Monday, June 18, 2007

The Soap-Matrix

I just saw a trailer of what the Orwellian world of 1984 would have looked like and, for good measure, also had a foretaste of the simulated reality of The Matrix.

While on a walk this morning, I observed a woman a few paces ahead of me, shaking her hands wildly and talking loudly. My first guess was that she was on her mobile phone, in the hands-off mode, and in the midst of an animated conversation with someone at the other end.

It was only when I overtook her that I discovered that there was no mobile phone and that she was merely talking to herself. Feeling sorry for her, I moved on.

Two other walkers who were nearby heard what she was saying, and one of them later commented knowledgeably that she was reeling out some dialogues mouthed by a persecuted daughter-in-law in a popular TV serial.

With millions of people glued to the TV sets, evening after evening, watching and listening to the brain-numbing nonsense, getting themselves indoctrinated with the same soppy sentimentality, the countryside will soon be filled with such zombies staring dreamily into empty space, convinced that their’s the real world and uttering dialogues from soap operas.

If you and I don’t become part of the crowd, we will be viewed as idiots living in a make-believe world. So, better we join them, before we are whisked away to a lunatic asylum.

2 comments:

Sunita Venkatachalam said...

OMG, My MIL does that in the kitchen when she's alone.. Can you believe it? I have caught her quite a few times

Raj said...

poppins: your MIL just called up to say that she frequently catches you staring at her when she is alone in the kitchen and suspects that your are in a trance. Watch out