Friday, October 2, 2009

Death By Entertainment

Bizarro is brought to you at this moment by The Roman Colesseum.

I got into another family's car recently (I was invited, it wasn't a car-jacking) and saw that there were two separate DVD players on the backs of the front seats. In this way, their two children could each watch their own programming while riding in the car. Perhaps it was an overreaction, but I vomited.

When I was a kid (oh god, I hate sentences that start out that way) my siblings and I looked out the windows when we were in the car, even on long, long, interminably long car trips. If we wanted something else to do, we played games wherein we counted things. When we were bored with that, we punched and bit each other.

I wonder if the children in the aforementioned family have any idea what lies outside their own home and car. I wonder if they can identify a 3-dimensional cow standing by the roadside. Or if they know what high speed wind feels like against a rigid hand, or what a pop bottle sounds like when it shatters against the windshield of an oncoming car.

I fear for the future when the video generation are in charge. Their insatiable thirst for constant entertainment will likely make the blood lust of the ancient Romans look like child's play. I foresee a time when the Cottonbowl will be used to feed atheists to lions.

10 comments:

Ali said...

I love it when I read a blog and find myself saying YES! repeatedly. Maybe we are about the same age, but i recall those car games too. First to see a white horse was passed down by my Nana.Thanks for the post

doug nicodemus said...

wow ali has a great blog...

oh pretty funny cartoon...we never went on long car rides because the human sacrifice would have happened in the back seat....for me long rides put me to sleep

hERNAN said...

Is the way that the masters of the world want it to be.
The zombie nation, but they dont want brains, they just want to be entertained and lied in the face.

Wake up world!

Unknown said...

I read recently that many kids now getting driver's licenses at first cannot even navigate the roads near their own homes - because they've never watched out the windows as Mom & Dad drove them around. They've always had their noses in a game or a video - so they have to get directions to the nearest store, to school, to friends' homes, etc.

Anonymous said...

When I was a child, our family would take four- and five-hour car trips to visit relatives. I'd share the back seat, unwillingly, with my squirmy brat brother, but at least I could read (comics and, later, books). As a result, now that I'm an adult, I don't do road trips. If the destination is more than an hour and a half away by car, then either they'll have an airport or the gods don't want me to go there. Simple.

idsvil said...

When these spoiled little twits are in charge of the world, "Are we THERE YET?!" will be in reference to the apocalypse, not Wally World.
Yikes.

Dave Wyble said...

hERNAN is spot on here. The masters of the universe performed the drug experiment in the 60s on folks who are middle-aged these days, and kids today are part of the next phase: the technology experiment.

I'm not paranoid. Check wikipedia.

Unknown said...

This proves it - if you're not reading the BizarroBlog - you're missing half the fun! It's like a buy one get one free deal at your fav restaurant. Tasty!

LaLaOrange said...

I totally know what you mean. Whenever I see those stupid ads that promise that your kids will never be bored in their new minivan, I just sigh in despair. The next generation will be totally unable to think for themselves.

Unknown said...

And I suppose that this blood lust will be different from that of the Vietnam generation or the Greatest Generation of WWI and WWII or the folks who embraced Jim Crow or the people who watched lynchings in the 1880s for fun and sport or those who either suppressed or engaged in labor riots? Seriously, the "Entertained Generation" is going to morally deficient to whom, exactly?

Don't get me wrong, I wish my own kids were more interested in reading or enjoying the scenery outside. Still, I'm not all that worried about their immortal souls or intellectual potential. I still can't figure out the math homework that my 11 keeps bringing home.