You never know. I unfortunately know the details behind a certain local news story about child abuse. I’m not gonna share those details, and believe me, you’re better off being ignorant.
Yes, there are things I am no longer ignorant of that I wish I still was. Child abuse and child rape are definitely among those. That Delhi rape still echoes in my head, despite me trying to avoid all news about it.
Sometimes, ignorance is bliss. Neither I nor Skald are saying KK is equal to these things, but you can’t just say that it’s important to know everything under the sun. Sometimes, I am a better person for not knowing.
There are precisely two things I know about the Kardashians:
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They had some sort of reality show, right?
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Kim has a nice butt.
That’s honestly it. I’ve actually put an effort into ignoring certain types of pop culture (obviously I make an exception for butts).
Was it Baby Spice or Posh Spice?
Lemme see there was also Scary and Sporty Spice. Wasn’t there a fifth one? Lemme go look. Oh yeah, Ginger Spice.
This is so true, I’m thinking of making it my sig line.
Also, I’ve never been much of a TV-watcher, even when I have had a TV, and the last time my wife and I paid for cable service, the years still started with 1. And not watching TV is another way of being in a sort of cave.
So yeah, I know there’s a Kardashian family, that Kim Kardashian is particularly famous, but I have no idea what they’re famous for, other than that after a certain point fame is self-perpetuating. And when Bruce Jenner became Caitlin Jenner, the news around that included the fact that, as Bruce, he’d been associated with the Kardashian family in some way.
Similarly with the Duggars. I was aware that there was this family with some number of kids in the high teens, and (before the molestation became news) occasionally wondered why their 15 minutes of fame seemed to periodically recur. I had no idea that they were the subject of a reality show.
As a non-TV watcher in his 60s, there’s a shitload of stuff that I never hear about to begin with, or only hear about very obliquely, and news of the lives of celebs never really interested me in the first place. I’m just not gonna hear much about these people, and of what little I hear, maybe 5% of that is going to stick. If that.
Heck, I still have neurons devoted to most of their real names for some unbeknownst reason. Victoria Beckham, Geri Halliwell (sp?), Melanie Brown, Mel C (can’t remember last name) and I don’t remember Baby’s name. Why I have this information, I don’t know. Probably being in the UK when the Spice Girls hit it big,
Anaamika, you know more than I do. I’ve always thought they had to do with that lawyer for OJ Simpson, Robert Kardashian. I didn’t know it was Bruce Jenner’s family.
You know, people, some of us follow entertainment news and some of us don’t. Neither is better. And neither is an impossibility. There are probably some “(subjectively) big stories” that each of us doesn’t know about.
Nope, this one is new and doesn’t ring a bell. Although as this thread has grown to seven pages, I’ve only skimmed so apologies if someone mentioned it and I should know who/what the Duggars are now.
People not living in the U.S. have an excuse. Being in China if all places, I’m surprised you’ve heard of anything in American pop culture.
It’s a reality star family known for having a lot kids due to being in this weird Christian cult. The reason pretty much everyone knows about them was a scandal involving their then 15-year-old son apparently molesting some of his sisters while they slept–one as young as five.
I’d tell you to Google it to find out more, but I don’t know how well that works where you are.
That’s all I knew about them, too. I’m still not entirely sure how Caitlyn Jenner fits into the family, since I just don’t care.
I just don’t get why everyone thinks that means anything. You knew who the Kardashians were. This Pit thread, even though it’s made in jest, doesn’t apply to you.
I will tell you one thing you apparently didn’t know. It’s considered rather rude to “dead name,” i.e. to refer to a trans person by their old name. It seems to be at least as offensive as using the wrong pronoun. (You know, the type of mistake people tolerate, but think is rude if you continue to do it.)
Robert Kardashian is/was the father of the Kardashians. Kris divorced him and married Bruce Jenner.
I’m an American, and one of the best things about being here is being out of touch. But, you know, the Internet; I can’t avoid every aspect of pop culture or politics entirely.
Google at work, or at home with the VPN. Bing works, but is crap, and Baidu is all Chinese.
I can’t imagine any American over the age of 35 not being familiar with the OJ Simpson trial. Specifically, Marcia Clark, Robert Kardashian, Judge Lance Ito, and the biggest one of all: Johnnie Cochran. (“If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit!”) If you are over 35 and do not recognize those names, shame on you. You are willfully ignorant of massive news events.
The rest of the story is totally understandable to not know: Robert Kardashian, of OJ defense team fame, had three daughters: Kim, Khloe, Kourtney. Kim was friends with Paris Hilton in the 90s, which is notable (and famous) because both had sex tapes that went public.
The girls’ mother, Kris, divorced Robert and married Bruce Jenner. Kris and Bruce, along with the three Kardashian daughters (and I assume Bruce’s daughters Kendall and Kylie Jenner) did a reality show that essentially went viral.
Kendall Jenner has since gone on to become a pretty famous model.
Thus concludes the “why are they famous?” primer for the Kardashian and Jenner sisters.
As Buddha is my witness, I never put that together.
I do recall the OJ trial, and if you would have randomly listed the lawyers involved, I would have responded, “oh yeah, that rings a bell,” but until this very moment I had no idea the Kardashian girls (so there’s three of them, huh?) were even related to the lawyer at the OJ trial.
It’s worth pointing out that the only reason they became famous in the first place was because of their father.
I highly doubt the Hilton sisters (Paris and Nicky) would have even known who they were otherwise, but since they were all kids of the rich and famous they ran in the same circles. Their party-girl (and eventually sex tape) shenanigans started getting their names in tabloids.
After The Osbornes (a reality show based on Ozzy Osbourne’s family) became a megahit, Paris Hilton tried a reality show with modest success. Shortly after that, Ryan Seacrest put two and two together and created a show based on the format of the Osbornes (follow the wacky adventures of a family) using a “Paris Hilton type person” in Kim Kardashian. Bonus points for also having a super famous step-father on the show with Bruce Jenner.
Fucking Ryan Seacrest. If you have to blame anyone, blame him.
From memory: Victoria Adams, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm, and Geri Halliwell.
And yet I can never remember where I just set down my eyeglasses.
Actually, Robert Kardashian is the one name I don’t remember from the trial. The lawyers I recall defending O.J. Simpson are Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran, F. Lee Bailey, and Alan Dershowitz. Kardashian must not have made much of an impression on me.
And a son, Rob. Poor Rob.
They are Kris’s daughters too. Jenner has four other children from his first two marriages.
My coworkers are constantly amazed by how clueless I am wrt celebrities, so I recognize myself in your friend. There’s no reason to assume s/he’s a liar.
I hardly ever watch TV unless I have a guest over who wants to watch it, and even then, we usually watch a movie or documentary, so the I don’t have any exposure to celebrities from this main channel. As a result, I’ve also no interest in reading celebrities-related pieces of news. If there’s one in whatever news website or paper I’m currently reading, I bypass it to read something that interests me more. So, I register the name, but don’t know who they are. The only times I pick up a magazine that cover celebrities is when I’m in the waiting room of my doctor, and then again, I don’t feel any particular interest in reading about these people I don’t know from Adam. My friends or family aren’t interest in this stuff as far as I can tell, or if they’re, at least we never discuss it.
My only exposure to TV celebrities is overhearing coworkers mentioning them, and typically, even though the names ring a bell, I’ve no clue who they’re talking about (a TV anchor? Someone who who became famous for winning some game show? Someone hosting his own show? How would I know?).
I think your unbelief comes from having habbits that results in you being bombarded with infos about those celebrities, and not realizing that people with different habbits would hardly have any kind of exposure to them. That’s not living in a cave, that’s just not following shows/reading articles about/discussing celebrities. If you (and your family, presumably) have no interest in them I assure you you rarely will hear about them, won’t know who they are, and won’t have a clue about what they look like.
I could add that I’m 50, but in fact I probably was even more clueless when I was, say, 25. I didn’t even have a TV at all, and disliked the culture of the times. So, mentionning celebrities dating back from my youth will give me even more blank eyes.
For the record, I have a vague idea about who the Khardasians are (an extended family with an often despised TV show of their own in the USA) because they’re often mentioned (or rather, mocked) on this board that I read regularly. It they had (or have) an equivalent on French TV, I probably would know nothing at all about them, except, as I already said, that the name would probably ring a bell.
Your post summarizes why I never believe the people who pretend to have not even have that vague idea who the Kardashians are perfectly. You go to great lengths to demonstrate that you really have little to no connection, for decades, to the sort of culture which they habitate.
And yet, unlike the pretenders, you acknowledge that you have somehow (through osmosis like the rest of us!) managed to have enough information about who they are that in any conversation that brought them up, you would be unable to say “Who?” without that ignorance being feigned.
If even you can’t even avoid knowing who they are, I find it impossible to believe that someone with internet access and any human connections to the outside world could!
Pharmacies, groceries, supermarkets, convenience stores, and gas stations keep gossip magazines next to register. Are there people who have never waited I line to buy something?