Turn the Damn TV Off to Get Your Life Back: Remembering Michael Crichton

Deepak Parekh is one of the few sensible commentators on Indian economy and financial markets.

Business Standard November 7, 2008:

“Deepak Parekh has never been known to mince his words. He’s upset that so much panic has been created unnecessarily in the money market and feels the media, through irresponsible articles and because of too much publicity on television, is partly to blame….”

He happened to say this on the same morning when newspapers carried the sad news of Michael Crichton ‘s death. (I found it strange Marathi news bulletin on Vividh Bharati never mentioned it. Inbreeding nature of Marathi middle-class culture?)

Mr. Crichton has appeared on this blog many times before. He is also my 14-years old son’s favourite author.

I like Mr. Crichton's work best for his views on our culture.

Following are a few quotes from his novels.

“…In other centuries, human beings wanted to be saved, or improved, or freed, or educated. But in our century, they want to be entertained. The great fear is not of disease or death, but of boredom. A sense of time on our hands, a sense of nothing to do. A sense that we are not amused…But where will this mania for entertainment end? What will people do when they get tired of television?…”

“…Jennifer had no interest in the past; she was one of the new generation that understood that gripping television was now, events happening now, a flow of images in a perpetual unending electronic present. Context by its very nature required something more than now, and her interest did not go beyond now. Nor, she thought, did anyone else's. The past was dead and gone. Who cared what you ate yesterday? What you did yesterday? What was immediate and compelling was now.

And television at its best was now…”

“…A lot of people complain that television lacks focus. But that's the nature of the medium. Television's not about information at all. Information is active, engaging. Television is passive. Information is disinterested, objective. Television is emotional. It's entertainment…”

“…The media image is the reality, and by comparison day-to-day life seems to lack excitement. So now day-to-day life is false, and the media image is true. Sometimes I look around my living room, and the most real thing in the room is the television. It's bright and vivid, and the rest of my life looks drab. So I turn the damn thing off. That does it every time. Get my life back.”


salesman: "What would you an off button for?"

The Spectator