E! TRUE HOLLYWOOD STORIES - "BOOKS, WHERE-ARE-THEY-NOW?"

"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them."-Ray Bradbury

I can recollect being a prepubescent little fuck at Asa Philip Randolph Elementary School & finding much joy, much pleasure owt of these insignificant things called 'books'. Now these 'books' faced their inevitable demise right around the year 2001 known as the age of Reality Television.The Cathers in the Rye were now replaced with Real Worlds, the White Fangs were replaced by Flavor Flaves', the Giving Tree by Run DMC, the Dr. Seuss' now Dr. Phil, the Lords of the Flies' were now overshadowed by Survivors & Big Brothers. Now in the year 2008, books are for many children and teenagers a 'thing of the past', an outdated relic of nostalgia. I recently interviewed a book who asked to be listed anonymously as 'AL' in this note about what he felt about this extinction of an era, he had this to say:

Anonymous Literature (AL): It's extremely difficult & disheartening for me to see children who would much rather watch countless hours of televison & play virtual video gaming rather than picking up a novel & exploring the realms of impossiblity, the worlds of imagination & the immense amount of knowledge that is to be found within our pages.

Ponder Matthews: How do you feel you can compete with all the many avenues of entertainment and distraction that are owt there within modern society for children and adults alike?

AL: I really can't say Mr. Matthews, This is a sad day & a failing generation. We have to compete with tabloids & Myspaces & Facebooks. Library attendance levels are @ all time lows & sites such as 'Wikipedia' make it very easy & very accesible for students to plagiarize & basically short-cut their way through their education process.

I ended my interview at this moment and silently asked myself if novels really were an outdated and irrelevant source for knowledge & entertainment in such a fast paced hustle-bustle society. In a world in dire need of instant gratification we've had our Harry Potters', Davinci Codes, & Million Little Pieces' to fall through the cracks but does this suffice? I end this note with the quote that began my story quoted from profound novelist Ray Bradbury which states,"You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them". Through my careful observations I think that with the allied help of the MTVs, VH1's, BET's, & last but not least the Nintendo Wii's we have succesfully managed to collectively create the catalyst for the end of "Our" culture.