Game Show

Dear Indigna,

Here's something that has aroused my indignation, and maybe yours as well: the wild popularity of the prime-time NBC game show, "Deal or No Deal" (MWF, 8-9 p.m.). Last week my parents drugged me and forced me to watch it (twice). It was remarkably unpleasant, even for the genre. It is a game of pure chance, every bit as exciting as watching repeated flips of a coin. I don't see how so many millions of people can possibly find it so intriguing. There must be something else going on here (mind control, e.g.). Please alert America.

Boberrrrt
Live Oak, FL

Dear Boberrrrt,

Have you been in a coma for the last 23 years? Hellooooo???? Videodrome???? That was just the beta testing to see if people would swallow the idea of “mind control” via media. Then there was the truancy-inducing real-time broadcast of the “first” Gulf War, the titillating “must-see” coverage of the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, the interminable yet mesmerizing O.J. Simpson low-speed car chase, the “you are there” embedded reportage of the first few months of so-called “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” etc. Although we viewers did not realize it, that period of broadcast history--especially the risky test-marketing of "war as entertainment"--was simply our “training” for worshipful obeisance to our electronic masters. Those shows were, in fact, just window-dressing to mask the real objectives: the "election" of George W. Bush in 2000 (as well as his re-election in 2004, both filmed on a sound stage in Burbank), the otherwise incomprehensible war in Iraq (aka "Gulf War II: Mission Accomplished"), and now the trash talk towards Iran (working title "Gulf War III: Armageddon"). See, the theory is, if we're all glued to "American Idol" we won't even notice what's happening in the lower-rated "real world." However, now that our eyes have been opened to the “media as weapon” mind control ploy, we can defend ourselves against “videodromism.” I could say more, but “Deal or No Deal” is on.