What's something modern you won't miss when it becomes obsolete?

[jamespowers]

All I can say about this thread is, Conrad Hilton is rolling in his grave!

:rofl:

 

[Gregg Axley]

That's bang on James. Most of today's famous-for-being-famous seem to be the lowest of the low, crassest individuals you could find. It seems with many that you have to get your bits out with the obligatory sextape and wave your undercarriage around at every opportunity when getting out of cars or leaking "selfies" of yourself on the web.

Honestly, it's enough to make you weep!

Hollywood Hillbillies.
Although I have to admit, I watch this show once a week.
A bit staged I'm sure.

 

[Stray Cat]

Hollywood Hillbillies.
Although I have to admit, I watch this show once a week.
A bit staged I'm sure.
View attachment 9510

Educate the Foreigner, please: what is this?

 

[HudsonHawk]

Educate the Foreigner, please: what is this?

Hollywood Hillbillies is a "reality" show in which some redneck family is shown living in the big city of Los Angeles. It's a classic "fish out of water" theme. It's the latest in what has become the rage to show caricatures of naive rural folks...Duck Dynasty, Moonshiners, Honey Boo Boo, Appalachain Outlaws, Swamp People, etc.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Just another chance for smug middle-class people to look down their nose at the Lower Orders. Come the revolution, we'll put a stop to all that.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Just another chance for smug middle-class people to look down their nose at the Lower Orders. Come the revolution, we'll put a stop to all that.

As a Southerner, and rural folk, myself, I object to the portrayal of my people as bumbling, uneducated, backward sloths who operate Bubba's Vermin and Vittles, Pest Control and Delicatessen. I will not be joining the revolution, as I'll be on the lookout for my first victim...Larry the Cable Guy.

 

[vintage68]

Just another chance for smug middle-class people to look down their nose at the Lower Orders. Come the revolution, we'll put a stop to all that.

That'll learn 'em!

 

[sheeplady]

Just another chance for smug middle-class people to look down their nose at the Lower Orders. Come the revolution, we'll put a stop to all that.

And exploit the people it portrays financially and otherwise.

Believe me, no matter how much money these families make off these shows, it is nothing compared to what they would make in a traditional TV format. The networks save so much money on these shows.

 

[HudsonHawk]

And exploit the people it portrays financially and otherwise.

Believe me, no matter how much money these families make off these shows, it is nothing compared to what they would make in a traditional TV format. The networks save so much money on these shows.

These families wouldn't make any money in a traditional TV format. They wouldn't have a show.

 

[sheeplady]

These families wouldn't make any money in a traditional TV format. They wouldn't have a show.

So it's ok to exploit them? So the network can make more profit?

I hear the same thing when people hire people with disabilities, illegal immigrants, people in countries with poor labor laws, etc. "Oh, if not for us, these people wouldn't even have jobs. Why should they expect to be treated fairly? They're lucky to even have work. We shouldn't have to pay them what we pay 'normal' people. Why should they get the same pay when (they're 'illegals', they're 'special needs', they are "foreigners")?"
"So fire them and hire someone else you consider 'normal'."
"But then we'd have to pay them more. (And that would cut into our profits.)"
"OK."

It is the same argument people use for laborers in China. "But if not for us, these people wouldn't even have jobs! Look at how much better off they are! (And how much richer I am!)"

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's a sad commentary on our socioeconomic system that these people feel the only way they can make any money is to play the fool on television for the very people who oppress them. Another similarly-exploited segment of our population calls that "shucking and jiving," which is exactly what it is.

 

[hatguy1]

Just another chance for smug middle-class people to look down their nose at the Lower Orders. Come the revolution, we'll put a stop to all that.

Really? Seriously?

 

[skydog757]

So it's ok to exploit them? So the network can make more profit?

I hear the same thing when people hire people with disabilities, illegal immigrants, people in countries with poor labor laws, etc. "Oh, if not for us, these people wouldn't even have jobs. Why should they expect to be treated fairly? They're lucky to even have work. We shouldn't have to pay them what we pay 'normal' people. Why should they get the same pay when (they're 'illegals', they're 'special needs', they are "foreigners")?"
"So fire them and hire someone else you consider 'normal'."
"But then we'd have to pay them more. (And that would cut into our profits.)"
"OK."

It is the same argument people use for laborers in China. "But if not for us, these people wouldn't even have jobs! Look at how much better off they are! (And how much richer I am!)"

Which leads me to what I wouldn't miss - outsourcing.

 

[hatguy1]

It's a sad commentary on our socioeconomic system that these people feel the only way they can make any money is to play the fool on television for the very people who oppress them. Another similarly-exploited segment of our population calls that "shucking and jiving," which is exactly what it is.

Somehow holding one's self out like that for money doesn't sound very oppressed to me. Nobody's holding a gun to their heads making them do this show. Sounds to me like they're doing it pretty willingly and laughing all the way to the bank.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The middle class is the worst enemy the working class in this country has ever had -- they'll stab us in the back and sell us down the river at every possible opportunity.

 

[hatguy1]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The middle class is the worst enemy the working class in this country has ever had -- they'll stab us in the back and sell us down the river at every possible opportunity.

OMG, I wish you liberals would make up your minds just who it is you hate - first it's the rich, then it's capitalism, now it's the middle class? Give me a break with this Marxist class warfare nonsense, already.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

[video=youtube;pmvYywWQDDk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmvYywWQDDk[/video]

 

[LizzieMaine]

Heh. Forty years of watching the world I grew up in dismantled by people who claim to have my best interests at heart really does outweigh some guy on a message board calling me a Marxist, so no offense taken.

As far as reality TV goes, think about it. How often do you see working-class people presented as anything but a source of a cheap laugh, a snarky guffaw, a "look what Those People will do for money" type of thing. When was the last time television presented anything even remotely sensitive to working-class life? Where are the "reality shows" depicting honest working-class people living dignified, decent lives? Or won't that give Mr. and Mrs. Bourgeoisie enough to snicker and feel all superior about?

 

[vitanola]

OMG, I wish you liberals would make up your minds just who it is you hate - first it's the rich, then it's capitalism, now it's the middle class? Give me a break with this Marxist class warfare nonsense, already.

Ah!
Miss Maine's sentiment is very much of the "Era". It represents the true feelings of what was a pretty large subset of the population. The rising prosperity and the dominance of what we now call "Consumer Culture" in the post-war period pretty well papered over the general disaffection of elements of working class America. That and the association of working class rebellion with our feared enemy in the long Cold War pretty well put paid to expressions of this sort, at least in the public sphere.

Now, coming from a purely middle class background, my own instincts for "reform" or "improvement" are easily contained in the Brandeisean elements of the "Bull Moose " program. I am distinctly a Shavian, but am not a Fabian, for I care not for GBS, but rather follow Albert.

Observers of our nation back to the days of De Toqueville have commented on our national reluctance to admit of differences in social class. That we ignore them does not mean that they do not exist.

Mr. hatguy, your posting really appears to have been made from a distinctly modern, partisan political perspective. You might well look into the politics of the Era. President Roosevelt's 1910 speech at Osawatomie might be a good place to start. I would hardly think that any sane person would call TR a Marxist.

 

[hatguy1]

Heh. Forty years of watching the world I grew up in dismantled by people who claim to have my best interests at heart really does outweigh some guy on a message board calling me a Marxist, so no offense taken.

As far as reality TV goes, think about it. How often do you see working-class people presented as anything but a source of a cheap laugh, a snarky guffaw, a "look what Those People will do for money" type of thing. When was the last time television presented anything even remotely sensitive to working-class life? Where are the "reality shows" depicting honest working-class people living dignified, decent lives? Or won't that give Mr. and Mrs. Bourgeoisie enough to snicker and feel all superior about?

Well, if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck it gets called a duck. And the statement that I as a member of the middle class am a member of the group that is the greatest enemy of the working class is plenty offensive to me, thank you. As is my FIFTY+ years of "Forty years of watching the world I grew up in dismantled by people who claim to have my best interests at heart" (e.g, liberals) all the while eating away at middle class income with higher and higher taxes to find an evermore bloated and hopelessly inefficient big govt while running the Constitution and bill of Rights through the shredder.


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