Television, Drug of the Free
by Disposable Heroes of Hipocrisy (Michael Franti, 1991)
One nation under god has turned intoone nation under the influence of one drug
(chorus)Television, the drug of the nationBreeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V., it satellite linksour united states of unconsciousnessapathetic therapeutic and extremely addictivethe methadone metronome pumping out150 channels 24 hours a dayyou can flip through all of themand still there's nothing worth watchingT.V. is the reason why less than ten percentof our nation reads books dailywhy most people think Central America means Kansassocialism means unamericanand apartheid is a new headache remedyabsorbed in its world it's so hard to find usit shapes our mind the mostmaybe the mother of our nationshould remind us that we're sitting too close to...
(chorus)Television, the drug of the nationBreeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V. is the stomping groundfor political candidateswhere bears in the woodsare chased by grecian formula'd bald eaglesT.V. is mechanized politic'sremote control over the massesco-sponsored by enironmentally safe gaseswatch for the PBS specialit's the perpetuation of the two-party systemwhere image takes precedence over wisdomwhere sound bite politics are servedto the fastfood culturewhere straight teeth in your mouthare more important than the wordsthat come out of itrace baiting is the way to get electedWillie Horton or will he not get elected on...
(chorus)Televison, the drug of the nationBreeding ignorance and feeding radiation
T.V., is it the reflector or the directordoes it imitate us or do we imitate itbecause a child watches 1500 murdersbefore he's twelve years oldand we wonder how we've createda Jason generation that learns to laughrather than abhor the horrorT.V. is the place where armchair generalsand quarterbacks can experience first handthe excitement of video warfareas the themesong is sung in the backgroundsugar sweet sitcoms that leave us witha bad actor taste while pop stars metamorphosizeinto soda pop stars you saw the videoyou heard the soundtrackwell now go buy the soft drinkwell, the only cola that I supportis a union C.O.L.A. (cost of living allowance) on...
(chorus)Television, the drug of the nationBreeding ignorance and feeding radiation
Back again, "new and improved"we return to our irregularly programmed schedulehidden cleverly between heavy breastedbeer and car commmercialsCNNESPNABCTNT but mostly B.S.where oxymoronic language like"virtually spotless" "fresh frozen"light yet filling" and"military intelligence" have become standardT.V. is the place where phrases are redefinedlike "recession" to "necessary downturn""crude oil" on a beach to "mousse""civilian death" to "collateral damages"and being killed by your own armyis now called "friendly fire"T.V. is the place where the pursuit ofhappiness has become the pursuit of triviawhere toothpaste and carshave become sex objectswhere imagination is sucked out of childrenby a cathode ray nippleT.V. is the only wet nursethat would create a crippleon...
(chorus)Television, the drug of the nationBreeding ignorance and feeding radiation

http://ocap.ca/songs/televisn.html