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Anti Federalist
08-18-2012, 01:10 AM
“The first victim, or one of the first, was my telephone. Murder most foul. I shoved it in the kitchen Insinkerator! Stopped the disposal unit in mid-swallow. Poor thing strangled to death. After that I shot the television set!” -Mr. Albert Brock (AKA The Murderer), from Ray Bradbury’s short story The Murderer


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mBRPsDHANE

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murderer

"The Murderer" (1953) is a short story by Ray Bradbury, published in his collection The Golden Apples of the Sun.

The scene is set in the near future, in an apparently sterile and clinical building. There is music coming from every direction; each person, it seems, is listening to classical music, talking on a phone, using a computer, or communicating constantly in some other way. Most people seem to be engaged in several of these activities at the same time.

A psychologist exits the noisy environment to confront a patient confined to a small safe-room. The psychologist notes that the man has ripped the radio out of the wall to silence it. The room seems unnaturally quiet to the psychologist, yet the patient seems perfectly at ease, even happy. The patient calls himself 'the Murderer', and demonstrates his murderous ability by destroying the psychologist's wristwatch radio.

Questioning reveals that the man had one day been driven mad by the constant expectations of communication inflicted upon him by society- his wife and children could speak with him whenever they wished, wherever they were; any person could call on him, and many did, simply to make use of their communications devices. He gives a striking image of a world in which humans are constantly bombarded by music, advertisement, propaganda and communication. He then describes his revelation; that if he shut off his phone, he could not be bothered by it. When he arrived home on that day, he discovered his wife, frantic at being out of touch with him for so long. This apparently drives home to him their terrible addiction to technology of communication. He begins to destroy things- his phone, his wristwatch, the television, any thing that could disrupt the peace he seeks. The man regrets only destroying the 'Insinkerator', which he used to mangle another piece of equipment. The Insinkerator, a sink drain disposal, he says, was a machine with a good solid purpose which did not disturb him with its functions, did not demand his attention, which only functioned when he asked it to.

The man then describes his wonderful state of calm and relaxation, moments of total freedom of all responsibility and worry inflicted upon him by machine. The psychologist makes due note of this, prompting him with questions, even seeming to perhaps understand what the man feels. At the end of the Murderer's tale, however, the psychologist steps back into the world of music and talk, quickly relaying information on the man's condition to an aide over another communication device, and re-immerses himself into the glare of technology's power.

PaulConventionWV
08-18-2012, 04:28 AM
I'm surprised he knew about a bunch of this technology back in 1953. Phones everywhere, phones in cars, cell phones, fax machines.

Philhelm
08-18-2012, 08:57 AM
I hate, Hate, HATE cellphones! Electronic leashes, I say. And everyone gabbing away about crap 24/7 is driving me insane. Where is the Insinkerator?

JK/SEA
08-18-2012, 09:12 AM
Need to watch the movie NETWORK again...

I always thought while even as a young person growing up in the 50's-60's that TV, and radio were distractions, but i couldn't put my finger on the why's and such. Yes, i had my favorite music and TV shows, but i always had this deep down suspicion that humans were not built to be getting this kind of 24-7 bombardment of electronic media. I even got to the point in my meditation that even just reading books was a distraction and takes away who you really are, and your brain just takes the new reality and changes you. Call me crazy i guess, but i have to admit sometimes i wonder what we as humans would be like if we didn't have someone or something force feeding shit into our heads. The beat goes on.

Meatwasp
08-18-2012, 09:47 AM
When we first moved here we didn't have any communications. It was so peaceful until my husband made water power. We turned on the radio and all we heard was the Manson murders. We all got depressed. We shut the fool thing off and peace came again. The good old days.

Anti Federalist
08-18-2012, 11:08 AM
I'm surprised he knew about a bunch of this technology back in 1953. Phones everywhere, phones in cars, cell phones, fax machines.

All it took was a little imagination to see where all this was heading, even 60 years ago.

Just as that is all it takes now, to see where things will be in another 60.

Science fiction is probably the only medium that you can tell people that, and not get blown off as a "paranoid conspiracy weirdo".

Anti Federalist
08-18-2012, 11:12 AM
When he arrived home on that day, he discovered his wife, frantic at being out of touch with him for so long.

I go for weeks at time with no cel phone, and I find that people seem to have that reaction as well.

(And yes, I am well aware of the irony of using technology to decry it, so don't bother pointing that out.)

TheTexan
08-18-2012, 11:17 AM
Unless I'm expecting a call, I keep my phone on mute 24/7. I return calls at my "earliest convenience"

tod evans
08-18-2012, 11:27 AM
but i have to admit sometimes i wonder what we as humans would be like if we didn't have someone or something force feeding shit into our heads. The beat goes on.

Couldn't resist. ;)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBu8h1Js5Fg

pcosmar
08-18-2012, 11:40 AM
(And yes, I am well aware of the irony of using technology to decry it, so don't bother pointing that out.)

I don't mind having the technology or using it..as long as I can walk away from it.
I even see cell phones as handy at times.. Just not all the time 24/7.

I don't carry one. and though this box is on most of the day,, I am not always here.
Even if the page is still open and I am shown online,, I might be picking beans or mowing the lawn.

Anti Federalist
08-22-2012, 01:33 PM
Bradbury bump.

fisharmor
08-22-2012, 02:23 PM
I got my first COLOR cellphone this past May.
We did a kitchen renovation and I accidentally mangled the land line, so we got cellphones instead of trying to fix it.
I had wanted one for a while, and making calls was an afterthought.

I just now got finished listening to Pandora playing a song I like, and have heard once or twice before, by Mastodon.
I still have fond memories of Anthrax's album Among the Living - because when it was new in 1987, I listened to the cassette about seven hundred freaking times.

I really love being able to listen to music I want to listen to - and not the crap that comes over the air - whenever I want. When I go home and try for the third night in a row to figure out why I can't bleed any fluid out of my brake line, Pandora is going to keep me from kicking in my fucking windshield.
In short, I like the new way of doing things.

acptulsa
08-22-2012, 02:48 PM
I'm surprised he knew about a bunch of this technology back in 1953. Phones everywhere, phones in cars, cell phones, fax machines.

They had radiophones and telephoto wire transfer technology in 1953. Not that much of a stretch, really. Like Shakespeare said, 'Nothing is new under the sun.'

If he had actually foreseen cellular phone technology, we'd have had cell phones by 1968...

fisharmor
08-22-2012, 03:03 PM
Like Shakespeare said, 'Nothing is new under the sun.'
Solomon.

jbauer
08-22-2012, 03:10 PM
Oh come on. You have 25k posts since 2007. 5 yrs + 2 months = 1885 days, 25281/1885 = 13.4 posts per day. Assuming you sleep 8 hrs a day thats roughly 1 per hour since 2007. I'd say you're addicted!!!


I don't mind having the technology or using it..as long as I can walk away from it.
I even see cell phones as handy at times.. Just not all the time 24/7.

I don't carry one. and though this box is on most of the day,, I am not always here.
Even if the page is still open and I am shown online,, I might be picking beans or mowing the lawn.