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The Pope hasn't watched TV since 1990

MG1962 said:
I wasn't looking to counter the points of your post. I just thought your comments about the Swiss guard were a little harsh on a group people with a very proud tradition of being soldiers.
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Still not sure what the point is, though. I didn't say they weren't good soldiers, or didn't have a martial tradition. I mean, the Swiss definitely got to be neutral by being too badass to be worth conquering and all.

What I did say is that said guard runs around in colourful pyjamas and with halberds. Which seems to me rather accurate. And frankly more of a reflection of their employer's taste in minion uniforms than their fighting abilities.

Honestly, I know every supervillain needs themed lairs, and a unique automobile, and recognizable uniforms for the henchmen, but unless you're the Joker, just don't dress them in clown outfits. Just no. ;)

Honestly, we kinda grew out of that during the Dark Age of comics ;)

ETA: so to sum things up, in case it still wasn't clear: the fighting abilities of the Swiss Guard, I take seriously. The guys who happen to hold the post of chief deranged fanboy, even of Jesus, well, let's just say, about as much as I'd take the chief fanboy of Luke Skywalker or Captain Kirk seriously. And I actually like Star Wars and Star Trek, unlike the bible :p
 
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Huh. I had no idea I had something in common with the Pope.

OK, my last cable connection was in 1991, and I've got my Mythbusters DVDs...
 
No TV here either. I had a TV, it broke years ago, and I didn't, at the time, have the money to replace it. After a few weeks, I realized that I didn't particularly WANT to replace it. I think that was about five years ago.

If I want to watch something, the Internet shall provide. I really don't need a TV. Well, maybe if someone offered to sell me a modern, top of the line flat screen for 50€, I might buy it... and sell it for a tidy profit. :D
 
Swordfishtrombone said:
If I want to watch something, the Internet shall provide. I really don't need a TV. Well, maybe if someone offered to sell me a modern, top of the line flat screen for 50€, I might buy it... and sell it for a tidy profit. :D
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Well realistically the only thing TV is good for are live sporting events. If someone has no real passion for sport, I honestly can not see any other imperative to watch it
 
Elind said:
One hears that the Catholic church is out of touch with reality and this would seem to illustrate that in spades. What is the man thinking?

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/05/26/pope-francis-says-hasnt-watched-tv-in-more-than-25-years/
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Ouch. The link is to Fox News. ie: the gateway to knowing [less than those who do not watch news at all]! Irony.

A great word I read somebody coin recently was that we no longer suffer from ignorance, but rather [malnorance]. ie: the problem is that we confuse having more information with having more true facts, and our inventory of falsehoods is now a greater danger than our gaps in knowledge. Basically Will Rogers: "It isn't what we don't know that gives us trouble, it's what we know that ain't so." (probably... the attribution could be malnorance)

I haven't had cable since I moved out of my parents' home in the '80s. We have a physical TV. My wife watches Netflix, my kids watch TV in their own places, I don't hate the idea, but I just find I have better things to do.

I remember years ago, when I was in highschool I think... somebody asked me what I thought about New Coke. He wanted to know if I would join his letter writing campaign (this was before emails). I said I got the impression he found the complexity of middle east politics and nuclear detente overwhelming.
 
MG1962 said:
Well realistically the only thing TV is good for are live sporting events. If someone has no real passion for sport, I honestly can not see any other imperative to watch it
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I don't tend to follow sports - with the exception of the Ice Hockey world championships and Ice Hockey in Olympic games. But nowadays I can get the games I'm interested in streamed live on the net. (Finnish TV-channels stream live TV-content online these days)

And besides, should there be some sports event I really care about, and can't get on the net, then I'm likely to care enough to call up a friend and go to a sports pub to watch it, and probably have a lot more fun watching it too.
 
MG1962 said:
Well realistically the only thing TV is good for are live sporting events. If someone has no real passion for sport, I honestly can not see any other imperative to watch it
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Actually, you make a good point not addressed yet. It is called entertainment. Is there a problem in your mind with using TV for entertainment? Is sport the only entertainment that you consider valid, really?

The Pope has a piano, supposedly. Does he care about that but reject watching better musicians because they are on TV, as opposed to the "god given" method of the internet?
 
Swordfishtrombone said:
No TV here either. I had a TV, it broke years ago, and I didn't, at the time, have the money to replace it. After a few weeks, I realized that I didn't particularly WANT to replace it. I think that was about five years ago.

If I want to watch something, the Internet shall provide. I really don't need a TV. Well, maybe if someone offered to sell me a modern, top of the line flat screen for 50€, I might buy it... and sell it for a tidy profit. :D
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Get real, TV or computer screen is the same thing if you use it for the same purpose.
 
Elind said:
Of course, if one cares about world events, one can get information from other than TV. TV is simply the representation of all media sources in this context and it is much better than doing intenet searches for past news or analysis sources and it does not mean all the trivial that is also available from all sources, even while the trivia is.
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I wonder if you would say the same thing if the Pope, like Darth Cheney, refused to watch anything that wasn't Fox.
 
Elind said:
Actually, you make a good point not addressed yet. It is called entertainment. Is there a problem in your mind with using TV for entertainment? Is sport the only entertainment that you consider valid, really?
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Did I make any of those claims, really? Read what I wrote, not what you want to have an argument about
 
I've never really understood the attitude that you're better off without a TV. Yes, 90% of the programmes aren't worth watching, but that's just Sturgeon's Law. 90% of the books in the library aren't worth reading, that's not a good reason to refrain from joining the library. You remove the temptation to watch/read the crap, but you also remove the opportunity to watch/read the good stuff.
 
Pixel42 said:
I've never really understood the attitude that you're better off without a TV. Yes, 90% of the programmes aren't worth watching, but that's just Sturgeon's Law. 90% of the books in the library aren't worth reading, that's not a good reason to refrain from joining the library. You remove the temptation to watch/read the crap, but you also remove the opportunity to watch/read the good stuff.
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Well said.
 
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