home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- ==========================================================================
- == ==
- == 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