future, we didn’t preserve nature, didn’t raise children, we watched for 1712328 years on an empty TV screen …
An excerpt from the story "Reflections on Ghosts"
