"And I had at one point this rather depressing image of some alien creature seeing the death of this planet and coming down in their spaceships and sniffing around and finding all our skeletons sitting around our TV sets and trying to work out why it was that our end came before its time, and they come to the conclusion that we amused ourselves to death." - Roger Waters, in an interview to the LA Times
Amused to Death is an album by Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd fame. Released in 1992, this album came around the time of the Gulf War, and Roger Water's feeling of futility of war is established early on in the album. However, a pressing concern of Waters, previously unseen, is the transformation of the human race into idiots by the television is made clear to the listener.
People of China
Do not forget do not forget
The children who died for you
Long live the Republic
Did we do anything after this
I've feeling we did
We were watching TV
Watching TV
We were watching TV
Watching TV
These are the lyrics of the last song. I wonder if it's some kind of premonition, some kind of prescience that Roger Waters has going.
And out in the valley warm and cleanWhether you are a diehard Floydian, or cannot bear the sound of Roger Waters, I recommend at least going through the lyrics of the album (you can find it here). Some of the stuff he says is so much like the sophistry we attribute to great thinkers. Do let me know what you feel..
The little ones sit by their TV screens
No thoughts to think
No tears to cry
All sucked dry
Down to the very last breath
Bartender what is wrong with me
Why am I so out of breath
The captain said excuse me ma'am
This species has amused itself to death
Amused itself to death
Amused itself to death
We watched the tragedy unfold
We did as we were told
We bought and sold
It was the greatest show on earth
But then it was over
We ohhed and aahed
We drove our racing cars
We ate our last few jars of caviar
And somewhere out there in the stars
A keen-eyed look-out
Spied a flickering light
Our last hurrah
And when they found our shadows
Grouped around the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data on their lists
And then the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged the explanation left
This species has amused itself to death
No tears to cry no feelings left
This species has amused itself to death