When attempting to create a list
Or an index of big names in hist-
  Ory, TV's inventors
  Are often not entered,
But are people that shouldn't be missed.

Farnsworth was the name of the man
Who had television as his plan.
  In Nineteen Twenty-Two
  He had thought it all through,
Five years later, working model in hand.

Then again in Nineteen Forty-Four,
A new idea came to the floor.
  A man named Willard Geer
  Had a vision quite clear
For color television in store.

It soon took our culture by storm,
And fast became the daily norm.
  By day and by night,
  The pale-hued light
Was aglow, and the TV was warm.

But some cultures were scared of this change
Like those in Alaska's arctic range.
  The native Gwich'in tribe
  Found that they couldn't jibe
With technology foreign and strange.

The children at first were just curious
But tribal elders soon became furious.
  Ancient honored traditions
  Were put in remission
In exchange for these images spurious.

The tribe used to hold wisdom dear,
Oral histories, how to hunt deer,
  But the tribe of tomorrow
  (To the elders' great sorrow)
Are more interested in modern wear.

Natives who used to hunt, trap, and skin in bands
Now care only for trappings of other lands.
  They ignore history
  To watch sports on TV
At which they've never even tried their hand.

Alaska may have a bad situation,
But is it so much better in our nation?
  Since television's advent,
  To a massive extent
We've lost the art of conversation.

We can see other cultures' demises
Yet our own problem, no one realizes.
  If TV can obliterate
  Culture at such a speedy rate
We are in for some nasty surprises.