Wanting to make a stand, I thought I would comment briefly about the requirement we all seem to have for sitting in front of televisions because everyone else is doing it. I will argue that it might expand knowledge of polular culture – an observation that is self-fulfilling because it is largely responsible for creating popular culture – but that it does so to the detriment of imaginative thought and physical wellbeing. The greatest irony is when people tell me that they watch a particular programme because everyone else it talking about it. This is ridiculous and an illogical position to take. It also aggravates me because they are following the interests of culture en masse, rather than developing and persuing interests relevant to their own individuality and their own personality. The other reason why Eastender’s highly observant ‘everyone’s talking about it’ mantra annoys me, when spouted by friends and relatives, is that it promotes a whirlwind of petty disagreements, such as ‘who got voted off last night?’ or ‘did you see Jeremy punch Christine?’ I wouldn’t mind, but when you express an interest for things like the Large Hadron Collider over Eastenders or X Factor, you are markedly singling yourself out as a bit of a weirdo. People tell me this. My enthusiasm for esoteric subjects might sometimes be because they are esoteric, but at least I think I have good reasons for finding them interesting, which doesn’t include because everyone else is talking about them. The differences I’m describing were excellently portrayed on the american sit-com ‘The Big Bang Theory’, in which the theoretical and experimental physicists with very big IQs are questioned on a series of popular culture topics everyone would know the answer to. Their response: ‘how do you know this stuff?’ The answer: ‘because I leave my apartment and talk to people.’ I guess I’m on the geek’s side.
Television.
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