Krishnapath

Television Is Chewing Gum for the Eyes

Television

In almost every house we’ve been

We’ve watched them gaping at the screen.

They loll and slop and lounge about,

And stare until their eyes pop out.

(Last week in someone’s place we saw

A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)

They sit and stare and stare and sit

Until they’re hypnotised by it,

Until they’re absolutely drunk

With all that shocking ghastly junk.

So please, oh please, we beg, we pray

Go throw your TV set away,

And in its place you can install

A lovely bookshelf on the wall.

Roald Dahl

(read the full poem here)

“Imagine what it would be like if TV actually were good. It would be the end of everything we know.” Marvin Minksy

“All television is educational television. The question is: what is it teaching?” Nicholas Johnson