In case we in 'developed' countries forget : Most of the content of most TV channels (and all of the content of many) is designed to get us to be submissive consumers of someone else's ideas, values or products. It places big corporations in a position of feeding millions of people with distractions, escapism, messages and entertainment which do not question the neoliberal status quo. Not all of TV does this, but most of it in most countries does this - and worse.

We are supposed to sit back and receive, sit back, listen and watch. This promotes inactivity and apathy. It fosters individualism and denies communal and social responses. This song by The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy is from their 1992 Album : "Hipocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury". Here is the YouTube video of the song :





Lyrics :

Note : Below is the full version of the Lyrics. These contains a couple of extra verses that were not included in the video version.

One Nation under God
Has turned into
One Nation under the influence
Of one drug

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T. V., it satellite links
Our United States of unconsciousness
Apathetic therapeutic and extremely addictive
The methadone metronome pumping out
A 150 channels 24 hours a day
You can flip through all of them
And still there's nothing worth watching

T. V. Is the reason why less than ten percent of our
Nation reads books daily
Why most people think Central America
Means Kansas
Socialism means unamerican
And Apartheid is a new headache remedy

Absorbed in it's world it's so hard to find us
It shapes our minds the most
Maybe the mother of our Nation
Should remind us
That we're sitting too close to the

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T. V. Is
The stomping ground for political candidates
Where bears in the woods
Are chased by Grecian Formula'd
Bald eagles

T. V. Is mechanized politic's
Remote control over the masses
Co-sponsored by environmentally safe gases
Watch for the PBS special

It's the perpetuation of the two party system
Where image takes precedence over wisdom
Where sound bite politics are served to
The fastfood culture

Where straight teeth in your mouth
Are more important than the words
That come out of it
Race baiting is the way to get selected
Willie Horton or
Will he not get elected on. ..

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

T. V. Is it the reflector or the director?
Does it imitate us or do we imitate it
Because a child watches 1500 murders before he's
Twelve years old and then we wonder why we've created
A Jason generation that learns to laugh
Rather than abhor the horror

T. V. Is the place where
Armchair generals and quarterbacks can
Experience first hand
The excitement of video warfare
As the theme song is sung in the background

Sugar sweet sitcoms
That leave us with a bad actor taste while
Pop stars metamorphosize into soda pop stars
You saw the video
You heard the soundtrack
Well now go buy the soft drink
Well, the only cola that I support
Would be a union C. O. L. A. (Cost of Living Allowance)
On Television.

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation

Back again, "New and Improved",
We return to our irregularly programmed schedule
Hidden cleverly between heavy breasted
Beer and car commercials

CNN ESPN ABC TV but mostly B. S.
Where oxymoronic language like
"virtually spotless" "fresh frozen"
"light yet filling" and "military intelligence"
Have become standard

T. V. Is the place where phrases are redefined
Like "recession" to "necessary downturn"
"crude oil" on a beach to "mousse"
"Civilian death" to "collateral damages"
And being killed by your own Army
Is now called "friendly fire"

T. V. Is the place where the pursuit
Of happiness has become the pursuit of trivia
Where toothpaste and cars have become s** objects
Where imagination is sucked out of children
By a cathode ray nipple
T. V. Is the only wet nurse
That would create a cripple

Television, the drug of the Nation
Breeding ignorance and feeding radiation
On Television...

© The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, 1992