March 8, 2011
Ah the joys of Netflix! After months of being prodded by friends, I recently gave in and signed up after the local Blockbuster shut down. As it should. Natural selection. After all, why actually leave the comfort of your home to venture out into the scary world, drive a car and possibly be killed, enter a Blockbuster store and run the risk of catching a pernicious infection carried by some ill person who forgot to slather their hands in anti-bacterial gel before touching the door handle, perform the desultory task of trolling the aisles for videos, perhaps next to some perv in the you-know-what aisle, engage in chit-chat with the unsavory clerk, and then have to risk your life all over again just to get home? I mean, why do all that when you can sit in your jammies at the computer, click and watch?
Yes, the joys of never having to leave home, never having to see the outside world, never having to put ourselves at risk of crazy drivers and lethal bacteria, never having to engage with anyone outside our own cozy circle! And imagine the perfect Saturday night: why bother getting dressed up, maybe even putting on make-up and heels, going through the effort of actually going out, perhaps somewhere different…? Why actually interact with other people and run the risk of meeting someone new, hearing a new story, getting a new viewpoint, being challenged in yours, actually connecting with another human being…? I mean, really. Why bother when your very own couch beckons you into its comfortable, womblike embrace and you can vicariously live someone else’s life on the TV screen and never, ever have to deal with the messy, scary world outside?
Ah, this American life… this is the life!
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