Aren't we all stupid TV addicts?

I must admit that the producers of soapies and adventure movies know how to exploit our gullible and often than not, stupid minds. What am I on about? I am on about those television scenes where our protagonists always find themselves in sticky situations such as being holed up at gunpoint at the mercy of some deranged psychopath. Do these heroes and heroines ever come out of those situations in a body bag?

Although we know all too well that the series centres on this star and he is the reason that the show scoops awards every year, we still get goose bumps whenever it seems that he might emerge second best to the villains. We suffer sleepless nights, tossing and turning and wondering whether in the next episode, our superhero will survive the ambush, hostage situation, intensive care unit or other similar threat to his existence. A common scene often involves a struggle with the bad guys over a firearm which always ends with the gun fired. We then bite our nails and hope that it is not our beloved screen icon who has been shot. While now and again the villain does emerge as the victor, in most cases the protagonist survives and lives to tell another tale.

This then takes me back to my statement. We surely are stupid because we not only lap up all this make believe hogwash, but also fool ourselves into believing that the worst can really happen to our superstar. The chances of the superhero dying or losing a battle do exist but are never as high as those of survival. If it is obvious that survival will win the day, why then the sleepless nights and anxiety? It is high time that we woke up and stopped taking television so seriously. There is after all, a real world out there!