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Originally Posted by abaya
I guess you made me realize that a big part of my frustration is that I hate small talk. I cannot STAND small talk, actually.... so when someone asks about TV, I really don't know what to say, since I often prefer silence in those situations. In my usual blunt style, I just try to extricate myself from it by saying that I don't watch TV... and people get thrown off their social programs....Of course, I'd rather ask them how they're doing emotionally...I suppose if I brought up the actual topics that I wanted to discuss (the way they bring up TV shows), damn, they might be reacting with the same irritation that I have about them!  ...I did enjoy Chappelle's Show and South Park. And the Daily Show is great... Oh, and Family Guy is pretty cool (again, all through ktspktsp). |
i think it can be difficult to get used to be comfortable in silence. like a lot of people stated above, i think its pretty common to leave the tv or the radio on all the time, just for background noise. i think it's pretty interesting...i guess i get tired of what feels to me like repetitive programming (fat guy, hot chick anyone?) and the sense of manipulation through advertisement and imagery, etc. i confess, i don't spend all my non-TV time do-gooding (sorry Mal - I was kind of hoping I could impress you
) - but I try to play guitar or read or exercise. It just seems like an ineffecient use of time, etc. I don't really think of it as a better than thou thing, but a different strokes for different folks + introverted personality thing.
I think I'd prefer silence most of the time in "work" situations, unless I actually know the people. Then I guess it proceeds to the type of conversations you're talking about - but really I'd rather get away from the group area before getting into that as well. I'm pretty sure if you dropped off a "I heard your man was caught exposing himself to the neighbor's cat for sexual gratification - how does that make you feel?" kind of opener on most people, they'd be less irritated, more mortified. That, or you might open a flood gate and never hear the end of it. Either way, I usually find a policy akin to live and let live works best.
Oh, and for a TV novice, you and ktspktsp have a pretty decent list of shows.
oh, and
martian - yeah, i hate that guy who wants to talk in the john. with the exception of the bathroom scene in Austin Powers, that's just never a good thing.