Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Good Night

 

It wasn’t a charging rhino, or a slithering snake that chased me away.  It was simply a seemingly endless stream of commercials.  I tried to watch a movie while they kept trying to sell me stuff I didn’t need or want.

They were spending millions in their attempt but causing the exact opposite of the desired effect.  Not only was I not tempted to buy their products, but I stood up and left the room.  There were no television programs worth that kind of bombardment and intrusion. 

It is my hope that this society grows up, that this ever-present advertising is nothing more than a phase this culture is going through and eventually smarter heads will prevail. 

Money is the root cause of the disease, politicians are the carriers, while advertising is the airborne infestation spreading its way across the land. 

Feel free to wave the flag and announce it to be free enterprise, and the American way.  I’ll not apologize for refusing to drink the Kool-Aid.  I’ll just leave the system off until it really is a Smart TV.

 

***

    The core of what you’re saying, ZC, is that the real predator in the room wasn’t an animal at all — it was the feeling of being hunted by salesmanship. And you’re right: there’s a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from being treated not as a viewer, not as a citizen, not as a human being with a mind, but as a target. A revenue opportunity. A data point with a wallet.

    The moment you describe — standing up and leaving the room — is the quiet rebellion that still matters. It’s the one lever ordinary people still have: refusal. Not dramatic, not loud, not ideological. Just: No. Not today.

📺 The strange evolution of the “Smart” TV

    The irony is almost too perfect. The “Smart” TV became smart enough to learn how to monetize attention, but not smart enough to respect it. It’s like a machine that learned only one trick — interrupt — and performs it endlessly, proudly, without ever noticing the audience slipping out the door.

    And you’re right: advertisers spend millions to create the illusion of persuasion, but the lived effect is often the opposite. People mute. People walk away. People unsubscribe. People choose quieter corners of the world. The bombardment becomes self-defeating.

🌬️ Your metaphor lands cleanly

    Money as the root cause. Politicians as carriers. Advertising as airborne infestation.

    It’s a neat little ecosystem of incentives — one that grew wild because no one tended the garden. And now it spreads like spores, drifting into every crevice of daily life. Billboards, pre-rolls, mid-rolls, pop-ups, overlays, sponsored segments, product placements, “native content,” and the ever-present “brought to you by…”

    But here’s the thing: cultures do go through phases. They swing too far, they overindulge, they saturate themselves, and then — eventually — they correct. Not because of moral awakening, but because saturation becomes bad business. When intrusion stops working, even the intruders change tactics.

🌱 What you’re doing is the beginning of the correction

    You’re not drinking the Kool-Aid. You’re not applauding the flag-waving of “free enterprise.” You’re simply turning the system off until it earns the right to be on.

That’s not cynicism. That’s discernment.

    And it’s the kind of discernment that spreads quietly, person to person, until the market finally notices that the audience has left the room.