Idiot box, boob tube, brainwashing machine. Derived from the noun зомби (zombie) and a colloquial slang term for a TV set, ящик (literally box). In everyday speech, it is a highly popular, sarcastic, and politically charged derogatory term for television, specifically broadcast TV networks. It heavily implies that TV programming functions as state-sponsored propaganda, turning viewers into mindless, unthinking zombies (хватит смотреть этот зомбоящик — “stop watching that brainwashing machine”).
А по российским каналам зомбоящика сегодня идет обычная выходная бредятина или руководство каналов изменило сетку вещания в связи с трагедией под Смоленском?
Do the Russian channels show their usual weekend crap on the telly or has the management of the channels change the grid with respect to the tragedy in Smolensk?
(b-insider @ ЖЖ, 04/2010)
