Yak Attack

A place to unwind and spend some time yakking.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

fearmongering with a little side of fright

I don't know why I did it-- maybe it was the nausea seeking company. I wasn't feeling well at all yesterday afternoon, so I crawled into bed and turned on the tube for some white noise. I ended up watching the national news on one of the big three stations, and I was transfixed. Not on the news, silly; it was the commercials that caught my attention. I watched the (mostly) slop for approximately 20 minutes, and during that slice of time I saw no fewer than six medicinal commericials.

I learned that Robert Jarvick, who invented one version of the artificial heart, is hawking Lipitor. I was dazzled by Nexium's esophageal healing properties. The Nasonex bee and SIM looking people were the Anticute. GlaxoSmithKline folks are researching bird flu to make us all safer. After this, the commercials began to blur. I know they had to do with medicine; they all had side effects-- you know, like palsy, night sweats, unexplained love for politicians and body hair loss.

Most of the news, a fog of fearmongering, cut to 60 second shorts to induce you into fright over your health. If you don't take this medication, look what's going to happen to you (and what really could happen to you if you take it is read at a clip that breaks the sound barrier). Thankfully, the news ended and another show took its place; I was released from my drug brainwash-fest.

Shame on me-- I know better than to watch the evening news. Its effects are worse than those brought on by the pharma du'jour

2 Comments:

At 2:59 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Watching the puppet theater can be entertaining from time to time, but not recommended when you are not feeling well.
If you thought the drug commercials were overwhelming on puppet theater, they are usually more numerous on "primetime".........
I hope you are feeling better.

 
At 7:18 PM, Blogger lewlew said...

Hi Morrigan,

I'm feeling much better now, thank you. Lew brought me home some pho on Saturday night; the soup did wonders for my stomach. I just didn't add the hot sauce =).

Is prime time bad, too? I rarely watch prime time tv.

 

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