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 directly, perhaps, but these things leak out into wider culture and start influencing beyond the immediate source. A lot of slang terms originally come from the gaming world.

Billboards - pay no attention to them
Sides of buses - rarely see a bus
Bus stops - don’t uses buses
Adverts on tv - stream everything so never see tv adverts anymore
Front covers of magazines - don’t visit any shops that sell magazines

People’s lives can be quite different. If you wfh, live in a village with little public transport, get your food shopping delivered and stream your programmes, you rarely come across these things. I didn’t even know the met gala was a thing until it was mentioned on mumsnet, and I certainly wouldn’t recognise a Kardashian.

I think this is performative. Because, logically if you are able to use social media and comment on a post 'who?' the best way to find out who someone is that you are interesting in knowing is to Google it.

i have been guilty of typing “who?” On one or two posts on Facebook. Both of them were similar posts gushing on about so and so and xyz breaking off their engagement. In a way my motive was to make the point that not everyone knows or cares who these people are and what they are doing. It’s to challenge the assumption that everyone should be interested in celebrity gossip. I think it’s a sad world where people are supposed to know about the lives of very shallow and vacuous people just because they are rich but so many people lack any real knowledge about any subjects of importance. This sort of empty headedness is what gets a whole counties sleepwalking into having trump for a president. Because they’re all worrying more about the met gala than anything meaningful …. So yeah I say “who?” And I will carry on saying “who”

@SunConure but if you aren't interested then why read the Facebook post (or article).
There's no reason to "make a point" about not everyone being interested in certain things (ie celebrities) because everyone knows that people have different interests. There's no "assumption that everyone should be interested in celebrity gossip" in the world I live in.
Why does it matter to you if some folks are interested in things that you aren't?

I’ve heard of Jordan and Kim Kardashian but couldn’t pick them out of a line up. I have no interest in “celebrities”. Apparently there are many Kardashians but I couldn’t name any others and don’t really see what that is an indicator of.

Do you mean know their names/what they’re famous for or be able to recognise them? I’ve heard of Kim Kardashian but don’t know that I could pick her out of a lineup. Katie Price I could but I feel like she’s been around longer

There's a gap between knowing who someone is and knowing what they look like. I know who the Kardashians are but would not recognise any of them if they slapped me in the face. Same for most actors and musicians - they're just not on my radar so I suspect I'd recognise a tiny number of people at the Met Gala. But I would recognise most footballers, cricketers and quite a lot of politicians / political journalists. Neither of these preferences is better than the other.

BTW Price I would recognise. Has just filtered into my visual memory for some reason.

I do agree that people who randomly comment about celeb stuff with "Who?" or similar are being performative and pompous.
If a thread is of no interest, ignore it!

🙄

Same here.

Also, I saw a before and after picture of one of the Kardashians and it looked like two different people. So how would you know who it was even if you were interested?

I had no idea who Kim kardashian was before contouring went big and I understand she’d been around a lot longer than that. Have never watched her programme. I watched wicked and didn’t know who the blonde witch was until my sister told me afterwards she was a very famous singer- Arianna Grade? I only know hi Taylor swift is because she was on the Graham Norton show. I’ve very likely heard her music but not known the face. I just don’t give a shit. My life is busy enough.

I think you and a lot of other posters are missing the point of this thread. It’s not about how much you do or don’t know about Kim Kardashian or how interested you are or aren’t in her. It’s about the intensely annoying, pompous fools who pretend they’ve never even heard the mere mention of her name in their entire lives. They’re trying to create the illusion that they’re far too cultured and high-class for her name or face to have ever crossed over into their world. Total bollocks and smacks of insecurity

I disagree. I would bet my life on the fact my mum wouldn't have a clue who she is

(And that my Dad would only have a vague idea and that only because he is a Judge and he and all his judge friends feel an immense pressure to have a vague knowledge of popular culture because of the risk of gleeful Daily Mail headlines it they don't! I remember being questioned by my dad's fellow judge over lunch because there were lots of references to some soap opera in the witness statements in his case and he was hoping I could help! Unfortunately for him I was at uni and wasn't watching any TV as I was having too much fun partying, playing sport and studying)

And at the risk of being told I could Google... Whats Kim Kardashian actually doing at the moment?

I know there was a TV show about her family, my SIL used to watch it but that was 20 years or so ago.

I think she married someone famous?

Beyond that I have no idea.

And I like trash TV. I love real housewives of Beverley hills and selling sunset and below deck . But I genuinely can't think when I have seen Kk on TV or in the news for years.

I tend to read the guardian/BBC news /new scientist/independent/Private eye. And lots of books (of all sorts. From high brow to kids stories) . I know I can go and Google what she's up to but right now I don't know anything beyond she was on a TV series and she married someone famous. And isn't her dad or someone like that now a woman?

I don’t know what KK looks like. Im that I wouldn’t recognise her if she walked past me.

Same, in my head (without googling) I picture her as having dark hair and dark eyes. And probably an identikit plastic surgery and fillers face (but that's just an assumption, I may be being unfair). But she could be sat next to me on the bus and I wouldn't know.

Hmm. I’d probably recognise KK but I wouldn’t be able to tell you any of her sisters etc. beckhams possibly and KP. But anyone modern music etc I’d struggle! And I’m only 42 😂
no measure of intelligence, I just have absolutely no interest in the celeb thing. I’m better with actors. Not brilliant with tv presenters as I don’t really watch it, just films mainly. And endless amounts of crap about hospitals 😂 😂

@Snorerephron but would your mum say "who" in a sarcastic manner if she was with a group of people and the name came up in conversation or would she say something like "I don't know who that is....what are they famous for?"
That's the difference the OP is meaning.

1. You've misunderstood - I was referring to your apparent lack of awareness of your own judgmentalism while accusing others. I'm not the only pp to notice it!

2. 'the truth' about celebrities such as KK is irrelevant - it's the image they spend so much time and money projecting, and the publicity they crave, which we're judging - and we're allowed to judge. Do you think they want us to know 'the truth' about them, whatever that might be?

Or maybe they actually ARE just too high class and cultured ever to have come across KK?

Just a thought.

I wish pps would have the imagination to realise that not everyone shares the same interests or tastes, or lives the same life. Where would someone who mainly listens to Radio 3 and reads books ever hear of KK?

But op was talking about comments on social media. It's quite impressive to be able to infer sarcasm from a brief social media comment

No you can definitely tell.
Especially on sites like the Daily Mail online 😁
For example the thread here on Mumsnet about Vernon Kaye and Tess Daly I commented "I thought they split years ago" - which is a conversation comment.
But sometimes a thread like that will have comments of "who?".
That's what the OP means. If you don't know who they are why read the thread?
If you do read it you could think "nope... still don't know who these people are" but there's no need to add a comment of "who?".
A "who" on a thread like that is very much someone acting like they are sooooo clever and superior because they don't know who these people are.
It's being snobby.

@Needmorelego im an educator by profession I guess my vocation is to do with trying to raise standards of critical thought. It’s not ONLY about different interests it’s about being empty headed and knowing nothing about the word except who wore what. How can people make sensible decisions regarding voting, jury service, when their main interest is celebrity gossip. Maybe my “who” might encourage someone to think? I doubt it though. Ha ha. But then, it’s up to me what I do

really and I don’t need to particularly have a reason.

@SunConure but people whose ONLY interest is celebrity gossip/fashion is probably actually a small amount of people.
A person can be interested in celebs and (for example) politics or law at the same time.
I mean Elle Woods solved the case thanks to her knowledge of designer shoes and rules about hair perm maintenance 😁
(if you don't know who that is then the correct response is "who is Elle Woods?" not a snippy "who" 😂😂😂)

@Needmorelego good points
and yes there probably is an element of intellectual snobbery but I must admit the two times I’ve replied “who”
the message was irrelevant to the group it was being posted in and delivered with the sort of breathless urgency and outrage that should be reserved for events such as Japan invading Pearl Harbor