"I don't even own a TV"

I am probably being one of these people when I tell people that I don't own a Kindle and have no intention of buying one. But the person judging me in those situations is definitely in the wrong because I have unshakeable moral fortitude on my side.

"I met this person, once, they exist, ergo the trope is totes valid!!!" is stil v v weak and straw-manning.

That's different though. You still read books, right?

"I don't like movies, there are a million different kinds by all sorts of directors, silent, talkies, black and white, artsy, docs, cartoons, anime, nature shit but no, fuck it, they are not for me."

One of my best friends doesn't read novels because he doesn't want to waste time reading about people who don't exist and things that haven't happened. The odd thing is that he's an English Lit graduate.

^^^amazing

maybe it's because he's an english lit graduate

"I met this person, once, they exist, ergo the trope is totes valid!!!" is stil v v weak and straw-manning.

This is a cool quote that you made up that no one said, good job

The trope is valid because these people exist in virtually every sphere you would care to mention, most people on ILM would immediately project a load of things on someone who started making a big deal about how they dislike pop music made by girls, or rap music. It obviously doesn't mean that everyone who doesn't own a TV, or dislikes pop music, is one of these people, and I don't think anyone is claiming that they are.

I think there should be room in the world for people to take ideological positions against forms of entertainment. In this particular case, I think the medium has just changed so much that the bases for the opposition have become irrelevant, i.e. the proliferation of high-quality, commercial-free shows available to watch at any time in a variety of formats. When people were "against television" they were usually against a particular kind of activity which was what television-watching used to be defined by (or at least it was how a lot of people perceived it) -- you know, plopping down on the couch, channel surfing, vegging, the boob tube, etc. There were actual structural reasons why television on average was kind of stupefying at certain times in history. Those reasons aren't really there anymore.

<3 "the boob tube". Also "the idiot box".

If this thread keeps going and more ILXors say they've met IRL people like this, how many do we need before strawman status is lifted?

I consulted the strawman, he said five more.

In Britain this used to translate as "we don't watch ITV".

"I think there should be room in the world for people to take ideological positions against forms of entertainment."

There's also room to be able to make fun of jerkwads

hurting otm xxxxp

Clive James's old Observer TV columns show how much has changed. He basically invented modern criticism because when he started in the 70s the idea of taking TV seriously as an artform was new. That snobbery lasted a long time in some households.

Sorry, that should be invented modern TV criticism.

There's also room to be able to make fun of jerkwads

― waterbabies (waterface), Monday, March 31, 2014 3:51 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't think you can complain that the world has too little room for this

Bruce Springsteen is a snob: y/n

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAlDbP4tdqc

Is Rollins the type of person who'd brag about TV non-ownership?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6otjCKg594

Get off yr high horse, Frank

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkKXdCyGLjY

Television is no friend of mine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCumH8LRo1A

Frank Zappa is a creep

my thought on this is that our society is, for whatever reason, unable to cope with someone not engaging in a behavior that 99% of people engage in-- even when that person is not hurting anyone else. See: people who don't own TVs, people who are vegetarian/vegan, people who choose not to drive, people who are transgender, etc. We just HAVE to ridicule those people as wanting to be different and annoying.

Thank you for equating my annoyance with some guy at a party with people who are transphobic.

xpost said by the person who throws the polio afflicted in the clink!

Rollins has done shitloads of television

Poliopolice are you seriously equating not owning a television to being transgender...not to mention the whole "lifestyle choice" aspect of that analogy

Every word in that post is wearing a fedora

Been around the world and found
That only stupid people are breeding
The cretins cloning and feeding
And I don't even own a TV

hahaa i went to youtube to look for the video for that song earlier

harvey danger is definitely the most annoying

Every word in that post is wearing a fedora

― Raptain Chillips (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, March 31, 2014 4:16 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

This is a weighted poll in that the statement is generally brought up in the context of a reference to a television program, and ostensibly someone who isn't trying to make a point would say "Oh, I haven't seen that" instead of implying that there is no way they'd watch a television show.

If people are talking about the recipe for some awesome salad and it's relatively essential you use a food processor to make it, I don't say "Oh, I don't even HAVE a food processor!"

Or someone is speaking about a musical they saw and you think the right response is, "I don't go to musical theaters"

"Oh, I don't even HAVE a food processor!"

I have said this. haha

those are terrible analogies

sorry.

It turns it from a statement about a work (television show) to a statement about the speaker's life (I don't have a tv). I guess if you're used to making everything about yourself, the latter sounds pretty normal.

Skipping past poliopolice's unfortunate transgender comparison, I've been on the opposite side of this as a (not very strict) vegetarian. Often when I was younger, less so now, a meat-eater would get really cross and defensive with me even though I never lectured anyone and only mentioned being vegetarian if I was invited somewhere to eat. Their assumption was that they were always being judged and yet I got far more grief than I gave. Annoying for me but I knew that there were ultra-judgemental vegetarian/vegans out there making it hard for the rest of us.

These days I eat fish but not meat so I get to annoy everybody with my disgusting hypocrisy.

Maybe transgender is a stretch in magnitude for the comparison to 'not owning a TV', but I think the attitude basically sprouts from the same place. Regardless, I would not hesitate to compare this to people's attitudes to vegetarianism.

xp yeah but musical theater is something almost no one does regularly, and there would be nothing weird at all about saying "oh, I don't have a food processor."

flip u

"Hey, did you see the Knicks game last night?"
"Nah, I don't really watch basketball."

Oh my god, what a jerkwad. Is everything about you, asshole?

The thing is that for every person who is snobby about not watching TV, there are like 100 people who just can't stomach the idea that a person would choose not to watch television, and a significant minority of those people are almost offended by the idea. Too much time on ILX tends to skew one's view of these things, but that's how it is out there.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Axp32y8CAAEyQ0d.jpg

"Hey, did you see the Knicks game last night?"
"Oh, did anyone in your precious ballsport get any home runs?! lol"

"I don't like movies, there are a million different kinds by all sorts of directors, silent, talkies, black and white, artsy, docs, cartoons, anime, nature shit but no, fuck it, they are not for me."

― waterbabies (waterface), Monday, March 31, 2014 1:42 PM (47 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

all of those movies suck waterface

If there was a traditional snobby attitude linked to cultural appreciation of basketball, then sure, that's a good metaphor.

hardly ever watch telly. there are loads of things I would like to watch but teenage daughters mean I don't get a look-in. being a grown-up is rubbish innit.

I've heard people say about football "Why would I watch 22 overpaid morons kick a ball around for 90 minutes?" That's the dick's way of saying "Oh I don't really follow football."

Basically there's a dick way of saying anything.

lol at anyone who was alive in the 90s pretending that the "i dont even OWN a tv" crowd is some imaginary strawman invented to promote our great tv overlords, that shit was all over the place back then.