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Victoria Beckham: "I've never read a book..."

  
  

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The Natural Way
16:30 / 30.04.04
These are two people only folks from the UK care about.

Right, y'know, I'm not into footie, but I think it's pretty safe to say that MILLIONS of people all over the world have a vested interest in Dave Beckham.

DO you have any IDEA how insular and American that sounds, Flux? Football is fucking global. There are more Man U fans in India than there are in England (or something) so it's definitely time to not be completely wrong and shut it.
 
 
Loomis
16:59 / 30.04.04
If you think there's no elitism in this thread, maybe you missed huge chunks ...

Well admittedly I didn't re-read the entire thread this time around. I read it when it was first posted and just read the new stuff this week, but I'm thinking more in terms of judging someone for having different opinions, rather than simply disagreeing with said opinions.

I think reading a few books is better than not having read any. That's my opinion, and like o_0_o, I think "watching does tend to be a little passive". However there is a big difference between having an opinion on something and judging someone because theirs is different. I personally think reading is valuable, but I don't think less of people who think otherwise, and I don't know that o_0_o is particularly guilty of that either.
 
 
Char Aina
17:44 / 30.04.04
ooh look, she couldn't satisfy her man!

is that directed at me?
i did ressurect this thread, and i did it by suggesting she might have read a marriage book, so i assume it is.

all things considered, go fuck yourself.
it was a cheap shot, sure.
it wasnt because i find her to be a lesser woman as a failed wife, or some bullshit like that. it was because she is an irritating, stupid and altogether selfish person, and i feel the need to attack people like that with gentle mockery.

attack me with mockery in return, sure.
next time i will think twice about throwing a cheap shot at a celebrity whose career and lifestyle(lets be blunt here) only exist because of our willingness to entertain thoughts of her and talk about her.

her music is fucking shit, and her entire life recently has been subsidised by the media frenzy she and her hubby can generate. i dont think its entirely down to him, and no, i dont think of her as some succubus, draining englands hope dry. (they fucking deserve each other, in my opinion. and i reckon we probably deserve them too)
i think she probably said what she said for the buzz; people will say anything to look clever and interesting. its a shame for her that i interpreted her insight as a shallow admission of a narrow mind, but it is only a wee bit of a shame. the column inches she will rack up(or did rack up, this was two years ago) in negative publicity will probably outweigh the positive.

loadsa publicity = continued life of reilly for stupidetta mcprissypants




I love the fact that[...]I love the way that, whenever someone points out the amount of class-based elitism on Barbelith, they get accused of "romanticising" or "glamourising" the working classes (because it's romantic and glamorous to view "them" as valid human beings like you and me!).

stop yammering about all this love and tell us why it is perfectly tenable to go about bragging about being less well-read. explain the counter point so that we may yield to your mighty levelling influence.



Most of all, I love the fact that not one single person has had anything bad to say about James Ellroy saying almost the same damn thing. Because James Ellroy is coooool.


i'm sorry, i missed him saying that. possibly because his entire life is not broadcast and sold off in bite size chunks to magazines and TeeVee companies.

sounds like he's an arrogant wanker too. sorry, is that too gender specific? i like men, honestly, its just sometimes i say wanker. i know, its only serving to uphold the masturbarchy, or something.
see me? its always an ism. cept when its an -ogyny.


fuck, dude, get over yourself.
if it was your hate-quest i was pissing on, you'd be calling me fucking borecore, or some shit.




oh,
and i'm with haus.
devouring the produce of the creative is not in itself very creative. then again, neither is ms beckham...
 
 
Char Aina
18:09 / 30.04.04
after all, we have not yet pulled the cretinous Mr. Beckham up for not providing an atmosphere of white-hot intellect for his kiddies, despite the very real possibility that he has written more books than he has read, and an apparent eagerness for the public eye to match his lady wife's...


well, yeah, bt he is smart enough to keep his mouth shut most of the time. he's a bit of an empty vessel, filled up with our own favourite thoughts. mine include pondering divorcing vicky for someone who looks less like a piece of holly with tits and learning how to fence. i mean, he is one fo the Beautifuls and he deserves one as his mate, doesnt he? and a fencing england captain would be the shit, you know it would.
 
 
Alex's Grandma
19:14 / 30.04.04
He is smart enough to keep his mouth shut most of the time

Well I'm not sure. I mean what's he on now, his second or third book ? Or rather, I'm guessing, his second or third set of incoherent ramblings into a tape machine which some guy has to parse into sensible English, while receiving no credit, because the Beckham brand image is apparently such that we, as punters, can't take the idea that there's possibly something David isn't naturally gifted at. If as a culture we've got to have these gods, and it seems like we do, these gilded creatures in the Sunday papers that get a lot more attention, in terms of bums on seats, than the poor old Church of England does, shouldn't they at least try and stick to what they're good at ? Y'know, you don't see Martin Amis playing celebrity football. Though I have to admit that I'd probably watch that.

It just strikes me as being a bit ironic that elitism, intellectual or otherwise, is an issue on this thread. The reality is that Posh and Becks, and Elton and Kylie, and all the rest of the media goofs that seem to preoccupy so much of UK culture are in fact the elite, and would have roughly as much interest in what anyone thinks on this site as your average rhino would have in a fly on it's arse. These are hardly people that need defending.
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
19:20 / 30.04.04
he is smart enough to keep his mouth shut most of the time.

Sorry, but is he bollocks. If he had any tiny bit of restraint the name of Becks wouldn't be the byword for dim that it is. Even the Spanish rip the piss out of him.
 
 
aus
20:10 / 30.04.04
In all of this, has anyway guessed that my real name is Victoria Beckham?
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
23:40 / 30.04.04
Umm... you do realise that neither Posh or Becks (or Thick or Thin, however you want to call it) are actually real people? In any way that impacts on my life? Yeah, they both actually exist and stuff. But do I know them? No. Do their opinions matter to me? No.

Just for the record, I, personally, DO think that not reading is bad. BAD BAD BAD bad. But my opinion is often wrong.
 
 
Char Aina
01:57 / 01.05.04
man... beckham obviously does speak occasionally, just not often. vicky does his talking in all the appearances i've seen, and he seems pretty happy to let it stay that way.
as to his books, well thats entirely different.
a book gets proof read before we see it, and hell, even researched before its written sometimes.

i think beckham is a byword for dim because he doesnt talk, and when he does, he sounds like a kid.

tell me something brainless he has said. i mean, does he really say stupid shit all the time? if so, how come there aint no 'beckisms' books going into the million-seller lists? and how come i have never seen him featured in colemanballs in private eye? and how come the pundits dont take the utter piss with their questions?

i think a lot of people would like him to be dumb, and there is a wealth of material that says he is... unfortunately, its mostly satirical TeeVee shows and i dont really reckon there's much milage in using them as source material.


seriously, though, when have you seen him speak out of turn, showing his lack of intelligence?
 
 
Char Aina
02:07 / 01.05.04
attend to the word 'most' for further comprehension.

most of the time.
as in not always.
more so than his bird,
lets say.
 
 
The Falcon
11:52 / 01.05.04
James Ellroy hasn't read a book...?

I'm sure he's read millions of crime reports though.
 
 
The Puck
13:46 / 03.05.04
you mean apart from anything else, she's a Bad Mother? Oh no! Won't somebody please think of the children?

No i never said she was a bad mother, i said she is a bad example. i really couldnt give a toss weather someone reads or not, but when kids look up to you its a tad bit carless to casually dismiss somthing that many find benificial.

and please, please *wont* something think of the children
 
 
Haus of Mystery
16:38 / 03.05.04
Just out of interest Tim Henman said recently that reading was/is 'boring' and he's as upper class as they come (and also a wanker) so really it's not a class issue but a stupidity issue. And the world is full of stupid people.
 
 
Alex's Grandma
17:07 / 03.05.04
Well yeah. And he plays TENNIS, for fuck's sake, and not particularly well, and without even having the basic decency to swear at the linesman every now and again. I mean talk about people in glass houses, and so on...
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
18:16 / 03.05.04
Just out of interest Tim Henman said recently that reading was/is 'boring' and he's as upper class as they come (and also a wanker) so really it's not a class issue but a stupidity issue. And the world is full of stupid people.

Yes, altohugh in terms of this thread that doesn't mean an awful lot, does it? I mean, we started of and spent a hundred or so posts talking about Victoria Beckham, so bringing up Tiim Henman (who is middle rather than upper class, I believe) may show that not reading is not a class issue, but not necessarily that the attitude to not reading on Barbelith is not related to class.

(Oh, and toksik - I think you'll probably find that David Backham has far better publicity and PR people than VB, and has had throughout his career, hence the relative absence of pratfalls)

Meanwhile, I'm still not sure exactly what these people are missing out on by not reading. Victoria Beckham's success relies primarily on her ability to remain married to David Beckham and to a lesser extent on her pop career and any multimedia opportunities she may have had. Tim Henman is in the greater scheme of things very, very good at playing tennis. Both of them need to devote a lot of time and attention to these practices, and reading would be unlikely to assist them. So, there is no vocational advantage. Arguably, they are missing out on various forms of personal development by neglecting to read, but are these forms of personal development likely to be advantageous to them? One could also point out that by the age of 40 their respective careers will in effect be over and they can then possibly broaden their horizons in their copious leisure time...
 
 
Less searchable M0rd4nt
20:46 / 03.05.04
Well, it wasn't so much the not-reading thing as the apparent self-satisfaction with which the info was delivered that got me. You can dismiss this with WSPToTC if you want, but the fact is that a lot of Posh's fans hail from less well-off backgrounds and probably already get a lot of grief from their peers if they try and better themselves. Anything that reinforces anti-education messages is bad, IMO--especially self-education.

As for whether reading will enhance Henman or Posh's current careers... probably not, no, but it wouldn't hurt them either. Maybe cracking a book or two would help provide some clues as to alternative careers when 40 hits and Overness occurs.
 
 
Christoph_Chicken
22:31 / 03.05.04
Ariadne, how can you read the above, in which o_O_o spells out exactly how it works that he is cleverer than his brother because he has different taste in art/entertainment, and then say "don't stress, nobody thinks you're a cretin!"??? I think he's a cretin. There's no creativity in the music his brother likes, because only music like fucking Tool or whatever o_O_o is into is creative... God it's all so familiar and tired.

What's Tool?

My point was that taking on information isn't terribly creative. As for my musical preferences, I'll have you all know that I listen to nothing other than orchestral music written by the old masters, and extreme contemporary Jazz. I am so damn creative that I generate an acute field of purple genesis around my body. This gift does tend to obscure my vision at certain times in the day, but it's never too much of a hindrance.

My best friend generally calls me a cretin a few times a week. He also says "Familiarity breeds contempt."

Elitism is inevitable within an 'Ant or Dec' culture.

My opinion of Posh Beckham didn't change in the slightest with the revelation that she didn't read. Underclass, lower, middle, upper and over class.... the idiot gene is rife within them all. And When Armageddon drapes it's nastiness across our lands, when the populace is reduced to a fraction of its original size, the idiots will still be present. (not accounting for natural selection)

The few gnarled custodians who keep alive the etchings of science and wisdom for the benefit of Human kind may congregate in some desolate post-war council room.

And they'll be elitist too.
 
 
Char Aina
22:53 / 03.05.04
David Backham has far better publicity and PR people than VB

good point.
do you think they tell him to use his inside voice?
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
22:59 / 03.05.04
What, the one that tells him to kill? I think they may - there is an apocryphal story about his love of Lion King colouring-in that seems to have been reasonably well handled. Of course, the other thing is that David Beckham has a *lot* more public affection than Victoria, for all sorts of reasons.

My point was that taking on information isn't terribly creative.

You mean, including taking on information by reading? In which case, why not just watch DVDs? Bill Hicks DVDs, if you're feeling intellectual.
 
 
Char Aina
22:59 / 03.05.04
Victoria Beckham's success relies primarily on her ability to remain married to David Beckham and to a lesser extent on her pop career[&]reading would be unlikely to assist [her].


well, there are a couple of titles...
 
 
Char Aina
23:01 / 03.05.04
Bill Hicks DVDs, if you're feeling intellectual

we got ourselves a *watcher*!
 
 
40%
19:25 / 04.05.04
the idiot gene is rife within them all. And When Armageddon drapes it's nastiness across our lands, when the populace is reduced to a fraction of its original size, the idiots will still be present.

What the fuck? Just because you read a few books, you think you have the right to stand in judgement over the whole of society and decide who’s worthwhile and who’s not?

One day one of these 'idiots' will do you a kind deed and you will feel ashamed...
 
 
Haus of Mystery
15:53 / 05.05.04
Haus, you're right. I crow-barred that Henman stuff in purely because I hate him. I realise now that it added nothing to the Great Debate. Many apologies.
 
 
Christoph_Chicken
16:43 / 05.05.04
What the fuck? Just because you read a few books, you think you have the right to stand in judgement over the whole of society and decide who’s worthwhile and who’s not?

I wasn't judging the whole of society..... I was just saying that it's full of idiots and elitists at all levels.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
16:56 / 05.05.04
Hang on a second... you're not judging the whole of society, but you are judging every level of society?

Am I missing something here? Is there a mezzanine?
 
 
Christoph_Chicken
17:40 / 05.05.04
I wasn't aware of a mezzanine, but then it's hard to see the lower levels from this clouded pedestal...

It wasn't a judgment, more of an observation. I think there are idiots and elitists at every level. After re-reading some of the posts I've made in this thread, I believe it even more.
 
 
The Falcon
13:13 / 06.05.04
I mentioned Tiny Tim first. (Self-)Congratulations! Or, sorry.

I quite like him.

Also, I can't abide the Tool-hating that goes on here. They're really the only metal band left that I give a damn about. Unless you count Tomahawk.
 
  

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