165 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
165 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
|
==========================================================================
|
|||
|
== ==
|
|||
|
== If you enjoy these please feel free to contact me and say hello. I ==
|
|||
|
== can be reached at Sun via the Arpanet or the USENET. My email addr- ==
|
|||
|
== esses are: ==
|
|||
|
== ==
|
|||
|
== {ucbvax, decwrl, allegro}!sun!dbercel!toto ==
|
|||
|
== ==
|
|||
|
== or ==
|
|||
|
== ==
|
|||
|
== dbercel@sun.com or dbercel@sun.arpa ==
|
|||
|
==========================================================================
|
|||
|
Hitch Hikers Guide To The Net
|
|||
|
Episode 11 - Life, The Net, and Everything Part 1
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
(Xaphod, Rod, Gillian, and Arnold Lint have just received the 'Video
|
|||
|
Testament' - a scripture said to contain the answer to Life, the Net,
|
|||
|
and Everything.)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Rod: Well, go on, read it.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Arnold Lint:Do you think we should?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Xaphod: Yah, why not.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Martin: I can think of a few reasons.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Gillian: Quiet, we're going to find out what it all means. Aren't you
|
|||
|
the least bit excited.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Martin: (droning sarcastically) Oh yes, I can hardly contain myself.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Xaphod: Never mind him, lets read this amazingly amazing book.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
(They open the book and it speaks to them.)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Book: Hark, who goest there.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Rod: Uh, who are you?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Book: I . . . am the Video Testament. The compendium of all
|
|||
|
knowledge and smart stuff from the mythical age of Kubla
|
|||
|
Konthemasus. You may call me . . . Ralph.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
"The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Net" has this to say about the mythical
|
|||
|
ruler Kubla Konthemasus: He was reported to be from Austria or Germany.
|
|||
|
He was supposed to be short and have a funny little mustache. He was
|
|||
|
supposed to have died in 1945 and then be reborn in Argentina. His
|
|||
|
followers looked upon him as a sort of Messiah, who would lead them to
|
|||
|
the land of Silk and Money. All of this is, of course, purely
|
|||
|
hypothetical; as were Konthemasus' friends Herman (Hermie) McGoering,
|
|||
|
and Crazy Joe Stalinson.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Xaphod: Ralph?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ralph: Well, what do you expect?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Rod: Well, not Ralph.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Gillian: Can you tell us . . .
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ralph: The answer to Life, the Net, and Everything.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Gillian: . . . why yes.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Arnold Lint:That's amazing.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Xaphod: To you it would be.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Rod: Tell us what it all means.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ralph: You won't like it.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Martin: That's no surprise.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Xaphod: Just ignore him.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ralph: Well, it all began sometime in the 1950's. A group of very
|
|||
|
wealthy and powerful men assembled in Argentina under the
|
|||
|
guidance of a man calling himself Kubla Konthemasus. This
|
|||
|
group of magnates were from various political affiliations -
|
|||
|
Nazis, Communists, Capitalists, and Urologists. They all
|
|||
|
liked money and wanted to rule the world. They also
|
|||
|
realized that TV was going to be the tool that would give
|
|||
|
them the leverage they needed.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Xaphod: I don't like the way this is starting to sound.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Rod: Me neither.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ralph: I warned you.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Martin: You should have listened to him.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Arnold Lint:Go on.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ralph: Well, they began to infiltrate the TV industry. Soon they
|
|||
|
not only owned huge percentages of each network, but had
|
|||
|
also emplaced their own people into many of the creative
|
|||
|
positions at each network. Then they began to manipulate
|
|||
|
things. They decided to cast the world in an image that they
|
|||
|
could easily control. So each little kid on TV was either
|
|||
|
predictably (and sickeningly) nice and helpful, or
|
|||
|
predictably always getting into trouble. Women were either
|
|||
|
predictably aggressive or predictably obtuse. You see, they
|
|||
|
set up patterns of behavior that they could count on. Once
|
|||
|
they could predict and control how the public would react
|
|||
|
to something, they could do whatever they wanted. Whenever
|
|||
|
they wanted to do something really tricky (like when they
|
|||
|
took over the Mid-East oil fields in the late 70's and early
|
|||
|
80's) they made sure to get the country thinking their way
|
|||
|
before hand with a massive TV bombardment. If it was a topic
|
|||
|
that they knew nobody would go for no matter how they
|
|||
|
publicized it, they flooded the airways with those sickening
|
|||
|
human emotion type TV-movies. Things like "Plight of the
|
|||
|
Forgotten Children" or "Why is Daddy always angry?". The
|
|||
|
kind of stuff that makes you want to blow lunch.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Rod: Wow, that's amazing.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Xaphod: Yah.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ralph: Their greatest triumph was getting a president elected.
|
|||
|
Their plan was simple. They made sure that the east coast
|
|||
|
was for their candidate, leaving the west coast alone. Then,
|
|||
|
on election day, the TV 'predictions' claimed their
|
|||
|
candidate to be a sure winner. Due to the time difference,
|
|||
|
all the people on the west coast thought the election was
|
|||
|
over anyway and didn't even bother to vote.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Xaphod: Wow, imagine getting a president elected by manipulating the
|
|||
|
media.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ralph: And guess what . . . he was an actor!
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Gillian: What a coincidence.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Rod: Yah, imagine that.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Martin: Doesn't surprise me . . . I expect such things from humans.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Arnold Lint:But what does all this have to do with the Net?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Gillian: Yah, controlling TV is great but most people in the Net are
|
|||
|
far too dedicated to their work to partake of anything as
|
|||
|
tacky as TV. We're all thoroughly dedicated professionals.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
(If it were possible for an android to suppress a burst of
|
|||
|
uncontrollable laughter, that is what Martin could now be described as
|
|||
|
doing.)
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Rod: Yah what about the Net!?
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ralph: Well . . .
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
******************** End Of Part 11 ********************
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
What are the interests of this Neo-Nazi-Communist-Capitalist
|
|||
|
organization in the Net? The answer will surprise you - unless you're a
|
|||
|
great stupid twit. To find out more . . . Tune in next time . . . same
|
|||
|
Net-time . . . same Net-channel.
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
danielle
|
|||
|
|