Careful

In response to the daily prompt: Careful

Careful,
think twice before you push that button.
It might suck you in,
the screen
with its rambling,
yelling,
screeching,
ranting,
demanding,
voices shrieking,
the tenor rising,
shouts silencing,
never stopping,
never yielding,
never retreating.

Even if you ignore
its incessant chatter
and build a wall
around your ears,
or learn to silence
the voices blaring from the tube,
someday it might be too much of an effort.
Someday,
those voices might just merge
with the one in your head,
some day
you might end up
with your bottom glued
to the couch for hours,
and your eyes magnetized
by the hypnotic screen.

Melodrama masquerading as entertainment,
Screaming anchors moderating a political debate,
(mis)shaping the voice of the nation,
Fists rattling desks,
Words just stopping short of abuse,
because hey, its television,
We’ve gotta be civil.
How will the kids learn right from wrong?
We’ve gotta teach them.
How will the nation know how to be nationalist?
We’ve gotta teach it.

At first,
it might feel awkward.
Relax, TV virgins feel that way.
It’s an acquired taste,
so sit back,
push up the volume on your remote,
soak in the spirit,
feel the adrenaline rise.
And when you feel the rush
so strong you can pound your desks and tables too,
congratulations!
The transformation is complete,
welcome to the brotherhood
of chest thumpers,
of angry righteous men,
of TV vigilantes.
Relax and enjoy the show,
You’ll be sedated real slow.

When you feel like this, my brother,
stand up,
blow a kiss to the television
and on bended knees,
sing paeans to it.
After all,
the moment must be celebrated,
the moment when
the idiot box finds another human counterpart.

So your choice then.
Given the reward at the end of this trip,
Would you want to be careful at all?

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