Just Admit that You Watch Television
I have noticed that an inordinate amount of people my age and younger in Portland do not either own a TV or subscribe to cable.
WTF?
Seriously, I understand that most, if not all television pretty much sucks, but come on, television is one of those things that we all watch and rely on as a common denominator. I mean, sometimes I will watch a show just to see what it is in case I come across a trivia question about it in the future. It’s called Pop Culture, people! Hell, I even watched an episode of Grey’s Anatomy just to how much it sucked, and boy, did it.
I am one of those people that loves TV. And I don’t mean that I love what is on TV for the most part, but just the whole idea, process and culture of TV. For goodness sake, I majored in film and television studies, so I think I had better find some sort of enjoyment in television, even if only on an academic level.
So, to the young people of Portland, television can be a wonderful thing. Have you watched Science Channel? SciFi channel? Cartoon Network?! What about PBS? Even if you think you are too good to watch the usual television shows, you have to tune in for an occasional Frontline or Nature or Charlie Rose.
I tend to like to talk TV as well, and it is so frustrating to me when I bring up last night’s Project Runway (SOOO HAPPY that ever-whiny Keith is gone, btw), and the person I am trying to talk to says, “Oh, I don’t watch TV.” It’s like them saying I don’t care about the collective experience of living in the age of mass media. I think that some people see it as a badge of “coolness” to not watch TV. Those people are lame, if you ask me. How can you not be curious about commerical entertainment, even as an exercise in studying the medium?
Also, I do suspect that some of those non-TV-watchers are lying to me. Trying to appear as though they are “above” it. You know the type…they only listen to obscure bands, and try to make you feel like a soccer mom if you admit you have never heard of that band that only has an EP out anyway. I am sure that those hipsters (god, I hate that term as much as I hate the uniform of tight jeans and graphic faux-80’s t-shirts they all wear) have watched American Idol, but are too worried about admitting it and losing their street cred.
Disclaimer: I do know some people that simply cannot afford to get cable, and therefore they are excluded from my rant. They at least watch TV via the web or get the DVDs through Netflix.
TV, television, Portland, cable, pop culture, Science Channel, SciFi, Cartoon Network, PBS, Frontline, Nature, Charlie Rose, Project Runway, American Idol, Netflix, Grey’s Anatomy
November 18th, 2008 at 12:56 am
[...] By the way, has anyone else noticed that commercials for video games have gotten pretty badass lately? Of course, you don’t watch television. [...]
December 20th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Back in those halcyon weeks, months and years of the early 1980s to early 1990s when I, the Mighty Obbop, star of neither stage nor screen, wandered through life with nary a TV within the shanty or any of the other domiciles my rotund homo sapien-like body dwelt within at the time; garage, semi-truck, etc.
Nope, no TV. And, I did not visit other locales in with a TV to allow viewing its output.
Substituted non-fiction reading for mindless TV staring.
One negative. The more I learned about the MANY systems within the USA; political, economic, education, socio-economics, the many varied aspects of the USA that combined create the general whole of our country…. the more I became angered and convinced that the USA is undergoing class warfare.
Yep. An elite class and its lackeys/minions/mindless automatons and sundry jack-booted thugs actually engaged in class war against the majority of the citizenry.
Of course, that is merely one bloke’s opinion and that opinion and a buck or two will buy thee a lousy cup of coffee likely brewed too strongly and that could be brewed better at home at a much reduced coast.
Gotta’ TV now. Moved to the midwest, within the notorious tornado alley and a TV is the best venue to receive warnings about a tornado about to spew debris through the air seeking a target. Not enamored with the thought of a 2×4 board impaling my delicate body at 250 mph I opted for a TV so as to know when to duck.
That along with age and its resultant, for me, laziness and the proclivity to remain lethargic, motionless within the shanty, led to adopting and adapting to the “TV culture.”
Luckily, SOME aspects of TV have improved regarding the output. There is plenty of mindless tripe to sate the majority of bleating sheep citizens with their infantile thought processes.
Thankfully there are offerings more attuned to the tastes of the minority, the non-bleating shape who lust for more than the drivel aimed at the 6th-grade level thought processes possessed by the masses, the great unwashed horde to ignorant to even imagine the concept of freedom let alone desire such a, to the sheep, bizarre concept.
With that, I wander off, wondering what comestibles to shove down the gullet this hour.
http://obbop.wordpress.com/
January 25th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Just want to say your article is striking. The clarity in your post is simply striking and i can take for granted you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please keep up the ac complished work. Excuse my poor English. English is not my mother tongue.