A friend of ours is very proud to let everyone know they don’t own a TV set. I know they are both very bright and have in-depth knowledge about subjects that are of interest to them. One also has considerable musical talent. In general they are justifiably people to admire.
But this put me off…”we don’t own a television set”. Like everyone who does is intellectually deficient.
And I see the same thing with one of our Home-Schooler friends. “We don’t own a TV set”. “Our children spend time studying and taking music lessons and going to horsey camp”.
Watching too much TV is definitely on my ‘do not’ list. Watching no TV is not.
Not having an iPhone, bad-mouthing text messaging and not participating in social networking is more a signal that you are close-minded. Not that you are refined and “Conservative”.
And not owning a television set is a pseudo- intellectual accoutrement. Posturing. Trying to be “smarter than thou”, “better than thou”.
Common Sense has fallen into disrepute:
"Those “commoners” want to take over control of their local and national governments, want to establish their moral values as our community’s moral values, to dictate what textbooks are used in schools. To resist acceptance of co-ed college dormitory living where their student children can party and have sex under more favorable conditions. How wrong. How dare they! A Populist Movement? Pshaw. Nix. Nein. Those Commoners just aren’t qualified to be in charge of anything."
Or are they?
Since I am smarter than most and do not consider myself a Commoner, I understand my academic-elitist and pseudo-intellectual friends' arguments. However, my Common Sense (non sequitur) tells me many of their ideas won’t work. Including not watching a little TV. We need to keep in touch with the riff raff.
Almost everything is changing. So I better consider that ‘History Repeats Itself’ and give that shibboleth as much importance as ‘Rely on the Reasoning of Smarter People’. And I better keep aware of what is going on around me. Outside my comfort zone.
Please note how I use fancy words and expressions to be sure any possible reader of this tripe will recognize How Great I Am.
