Zombies

I am, as usual, confused.

To be fair, I have not actually seen this series that appears to be so popular but…

It is called ‘The Walking Dead’. The latest information in hand from those who do watch it is that it is about to draw to a close.

This observation comes as some relief.

The relief is not because it is aired – or not, but because, now that it is to end I will not be ostracised by those who tell me that it is the greatest thing since… well… the last greatest thing on TV. I am plagued by people who tell me that I should watch it and are aghast because I do not.

The thing I noticed from the trailers, of which there are so many – thus precluding my need to watch it since I have already seen the ‘best bits’, is that these ‘zombies’ spend their time staggering around exceedingly slowly in an almost blind manner and yet, when they attack, they seem possessed by some organised will and speed that is belied by their ‘normal’, shuffling, mien.

Therefore I am confused. Are these the same groups of zombies or have I missed some specific and vital point somewhere?

Another thing.

I have observed that, on most television channels that we see here (irrespective of the company transmitting the channel) there are strings of tedious advertisements.

Here is the confusion: the advertisements are, presumably, to generate revenue. Yes? Then why are most of the advertisements – ‘all of them’ on some channels, proclaiming the delights of future programmes that will be airing on that channel? Where is the income from that?

It is true that I am not a businessman and so I do not see the ‘big picture’ even though I have a 52” flat screen TV (for watching football – ‘soccer’ in the US). Clearly there is money being made from this but I do not see how it can be done.

Do people really watch all those programmes? Are people really so hypnotised by the ‘Goggle-Box that they no longer appreciate, or are aware of, real life?

To watch them all takes time and dedication. Have these programmes replaced people’s reality?

To see some of the ‘reality’ shows that are abundant it would seem that we, as a species, are less capable of separating fact from fiction.

There are characters within many of these shows who are famous for being famous but have no skills or talents beyond their day-to-day life

This adds to my confusion.

The other day a name was mentioned to me. I thought the person I was conversing with was referring to a friend of theirs so, as you do, I asked where they lived.

I was peered at as if I had just dropped in from the moon. It would appear that the person being spoken of is a celebrity; they are famous; everyone knows that person.

I do not. I had to ‘Google’ the name and am none the wiser for that.

Because I have no clue who the person is, the statement that ‘everyone knows’ is rendered factually incorrect.

The terms ‘always’ and ‘everyone’, to make two examples, are all-inclusive. You only need one occasion, or one person, to deviate from that and the sentence containing that term is now void.

But, the fact remains, I was unaware of the identity of that ‘famous’ person.

And that makes me the outsider – the ‘oddball’, if you will.

We are to be judged by our knowledge of irrelevancies and banal information spewed out from sources that are designed to feed us sop; it keeps us in place, it keeps us dumb and servile.

Never mind the ‘World’, we must concentrate, and worry about, what happens on the latest episode of our favourite shows.

One wonders, now, on which side of the ‘flat screen’ the zombies really live.