# Senor Beef and his crusade against knowledge **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 7, 2013, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743 "2013-05-07T21:08:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/101 "2013-05-08T02:55:00Z")
Well, now I see where all the board rules about the consequences of posting off-topic are coming from… ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/102 "2013-05-08T02:55:21Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > It occurs to me that perhaps, just maybe, he doesn’t want to read the book(s). The television program can be enjoyed independently, can it not? > > As far as your assertions of illiteracy go, think about where you’re posting those assertions. On a message board. Composed entirely of text. Where said illiterate has 20,515 posts to date. The only evidence of ignorance is that he’s a Cleveland Browns fan. While that speaks volumes, it’s not indicative of illiteracy, just psychosis. > > If you still maintain that he has embarked on a “crusade against knowledge”, take solace in the fact that you are better and smarter than he is, and let everybody else enjoy their ignorance secure in the knowledge that you, and only you, are the beacon of enlightenment when it comes to a popular culture book/TV show. Thank you! “beacon of enlightenment”, I rather like that. But I still have no problem with “no spoilers”. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/103 "2013-05-08T02:55:42Z")
Man. The Game of Thrones books are pages and pages and pages of mysterious buildup punctuated very occasionally by terrifying moments of gobsmacking insanity. There’s a thing that has happened already in the TV series that, when it happened – even though I don’t watch the show and am not at all plugged into what’s going on on TV in general – I was immediately aware it had happened from the simultaneously exploding heads of millions of Americans. Those moments are why the TV show exists. I know what the next few of those moments are going to be. It would be a dick move to use that knowledge to affect other peoples’ experiences of watching the show. Dick moves are frowned upon, and that isn’t a new rule. Game of Thrones just happens to be kind of a unique example of a TV show that is almost entirely ruinable by many of us. It has its own rule. So what? Just shut the fuck up about the books. It’s not that hard, and it doesn’t cost you anything other than the right to determine how much of somebody else’s consumption of fiction you get to make about yourself instead of about the fiction. It’s not a special rule that’s going to affect any other part of anybody’s lives. Shut the fuck up about the books, you asshole, that’s the rule, and it’s a totally reasonable one. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/104 "2013-05-08T02:56:53Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Thank you! “beacon of enlightenment”, I rather like that. > > But I still have no problem with “no spoilers”. So stop posting spoilers. Problem solved. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/105 "2013-05-08T03:20:01Z")
Fuck it, I’m gonna spoil all of Robert Heinlien. He bites it. There, spoiled. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/106 "2013-05-08T03:41:00Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Fuck it, I’m gonna spoil all of Robert Heinlien. He bites it. There, spoiled. But is it thread shitting if it’s true? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/107 "2013-05-08T03:52:15Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > Man. > > The Game of Thrones books are pages and pages and pages of mysterious buildup punctuated very occasionally by terrifying moments of gobsmacking insanity. There’s a thing that has happened already in the TV series that, when it happened – even though I don’t watch the show and am not at all plugged into what’s going on on TV in general – I was immediately aware it had happened from the simultaneously exploding heads of millions of Americans. > > Those moments are why the TV show exists. I know what the next few of those moments are going to be. It would be a dick move to use that knowledge to affect other peoples’ experiences of watching the show. Dick moves are frowned upon, and that isn’t a new rule. Game of Thrones just happens to be kind of a unique example of a TV show that is almost entirely ruinable by many of us. It has its own rule. So what? Just shut the fuck up about the books. It’s not that hard, and it doesn’t cost you anything other than the right to determine how much of somebody else’s consumption of fiction you get to make about yourself instead of about the fiction. It’s not a special rule that’s going to affect any other part of anybody’s lives. Shut the fuck up about the books, you asshole, that’s the rule, and it’s a totally reasonable one. Yeah, and you were probably OK with Elves at Helm’s Deep, too!! Just to be clear, I’m a big fan of the books and had absolutely no problem with Elves at Helm’s Deep ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a6a055/32.png) [@Tequila\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/108 "2013-05-08T04:00:01Z")
> [@yoyodyne](#): > > I should read the next book the day it comes out and spoil it in every thread DrDumbass posts in. Yeah. What a tool. Anyone who disagrees basically gets called a poopy, meanie head and they question others’ behavior. Guffaw is right. By the way, they still have no problems with spoilers. Just plenty with not being a rules-lawyering, annoying, pretentious dipshit. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/109 "2013-05-08T04:01:59Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Just to be clear, I’m a big fan of the books and had absolutely no problem with Elves at Helm’s Deep But what about Elves surfing at Helm’s Deep? Turned your stomach a bit, didn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/110 "2013-05-08T04:08:31Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > So stop posting spoilers. Problem solved. Sure, but I have no problem with a “no spoilers” rule. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/111 "2013-05-08T04:13:28Z")
That can be fixed. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/112 "2013-05-08T04:15:06Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > That can be fixed. Too late, my urologist already “fixed” me. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/113 "2013-05-08T04:24:02Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > I had a roommate yell at me for spoiling the ending of _The Count of Monte Cristo_. Not the movie. Not the play. The book. I think the statute of limitations ran out on that one. Yeah, for all you anal nit-pickers: [SPOILER]So anyhow, Beowulf and the weird guy head over to find the dragon, and after a couple of pages, Lo and/or Behold, a dragon! And…of course there’s a battle. Think Pokemon Silver, but with [Brock](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brock_(Pok%C3%A9mon)) vs [Haxorus](http://pokemondb.net/pokedex/haxorus). But, being Classic Literature, the dragon doesn’t just lie down, it has to chomp on ol’ Beowulf, who’s obviously got an allergy to dragon saliva, because that’s all it takes for him to check out. As in ‘die’. Apologies to anyone who just hasn’t gotten around to reading in the last 1500 years.[/SPOILER] ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/114 "2013-05-08T04:35:58Z")
What’s the point of talking about the books in a thread where everyone (or almost everyone) has agreed not to talk about the books? If it’s to say that something happened differently, or that characters were combined or that someone has a larger role in the show than in the books – well, that might be harmless, but it’s also useless, and trivial. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/115 "2013-05-08T04:49:48Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Oh, and I have no problem with rules against spoilers. So you keep saying. But I’m not buying it. I read the thread and didn’t see the the crusade against ignorance you accuse him of. Question, if you don’t have a problem with spoilers why do you have such a hard on for mentioning the books? . ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/116 "2013-05-08T08:08:25Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Question, if you don’t have a problem with spoilers why do you have such a hard on for mentioning the books? It’s probably pretty rare that he goes into a thread and knows something about the topic most of the other posters there don’t, so he can’t help but celebrate it. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/117 "2013-05-08T11:32:17Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Sure. :rolleyes: Just keep telling yourself that. Ah, that explains why you’ve attracted such a massive chorus of support from the poor oppressed masses who have long been suffering in silence under the crushing heel of this rule. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/118 "2013-05-08T11:49:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Too late, my urologist already “fixed” me. In a thread full of inanities, it’s nice to get some really good news. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/119 "2013-05-08T12:16:07Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > It’s not just the SDMB, but on many other message boards I’ve come across, too.. Threads for other TV shows are unspoiled. Threads for Game of Thrones come in several versions: nothing spoilered, books spoilered, books and TV spoilered, everything including predictions spoilered … it’s ridiculous. We should start a GoT thread with the book and the show spoilered. Nothing but nothing in the thread, rumors that there might be a, a _thing_ called Game of Thrones, but no information about what it actually is. Is it, perhaps, a game? ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2013, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743/120 "2013-05-08T12:30:23Z")
I really like some of GRRM’s shorter stuff; _Fevre Dreams_ is excellent. _A Song of Ice & Fire_ (the name of the book series, wisely ditched for TV) started off quite good–it was not the Tolkien ripoff I’d expected. But the later volumes got bigger & more diffuse. GRRM didn’t think to make an outline & obviously resists editing. I read the first four volumes just before the show started; I read quickly. The fifth volume remains in my “to be read” stack. First, the episode threads must remain absolutely spoiler-free for the benefit of those who haven’t read the books. Both to “save” events in the show and to let them discover the books, if they decide to read them later. So, no details on what already happened in the books, either. (Besides, the show & the books are diverging–generally to the benefit of the story.) But I _personally_ want the episode threads to remain spoiler-free (& without passive-aggressive references to the books) so the actual events in the actual show can be discussed. The “reader” threads tend to spend less time on comparing the two interpretations than they do on speculating about what might happen in the later books, if GRRM lives long enough to complete them. Very boring. _Game of Thrones_ is mostly an excellent show & I like to have threads devoted to discussing it. Besides, the books are fading in my memory. They are really not the sort of thing that I care to read again. Apparently some folks spent most of their adolescence reading & re-reading them, waiting for GRRM to finish the next volume. Really, there’s lots of other stuff worth reading. Some of it’s _better_. Gene Wolfe is my favorite writer of contemporary fantasy–but his stuff is too complex for many. And there’s stuff beyond fantasy, too… Besides, the OP is consistently unpleasant in the episode threads. He read five books! Big Whoop… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senor-beef-and-his-crusade-against-knowledge/657743.md?page=7)