Favorite ignorances

[Blarg]

Chime in with your own!

The three types of favorite ignorance: 1) you don't know and wish you did, but probably without having to work at it for even a second; 2) you don't know and don't wanna know; 3) something's value seems not at all intrinsic, but almost entirely social to you -- games and sports are easy examples; I guess you could call this social ignorance. If you wanted to.

1. Ballet -- super cool for about one minute, then awful.

2. Opera -- One of my most prized dislikes that I don't want to learn anything more about. Not one second of being any less than awful

3. Faulkner -- Even my long sentences don't go on for three pages without a comma or a period, and he seems very overwrought. I know I should read more of him to have a better knowledge of American literature, but I can't bring myself to do it. Frankly, I hate his stuff.

4. Football -- too many breaks in the action; I don't wanna learn more so I can understand what makes the game really exciting, and don't apologize. This is a boring game, to me.

5. Female-written poetry -- I've never found a female poet I consistently liked.

6. Female-written fiction -- Read a bit of it, and liked some of it, but not much, and have actively disliked a lot that I've bumped into. Never picked up a Wharton, Bronte, etc. Frankly, fiction by women authors often feels claustrophobic, overworked, and trivial to me.

7. Local politics -- I don't care who runs for the school board, unless I hear word that they're a creationist or religious nut, in which case I'll vote against.

8. Rap and Pop music -- I'm fine with knowing very little about it and sometimes wish I knew less.

9. Celebrity culture -- screw celebrities and the magazines, t.v. shows, and even fans who love them. There, I said it, now kick me out of America. This goes with #10.

10. The Condition of the President's Dog -- I don't care what George Bush, or any president, ate for lunch yesterday, and I don't need to see it on the front page of the paper. Endless fawning coverage of the Chief Executive's every fart is dumb and dull. I have further complaints about this worshipful, awed sort of thing turning people into idols, and that being unhealthy and maybe even partisan, but will just end this one right here.

11. Religious occasions -- who cares? Not me. If I'm not interested in your religion, why would I be interested in its ceremonial particulars?

12. Fixing stuff. I could learn more about working on cars or fixing plumbing or such -- but I don't want to. I hate paying people to do it for me, but not as much as I hate learning it, and doing it, myself. I can change my oil and my filters in my car, and handle my tires; that's good enough for me.

And those are the first ones that came to mind.

[jakethebake]

This is an excellent thread! My list is very long. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

I'll have to work on this respknse awhile.

[tdarko]

i agree with most of the thread but why are sports and games an ignorance? /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[steelcmg]

[ QUOTE ]
4. Football -- too many breaks in the action; I don't wanna learn more so I can understand what makes the game really exciting, and don't apologize. This is a boring game, to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow i can think of many other sports that are more boring then football.

I would have to agree with every thing else on your list. I dont really care about any of them and dont want to know about any of them.

[SL__72]

Wow that is a very solid list except for that I love football so obviously that wouldn't be on my list.

One at the top of my list would be women's sports. WNBA, LPGA, women's college sports etc. The olympics don't count here.

[Blarg]

Because I could know more about them, and that might genuinely help me like them more. So my dislike could be partly based on ignorance.

Football is a good example. There may be something a little ignorant in my saying it's dull, but frankly, it's so dull to me that I don't care to invest more time in a dull thing ot make it more exciting.

It's socially ignorant in another way, too. Depending on what your goals are.

Football is practically a reason for living, for many people. They don't care if teachers get fired at their schools, if they get a nicer football field. Screw education! They don't care if their city goes bankrupt funding a new football stadium. It's worth it because to them, the social value of watching football with their buddies at home or going to a football game is almost impossible to top as a social activity. Not giving a crap enough to suffer through a lifetime of football games excludes you from this all-important social activity with a lot of people, and being excluded is no fun. It could even be career-damaging. Yet liking something that sucks isn't easy. Not trying to like it, or not trying to fake liking it, could be seen as a sort of social ignorance, because the game is not just the game, it's a centerpiece of social life for many people -- heck, practically a religious experience. Telling people you don't like football is, for some of them, like saying you peed on Jesus or joined the Communist Party or NAMBLA.

[TheMainEvent]

[ QUOTE ]

1. Ballet -- super cool for about one minute, then awful.


[/ QUOTE ]

Just out of curiousity, what happens during this super-cool minute you're referring to?

[Blarg]

Obviously many people will not agree with my football choice. This is just my personal list, not meant to even be that arguable. It's just my tastes, that's all.

I'm sure many of the guys who like football hate soccer, and I know many people love to hate soccer, as if it were macho or patriotic or proved something -- what, I'm not sure. Me, I love soccer. And I'm sure it would make many lists of favorite ignorances.

[cdxx]

this week's episodes of Lost, Survivor, Real World, Surreal Life, 24, Alias, various flavors of CSI, Law & Order, and Will & Grace.

for some reason i get great enjoyment when i tell to my friends, "CSI? i don't watch that [censored]".

i do however appreciate when Jennifer Garner's pictures make it to OOT

[tdarko]

oh i agreed with football on your list, half the fans at a game are ignorant to actually what is going on or ignorant to truly understanding the game.

i was just asking about games in general and you answered me, thanks blarg. /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

1. Ballet -- super cool for about one minute, then awful.


[/ QUOTE ]

Just out of curiousity, what happens during this super-cool minute you're referring to?

[/ QUOTE ]

A chick or two looks pretty hot and does some amazing stuff. Maybe some fruity looking dude does some outrageous jump or something that you know you could never do. Then that chick looks cute again, maybe does something else cool. But then you've seen what there is to see, and get that uncomfortable feeling more and more that you get when you're with a girl who actually enjoys watching street mimes for a long, long time.

[SocialWelfareIV]

[ QUOTE ]

I'll have to work on this respknse awhile.

[/ QUOTE ]

Jake's plans for future posts.

[RunDownHouse]

[ QUOTE ]
One at the top of my list would be women's sports. WNBA, LPGA, women's college sports etc. The olympics don't count here.

[/ QUOTE ]
Careful. There's no difference in general between women's sports and men's. You implicitly acknowledge as much by excluding the Olympics. You can make the argument for specific sports - the WNBA being the prime, shining example - but not in the general case.

To Blarg wrt female lit: have you read Toni Morrison's stuff? "Claustraphobic" etc would be just about the last descriptors I would choose.

[Blarg]

This is a good one. I don't like "reality" shows either, and especially don't like all the breathless coverage of them on what's supposed to be news shows, but which are mostly just doing barely-concealed promos for the ones on their own network. Constantly!

[Peca277]

I have to disagree with the local politics issue. Maybe I just care because I work for a State Representative, but local and state officials actually have a larger effect on your life than federal. Maybe you don't care about the school board now, but you sure as hell better care if/when you have kids in school.

The people who make decisions on what type of development is allowed in your area are local officials. The people who decide whether or not that road goes through your house are often local officials. The ones who are actually willing to speak with you personally to solve a problem are local officials.

It pains me to see people who want all these services and complain when their bus doesn't come on time... but then say they don't care about local politics.

[noggindoc]

[ QUOTE ]

4. Football -- too many breaks in the action; I don't wanna learn more so I can understand what makes the game really exciting, and don't apologize. This is a boring game, to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

you should apologize...

[Blarg]

Never read Toni Morrison. Some of the ones I've read that come to mind right away are Marianne Moore, Emily Dickinson, Jayne Anne Phillips(liked a lot of her stuff), Alice Walker(hated The Color Purple big time), Anne Beatty(liked almost none of it), Joyce Carol Oates(both liked and disliked strongly), Cynthia Ozick(hated all her stuff). Never did get to what most people would consider the older classics, like the Brontes or Wharton.

A high percentage of "darlings of the New Yorker" in there. I think the New Yorker and its idea of fiction is often incredibly pretentious, trivial, and leaden.

[Blarg]

Well, these are a selection of ignorances, not virtues, or a prescription for anyone else. I admit that while some of them reflect entirely my not giving a damn about things that truly don't matter, some of them just reflect shortcomings I'm not willing to do the work to change.

[Ulysses]

Blarg, you might be my favorite poster. Excellent topic.

[ QUOTE ]

1. Ballet

2. Opera

7. Local politics

12. Fixing stuff.


[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent picks. I will post later with some of my own.

[Ulysses]

Golf, except for Tiger Woods and maybe Michelle Wie.

[Ulysses]

"The Classics" as pertains to literature (I know far more than I care to already)

[STLantny]

on your list 1 3 5 6 7 9.

oh ya, relationships, kids, wives

[Shajen]

Shakespeare

[mslif]

I need to give this a little bit more thought but the first ignorance that came to mind for me is modern art. I have no interest in knowing or even looking at what is considered modern art or abstract art. To me, it does not look like anything meaningful. Just pure ugliness.
I am also ignorant about baseball, I don't care for the game and I find it very boring. I don't think I could name one famous currently playing baseball player.
I would agree also with fixing stuffs and shows on TV. I rarely watch TV, to me it's a waste of time.

[miajag81]

- Any form of "celebrity gossip"
- Soccer
- Hockey
- pretty much anything involving religion

[Ulysses]

[ QUOTE ]
"The Classics" as pertains to literature (I know far more than I care to already)

[/ QUOTE ]

mslif reminded me. "The Classics" as pertains to a number of schools of art.

[IndieMatty]

1. Hockey
2. Most books. Arts. Sciences.
3. Cooking
4 (edit) Driving

[4_2_it]

Foreign films. If they are not good enough to be made in English why should I bother to watch.

Kung Fu movies are the only exception because they all have the same plot and ending. You watch for the action and could care less what colorful terms they are using to essentially say,"Prepare to have yourself beaten senseless by my fists of death!"

Edit - Cable news channels. I can get everything faster and more accurately from the web.

[[censored]]

homosexuality and it's culture
art
non western cultures
country music & the dances done to it
vegetarian dieting
whatever the current term for hippies is.
"alternative" lifestyles (transgender, making yourself look like an animal etc)

and most of the stuff from your list

[diebitter]

1. Ballet - just an excuse for posh skinny birds to flash their gussets

2. Opera - just an excuse for fat birds to show their oral skills

Actually, these aren't that bad, when I put it that way...

[SL__72]

#1, I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be a list of personal favorite ignorances. I know nothing about most women's sports and have no interest in learning any more so that puts it near the top of any list of "favorite ignorances" for me.

#2 There are differences. They often have different rules (shorter courses in the LPGA, women's hockey has no checking etc.) The level of competition is also less.

[RunDownHouse]

Sorry, the response was mostly aimed at Blarg's third category. I realized afterwards that you were likely in the "don't care don't care don't care" crowd, but didn't feel like editing.

[IndieMatty]

[ QUOTE ]
#1, I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be a list of personal favorite ignorances. I know nothing about most women's sports and have no interest in learning any more so that puts it near the top of any list of "favorite ignorances" for me.

#2 There are differences. They often have different rules (shorter courses in the LPGA, women's hockey has no checking etc.) The level of competition is also less.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wait, women play sports?

[sfer]

Faulkner is a really good one.

[JaBlue]

[ QUOTE ]

12. Fixing stuff. I could learn more about working on cars or fixing plumbing or such -- but I don't want to. I hate paying people to do it for me, but not as much as I hate learning it, and doing it, myself. I can change my oil and my filters in my car, and handle my tires; that's good enough for me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Its fine not to know everything about cars as long as you know the basics and can fix a flat tire. Its also very good to be able to fix stuff around the house. Yes this is coming from the guy that couldn't figure out how to hang a wall clock (I didn't see the damn hole in the back, and anyway a nail didn't hold it).

I agree about Faulkner and a lot of other writers. I just can't stomach it. I hate others a lot more than Faulkner though. Pretty much anybody that wrote in the Victorian era. I don't get all of the nuances of the writing and I don't want to. I don't want to know that Fagan's gang in Oliver Twist also work as child prostitutes. (HAHA! FAGan's gang!!!! GET IT???) I also can't read Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice or anything like that

As for football, you don't have to be intelligent about it to appreciate it. You just have to be a man.

The ballet: [censored] it


Opera: I am ignorant about this too but I still like to hear it every now and then. And besides, other languages are very nice to hear when sung properly.

Female sports: [censored] em

Celebrities: [censored] em

feminism : [censored] it

feminazis : double [censored] it

presidents dog: cool with me

religious occasions: really more about getting together with your loved ones than the the actual religious crap. At least, that's whwy I've come to appreciate them even though i'm atheist
I will add my own and that is baseball. The most boring sport there is until playoff time. The season's way too long and the game lacks strategy. Definitely my least favorite sport of the major american ones.

PS great post

[Phoenix1010]

I take no pride in my ignorance, though I have a lot to spare. Different things appeal to different people. Your first type of ignorance is pretty much all I got, but it can't really be a favorite, since it's just a list of things that I wish I had time to take an interest in. I think that would make a good thread. The other two, which seem to be dominant, seem like things that appeal to/ are interesting to others but don't appeal to/ are not interesting to you. That would be a decent thread as well. the fact that it's about favorites means it's becoming more of a "I'm ignorant, and I'm proud" kind of thread, which is a bit more annoying.

[captZEEbo1]

[ QUOTE ]
Foreign films. If they are not good enough to be made in English why should I bother to watch.

[/ QUOTE ]There's a lot of GREAT foreign films. Try: City of God, Run Lola Run, Life is Beautiful, Amores Perros, Rififi, Amelie, or Rashomon (mostly different genres, so if you don't like one, don't assume the rest are bad).

1. The masturbatory habits of the members of OOT, which has been a hot topic on this forum of late.

polltard

[razor]

Journey

[nothumb]

Okay, this thread is mostly turning out to be a way for people to show off their prejudices, which is fine I guess, so I'll show mine off too.

1. Online video games. Seriously, people kill themselves with this crap, and a lot of the current indifference to quality cultural resources and institutions probably stems from the craze for instant gratification and stimulus.

2. TV. Same thing.

3. Stocks. I'm a stick in the mud and I don't like gambling unless I have an edge and I'm pretty sure nobody's cheating me. I'll work for my paycheck, thanks.

4. Contemporary folk music, 'heavy rock' and country. The old stuff is almost always better.

There aren't a lot of things I'm proud to be ignorant about, that's probably close to all of it.

NT

[Subfallen]

[ QUOTE ]
6. Female-written fiction -- Read a bit of it, and liked some of it, but not much, and have actively disliked a lot that I've bumped into. Never picked up a Wharton, Bronte, etc. Frankly, fiction by women authors often feels claustrophobic, overworked, and trivial to me.

[/ QUOTE ]

Blarg you need to read some Flannery O'Connor!!

Edit: you outdid yourself with this line:

[ QUOTE ]
...uncomfortable feeling more and more that you get when you're with a girl who actually enjoys watching street mimes for a long, long time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Really good work.

[Dave G.]

I agree with many of your choices. 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, and 11 are all things my life can gladly do without.

I agree completely with football - I'm not American, but we get it on cable TV here sometimes, and... it's just sooo boring. Stop start stop start stop start. I don't get what's so fascinating about spending 4 - 5 hours watching a game with 1 hour of actual scheduled game time (is that right? if not, that proves my ignorance further /images/graemlins/tongue.gif), and I don't care to either.

As for Rap / Pop, I'm blisfully ignorant of these. My music collection consists of classic rock, hard rock, heavy metal and some alternative stuff. I have only one album that's been released since 2000 (Fallen). I've no desire to expand my musical tastes.

Here's another one: Fishing. I have a friend who loves fishing. I've never been fishing, but for me, I can't possibly imagine anything that could be so excrutiatingly dull. You sit on your ass for what, 6? 7? 10 hours? Hoping for a brief moment of excitement every couple of hours when a fish nibbles at your line. I just cannot think of a more boring way to spend half a day. I have absolutely no interest in ever trying this.

[send_the_msg]

yeah rap sucks it's all raping and murdering /images/graemlins/smile.gif

p.s. football players rank as the stupidest people ever. in a different dimension they are manatees.

[tomahawk]

[ QUOTE ]
Foreign films. If they are not good enough to be made in English why should I bother to watch.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a terrible pick.

I liked all of the OP's picks, especially 8, 9, and 10

[MightyMouse]

i enjoy watching my own NFL football team play, but the whole stigma of "Monday Night Football" seems bizarre to me. i rarely watch. also college football. what enjoyment can you possibly get from watching your 80 scholarship state school with 20 percent graduation rate beat up on much smaller schools only to be arbitrarily decided whose best by judges at the end of the season. it seems like figure skating without hot asians.

moneyball among nerds. has oakland even made an LCS under billy beane???

Dancing. I can't dance for crap and have always wanted too learn.

[bottomset]

[ QUOTE ]
i enjoy watching my own NFL football team play, but the whole stigma of "Monday Night Football" seems bizarre to me. i rarely watch. also college football. what enjoyment can you possibly get from watching your 80 scholarship state school with 20 percent graduation rate beat up on much smaller schools only to be arbitrarily decided whose best by judges at the end of the season. it seems like figure skating without hot asians.

moneyball among nerds. has oakland even made an LCS under billy beane???

[/ QUOTE ]

um the best college football, is the conference games, yes the first couple weeks are pretty boring, but when you start getting the FSU vs Florida, OU vs Texas, Mich vs OSU etc games its very good, of course it has a shitty postseason though

um there is more "actual action" in football than in soccer, yeah its more stop/go, but at least every game isn't 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, or 1-1

[MyTurn2Raise]

I wish I never read Catcher in the Rye...
that Holden guy was a whiny beyatch.
didn't think it was that good. I didn't relate to the characters at all.

[daryn]

college sports, definitely

[Blarg]

That's a lousy definition of action.

[B Dids]

I think college sports are basically determined simply by where you grow up. I grew up in a small college down where during football season it was Cougars and nothing else. You get socialized like that, it's hard to fight.

That's why I wanted to kill myself on Saturday.

[Paluka]

This thread is retarded. "I think your list is awesome except for these 3 things which obviously I love."

[Blarg]

I was hoping more people would come up with ideas of their own, than criticize or approve my list. I guess people generally don't like admitting their flaws, even in a light-hearted way.

[tonypaladino]

I especially agree with

[ QUOTE ]
4. Football -- too many breaks in the action; I don't wanna learn more so I can understand what makes the game really exciting, and don't apologize. This is a boring game, to me.


[/ QUOTE ]

and

[ QUOTE ]
9. Celebrity culture -- screw celebrities and the magazines, t.v. shows, and even fans who love them.

[/ QUOTE ]