Read Online Videodrome: Days of O'Blivion by Lee McGeorge - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lee McGeorge
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----- X -----
As Brian drove home he
had a vision of some kind. An extraordinary daytime dream in which
he was seated on the stage of a hotel ballroom. Members of the
public were asking him questions about television. Their questions
were laced with fear and anxiety. “Professor Spectrometer,” one man
called. “You tell us that media changes the physical structure of
the brain; but how will it change it? And how will it affect the
brains of our children?”
TV cameras swooped in
to record his response and the words came to him as part of the
vision, glorious words to live by. “The video-word will be our new
televisual religion. The video-signals of Veraceo will be our new
gospels.”
Interesting that these
strange thoughts often came to him whilst driving. He often felt
that the car had become, for many people, a protective shell from
reality; it was the last and only place where many could be alone
to think.
He was then hit with a
profound sense that he was not inside a car looking through the
window, but rather inside a television set, looking out through the
screen; and instead of the road he saw the hotel audience, sitting
and listening to him with trepidation. It was like he was inside a
television, talking to the people outside.
“The cathode ray tube,”
he said to his viewers, “is an extension of the mind’s eye and
therefore part of the human brain. There is no distinction between
what is shown on television and the thoughts of those who watch
it.”
The words rattled
around in his head.
The vision of being
inside a television, on a stage, before a questioning audience
brought a new idea, a powerful idea. “Television is reality,” he
said aloud. “And reality is less than television.”
----- X -----
At home he poured
himself a large whisky, kicked off his shoes and took a seat in
front of the television. The tape played in the VCR. The Double
Interracial tape, now with Veraceo-Two embedded. It dawned on him
that this was his first attempt at watching a pre-recorded cassette
in home surroundings. This is how most people would see Veraceo. In
the comfort of their own home, curled up on the sofa with a drink
in their hand.
For fifteen minutes the
couple onscreen coughed and choked as the Punishers whipped them.
One part in particular spiked in eroticism for him. The woman had
been taking her turn at breathing. The sliding mechanism that
controlled who had an open airway shifted back to the black man
when one of the Punishers whipped the soles of the girl’s bare
feet. She yelped and jerked the mechanism back just as the man was
trying to breathe. Involuntarily, she snatched the breath from him.
She jumped so much her tits bounced and he could almost feel one of
her nipples in his mouth, covered in whisky.
Then the hallucination
erupted.
The Pittsburgh set
expanded through the television screen to spread through Brian’s
home. He felt as though he was rising in his chair to sit above his
subjects, like Caesar looking down on the commoners. Slaves tied
together, stripped naked to be whipped and flogged for his personal
amusement.
He liked that idea.
Then another vision
came.
He saw himself in the
clothing of a Roman politician, standing on the floor of the Senate
to address the elite of ancient Rome. Senators in their togas sat
in the stone theatre of politics. “The discarnate TV user lives in
a world between fantasy and dream,” he said to those assembled. It
dawned on him these ancient politicians had never seen a TV and so
willed one to appear beside him. A regular 1970’s family set
materialised beside him. It was showing The Muppet Show with the
sound turned low. He gestured towards it. “The television user is
in a typically hypnotic state, which is the ultimate form and level
of participation.”
The Senators seated on
the steps seemed to agree with him. Their elbows on their knees, as
they leaned forward to watch Miss Piggy abuse and violently
----- X -----
As Brian drove home he
had a vision of some kind. An extraordinary daytime dream in which
he was seated on the stage of a hotel ballroom. Members of the
public were asking him questions about television. Their questions
were laced with fear and anxiety. “Professor Spectrometer,” one man
called. “You tell us that media changes the physical structure of
the brain; but how will it change it? And how will it affect the
brains of our children?”
TV cameras swooped in
to record his response and the words came to him as part of the
vision, glorious words to live by. “The video-word will be our new
televisual religion. The video-signals of Veraceo will be our new
gospels.”
Interesting that these
strange thoughts often came to him whilst driving. He often felt
that the car had become, for many people, a protective shell from
reality; it was the last and only place where many could be alone
to think.
He was then hit with a
profound sense that he was not inside a car looking through the
window, but rather inside a television set, looking out through the
screen; and instead of the road he saw the hotel audience, sitting
and listening to him with trepidation. It was like he was inside a
television, talking to the people outside.
“The cathode ray tube,”
he said to his viewers, “is an extension of the mind’s eye and
therefore part of the human brain. There is no distinction between
what is shown on television and the thoughts of those who watch
it.”
The words rattled
around in his head.
The vision of being
inside a television, on a stage, before a questioning audience
brought a new idea, a powerful idea. “Television is reality,” he
said aloud. “And reality is less than television.”
----- X -----
At home he poured
himself a large whisky, kicked off his shoes and took a seat in
front of the television. The tape played in the VCR. The Double
Interracial tape, now with Veraceo-Two embedded. It dawned on him
that this was his first attempt at watching a pre-recorded cassette
in home surroundings. This is how most people would see Veraceo. In
the comfort of their own home, curled up on the sofa with a drink
in their hand.
For fifteen minutes the
couple onscreen coughed and choked as the Punishers whipped them.
One part in particular spiked in eroticism for him. The woman had
been taking her turn at breathing. The sliding mechanism that
controlled who had an open airway shifted back to the black man
when one of the Punishers whipped the soles of the girl’s bare
feet. She yelped and jerked the mechanism back just as the man was
trying to breathe. Involuntarily, she snatched the breath from him.
She jumped so much her tits bounced and he could almost feel one of
her nipples in his mouth, covered in whisky.
Then the hallucination
erupted.
The Pittsburgh set
expanded through the television screen to spread through Brian’s
home. He felt as though he was rising in his chair to sit above his
subjects, like Caesar looking down on the commoners. Slaves tied
together, stripped naked to be whipped and flogged for his personal
amusement.
He liked that idea.
Then another vision
came.
He saw himself in the
clothing of a Roman politician, standing on the floor of the Senate
to address the elite of ancient Rome. Senators in their togas sat
in the stone theatre of politics. “The discarnate TV user lives in
a world between fantasy and dream,” he said to those assembled. It
dawned on him these ancient politicians had never seen a TV and so
willed one to appear beside him. A regular 1970’s family set
materialised beside him. It was showing The Muppet Show with the
sound turned low. He gestured towards it. “The television user is
in a typically hypnotic state, which is the ultimate form and level
of participation.”
The Senators seated on
the steps seemed to agree with him. Their elbows on their knees, as
they leaned forward to watch Miss Piggy abuse and violently
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