# People being shoved down our throats... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539 "2011-03-13T14:58:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rrose\_Selavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rrose\_Selavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rrose_Selavy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/41 "2011-03-13T20:21:18Z")
Jennifer Anniston? Who’s she? All those posters above will have to pay more attention in future so they at least [spell her name right](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Aniston).Her PR machine obviously isn’t working fully , unless this is some collective ironic mispelling in protest. OP, You’ll be pleased to know that Zach Galifianakis was completely unknown in the UK until this thread was read by myself. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/42 "2011-03-13T20:29:38Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Betty White. Seriously, I have nothing against her- she just keeps popping up everywhere as if she’s some kind of cultural icon. I think they’re being kind. Someone has to be the oldest person the media treats like an actual human being, and she’s it right now. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus\_alba](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quercus_alba/32/4061_2.png) [@Quercus\_alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus_alba)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/43 "2011-03-13T20:41:56Z")
ANY Kardashian. Seriously–what have these people actually DONE to deserve being a celebrity? ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/44 "2011-03-13T20:46:36Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > Someone has to be the oldest person the media treats like an actual human being, and [Betty White]'s it right now. The oldest woman, anyway. Ernest Borgnine is 3-4 years older and he seems to get respect. I am glad he’s not being shoved down our throats, however, and I’m sure he is, too. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/45 "2011-03-13T21:04:17Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > This, of course, completely and conveniently ignores the fact that there’s no requirement for TV news to be bullshit. Sure, one can ignore it, especially if one has access to the internet and is willing to be discriminating, but there’s nothing inherent in the medium that requires TV news to be crappy infotainment. I’m not complaining about it because i am unable to avoid it; i’m complaining about it because it seems to me that improving it is a worthwhile (though perhaps rather unrealistic) goal. I see. Well, yes improving it would be good, I suppose. In the meantime, though, why would you watch it? > [@](#): > > Also, do you really need to quote four long posts in order to contribute a grand total of two lines of text? I’m sure we could have grasped the substance of your argument with the quotes. You are absolutely right. I apologize. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/46 "2011-03-13T21:14:37Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Although I have not watched a single new “Office” episode since the Jim and Pam wedding episode, I think most of the actors on the show seem like decent people, (Steve Carrell is supposedly a very nice guy in real life, and the guy who plays Jim recently got married to uber-hottie Emily Blunt) but it seems like they are all lining up for each and every possible opportunity to get their faces in front of a camera. Yeah! How fucking dare a group of actors agree to act in more than one movie! They should all have the good sense to take after John Cazale and get cancer and die after starring in no more than three! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/47 "2011-03-13T21:23:53Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Yeah! How fucking dare a group of actors agree to act in more than one movie! They should all have the good sense to take after John Cazale and get cancer and die after starring in no more than three! > > :rolleyes: What took you so long? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/48 "2011-03-13T21:29:15Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > What took you so long? Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/49 "2011-03-13T22:27:57Z")
For about 2 years, Shia LaBeouf was in nearly every single major motion picture: 1. Indy Jones and the Stupid Crystal Skulls: hailed as the “next Indy.” 2. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle: Hailed as the “next Bosley.” 3. I, Robot 4. Transformers 5. Disturbia: Hailed as the next Cary Grant. 6. Constantine: Hailed as the next Constantine. 7. The Greatest Game ever played: hailed as the next Harry Vardon. I see more that could fit this list, but I am sick and tired of this lame ass being hailed as the “next X.” Why can’t he be the first Lebouf and start his own franchises instead of being shoved into them as the next replacement part? ---
**Author:** ![Gestalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/90ced4/32.png) [@Gestalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gestalt)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/50 "2011-03-13T22:41:53Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Peski Piksi - Didn’t mean to diss ‘fat women’, as I am hardly a stick figure myself, and I push a cart through Walmart on a regular basis! 🙂 > > It’s my feeling those fans buying the tabloids with her picture on the cover would like have Ms. Anniston’s lifestyle - be slim, rich, famous. As that is hard to do, they would like her to be more like them. Pregnant would be swell! The ardent fans and the goddess would have ‘something in common’, and they could either daydream about the million dollar nursery or speculate on whether ‘Jen’ has heartburn, swollen feet, etc. Just as they do! > > And that is the only reason I can see for the continuing fascination with that vapid airhead. Millions of the ‘have-nots’ admire the ‘got-it-all’ and want some kind of realistic connection they can identify with. [Someone](http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-woman-emotionally-invested-in-jennifer-anisto,2066/) had to post it. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/51 "2011-03-13T22:48:57Z")
These people are being shoved down our throats IF we follow pop culture - and some us do, if only to escape the news out of Libya, Japan and Wisconsin, for a brief time. I’m sick unto death of Lady Gaga & Adam Lambert the most. Though people who keep telling me that Kanye West, Eminem and other rappers are geniuses are next. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/52 "2011-03-13T22:54:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Kim Kardashian. Sooo? What’s her point? > That was exactly who I intended to mention. Why do I even know the name? Wasn’t her father one of OJ Simpson’s lawyers? That’s where I first heard the name Kardashian. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/53 "2011-03-13T23:13:07Z")
I’m in the “How exactly are these people being shoved down your throat?” camp. I have no interest in some of the celebs listed hear and am able to avoid them without too much trouble. And I’d take Anniston over Jolie any day. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/54 "2011-03-14T00:18:04Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Apparently the mediocre needed a voice. > That was exactly who I intended to mention. Why do I even know the name? > From what I gather, it was the same reason as Kim Kardashian. > I’m assured that he has some genuine amount of talent, but then so did his child star predecessors. I echo EVERY syllable of this! ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/55 "2011-03-14T00:22:41Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > Wasn’t her father one of OJ Simpson’s lawyers? That’s where I first heard the name Kardashian. Mr. Kardashian was an NFL player, IIRC. Maybe he was friends with OJ through football? ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/56 "2011-03-14T00:29:25Z")
Al Sharpton. Why is a racist who was convicted of slander by falsely accusing someone of rape and kidnapping treated with any respect? Thirty years ago Susan Anton was given all sorts of tv shows by Fred Silverman of NBC who thought America would love her on a variety show and on a Love Boat clone “Supertrain” ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/57 "2011-03-14T00:37:56Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > Mr. Kardashian was an NFL player, IIRC. Maybe he was friends with OJ through football? Her dad WAS part of the “Legal Dream Team”. Al Cowlings was the football buddy, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/58 "2011-03-14T01:07:41Z")
oh for the Zach G haters - he was very good on Saturday night live ---
**Author:** ![Sycorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/59 "2011-03-14T02:50:34Z")
Oh, so that’s who Zach G. is! I watched SNL, but didn’t catch his name from the announcer because of all the clapping and yelling, etc., from the audience. I agree, he was funny. (Liked his joke: “I use Axe body spray, but I live in a black neighborhood and they call is Ask. And if you don’t get that joke, you’re not a racist.”) BTW, I too vote for Jennifer Aniston. I don’t read the celebrity mags or rags on display in the grocery store, but it’s hard to avoid the covers announcing that Jen is broken-hearted and Brad done her wrong, blah blah, and has broken up with Vince what’s-his-name, and oh my, will poor Jen ever find true love. While channel surfing, occasionally I come across Entertainment Tonight and pause to hear about the latest celebrity gossip. Also, I’m well beyond 30-something but wish to have some knowledge of current pop culture, if only to deride it. 😃 I’ve seen maybe 10 minutes of a Friends episode and only a few minutes of trailers for her various movies (I don’t like rom-coms regardless of the actor), but nevertheless, IMO, she’s a mediocre actor who can’t handle anything beyond a rom-com, if that. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539/60 "2011-03-14T04:13:28Z")
> [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](#): > > Charlie Sheen isn’t being shoved down my throat because I don’t consume bullshit media, like TV news. > [@mhendo](#): > > This, of course, completely and conveniently ignores the fact that there’s no requirement for TV news to be bullshit. Sure, one can ignore it, especially if one has access to the internet and is willing to be discriminating, but there’s nothing inherent in the medium that requires TV news to be crappy infotainment. I’m not complaining about it because i am unable to avoid it; i’m complaining about it because it seems to me that improving it is a worthwhile (though perhaps rather unrealistic) goal. I think you’ve got that backwards. The problem is that there’s no requirement for TV news to NOT be bullshit. Not that there would be any practical way of enforcing such a requirement. But as long as the profit margins are highest when peddling titillation and terror, there’s GOING to be a race to the bottom (where the bullshit rolls to). As you seem to recognize, based on your parenthetical aside. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-being-shoved-down-our-throats/574539.md?page=4)