Anti-TV Mentality

[IAmCrystalHeights]

What do you think of the anti-TV mentality? A lot of people who consider themselves to be "freethinkers" or even kind of "individualistic," and maybe even a little "anarchist" or "nonconformist" are staunchly against TV, or practically everything on TV with the exception of maybe one or two programs they'll occasionally watch.

I think if they don't like TV or any TV show, it's fine, but somewhat questionable. Some think TV is brainwashing. I've looked at a few friends' Facebook likes in the TV section and it may show "Fuck TV," and it's kinda because he's an anti-government, anti-conformity type guy. Another guy who is a YouTube conspiracy theorist of mass shootings and 9/11 from Canada has a page in his likes that has this picture (posted below) which basically says watching TV isn't living. Of course all kinds of people hate TV, and none of them have anything to do with wanting to be different or having a nonconformist mindset.

I've even had a co-worker who was 25 who said he's never watched more than 5 hours of TV in his life, because his family never had a TV until he was older, and said he still doesn't like most of the stuff on TV or even the shows on Netflix. He likes gaming, though.

I do agree watching too much TV isn't a good thing, and people should have other activities and hobbies such as going outside, bonding with their family and friends, exercising, for recreational purposes. However, I find it a little unfair to dismiss everything on TV as garbage because of shows like Jersey Shore and Keeping with the Kardashians. There are some still good channels like AMC, and FOX may have some good stuff. Also, there's are pretty good children's channels like Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, and to some extent, Disney Channel (which was mostly meh for me and seemed a little more girl-oriented, but had some great classics too). Plenty of young adults even enjoy many of the shows on those kids channels, as well. There is also Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, which has some decent/out-there shows, good for stoners and non-stoners alike.

There still is the History Channel, some sci-fi channels, and many other channels (which are mostly on cable). Even MTV has some good stuff, too.

This is coming from a guy who rarely watches TV, too. I don't watch a lot of it anymore and haven't watched much since my early teens, so I watched mostly kids shows and cartoons back then. But as an adult I enjoy a lot of the good new shows like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, among many others which I haven't watched a lot of it but enjoyed it with family or even by myself. There hasn't been cable in my home for a while and I don't have a TV in my room and my living room is cluttered with junk making it uncomfortable to enjoy a TV show, which are reasons why I don't dabble in TV much, but I may watch some stuff on Netflix, at least before I stopped subscribing to it.

So do you really believe that TV is just garbage and do you ride along the "Fuck TV" philosophy? Are you like where you don't watch a lot anymore but still appreciate some of the good stuff on it past and present? Or do you like practically anything on it and can't go a day without TV? I have a friend who likes doing country things like fishing, shooting guns, and being on farms, but says he loves his TV and can't go a day without it. Also, same with Internet and cell phone too.

In my opinion, TV has a lot to offer and is generally a better thing.

[IAmCrystalHeights]

At 10/26/15 11:11 PM, yurgenburgen wrote:

At 10/26/15 11:01 PM, IAmCrystalHeights wrote: In my opinion, TV has a lot to offer and is generally a better thing.

if you go to the U.K. and see how television programming is broadcast there, you will realise why American T.V. is considered ridiculous and completely worthy of ridicule

Didn't you kinda hate living there though? Or was the overcrowding and government why you moved?

Although of course you would miss some things from there. I don't know much about British programming, other than the shows like Doctor Who and Downton Abbey, which I've never seen. I've seen some British movies though, which were mostly good.

[NeonSpider]

I can't really speak for anyone else, but for me I find the general quality of TV went down substantially over the years until I didn't really find myself watching it at all.

Also I can't stand people who *only* want to watch TV all the time. And there are far too many people like that.

So when the general appeal of most modern TV shows is to ignorants who don't even know how anything works, it's rather an insult to those of us who have a clue.

Literally, if someone spends their time watching "crime" and "drama" shows, I consider that person a moron.

If they like the "humor" that is Family Guy or later, I consider that person to have no taste in comedy. I may give the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they've simply never experienced better comedy as they've grown up on Family Guy and newer, even worse shows.

If you spend your time watching nature shows or sports or something, that's okay.

Just don't be one of those people who *ONLY* watches TV and we'll get along fine.

[Joestar]

At 10/27/15 12:12 AM, NeonSpider wrote:
So when the general appeal of most modern TV shows is to ignorants who don't even know how anything works, it's rather an insult to those of us who have a clue.

Literally, if someone spends their time watching "crime" and "drama" shows, I consider that person a moron.

If they like the "humor" that is Family Guy or later, I consider that person to have no taste in comedy. I may give the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they've simply never experienced better comedy as they've grown up on Family Guy and newer, even worse shows.

What I like > What you like
Dont you think you are just a little bit overgeneralizing people who watch tv?

[NeonSpider]

At 10/27/15 12:18 AM, Joestar wrote: What I like > What you like
Dont you think you are just a little bit overgeneralizing people who watch tv?

I don't care if you watch TV in your spare time. Just don't expect me to like modern shows. And if I'm a visitor at your house or you're a visitor at mine, we better be doing something other than watching TV. Modern TV is boring.

And yes, if the types of shows you usually watch are "crime", "medical", "computer" dramas, etc... unless you spend the entire time pointing out the absurdities and inaccuracies of such shows, and somehow enjoy doing that, those shows are catered towards ignorants, and I would view most regular watchers of such shows as exactly that. Because if you have any clue how any of those things actually work, you'd spend the entire time facepalming and you wouldn't enjoy such shows at all. I prefer simply not to watch them. They are inaccurate, the writing sucks, and the acting sucks.

It really depends what you watch and what you like.

If you watch nature shows, sports, live-action, "reality" shows (as stupid as they are), or comedy, that's okay.

But as for comedy, I refuse to acknowledge anything Family Guy or later. You can like it, and that's fine, but to me it's just poor taste.

And as for TV in general I just prefer not to watch it and can't stand those who are "glued to the tube".

[PleasantPeasant]

They must not be sports fans. As little as I still watch TV, I still need it for sports.

[NeonSpider]

At 10/27/15 12:41 AM, Sekhem wrote: a lot of people just don't have cable/satellite subscriptions anymore so they aren't technically watching 'tv'

but people are still watching shows through netflix, hulu, amazon, hbogo, kodi or whatever

Well see, I'd argue there's actually a pretty big difference.

If you watch TV (over-the-air or cable), you are passively receptive to whatever the networks want you to watch, when they want you to watch it. You're letting other people make your decisions.

If you watch things via online services, you actively choose what you want to watch and when you want to watch it.

It's a distinction that's at least important enough to mention.

Though personally I just stick with box sets of older shows, or individual DVDs that have some older shows on them or stuff like that. Box sets can get expensive unless you're lucky, but most DVDs are pretty cheap, especially if they're a bit older, and lots of places sell DVDs. Typical older DVD price ... ~ $1 to $5

[NeonSpider]

At 10/27/15 02:20 AM, Sekhem wrote: i don't think people have actually done that since the pre-TiVo days (and even before that i remember setting up vcrs to record at a certain time in the 90s)

people still watch what they want when they want (unless it's sports where it doesn't make sense to watch it unless it's live) and you can always pause or ff through commercials

Most people who watch TV just watch it straight over the air, around here. No TiVo. TiVo's a bit fancy. I don't know anyone who has TiVo. I know lots of people who just sit there and watch TV and don't care to do anything else because "sshhh ... my show is on", except after that show is another, and another, and ...

And worst of all they'll just sit there flipping through the channels while "their show is on" to "see if there's anything else good on" (hint: There never is) and flip between channels constantly. They'll do this for hours and it's all they'll ever do.

Those people are boring.

That's why when someone says "TV" is one of their hobbies, it's generally a bad sign.

[someaveragechap]

At 10/27/15 02:43 AM, NeonSpider wrote: That's why when someone says "TV" is one of their hobbies, it's generally a bad sign.

Someone told you that watching TV is a hobby? With a straight face? Damn. Did your soul try to escape your body?

I'm not anti-TV myself. It's just... most of it isn't worth watching. Though when I'm cleaning around my place, sometimes I like having a home improvement channel on for the befores and after bits.

[NeonSpider]

At 10/27/15 02:49 AM, someaveragechap wrote: Someone told you that watching TV is a hobby? With a straight face? Damn. Did your soul try to escape your body?

I'm not anti-TV myself. It's just... most of it isn't worth watching. Though when I'm cleaning around my place, sometimes I like having a home improvement channel on for the befores and after bits.

It's pretty common around here, actually. Stereotype of a trailer and a couch and an old TV set and some redneck dude sitting there watching TV and drinking beer all day while he yells at his wife to get him another beer isn't too far off the mark.

If I want to go do something I typically just go do it solo. I don't know a lot of people that like the same things I like.

Example: I'm more likely to want to go to a metal show whereas most of the people I know would be more likely to want country or rap, neither of which I'm interested in, and they're uninterested in metal. Result? If I want to go I just go by myself.

Then there's a whole lot of extremely religious people. All they want to do is church stuff, all the time.

I mean, hell, I'd take stereotypical redneck antics over just sitting around watching TV or doing church stuff. But I don't really know any "fun" rednecks. Where's all the rednecks that go "mudding" and fill up their truckbed with water to make it a temporary pool and do Steve-O type idiocy and things of that nature? I wish I knew. All they seem interested in around here is TV or church.

[finicalprickle]

yah i hate it when people act like people on television, and try to look like them, i remember watching this 2010 olympic downtown celebration video and it was in slow mo with all these lense effect airbushing shit and everyone was so happy. thats not how reality is. that kind of media makes women try to look like deranged mannaquins when they should be seeing themselves as bunch of stupid looking monkey primates and im the most evolved looking human

[Dean]

With the odd exception, I haven't watched TV in years. Although for me it's not because I'm anti-TV or anything. It just got to the point for me where I could flick through the channels for hours and find nothing I wanted to watch and the TV was just taking up space, so I decided to get rid of it.

There are TV series I own on DVD/Blu-ray that I still watch from time to time.

[argile]

There's some dumb and lame shit that come on different networks , There's not so much class or engaging content that was more available in earlier decades. It's either tasteless or appeals to 13 year old wankers.

[Boomstick]

Did you know that there's TV in California

I'm not lying