Television, stark and harsh,
But news stories, documentaries,
They're all just a farce,
Supposed real life made bleak and gory,
The truth manipulated to make a story.

The lies and untruths shown on the screen,
Are, in reality, just a dream,
For what is shown is not how it is,
Just a brainwashing exercise that's good for business.

One day we're hear one thing, the next another,
To question these antics, does anyone bother?
Is the population really that blind,
To the influence of the media, controlling their minds?

Do the people really believe,
What they hear and what they see?
Do they take is as gospel truth,
Or see the telly as emotional abuse?

To believe all images portrayed from that box,
Is enough for anyone's mind to get lost,
They tell us 'life' with passion and conviction,
They drive it home with powerful diction.

Not just the programmes, the adverts, too!
"If you were smart, you'd be doing this, too,"
Is what one once seen plainly said,
To get sucked in implies 'brain dead'.

I wonder if they think we're really that dense,
But resistance seems futile in the face of events,
This, that, the other rammed down our throats,
It takes a strong person to simply say 'no'.

The sitcoms, though shabby, have their own sad place,
To convince weaker people themselves to hate,
For not living up to the portrayed expectations,
The programme producers lay on this generation.

The television, created for entertaining,
Has merely resulted in intelligence waning,
The most powerful instrument on God's great Earth,
To which we are exposed from the time of birth.

I ask you now, what do you really believe?
Are there any thoughts in your head on which you agree,
Are really your own, formed from impartial information,
And not from sources from a television station?

 

©Cathryn Sharpe

Television, the Choice

of a Nation?