Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Sounds like you are being too sensitive. I am one of those who doesn't watch TV for a multitude of reasons and I say that kind of thing to show that I want the conversation to go in another direction, not to demean the other person. You probably could have learned more about her by asking "why not?"
Precisely - I am also not a television watcher, and by indicating that fact in conversation, the intent is not to imply any kind of superiority but simply to try to steer the conversation to a topic that both of us will find interesting, rather than just the other person.
All too often, though, when I comment mildly that I am not a television watcher, I am then treated to a 20-minute oration describing in excruciating detail the "awesome show" I am missing, with many assurances that "this is different, I know you'd REALLY like this even though you don't like television."
I find that quite baffling and more than a little frustrating, particularly since I do not make a habit of delivering similar orations upon the subject of the latest book I'm reading. I recognize that some people simply don't find reading enjoyable, and that's fine; they have other ways of enjoying themselves. I only wish that the same courtesy were more frequently extended to those of us who don't enjoy television.
I love trashy tv - love it - Cheaters, the Real Housewives, Judge Judy - you name it - I LOVE IT. I have a very intellectually challenging career, incredibly stressful day and TV is a great relief and distraction. Yes, people who assert that do seem to say that in a manner that implied they are somehow superior - in response - I tell them im sorry to hear that because I am unapologetic about my love for television. That being said - back to Judge Mathis - - - -
Not sure what category I fit into, but ..... I don't watch TV when I'm alone. I will only watch the shows we've DVR'd when I'm with my husband. If he isn't here, I don't turn the TV on. I'm simply not interested enough in TV to watch it by myself. I suspect I am this way because of the way I grew up. My dad has ALWAYS been glued to a TV set, and when I say glue, I mean super-glue!!! When he retired it got worse. Now that damn TV is on 24 hours a day, every day. Honestly, I don't know how my mother copes.
When I go to my parents' house the TV is on and my mom and I have to go outside to have a conversation or go into one of the bedrooms because if we sit in the house or in/near the room where the TV is, and attempt to converse like normal people, dad turns the volume on the TV all the way up to drown us out. Extremely rude. Needless to say, I have very little respect for him.
When I've thrown parties in my home and invite my parents, both my mother and I have to let my dad know in advance that under NO circumstances is a TV to be turned on. He will have to join the party and interact with people like a normal human being. Either that, or just stay home and mom can come to the party without him.
I watch TV, Criminal Minds, SUV, Nick@nite, TV land, Hallmark Channel, TBS, TNT, History channel, HGTV, Food Channel, Discovery Channel, all the Networks, CMT, GAC, Lifetime, and i really could care less who likes it and who doesn't. The boob tube is a great invention!!!!!!!!!!!! Alot better than cell phones that everyone has their nose stuck into texting!.
I love television and lots of it. I also love to read; love books.
However I think it's really rude to come into a TV FORUM and bash tv and those who watch it. Just as it would be to go into a Book forum and talk such nonsense there about books and reading.
Don't let it get to you - just turn it back on them, say something like "Oh that's a shame, I'd feel really out of touch if I didn't watch at least a little TV"
Perfect response.
I'm one of those who say, "I don't watch tv". And I really don't mean it condensending. I simply just don't know....and I watch "tv" as in news and movies...but as far as 30 minute or hour long sitcoms or dramas....I stopped that when I was 18.
But I remember the days of Who's the Boss, Growing Pains, Moonligthing...was that the lineup?
Now it's Fox news at 7pm and then a movie if I have time. When I tried to watch Entertainment Tonight recently I didn't know who those people were. I'm from the days of Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Robert Redford, etc. These young people...I just don't have any clue!
I don't watch "Big Brother" and couldn't have a conversation about it...that's all it means. I do watch some TV, but I'm generally on the History Channel, Discovery, Science, Biography...anything but standard network fare.
When I do find something I like on series TV, it usually gets cancelled before it has too long of a run. Some of the shows that get cancelled I don't care for, but I'd give them a try. Or the shows "jump the shark" and I don't like the changes made to them to try to keep them fresh.
I find folks who declare that they don't watch TV are just more intellectually superior to the masses of ordinary people. They like to be different, apart, unique. More thoughtful and maybe a weensy bit judgmental. Just a weense.
Like when you bite into a great, greasy corndog at the state fair and they curl their lip and say "I only eat organic." Like that.
I don't find them at all "more intelligent". Well, the people that I've met who don't "watch tv" aren't. I just think they're uptight, if they have that superiority complex tone. Which isn't to say that people who do watch aren't able to have that superiority complex with other things. So, whatever, I just let it slide, no biggie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PippySkiddles
I love television and lots of it. I also love to read; love books.
However I think it's really rude to come into a TV FORUM and bash tv and those who watch it. Just as it would be to go into a Book forum and talk such nonsense there about books and reading.
Who exactly is bashing because I'm not seeing it? or is this just a general statement?
Location: The Chatterdome in La La Land, CaliFUNia
39,031 posts, read 23,016,954 times
Reputation: 36027
Quote:
Originally Posted by claud605
This has been said to me a few times lately when I ask someone, have you seen so-and-so show, like one time I was talking to this woman about travel and I asked her had she seen Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. She gave me a look and said with a pretty self-righteous air, "Oh, I don't watch TV." This sounds so condescending and just plain snobby that I am taken aback. And there is an unspoken "and I'm a better person than you because of it."
Why can't these people just say, "no, never saw it."??? And leave it at that. Because they feel they have to demean those of us that DO watch TV. Because they feel holier-than-thou because they are so intellectual that they would NEVER poison their precious mind with the boob tube. I really hope those of you that say this to people are reading this so you know how you come across.
Now, I'm no 6 hour a day TV junkie or anything but I love AB, I love House Hunters International, Samantha Brown, that kind of thing. I always learn something about the country they are in and it allows me to 'travel' for free. I also watch Criminal Minds and The Mentalist, two shows that are so well written and acted, in my opinion the best I've ever watched.
Just venting, I guess, I just despise when people have this attitude, about anything really.
I'd likely respond with I don't watch TV as that is true. If I just stated that I did not see that show, folks would probably think that I watched other stuff. I don't view telling others that I don't watch TV as having a condescending attitude ... It's just a way of life for me. I usually get the condescending attitude from TV watchers who look at me as if I've grown a second head when I tell them that my TV hasn't been turned on in the past two years. Point blank - I have much better things to do with my time and don't find much worthy of watching on television.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I will only watch the shows we've DVR'd when I'm with my husband. If he isn't here, I don't turn the TV on. I'm simply not interested enough in TV to watch it by myself. I suspect I am this way because of the way I grew up. My dad has ALWAYS been glued to a TV set, and when I say glue, I mean super-glue!!! 
When he retired it got worse. Now that damn TV is on 24 hours a day, every day. Honestly, I don't know how my mother copes.
