And another thing.

[featherynscale]

Often it comes to pass at work or in other social situations that somebody asks me if I saw [insert name of show] last night. I tell them, "No, I don't watch television."

Sometimes this leads people to look shifty and say things like "I don't watch much either, just [these shows]." Sometimes it leads people to turn up their noses and say things like, "Well, aren't you special?". Other negative reactions have been reported, but are less common.

Maybe I'm not being clear enough. I don't watch television. I say this so that people will know that if they ask me about shows, I'm probably not going to be able to provide any response at all, because I will have invariably not seen the thing. I don't watch television. I don't care for enough shows to bother. This is not because I'm inherently a better person than tv-viewers. I'm not advancing the point that people shouldn't watch television. I just don't enjoy it, myself. I also don't enjoy jogging, but nobody seems to get too offended or guilty about that, even joggers.

Why is it so often an attack if I say "I don't watch television" and hardly ever an attack if I say "I don't jog"? To me these are roughly equivalent statements.

Comments

[iron-clad.livejournal.com]

Because it's downright unamerican you fethin' commie! No baseball or apple pie for you! Vote Ike!

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

I think there are two reasons. First, television is perceived by many as a non-intellectual activity, so saying "I don't watch television" is often interpreted as "I'm too highbrow for the boob tube." Second, because it is widely enjoyed in our culture as a (potentially) artistic medium, it evokes, or tries to evoke, an emotional response.

Imagine if you were to ask someone, "Did you see the Expressionist exhibit at the local art gallery?" and the person replied, "No, I don't look at paintings." Or, "Did you see the new movie that opened last weekend?" and they replied, "No, I don't watch film." Same sort of situation.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

They are not equivalent because one is self-improvement, the other is junk food.

If you are a non-jogger, joggers don't mind, there were times when they didn't jog.

In you are a non-TV person, you have chosen to forgo something that is a basic part of Americans, except for a few that have dropped it due to moral or self-improvement reasons. It's like saying you never eat fast food... some might consider you a froofy health nut. I simply say good job, you have a clue. This is why some fast-food eaters and TV watchers feel like you're being snooty, I am somewhat snooty, I think both are bad ideas.

[iron-clad.livejournal.com]

Maybe they are just jealous that we are strong enough and smart enough to realize that pop culture and McDonalds are evil and choose to steer away from them, whereas they are still the stupid couch potato automatons, that KMFDM sings about.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I don't know... people tell me all the time that they don't go to the movies. I tell people all the time I don't get poetry. Lots of people don't go to museums. Mostly, this doesn't seem to be offensive either.

I'm more inclined towards your first option. :)

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I don't like baseball either. And very rarely apple pie.

I am obviously secretly French.

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

PS: The plural of "automaton" is "automata."

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

Morality and self-improvement are not the only reasons that people may have when they choose not to watch television. Conversely, those of us who do watch television should not be considered to lack moral and/or self-improvement motives.

[iron-clad.livejournal.com]

Any time peanut gallery.

[saffronhare.livejournal.com]

It probably strikes a nerve, so they strike back. But you already knew that. People know damn well that the vast majority of stuff on TV is vacuous at best. Hearing somebody say that they're not at the mercy of television, or much of pop culture otherwise, is alarming. They can't predict what you're going to think about anything, except for the uncomfortable knowledge that your thoughts are likely to be different from theirs (since you generally refuse to be spoonfed). Your lack of brainwashing is threatening to people who offer themselves as willing victims of everything their TVs inflict.

There are comfortable and thoughtful places to exist at many places between those two extremes, but most folks can only think in either-or terms. Me, I love me some CSI anytime I can get it. :) ::shrug::

[hobbitblue.livejournal.com]

If you don't watch tv on a regular basis you are clearly an alien from the Planet Zod and must be treated with suspicion and disbelief (nice weather we've been having over on Zod of late, don't you think? :) )

[sirvinegar.livejournal.com]

Don't think of television-watching compared to jogging. Think of television-watching compared to breathing. Your typical person not only owns a television, they own several, and everyone they know in turns owns several, too. It's part of people's routines. To them, not having a TV is downright unusual.

I don't find it unusual, even though about 75% of my posts deal with television shows. But then, I'm strange like that.

[diermuid.livejournal.com]

Right... that's why I used the qualifier 'some'. 8-)

I myself just gave up on TV because they pissed me off by always cancelling the shows I liked. TV was like an abusive boyfriend, and I wasn't up for the 'victim' role. 8-)

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

Another reason is that, in my opinion, television has largely replaced religion as "the opiate of the masses." Saying you don't watch television in this culture is similar to someone in the Dark Ages denying the Church.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

My lack of television is completely free of morality or self-improvement motives. I just don't a) have an interest in much that's on now, and b) have a basic inability to remember when interesting things come on, or sit down for the entire episode if I do happen to catch something I want to watch.

Much like my preference for Diet Coke. I'm not drinking it to reduce my caloric intake, I just like it better than regular coke.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Doo doo do doodoo ... Automata! Doo doo do-do! Automata!...
um.
Nevermind.

[malvito.livejournal.com]

Probably fo the same reason people get suddenly defensive and downright pissy when I say "I don't want kids." They feel like, for some reason, your own choice somehow reflects on them because you are not following their mindset.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I'm totally at the mercy of the Internet. Sort of. I can stop any time I want.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

It totally is like that! People always act like you're a monster about the kid thing.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

That must be it. Is it that odd to be a non-tv-watcher in the UK as well?

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

To me, it's a recreational activity I don't much care for. I suppose it's not like that to some people though.

I do read your tv posts, by the way. I'm keeping tabs on the television phenomenon through you and a couple of other LJers. It hasn't made me want to go back to cable again, but it is interesting.

[greektoomey.livejournal.com]

I've spent a little bit of time with a "child-free" group, and I have to say that the majority of them do tend to be fairly monstrous in their dislike of children. It's not just that they don't want kids for themselves, they seem to actively scorn children and parents.

Similarly to how at least a couple of the people in this thread have expressed insulting regard for those who do watch television.

I don't think you can fault tv-addicted breeders for getting defensive.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a lot of childfree people who are all political about it are assholes. I think it's largely because they're harrassed though. I know I am harrassed about not wanting kids, so I assume it also happens to other people. You can only get called a monster so many times before you get really cranky about it.

Me, I just don't want kids. I kind of have a hard time being around other people's kids too, but I try not to be an ass about it, I'm just sensitive to loud noise. I can't really hack adults that scream at random either.

[malvito.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'm a monster about other people's kids (ask the Boyce's, or just about anyone else in Gaea Community, f'rcryinoutloud); but I've gotten some of the most outraged responses by people who would have done better to work harder on raising thir own kids than telling me how badly I neded a brodd that I categorically don't want.

Had a supervisor once who said that I had to have kids, that it was Required By God!!! I'd tell you what I still think of this person, but that sort of language does not belong on someplace like the Internet.