D I S P O S A B L E  N A P P I E S (ii)
(Media contradictions) 

Living in the shadow of the days of our lives
where the world is shaped by the TV Guide.
Game shows and soapies get the highest ratings
our favourite sport is channel surfing.

Fascinated with every pout 
and petulant display
until fame and fortune fades.
Reputations bought and sold 
on stage and screen. 
Seeds of destruction 
behind the technicolour dream

We want to know the gossip
on every famous face.
One day a hero, the next a disgrace.
Stand them up and shoot them down
print the lost letters, remix the sound.
Search under carpets for any dirt
that can be found.

We never cast the first stone
we let them throw their own.
More mileage in a public showing
than death in an old folks home.

Socially engineered to be politically correct
but advertisers pay a premium 
to bombard us with violence and sex.

Desensitised weakened wills,
addicted to adrenaline and cheap thrills.
Signs of the TV Times.  
Candy for the mind.,
Aliens wrote my newspaper: Shock, horror probe.
Welcome to the freak show.

                                                                                              - Keith Newman (1992-1999)