December 20, 2011
"The second great thing is that television looks to be an absolute godsend for a human subspecies that loves to watch people but hates to be watched itself. For the television screen affords access only one way. A psychic ball-check valve. We can see Them; They can’t see Us. We can relax, unobserved, as we ogle. I happen to believe this is why television also appeals so much to lonely people. To voluntary shut-ins. Every lonely human I know watches way more than the average U.S. six hours a day. The lonely, like the fictional, love one-way watching. For lonely people are usually lonely not because of hideous deformity or odor or obnoxiousness — in fact there exist today social and support groups for persons with precisely these features. Lonely people tend rather to be lonely because they decline to bear the emotional costs associated with being around other humans. They are allergic to people. People affect them too strongly."

— David Foster Wallace, E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction (via synecdoche)

6:47pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZS4vayDYGRTD
(Notes: 130)
  
Filed under: david foster wallace tv 
  1. jumblejo reblogged this from synecdoche
  2. lakota-feather reblogged this from my-little-underground and added:
    I have such a crush on David Foster Wallace; he is my spirit animal.
  3. iamgangstafosho reblogged this from moosedeevita and added:
    I do watch a lot of tv…
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  12. ragelikeadog reblogged this from abbeyie and added:
    I keep seeing DFW say things that demonstrate that I need to be reading him. I really should drag ass less on that...
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