I sit there grabbing my head, lowering my eyes, as a program on truTV claims that nothing is funnier than pain, humiliation, and stupidity. It's called "It Only Hurts When I Laugh."
My head-spin changes direction with every syllable of the announcer's high, nasal voice, with every note of the clichéd background song, with every annoying superfluous sound effect, with every "haw haw" of canned laughter. All of it orchestrated to mock others' misfortunes. Oh, the contemptible oscillations!
The commercials in between offer no repose. Short messages of shoddy manufacturing: hodge-podges of diluted ideas, blurred and blunted to enter and dominate weak minds. All of these cries emanating from the mouths of hustlers, distorting information. How does anyone brave the perils of cable TV? Numb minds maybe. People learn to ignore the multitude of stimuli, a stubborn skill that I can't seem to learn.
This is American Television. This is what most people in the country tune into.
Ah but I've got to be careful with this buzz. My top-heavy mind sinks easily with every demoralization. Such cynicism! I try to remind myself that it is because I expect only the best, not because I have come to accept that popular culture is a gaping sinkhole and that's all there is to it.
Well, now it's time to use the restroom. Enough of this wining.
