Gately and the wraith (pp. 834–835)
a drug addict’s second most meaningful relationship is always with his domestic entertainment unit, TV/VCR or HDTP. A drug addict’s maybe the only human species whose own personal vision has a Vertical Hold
Context
The addict is named as the entertainment-appetite's purest specimen. His second most meaningful relationship is with the screen; his very vision has a "Vertical Hold," a set of TV controls installed where perception should be. The wraith's aside lands because Gately's own childhood proves it — the boy who "raise[d] the volume on the television, not even bothering to look over at the beating, watching 'Cheers!'" while his mother was assaulted feet away, spectation deployed as anesthesia, the screen used to not-see. The addict and the viewer are the same creature: both have made a domestic entertainment unit the thing that stands between them and unbearable reality, both watch to disappear. It's the substance-side of the spectation appetite, and the two are indistinguishable at the root.