Amusement to Death

In 1992, Roger Waters published his album ”Amused to Death”. In the song of the same name, he claims that this species, i.e. humanity, has already managed to amuse itself to death by leaving itself no time to think. Even young people just stare at the screens silently, acting like mere shadows of their own lives. It is as if the only reality left is only the reality on those same screens. If we, or at least some of us, were at that time already able to guess what kind of predicament the human species is in, I doubt that anyone, including the aforementioned artist, could've imagined that our limitless amusement is only just beginning, despite the final verses saying that there are "no tears to cry, no feelings left", which I guess was meant to highlight the lack of empathy of any kind. But banality spreads easily.
In time, this amusement morphed into a grotesque with unbearable ease, overcoming all the absurdity of its own existence. It moved away from every conceivable reality and left us in a post-death irreality which to us, of course, seems quite natural. Amusement to death, the kind of amusement that knows no bounds, has even tricked death itself. Screens have multiplied beyond count and mutated into numerous new forms. In fact, our whole reality is one big Screen, its presence completely invisible and unnoticeable to an average onlooker. I deliberately avoid using the term "viewer" because the objective has been achieved – former viewers have become, whether they are aware of it or not, even if this is a masterfully executed illusion, participants in reality. Even when they're just quietly sitting on their couches and watching. Because the game is truly played in a person's impression, in their interior, a place devoid of any opinion in the current situation. This is easier, this is better: to live in blissful unawareness of the grey, insecure reality. This can even be understood to some extent, considering the greyness that surrounds us and existentially keeps us in an anxiety of meaninglessness. But the problem is much broader and more complex than the fact that we like to relax by watching TV or some other screen after work.
Of course, we can still agree that we are still going to work (if we even have a job), that we're talking to other people, socializing, taking care of our children, and that we are still living all these parts of our lives. Which begs the question: how can this be excessive amusement, let alone amusement to death? We will say things like I am not having that much fun, I'm just working, I'm just taking care of my children, I don't even have a TV at home. The only fun I have is drinks with my friends. I simply go hiking or take a stroll through the nearby woods. These are all legitimate arguments, and it's good that these activities are still being indulged in. Besides, maybe they're not even exceptions, maybe they are in the majority. But what then is amusement to death? Who is in danger of it and where are they? The exceptions will prove the rules. They will show what maybe, despite the aforementioned activities, we cannot see.
What has happened to our society since it's long been known how much we like to have fun and play? From early childhood to the end of our lives. From toy cars and dolls to cards, sports, and any other game you can imagine. We are a playful species. We even sometimes say that life is nothing but a game. And this human propensity will never change. Nor should it. What changes is our perception of reality which takes place in superficial entertainment served to us wherever we turn, look, and listen. We take it for granted, but through its omnipresence, the entertainment is telling us that our reality is exactly what is represented in the media. We will say that this cannot affect us, especially not so much that we lose touch with real life. And this is where we will make the biggest mistake, take the bait of banality, and confidently believe that there is an insurmountable difference between those two realities. This will be backed by the facts that we're still driving cars, going to work, hiking, and walking on our own two feet. But we forget that we have already immersed ourselves in an additional reality, one way or another, a long time ago. The nature of this additional reality is to amuse us to death, and this, no matter what we say, changes our behavior in our palpable reality.
To depict the situation and explain the nature of amusement to death, I will enumerate some exceptions that only establish rules even more firmly. Firstly, the amusement to death of the author we mentioned earlier has already crossed the boundary into the zone in which very few people are having fun because the participants are literally dying. It is enough to mention the example of a young man who died playing a video game for who knows how long. Other players only noticed this five hours after the player had died. At this point, any metaphor of amusement to death vanishes, and it becomes clear how difficult it can sometimes be for a person to overcome the manic urge to put amusement first. There are many cases like this, and many of us adults at this very moment continue to play games we started playing years ago. So much for literal games.
Secondly, if we take a look at the way today's news shows work, turning every piece of news, without any constraints, into a sensationalistic spectacle, especially news related to possible wars, disasters, and accidents. These pieces of news are then given bombastic headlines, introducing the subjects of these events in a very intimate manner, and we then realize that directly or, more commonly, indirectly, these shows have become entertainment shows whose only goal is to chain us to screens. It is less important whether or not we will drown in a terrible flood, it is much more important to make a story out of it. And if we do drown, those who survive will try to make a new story about the consequences of the flood. And this will probably go on until all participants are dead – both the spectators and the directors of the spectacle. But the amusement has also become something else, something not connected to a mere celebration. It has become a game. But not the type of game I've discussed here, the type we all like and is almost innate to us. No, this is a dangerous game whose only outcome, as it seems, will be to turn us into people equal to (imagine!) information relayed in terms of play, trifle matters, and entertainment. Completely insensitive to the reality we thought we were living in because that reality will start to become equal to this, hyper-real reality in us, no matter the type of media. This is because another "virtue" of these depictions is precisely to show everything depicted as realistically as possible. And even though we know that a documentary is nothing more than a movie (despite the recordings of someone's reality and its story about true events, this is never reality but an artificial product), in all the saturation with the content we are served, the question is who will resist the urge to play. Because this is all shown as a game, and a game is, let me repeat, difficult to quit. On top of that, games have become something people simply must do and follow, far from the innocent activity we were able, at least in some moments, to enjoy.
So, we've come from amusement to death to game. Which has become a different type of game and exists only so that it can be played without end. In the process, we've lost all compassion for the participants because, after all, this is just a game, that's how it's shown, and that's how we accept it without any questions. Where are the dangers and potential death, literal and figurative, in this game? Maybe just in the numbness, maybe just in the loss of emotions, maybe in the merging of reality and fictitious reality, maybe in literal death, like the death of the young video game player. I still hope our children will not have to answer that question. Maybe we should take them by the hand more often and lead them to a park to enjoy swings, running, or kicking a ball. An additional reality, no matter how interesting and spectacular it may be, will bring us nothing more than a show. So much for amusement to death. And the game that leads to death, on the other hand, is only one – life.

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