I’m not really sure what point you’re making here.
Anyway, I know plenty about space probes and a little about Kardashians. These two facts are unrelated.
Not necessarily, one can’t know about everything and it just isn’t possible to read or view stuff about the Kardashians and about space probes at the same time, and there are only so many waking minutes in the day. A choice is being made.
My point primarily is that you use “out of touch” as if being out of touch with trash culture is a bad thing, which contains an inherent assumption with which many would disagree.
Well let me give you an example. I know that Avril Lavigne is/was married to Derek Wibbly. I don’t know either of their work but I know they are both musicians and they were married, that is it. The only reason I know is because I listen to “The Bugle” podcast and that fact stuck in my brain. However, If you tried to have a pop-culture discussion with me about either of those two then I’d severely disappoint you…I know one, single, half-remembered “fact”
Unless it is sandwiched into something that does catch my attention, the moment a subject ranges outside of my spheres of interest, I’ll switch off or switch over. I suspect the basis of other people’s pop-culture “knowledge” consists of similar stand-alone, partial semi-facts or overheard snippets. It doesn’t constitute knowledge in any real sense.
oooo! careful Princhester, bias is showing 
Thing is of course, we all like a bit of trash culture now and again so I personally don’t see that term as necessarily a pejorative.
I believe I’ve made my point! 
Well played, sir.
Regards,
Shodan
I read this and for the next 20 minutes to a half an hour I would be able to recall enough to answer questions about it. After that I can’t guarantee anything. After 48 hours I will not recall any of it. It just isn’t important enough to retain.
I know I’ve heard several Taylor Swift songs. She is one of my 9 yo daughter’s favorite singers. I couldn’t name any of the songs even though I’ve asked my daughter several times “Who sings that?” and “What is that song called?”. She loves me despite my mental failings.
It isn’t just you. I’m very conscious of the fact that as I started to read those paragraphs I zoned out and skipped over it all. So even though I’ve been presented with facts about these people and indeed I can say I’ve “read” about them, I know I won’t retain a single fact.
I’m not disagreeing with you. I guess my point about myself is that I find many things impossible not to retain, I am not selective about it. I don’t make a decision about what is important. I retain important and trivial information. I have exactly one friend and I’ve met exactly 2 others (a former GF and co-worker from a decade ago) the same way. We could reference just about anything from our lifetimes (and some before) from the news or pop culture and the other(s) would get it. We were sincerely mystified when others wouldn’t.
I am not in anyway saying this makes me talented/skilled or anything else “good” because I retain unimportant information. I just do. So, having only experienced how my brain works, it’s what I’m used to.
And my post was pretty much a long, rambling stream of my memory of these people and not presented as some sort of coherent attempt to educate anyone about anything.
I just learned from an article (though I am skeptical of anything pandering political entertainers say) that Sean Hannity, who was born in 1961 and was raised in and lived most of his adult life in New York City, is not familiar with Hip-Hop or Prince.
Depends on what he means by “familiar with” I guess. I was also born in 1961 and have lived in NYC. I know what Hip-Hop is (but don’t ask me to tell you how it’s different than rap or punk) and I know who Prince is (but don’t ask me to name a song other than Purple Rain.)
This is a nice point, too. I listen to a lot of music - pop, rock, and altrock, mainly. I couldn’t really tell you why some things are called altrock. Am I supposed to? Do I care? I know what I like, is what matters to me.
I remember my coworkers making fun of me once because ten years after the whole thing went down, I wasn’t able to identify Tonya Harding from a picture. I knew the gist of the story, but I don’t follow sports at all, and I’d hardly ever seen her.
I don’t read gossipy web sites. I actively shut down news about KK because I just don’t care.
And I guess that’s the crux of it. Sure, I know a few things. But I just don’t care. It’s not that I think I am better than you (maybe I am). It’s just that my interests lie elsewhere!
Fair enough. And “familiar with” were my words. I would say in my experience there’s not even that much overlap of Prince and Hip-Hop fans- Prince fans trending older and whiter. So most people I know ages 30-60 or so are fans of or aware of one or the other. Prince songs being another thing I’ve found unavoidable and hip-hop more a matter of what I’ve sought out.
As it happens, I was able to answer a crossword puzzle question for my mother this morning. “One of the Spice Girls” _ _ _ _
Now what the exactly fuck is that doing in my memory?
Still, if someone comes up to me at work and wants to discuss the Spice Girls, I’ll still say, “Never heard of 'em,” and duck away.
I was also able to answer the aunt’s name in the Nancy comic strip. Tell me that, Quicksilver, without looking!
That makes sense. Maybe I don’t have the Switch or I’m too lazy to turn it on. Maybe some people make an effort I don’t (people say they don’t know things because they don’t care and make no effort, but neither do I) and/or feel that absorbing unwanted information crowds out more useful information. I don’t know.
My daughter’s watching a show on the Disney Channel right now. I casually notice the dad is played by Kadeem Hardison, who was “DeWayne Wayne” on “A Different World.” I barely watched the show. I remember the pilot with Marissa Tomei and the racist epithet episode with Dean Cain and the cop who was on Saved by The Bell. It takes me no effort to remember these things and I just casually assume most people around my age or who watched the Cosby Show (a lot of people) and/or watched tv in the late 80s would know that. Then my mind wanders to Lisa Bonet, Mickey Rourke, etc. That’s just the way it goes. I make no effort to follow it or fight it, and I continue to take care of my daily work and family obligations and other things in the process.
Recently a small-time actor who was in the Burbs (which wasn’t that much of a hit, IIRC) died. He was in some other movies, but I don’t think he had done much since the 80s and was a character-actor. Yet so many people acted like he was a celebrity. I didn’t read any discussion threads about him. So I don’t know if a bunch of people went around saying “Who is this guy?” and a bunch of others said " Come on, you have to know who he was, weren’t you alive when Spaceballs and The Burbs came out?"… FWIW, I did recognize his name and face and I just assumed a lot of other people did, but I made no effort to recall that information or further research his life.
A hermitical existence appears ever more desirable.
I don’t have any need to be careful, I undoubtedly have my biases when it comes to my taste in entertainment etc. My point is precisely that there is no singular body of information that makes one “in touch”.
Honestly I really only have a vague idea of who the Kardashians are. I know Kim Kardashian was in a sex tape and she has sisters whose names also start with K.
I do not for an instant pretend it makes me a better person. Ignorance is not an advantage.
Oh I know and agree. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure and all that. But this is the Straight Dope and in that spirit I had to point out your apparent bias, deserved or not…better I do than someone who doesn’t actually agree with you.