baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
Agreed. I'm just on my way to torch a cinema.
The Klaxons
- Thread starter hmg
- Start date
noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
Not watching TV is just my own personal choice. Of course I recognise the content isn't all bad. The problem is that the medium itself is such an effective attention grabber. People know the characters in Eastenders better than their own neighbours, and what's going on in Guatemala better than who runs their own local council.Ghastly to hear that people actually watch TV and enjoy it from time to time?As with music, cinema, literature and other media, I can take what I like from it and leave the rest. And I presume people here aren't recommending throwing out their stereo and burning their books?
I thought Dissensians were into subtlety of opinion?
TV loves to tell you that not watching TV makes you a 'po-faced pseudo intellectual twat', but then it would, wouldn't it?
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Well if that's what it takes so be it.
I don't have a TV and I'm very very glad about that.
Not having a TV is all very well - I have a TV myself, although I don't watch it much.
But people who make a point of not having a TV, like it makes them a better person or something, are fucking irritating.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
(aaarggggh - I said 'usually', and that's from a reasonable amount of experience of people telling me why they don't watch/have a TV...)
I agree with both your points, but:
(1) You can combine a healthy interest in local affairs with watching TV, and i think it's often the most effective medium for communicating certain kinds of information;
(2) Equally, the opera loves to tell you you're a uneducated plebeian for not regularly going to Islington to watch it, but that doesn't mean that you can't abhor that message but still selectively enjoy the medium itself.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
PS I would quite happily stab every Heat-reader to death until they agreed to stop reading it (I see a flaw in my plan), so I'm not an apologist for mass culture by any means. I just think TV gets a hard rap. whereas it is a medium that is only as good or as bad as the people making the programmes.
mistersloane
heavy heavy monster sound
I don't have aTV but I love Heat
swears
preppy-kei
Hmm...a bit harsh. Perhaps some sort of ban would be better?
noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
Alcoholics generally do well not to have bottles of whisky around the house. It does make them better people.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
lol. You contrary bastard.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
xxpost!
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
I think alcohol is generally considered to be more addictive...
Anyway, I wonder what the Klaxons think about TV.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Sorry, you've lost me. What's alcoholism got to do with TV?
noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
I don't know I'm off down the opera house to see if they've got heat magazine in the foyer.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
They don't read it, they 'read' it, i.e. coo over the pretty pictures and bright colours.
/harsh
noel emits
a wonderful wooden reason
It's someone's own choice if they don't want a TV. Not that you'd get that impression from the licensing people.
What's with all this irritation with people who might be seen as trying to improve their lives or themselves? Does it make our own shortcomings more obvious so we don't like it?
Seems a bit weird to me.
Ooo no missus, don't go getting all high and mighty with yer non-tv watching high falutin' ways, who do you think you are eh? No-one likes a smart arse. Now settle down with a nice cup of a tea and a fag and we'll watch some good old mindless crap. Fancy a dorrito?
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
In that case, I think I'll just log on to E4 and watch Big Brother Live repeats until my brain explodes.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
I thin kyou're misunderstanding the argument. No-one has expressed irritation with trying to improve yourself; the irritation comes from equating this with not watching TV. It's as braindead an equation as the anti-intellectualism that you're attacking.
Slothrop
Tight but Polite
This isn't helping you to not sound like an old fashioned indie kid, you know. All this techno bollocks sounds the same too... and of course all those people who actually like the Klaxons are only doing it because they're stupid or easily led. What a good thing we can see through the sham.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
There is plenty of stuff on TV that isn't "mindless crap", although I'm sure you know that. (Edit: maybe you don't - if you don't have a TV, maybe you think every single channel is chat shows, 'reality' bollocks or soaps, 24/7....)
I personally couldn't care less whether you own a telly or not - if you don't and you're happy with that, great, you've saved yourself £120 a year for a start. As I said, I don't watch mine very much, so it's not like I'm championing TV as the ultimate, perfect form of entertainment: most of the time I'd rather read. All I'm objecting to is the self-righteousness that some people exhibit - and which you seem to be close to exhibiting, I have to say - when they announce their non-TV-watching, and hence superior, ways. It's like those fucking awful "I'm not a plastic bag"s, or people who have a sticker on their car proclaiming their green credentials, i.e. a smug way to show off. (With the exception that driving a lower-emission car is more or less objectively better than driving a gas guzzler, unlike watching TV vs. not watching TV.)
Last edited:
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
Yeah, guess not. But it seems a particularly lame decision. Why not Hot Chip last year (appeal to the same indie-dance crowd, but are good), as someone said upthread? Comparison with the 'techno bollocks' argument doesn't seem right tho'....it's the very UNalien nature of the music that causes most of us to groan...