On Life and Love

Me, a counterculturist?

8/17/2006 /

While in Charlotte this past weekend, I revealed to the Gang that I don’t really watch television. I mean, there are four shows I watch irregularly (Doctor Who, Lost, The 4400, and The Pretender), but I don’t watch them with commercials. I don’t know what movies are out unless I hear via blog or word-of-mouth, and I’m not really interested in knowing. I don’t see the latest commercials. I’ve never watched an episode of CSI. I don’t even really know what televisions shows are out and popular, aside from… well, CSI.

It was impressive how many times someone said, “Have you seen the latest [some product] commercial?” or asked if I’d heard of some movie other than Snakes on a (Muthafuckin’) Plane.

(I was also the only person without a cell phone or detailed knowledge of the latest available cell phones.)

Michael labeled me a counterculturist, since television is something that (allowing for the generalization), roughly every United Statesian watches. At the time (and even now), I’m not sure I’m comfortable with that label. Countercultural, to me, implies proselyizing, and I don’t know that I do much of that, even though I do find plenty of what’s on TV distasteful. It’s whatever gets your goat, in my opinion.

I’m not even sure I like the word “counterculturist”. Actually, that’s just due to the fact that it took me a hot minute to find the noun form for a person in a counterculture.

But can you have a culture of one? (Or a culture of two, if I include WO, since his TV habits match mine.) And aren’t I still a part of American culture? I live on the Internet and drive a car and eat Americanized food and have weird hair and am sedentary and obsessively check my email and wear men’s pants, just like everyone else.

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6 Comments

  • Stobor

    8/17/2006 at 16:41

    Wait, The Pretender is still on? or is this on DVD?
    ::watches more tv than be healthy for 3 people. man I need a life

  • Dulin

    8/17/2006 at 20:31

    I think you are right. “Counterculturist” to me would mean someone who goes against the mainstream and tells others the should too. You seem to go against some of the mainstream, but you arn’t one to try and convince others to do the same. I mean, I only have like two shows that I watch and I definately don’t know anything about the latest cell phone; does that make me a “counterculturalist?” I’d say you are “a little out of the mainstream”, not “counterculturist” and represent one part of the United Statesian (

  • Lissa

    8/19/2006 at 19:25

    Well, “American” could imply “North American”, and I don’t know how much teevee Canadians or Mexicans watch. *shrug* TV, to me, feels like a very U.S. thing. Or at least how much of it we watch. That’s probably silly, of course.