"I don't even own a TV"

people gave me this kind of shit for not drinking soda when i was little

"you don't even drink coke?"

This entire thing might be a completely different beast in the UK, where there's that television fee or w/e. In the US, you could just plug a television in with no fear of getting busted for not paying your television fee. I can imagine there being a harsher divide if you theoretically had to prove you weren't leeching off the public by dodging a tax.

And people stealing cable television were ripping off corporations people generally painted as greedy and incompetent, so they were _sticking it to the man_

"I don't play video games" is probably an analog in the geek world

yeah non-licence holders in the uk routinely receive threatening letters from the govt as it's assumed everyone watches tv

that is a completely diff culture than the US

its more about how they dominate the room than the shows that are on them

I'm an IT bod. I do not play videogames, do not quote Hitch-hikers', would not recognise a Matrix reference...

I do watch TV though.

i own a projector

And the people who get annoyed when i say i dont have one, what business is it of theirs - it was them that started the conversation about some show or other, not me

If my coworkers are talking about some church-related activity, I don't say "I don't even go to church, I'm an atheist"

then I tell them I totally vape, though

http://utopiaorbust.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/vlcsnap-1561484.png

even if they ask you how church was today, you just lie and told them you're still in the second season?

people don't say "i don't even own a tv" anymore they say "i don't even own a tv i watch everything on the internet" but imo that is still an indefensibly snobby thing to say cause you're telling me you probably don't watch baseball or SVU marathons

jk i do both those things on the internet now

do people ask you, unsolicited, what you think of a particular television show?

I'd probably just say that I don't watch that show. I think judging people for owning/not owning a television is odd, but I recognize that it's seen as a status quo of sorts and I don't want to turn television ownership, churchgoing, or anything else into a discussion or judgment, so I just avoid talking about them.

I'm also an outlier in that I'm a 30-something guy who is unmarried and has no children in the middle part of the country, but I don't go around saying "I'm not even married" or w/e.

they say what did you think of doctor who last night

I don't watch doctor who, was it good?

what?

and i say i dont know i dont even have a tv and then they're annoyed im like well i never wanted this conversation i believe in silence in the workplace

see, the real problem there is you hate small talk and shut it down by doing this television statement

i ask ppl if they own a tv as a pre-emptive move, at the bus stop, wherever, i just drop the bomb in advance, then walk off before i get an answer. they're all cunts anyway.

and then some other time theyll say what did you think of this other show and i never heard of it, and i think about different ways of saying i dont even have a tv why are we having this conversation again, i thought bv saying i dont even have a tv you wouldnt come back and ask me about some OTHER show, because i dont want to offend them but in the end i just say sorry i dont even have a tv again maybe they'll stop it with the tv show questions eventually idk

i don't even own a speedboat

I have a tv but I don't have broadcast signal or cable service, so find it hard to succinctly get across my superiority wrt this device/medium

people have never asked me unsolicited, what I think of a particular television show, and never have, not even when I worked in an office with watercoolers and awkward small-talk. it's a myth... isn't it? or did I miss out?

lol

negative strawman, bold move

idk on other hand seeing as they start the whole tv conversation thing because seriously what person without a tv starts a tv conversation....well then maybe they know i'm going to say sorry i dont even have a tv so they want the annoyance because they enjoy judging and looking down on me because of it, and when you put it like that who am i to spoil the fun

I think I have only seen that in that "God Bless America" movie in the last few years, in its satirical takedown of american culture, so it is possibly a thing people do

i haven't even seen "God Bless America"

we need your country, class, and social status to really make a call here, cog

I'm guessing UK by the Doctor Who ref

actually, im a european atheist myself

darragh on fire

The weather? I don't even own any sensory organs.

I don't think ilxors kvetching about people being strident about their lack of tv ownership and cog's obnoxious coworkers being judgmental about the same are coming from the same place

v fancy worldview darraghmac, kudos

oh my parents brought me up that way actually, they would never allow god in the house. in europe.

a person can be judged by different groups of people from different attacking positions, perhaps it would be simpler if i just got one

yeah get a tv dude sons of anarchy is p good

I think I'm trying to say that no one invoking this stereotype on ilx has you in mind, but if you want to play martyr....

ums otm

martvr

I don't watch tv, I'm too busy raisin' hell with my motorcycle gang

There was definitely a point where not owning a TV was a thing some people were proud of. Also not owning a car. Then it was all about not owning a cell phone which gradually morphed into not owning a smart phone. I pretty recently heard someone say "I don't even have a facebook account". Cancelling cable seems to be pretty popular these days. I'm gonna try to jump ahead of the curve a bit and start boasting that I don't have a netflix account.

i don't even have an ilx login

If my coworkers are talking about some church-related activity, I don't say "I don't even go to church, I'm an atheist"

then I tell them I totally vape, though

― have a nice blood/orange bitters cocktail (mh), Monday, 31 March 2014 21:03 (24 minutes ago) Permalink

Well obviously you don't just butt in and say "hey everybody I don't go to church," but if someone asked you a church-related or religion-related question, wouldn't you say "I don't go to church?" Because at some point it just kind of sounds like fear to not say so imo.

not so much fear as just fuck this i don't even feel like getting into it...it's the same reason i delete every other tweet and ilx post before i post it

fear is a man's bets friend

why shouldnt people be pleased at not owning a car..they're bad for the environment!

if someone asked you a church-related or religion-related question, wouldn't you say "I don't go to church?"

nah, I'd go to HR