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Child Item

No getting away from it

markesmith

Right, so I was down in Galway this weekend, visiting friends. A good time had by all. Anyway, I woke up today, a bit hungover, and hung around for a few hours.

My friend likes her tellybox, and she reads a lot of the tabloid papers. So she got the News of the World, and settled down with the paper and turned on the TV. I sat down, reading the Observer (lay off now, quality paper).

ITV basically showed about 3 hours non-stop of this Dancing on Ice crap. There were about 8 shows on different channels where people are voted out in some tacky reality TV thing.

I had a glance at the NOTW. Jade Goody, Jade Goody, Jade Goody. Absolute tabloid trash reporting, slightly racist, very sexist, extremely cynical, and dumbed down so that a two-year-old dog would get the point.

Back to the tellybox. Over on RTE1, a cadre of song-and-dance performers trot out the lamest lightweight bullsh*t, to an asinine backing track, all while wearing basketball gear and/or cheerleader costumes.

So to my point. Is this what it's come to? People who regularly consume this soulless, vapid trash need to cop on to themselves. The TV and tabloid press. Gerry Ryan and Adrian Kennedy. Max Clifford and Jade bloody Goody. Kerry Katona and the latest star with an eating disorder. Amy Winehouse's left nostril and Pete Doherty's forearm tracks.

Karl Marx said that 'religion is the opium of the people'. After my Sunday afternoon catching up on what "the great unwashed" do in their leisure time, I'd say that Marx's line needs to be updated.

Am I the only one who thinks that this celebrity-worship, reality TV, vote-me-please culture needs to be stamped out?

Opinions please. Always feels great to get a good rant out.

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LD 50

Yeh, I agree with you OP. I cant stand it. My sister and mum practically live on those kind of shows. Them and soaps, which in my opinion are just as bad. these days I barely watch 9 hours of TV a week. And most of them I can watch online.
It's all just the same vote for me/ vote for this, mindless drivel these days.

kowloon

Why does everyone assume reading Marx is the height of intellect?
Most of it is rubbish, dictatorship of the proletariat my arse.

Serafina27

I had to invest in Sky in the hope that when I do watch the tv there is actually a small chance I may actually find something worth watching over the million channels!! Unfortunately its nearly time for bed by the time I have located it!! Joys!!:P

Dinner

markesmith wrote: »

Karl Marx said that 'religion is the opium of the people'. After my Sunday afternoon catching up on what "the great unwashed" do in their leisure time, I'd say that Marx's line needs to be updated.

As opposed to something like soccer which, of course, is the pinnicle of intelligent viewing as you get to see Andy Gray giving his insights into all the worlds problems. This both educates and entertains the masses every weekend before seeing the red tops vomit it all up again on the back pages.

The problem right here is that people are so quick to gang up on the something like reality tv without giving thought to their own interests and how they are percieved by others. Whats the difference between a group of women discussing the latest happenings on perezhilton or a group of men sitting in a pub discussing the finer points of Ronaldo's right foot?

I don't particularily like most of the reality stuff, or indeed anything else, on telly these days but there's a market for it. In the same way that there's a market for football every weekend and how people will pay through the nose to get tickets to something like wrestlemania or whatever is on this month.

One mans rant is anothers gossip.

MJOR

Live and let live!

Terry

Quazzie2002 wrote: »

Don't worry OP. After a while Jade Goody will be gone from the redtops

You think?
That dead cocaine bint still pops up regularly.

Stargal wrote: »

I don't know which gets to me more in threads like this: the snobbery or the whole anti-woman thing. Because that's exactly what it is - people making snide comments about how some woman they know gets a kick out of something that's clearly quite shít, whether it's Coronation Street, Heat magazine, how Angelina and Brad looked at the Golden Globes or what they think about Jade Goody. Why not just change your posts to "I hate stuff that working class people like?" or "Gosh, aren't women stupid?".

People use these things as escapism. In the same way that we can read the New York Times for information or watch a documentary about Iran to understand what's going on in the world, we all do things to switch off. Some people go on the internet (*waves*), some do sport, and a huge chunk of people read magazines or watch television, a lot of which are aimed at a mass-market. Just because they aren't insightful or intellectual in any way doesn't make them bad. In fact, that's the point of them. It's brain-candy.

Hell, look at how many people post here in AH rather than in Humanities or Politics. Why do you do that? I'll bet all the money in my pockets that it's because you want to switch off for a while, have a bit of banter or chat about something that's in the news. What's the difference if someone does this by buying the News of the World?

I fiercely object to the idea that 1) people who do these things are somehow less intelligent or less worthy than people who choose to do other things with their time and 2) that there is anyone who is completely defined by their decisions to watch these crap programmes or read these shít magazines.

People are more than just the things that they do, no matter how tempting it is to go all High Fidelity about it and judge people for having crap taste. Yeah, I mod the Celeb forum, so I'm biased. Meh.

Look at this post. Now swap the names of all the soaps that she mentioned for Mad Men or Battlestar Galactica or something else that's been critically acclaimed. She's implying her sister-in-law is an idiot; it it had been some of the shows that I've mentioned, she would have got kudos for her devotion to such a great show.

I hear ya on the Gerry Ryan thing. There's some stuff that not even an intelligent reading of Marx can explain. Maybe if popular culture is meant to subdue us and stop us from rising up and starting a revolution then Gerry Ryan is the gunpowder, the agent provocateur that always brings us right to the brink before we get subdued again. I know I always feel like hitting someone or overthrowing something whenever I hear his smug little voice.

I agree with some of your points regarding snobbery, but you shot yourself in the foot with the Hell, look at how many people post here in AH rather than in Humanities or Politics comment.

I agree that soaps are escapism for many (not all. Some think it's real), but they are aimed at the lowest common denominator.
Those reality tv shows and the red top crap are basically the same.
They are unintelligent drivel at best.

Arabel wrote: »

As opposed to something like soccer which, of course, is the pinnicle of intelligent viewing as you get to see Andy Gray giving his insights into all the worlds problems. This both educates and entertains the masses every weekend before seeing the red tops vomit it all up again on the back pages.

Never mind Andy Gray. The dude with the moustache is tv gold.

MJOR wrote: »

Live and let live!

No. This is AH and we don't allow common sense here.

Ok, AH is pretty much the tabloid of boards.ie. Although it is a bit more intelligent.
There are plenty of good discussions here, but it takes just one idiot to ruin that

I'm tired. I don't know where I was going with this.

galwayrush

Excellent post OP. Couldn't put it any better.:cool:
I don't watch any of this crap, don't even read it in the papers.
The dumbing down of society, amazing how successful it's been .:rolleyes:

Tar.Aldarion

Haven't watched tv in years, get away from it while you still can OP!

[Deleted User]

The thread title says it all. I've often criticised this tripe and get replies such as "if you don't like it don't watch it." But there's no getting away from it, even if you don't watch it you're bombarded by it all in the media.

Tar.Aldarion

Really? I'm not. Maybe don't read it? Or listen to it too?

[Deleted User]

Then I'll just have to stick with Morning Ireland I suppose...

Blackjack

banshee_bones wrote: »

.

I choose to read from the following: The Indo,

banshee_bones wrote: »

Yes i agreed that red top kinda rubbish and mentality should be stamped out....

O dearie......

markesmith

OP here, glad to see your opinions on this, glad I'm not alone in my ranting!

Arabel wrote: »

Whats the difference between a group of women discussing the latest happenings on perezhilton or a group of men sitting in a pub discussing the finer points of Ronaldo's right foot?

I laughed out loud at this, but I suppose you've got a fair point.

Karsini wrote: »

The thread title says it all. I've often criticised this tripe and get replies such as "if you don't like it don't watch it." But there's no getting away from it, even if you don't watch it you're bombarded by it all in the media.

That's pretty much how I feel. The sitting-room is geared towards it, and you know, you've got to spend some time in the sitting room. I mean, you have to sit sometimes.

Anyway, the Indo is a prime example of the celebrity pap culture. And the Sindo seems to always feature a front-page photo of some D4 beauty hawking some product or hotel or other.

And Gerry Ryan, don't get me started...:rolleyes:

LD 50

MJOR wrote: »

Live and let live!

Terry wrote: »

No. This is AH and we don't allow common sense here.

sig worthy

shane86

Donny5 wrote: »

In fact, I think it's as serious as cancer.

Oh yeah :pac:

Call me a cynic but wouldnt it be some turn up if Jade made some miracilous last minute cure and sold a book out of it?

I said this before here, but quite a few people claim to have never heard of Katy French before she died. I couldnt give a monkeys about celebrity news but ffs she was in every paper, from the tabloids to the (Irish) broadsheets on a daily basis for about 9 months previously. Not having heard of her was about as hard to comprehend as saying you hadnt a clue who George Bush was. Somewhat related I couldnt care less that Gordon Ramsay cheated on his wife, however 5 people (read: women) within the space of a week a few months back bringing it up infront of me makes it fairly unavoidable. While nowadays it is on its last legs and the media couldnt care less, back in the day you knew every big brother contestant by the second week, even if, like me, you wouldnt watch that sh1t if you were paid. It was everywhere, even the tv news.

Acacia

MIN2511 wrote: »

Jade Goody is dying-have some sympathy.....

Couldn't give a **** , sorry. Actually I'm not sorry. Didn't like her when she was healthy, don't like her now. She's still a racist , useless idiot, so I have very little sympathy for her. Her kids perhaps, but not her.

And why is she famous? Because the fcukin' tabloids wanted to make money off a talentless nobody and celebrate her mediocrity. "Oh, she so's great, she's so ordinary" Bollocks. There's nothing 'ordinary' about not knowing that Spain and Portugal are two separate countries, ffs.

Enough of celebrating pointless eejits, who are little more than glorified sales people trying to hawk their latest 'product' whether that be perfume, a 'fashion label' :rolleyes: or even, it seems, cancer...

Acacia

Stargal wrote: »

I don't know which gets to me more in threads like this: the snobbery or the whole anti-woman thing. Because that's exactly what it is - people making snide comments about how some woman they know gets a kick out of something that's clearly quite shít, whether it's Coronation Street, Heat magazine, how Angelina and Brad looked at the Golden Globes or what they think about Jade Goody. Why not just change your posts to "I hate stuff that working class people like?" or "Gosh, aren't women stupid?".

Eh, I'm working class and a woman and I find most of the celebrity-worship and reality tv pretty crap, tbh. Just because I feel this way, however, it doesn't mean I think people who enjoy it are idiots and it also doesn't mean I'm a snob, either.

I find it a bit insulting actually, to insinuate that only working-class women enjoy this stuff.

Sharpshooter

Acacia wrote: »

Couldn't give a **** , sorry. Actually I'm not sorry. Didn't like her when she was healthy, don't like her now. She's still a racist , useless idiot, so I have very little sympathy for her. Her kids perhaps, but not her.

And why is she famous? Because the fcukin' tabloids wanted to make money off a talentless nobody and celebrate her mediocrity. "Oh, she so's great, she's so ordinary" Bollocks. There's nothing 'ordinary' about not knowing that Spain and Portugal are two separate countries, ffs.

Enough of celebrating pointless eejits, who are little more than glorified sales people trying to hawk their latest 'product' whether that be perfume, a 'fashion label' :rolleyes: or even, it seems, cancer...

Shame on you.
She is in a position to leave money to those kids you seem to have sympathy for, so why shouldn't she.
Her priorities are in the right place, she loves the bones of them,and it shows.
I would be more worried about Jacks Proposal, funny how that came on the back of her devastating news.
I hope she puts a codicil in her will, so he cant go through any money that she has left for them.

Acacia

Sharpshooter wrote: »

Shame on you.
She is in a position to leave money to those kids you seem to have sympathy for, so why shouldn't she.
Her priorities are in the right place, she loves the bones of them,and it shows.
I would be more worried about Jacks Proposal, funny how that came on the back of her devastating news.
I hope she puts a codicil in her will, so he cant go through any money that she has left for them.

Why shame on me? That's just how I feel. There are hundreds of people dying of cancer right now, most of them a hell of a lot nicer than Jade Goody. I've never liked her and I won't change my opinion now, just cause she's sick.

K-9

Sharpshooter wrote: »

I would be more worried about Jacks Proposal, funny how that came on the back of her devastating news.

OH Good God, is he STILL on the scene?

Stargal

markesmith wrote: »

I agree with you definitely on the Gerry Ryan thing. I like your opinions above, mine just differ with yours. I don't think it's a plot to dull our senses through "bread and games" or whatever, but I think people need to make individual decisions about the stupid stuff they're reading and watching.

That's exactly it. I think people should engage more with the world and actually think about what they're doing but if they choose not to then meh, it's their choice.

Terry wrote: »

I agree with some of your points regarding snobbery, but you shot yourself in the foot with the Hell, look at how many people post here in AH rather than in Humanities or Politics comment.

Yeah, I didn't explain that properly. I meant that everyone engages differently with boards. Some want serious debate all the time, some want a mixture, some want to kick back a bit. AH is a good mixture of debate and bran candy. It's the same as people reading different papers and magazines, depending on what they feel like. Didn't mean to infer that AH was the tabloid of boards. In fact if it was a newspaper it would probably be... the London Times, maybe?

Acacia wrote: »

Eh, I'm working class and a woman and I find most of the celebrity-worship and reality tv pretty crap, tbh. Just because I feel this way, however, it doesn't mean I think people who enjoy it are idiots and it also doesn't mean I'm a snob, either.

I find it a bit insulting actually, to insinuate that only working-class women enjoy this stuff.

That's not what I said. My point is that every poster in this thread who's written about stuff they hate has eithercriticised women for watching soaps and reading celebritity magazines or else slagged off people who read tabloids for the lack of intelligence. It's working class people and women, not working class women.

Sharpshooter

Acacia wrote: »

Why shame on me? That's just how I feel. There are hundreds of people dying of cancer right now, most of them a hell of a lot nicer than Jade Goody. I've never liked her and I won't change my opinion now, just cause she's sick.

K-9 wrote: »

OH Good God, is he STILL on the scene?

Acacia, Cancer doesn't care how nice you are, it is a devastating disease that makes you face your own mortality.
She is a brilliant mother, and having gone through the childhood that she did, she wants only the best for her children.
You say you never liked her , no one is asking you to like her , but at least have some humanitarian spirit about you and try to feel what she must be going through.
( And be very glad it's not you ) There but for the grace of God and all that.

K-9
Afraid so, she doesn't seem to have great sense when it comes to the opposite sex.
I use that term because I don't see much of a Man in him.

Donny5

shane86 wrote: »

Oh yeah :pac:

Call me a cynic but wouldnt it be some turn up if Jade made some miracilous last minute cure and sold a book out of it?

I said this before here, but quite a few people claim to have never heard of Katy French before she died. I couldnt give a monkeys about celebrity news but ffs she was in every paper, from the tabloids to the (Irish) broadsheets on a daily basis for about 9 months previously. Not having heard of her was about as hard to comprehend as saying you hadnt a clue who George Bush was. Somewhat related I couldnt care less that Gordon Ramsay cheated on his wife, however 5 people (read: women) within the space of a week a few months back bringing it up infront of me makes it fairly unavoidable. While nowadays it is on its last legs and the media couldnt care less, back in the day you knew every big brother contestant by the second week, even if, like me, you wouldnt watch that sh1t if you were paid. It was everywhere, even the tv news.

Hey, I didn't know who Katy French was. I'm sure I had seen some articles in newspapers or online, or talked to people who had mentioned it. However, I wouldn't read those stories or listen to those people for long so maybe it didn't register.

I needed to remember why she was famous: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katy_French.

Most importantly, someone got the joke, so I'm happy. Rythm is a dancer, it's a source of anger, we can feel everywhere....

markesmith

Never knew who Katy French was until she died. I suppose I never read the Living section of the Sindo, and didn't read the tabloids, and didn't drink in whatever elitist places in Dublin that these media people drink at.

It just feels like an aristocracy has ascended in Ireland, the UK and US that is based primarily on Aryan features and ambition. Katy French, Jessica Simpson, Kerry Katona, Paris Hilton, la la la...

On the other hand, if you lack the looks, a bit of controversy will get you into this elite. Jade Goody I'm looking at.

And there's still a bit of an attitude in Ireland of 'fair play to them'. So you say you hate a presenter/model/media wh*re/boyband. People will say, "Well I think fair play to them, they've made their money".

It's as if fame, celebrity, acclaim even, goes to the people who capture the most column inches. Myleene Klass, for the love of God, what in God's name does she add to society?

You just have to wonder where this whole OK Magazine, swearing chefs, terminal-illness-as-self-promotion, Britain's Got Talent, yada yada yada is heading. It's a bit of an inditement on our society, and the huge wedge of people who lap this stuff up.

Acacia

Sharpshooter wrote: »

Acacia, Cancer doesn't care how nice you are, it is a devastating disease that makes you face your own mortality.
She is a brilliant mother, and having gone through the childhood that she did, she wants only the best for her children.
You say you never liked her , no one is asking you to like her , but at least have some humanitarian spirit about you and try to feel what she must be going through.
( And be very glad it's not you ) There but for the grace of God and all that.

Lots of people are brilliant mothers, have tough childhoods and still get cancer. What's your point? She's still totally mediocre, and I find it rather distasteful that she's making money off her illness. There are lots more people far more deserving of my 'humanitarian spirit' than Jade Goody. If everybody watching her show put that time towards helping a cancer charity or something, I think that would be much better.

Why should I try and feel what she's going through? I feel as bad for her as anyone else who has cancer, but that's it. At the end of the day, I couldn't care less what happens to her to be perfectly honest.

And I am 'very glad' it's not me. Why wouldn't I be?

To be frank, I'd be more ashamed of myself if I tuned in to watch some z-list celeb trying to squeeze some last-minute attention out of her fifteen minutes of fame. I know she's trying to get money for her kids , but if the only way she can do that is by having a fly-on-the-wall show about her terminal illness , I find that rather pathetic.

RaverRo808

Hence why I still use the dog ears,and refuse to get cable or pay a TV license!

[Deleted User]

I cannot sit down and watch TV anymore. It depresses me and bores me. The News telling us how screwed we are. Chatshows, Judge Judy-wannabes, soaps, and bloody awful reality TV shows.

And then you have ads that coincide on every bloody channel so channel-hopping has become an ancient art, as there is no way to get away from it.

Wagon

Stargal wrote: »

I don't know which gets to me more in threads like this: the snobbery or the whole anti-woman thing. Because that's exactly what it is - people making snide comments about how some woman they know gets a kick out of something that's clearly quite shít, whether it's Coronation Street, Heat magazine, how Angelina and Brad looked at the Golden Globes or what they think about Jade Goody. Why not just change your posts to "I hate stuff that working class people like?" or "Gosh, aren't women stupid?".

People use these things as escapism. In the same way that we can read the New York Times for information or watch a documentary about Iran to understand what's going on in the world, we all do things to switch off. Some people go on the internet (*waves*), some do sport, and a huge chunk of people read magazines or watch television, a lot of which are aimed at a mass-market. Just because they aren't insightful or intellectual in any way doesn't make them bad. In fact, that's the point of them. It's brain-candy.

Hell, look at how many people post here in AH rather than in Humanities or Politics. Why do you do that? I'll bet all the money in my pockets that it's because you want to switch off for a while, have a bit of banter or chat about something that's in the news. What's the difference if someone does this by buying the News of the World?

I fiercely object to the idea that 1) people who do these things are somehow less intelligent or less worthy than people who choose to do other things with their time and 2) that there is anyone who is completely defined by their decisions to watch these crap programmes or read these shít magazines.

People are more than just the things that they do, no matter how tempting it is to go all High Fidelity about it and judge people for having crap taste. Yeah, I mod the Celeb forum, so I'm biased. Meh.

Look at this post. Now swap the names of all the soaps that she mentioned for Mad Men or Battlestar Galactica or something else that's been critically acclaimed. She's implying her sister-in-law is an idiot; it it had been some of the shows that I've mentioned, she would have got kudos for her devotion to such a great show.

I hear ya on the Gerry Ryan thing. There's some stuff that not even an intelligent reading of Marx can explain. Maybe if popular culture is meant to subdue us and stop us from rising up and starting a revolution then Gerry Ryan is the gunpowder, the agent provocateur that always brings us right to the brink before we get subdued again. I know I always feel like hitting someone or overthrowing something whenever I hear his smug little voice.

Yeah maybe, but it's the same crap over and over again. I mean, I tried watching the Hills once, and I turned it off and decided to sit on the toilet and wait till i needed to take a crap instead. I found it more theraputic than watching a pack of spoiled little brats argue about boys and money. It's not TV that's the problem, it's what's on it is absolute crap.

Collie D

Jesus, lot of angry people out there.

I hate this reality sh*te TV as much as the next person but I don't watch it. Plenty of other stations on TV - having said that I go ape**** if anybody turns it on at home.

I neither like or dislike Jade Goody. She doesn't interest me one bit. If she's in the paper I just turn the page. Yet people on here say they hate her and hope she dies soon. Why? What has she ever done to you? Yet, you say you hate the endless drivellous debate about her. Are you not joining in by saying that?

Why get worked up about it? Obviously some people are interested in this crap because it wouldn't be on TV/in the papers if nobody was interested. Each to their own as long as I don't have to watch it.

jiltloop

Television is such a a wasted medium. Imagine what the guy who invented the television was thinking when he devised it. He probably had great plans and ideas about how it could be used to inform and educate and make the world a more knowledgable and open place. I'd say he's turning in his grave now with the crap that's shown on tv. I have a certain lack of respect for people who feed on this celebrity crap, honestly is there not enough happening in their own lives? If you want escapism why not watch documentaries? Learn how the world works, learn about other cultures and places, learn about history. Get a thirst for knowledge instead of mindless drivel.