Do people pretend not to know who people are in order to seem intelligent?

[coulditbeme2323]

Do people pretend not to know who people are in order to seem intelligent?

This question is prompted from reading comments online re The Met Gala?

Now let me prefix this by saying I have no interest in reality tv, Showbiz mags, etc - but surely there are some people who you know who they are because everybody does!

There were people saying "who" on a photo of Kim Kardashian. I have never seen an episode of the show, have no interest in her, but of course I know who she is - because how can you not?

Another British example is Jordan/Kate Price. No interest in her, but she has literally been headline news in The UK for 20 years. If you live in The UK - surely its impossible to not at least know who she is?

Not read responses after this post, but, no. I couldn't pick any of them out. I could tell you why I know all their names.

But one 50 year old ex footballer looks much like another. I wouldn't have a clue if it was Beckham, Giggs, Gascoigne, Fowler etc etc etc.

I also won't recognise you in tesco if I only know you as the lady in the library.

I know who they all are but except from David Beckham I would have no idea. It's just not my wheel house and don't tend to watch much TV that would show these people. With more and more people streaming what they what they want to watch it's easy to miss out on some many celebs and famous people. For example I name the cast list for Supernatural but would not even know where to watch celebrity love island.

My parents and grandparents wouldn’t have a clue who these people are. Heard of them maybe - pick them out? Never. And thank goodness for that. Mind you - my 12 and 9 year old also won’t be able to tell you who they are either 🥴

Stuart Hall was a cultural commentator and art historian.

I assume this was a tongue in cheek comment.

Stuart Hall certainly knew a lot about both high and low culture what with his professorship of sociology and hosting It's A Knockout.

I know who both are/ were and would know from the context which one was being referred to.

Do people pretend not to know who people are in order to seem intelligent?
I don't keep up with the news and I rarely watch TV. My interests are generally more swayed towards agriculture than reality TV, and I don't think we'll see Kim Kardashian and the likes on a farm any time soon.

Also, if I've seen an actor in a film, I tend to remember the name of the character that they are playing rather than their real name. E.g. when the chap who played Bilbo Baggins appeared on a phone advertisement, I wondered when phone signal had reached the Shire when it still remains patchy in my neck of the woods...

I got mercilessly ribbed at a work pub quiz for answering a "fastest finger first" question about Kim Kardashian against 200 other people.

What they didn't focus on so much was the fact I had to correct the PhD mathematician's mental maths on a different question, and the trainee priest was stumped by a basic scripture question.

I have both trashy and non-trashy reasons for knowing a bit about the Kardashians.

But my main excuse is that I have a history degree. History students were all about the gossip and perceptions.

So many “news” stories about celebrities are predicated on the fact that you are supposed to be interested in the thing that happened purely because they are a celebrity.

Celebrity X gets robbed/burgled/stopped for drunk driving. Why is that any more newsworthy than the same thing happening to anyone else? The answer is…it isn’t.

Celebrity Y shares an opinion about something happening in the world. Why should I have the slightest interest in their opinion about the Iran war, or climate change, or dog ownership or any of the other countless things they feel compelled to tell us about unless they have any special knowledge or experience worth listening to!

It is remarkably easy to filter out all the crap about celebrity without even trying very hard.

Of course something happening to somebody famous is more newsworthy.

I think what you probably mean is that is isn't any sadder, and I agree with that.

But to say the average person dying is as newsworthy as King Charles dying is just wrong.

I'm not sure I'd know Kim Kardashian if I saw her, I'd recognise the name. I might think she looked familiar. I watched some of the Met Gala online to see Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams but there were loads of people I did not recognise.

Also, I think, "who?" is just people saying, "this person is no longer relevant", not, "I do not know this person".

Probably Beckham unless he's changed a lot.
Elon Musk, for much the same reason I would recognise Ed Sheerhan.

The other two, no, unless one was with her husband.

You would know taylor swift or Meghan Markle if they were with their husbands?

Nothing to do with intelligence.

Jus general SM twattery.

My partner really doesn't know who a lot of people are and is rubbish at pop culture and even he would recognise Kim Kardashian - you'd have to live under a rock to not recognise her.

I've often wondered what the criteria is for getting a BBC obituary. You see them now and them for minor actors, musicians and writers, and you wonder who's being paid to write/maintain these.

I guess AI can do it now, but my mum used to maintain obits for newspapers.

I guess there were far fewer TV shows back in the day, but I always feel a little whinge that licence fee money is being spent on commemorating someone who most people understand forty will never have heard of!

Like it or not the king is a significant figure whose death has political and constitutional significance. But an actor being caught drink driving, or having an affair, or being robbed - why is that significant? Why does their choice of career suddenly elevate these things into “news” stories?

Pretty much the only media I consume is radio 4, so unless they pop up on there, i wont know about them, and even then I wont know their face 🤷‍♀️ my social media algorhythm is very carefully curated to nature and gardens only! I dont read any mags/newspapers or watch much telly, or go to see films.

I wouldn't know what Kim Kardashian looks like, Katie Price I think I would but last time I did see a pic of her she looked so different that I didn't recognise her, but I can't be sure!

I have just flicked through the pictures, I recognised Rihanna, Beyonce, Margot Robbie, Nicole Kidman, Anna Wintour, Cher, Kate Moss, Donatella Versace (quite shocked as I though she had died)

I know of these people but didn't recognise them
Sabrina Carpenter (though I have heard her name)
Kendall Jenner (something to do with Kardashians?)
Kylie Jenner (ditto)
Jay-Z (the dreads fooled me)
Venus Williams (she looked fab but not seen her with hair like that)
Kim Kardashian
Bad Bunny
Gigi Hadid
Madonna (didn't look like her!)

I have no idea who the following people are
Lena Mahtouf (love the hands on her dress lol)
Ashley Graham
Tessa Thompson
LISA
Sabine Getty
Hailey Bieber (something to do with Justin Bieber?)
Bhavitha Mandava (big up to her for wearing jeans!)
Jamie McCarthy
Chloe Malle
Teyana Taylor
Zoe Kravitz
Daisy Edgar-Jones
Tyla
Cardi B (she seemed to be earing some intestines?!)
Doechii
Chase Infiniti (thought she was Scary Spice)
Alex Consani (needs a good meal)
Gracie Abrams
Sarah Paulson

Plus a billion others!

Got bored of looking after that, my general observation is CHEER UP EVERYONE YOU ARE AT A PARTY!

There are two Stuart Halls. That was the point the previous poster was trying to make, and I responded in that vein.

Because people care about them.

Not everybody - but lots of people care about Cristiano Ronaldo, Adele, David Beckham, Madonna etc.

So of course Madonna crashing her car whilst tanked up is going to be more newsworthy than Julie who works at the launderette doing the same thing.

But you know that don't you?

"...but because how can you not know them?"

Perhaps part of the argument in this thread stems from this being such a vague statement.

What do you actually mean by "not know them"?

Do you mean that you have literally never heard this person's name before?

In which case, it is quite likely that the very large majority of people do indeed "know" Kim Kardashian. But for quite a few of them that is the only thing that they will "know" - her name.

In contrast, there are quite a few younger people who very definitely do not "know" Mick Jagger, even using that definition.

.

Or, on the other hand, do you mean that you actually "know" something about them?

For example, to somebody of my generation, it seems obvious that "how can you not know" that Mick Jagger was the lead singer of the Rolling Stones.

But I am certain that there are very many younger people who will not know this or anything else about him.

So, what do you actually mean by "not know them"?

Tbf I didn’t actually recognise her straight away

My mum is 86 and knows who both KK and KP are without ever having watched anything featuring them. My mum is great though and really switched on for her age, my ds, 20 always comments on how modern thinking she is.

See, that phrase 'trash lit' is snobby in itself. Some people are completely oblivious to how their 'I don't listen to watch/listen to/read such trash' comments are coming across. Some people ARE snobby, and look down on people who watch reality TV, pop culture shows, and listen to popular music artists and the like... They won't admit it (most of them,) because I don't think they realise how snobby they are being.........

I also find it very hard to believe that someone could not name one single Taylor Swift song, or that they thought Taylor was a man until last year! Unless you live in a cave and have never used the internet, I find all this unlikely.

Every person on this thread is on the internet, sooooo.

.

I know Kim Kardashian exists but this thread has made me realise I don’t actually know what she looks like.

There are lots of people on Taskmaster that I’ve never heard of. I would say most series I only know 2 or 3 of the contestants.

I’m not particularly trying to be “high brow” I just haven’t come across those people before.

Some awareness of there being an event in the USA called the Met Gala is basic general knowledge I would have thought. Being ignorant about that is not something to brag about.