A phrase from a Russian rock number:

"The sea of information, in which we are drowning..."

Okay, here's my picture.
Imagine all the population of the televised countries (all except a small territory in the Himalayas, where television is held in contempt) in this huge ocean of words, images and visions of the perfect and unattainable. Some of us swim better than others, (those who refuse to be suckered into "blind consumerism"), and some sink like stones (every other homo has-been-sapiens ). Like any ocean, this one is teeming with life. You got your sharks, fishies, algae - the whole kit and caboodle.

The sharks are MTV. MTV has the incomparable ability to seduce. Their concern is not so much as to eat the drowned, of which there are plenty, but rather pull down the ones who are trying to stay afloat. You see, MTV can only feast on those without any ability to think for themselves. Once MTV drowns a swimmer (an individual who dares think for himself), it allows him to crawl around on the bottom, feeding, breeding etc. Another way to eliminate that dangerous group is to label the swimmers "uncool", and thus protect the drowned from their harmful influences: there have been cases when drowned individuals were pulled up from their safe and warm haven. Those born-again swimmers constitute a great danger to MTV, for they have seen it for the monster it is.

There are also fish - advertisements. They function in the same way as MTV, but with one important difference: they don't concern with breeding the consumers, leaving that to MTV. They seduce people with seemingly lesser success, but actually, they do more than even MTV, because they tire us out, and we lose our will to stay afloat.

In this sea, the Buddhists are floating on their backs, absolutely indifferent to everything except for the sky. Christians yell like madmen and grab everybody to stay afloat (sinking them instead). Some people (like imo one of the best writers ever, Viktor Pelevin) gather small groups around them trying to teach them how to swim.

Manson is the guy with a scooter.