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

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12:27 / 18.02.02

Eeenteresting, this shame business. I'd have said that shame was appropriate when you'd done something particularly nasty, or you'd failed to fulfill a duty of some sort (any others?) So I can see how you might argue that it's everyone's duty to educate themselves, and that a failure to read non-fiction is therefore shameful, but why should anyone be ashamed for failing to read fiction, which is an *ahem cough cough* indulgence?

Morlock - groupie for hire

15:39 / 18.02.02

Can't really get a grip on this one. Didn't see the program, for all I know it was an example of how she isn't all that Posh. Whatever, largely irrelevant.

I just don't see how someone's personal library (or lack thereof) can tell you anything concrete about them. Offhand, I can't think of anything you can get out of a book that you cannot get through other sources, apart from an appreciation for books themselves, the art of Writing as it were.

Just because someone hasn't read, doesn't mean they don't know. And it's also possible to read about something and completely miss the point. I'm pretty sure I do, whenever I wander away from my usual simple fiction (you know the sort of thing, author's name bigger than title, "It's great" - Daily rag) into more serious literature. And think of all those half-read copies of "Brief history of Time" and whatnot. Betcha there's plenty of people who bought the copy and still think relativity has something to do with Uncle Bob.

Should I mention Audio Books? Oops, too late.

Enlighten me, please. Though I won't promise to give up the Pratchett habit...

16:19 / 18.02.02

There are many ways through which you can assimilate information about the world and about the inner lives of other people. It must be possible to go through an entire life without reading a book and yet be able to live a good and interesting life.

People who are dyslexic or poor readers for whatever other reason can have great intellectual abilities nevertheless. Wasn't Einstein thought to be retarded in his youth?

There is a school of thought that not accessing one conventional intellectual function with ease may be the source of some of the breakthrough thinking and creativity which some great thinkers and artists proved capable of, despite apparent difficulties with standard linguistic-logistical learning. There's this guy and a long list of examples.

Maybe being denied a convenient and ubiquitous information-gathering system requires exploration of other approaches to learning and understanding.

But Victoria Beckham chooses, perversely and boastfully, to ignore a world of knowledge at her fingertips and is a stupid <sexist term deleted>.

And sadly for Mystery Gypt's recycling plans
quote:anyone who purposefully doesn't read books should be turned into protein-rich food for people who'd like to see a more reasonable world.
Lady Beckham doesn't seem to be rich in protein, even less so in CHO or fat. Utterly useless in other words.

Less searchable M0rd4nt

16:35 / 18.02.02

Nobody ought to feel ashamed of how much or how little they've read. But I personally feel regret that I haven't read more widely because I come across people who are better read than I am and who evidently benefit from it in a variety of ways. Therefore it seems very strange to me when I see someone smilingly inform the world that they've never finished a book, evincing contentment and even pride in this.

(And to the people who reckon that this standpoint equals intellectual elitism... guys, I mean, one fucking book... any book... Pratchett's fine by me, I read tons of Pratchett... we're not talking the complete works of the great philosophers, or anything, we're talking One! Fucking! Book! If your idea of intellectual elitism is "being unpleasantly surprised when a grown adult with no known literacy problems goes on telly and smirks away happily as they announce that they've never finished One! Fucking! Book! in their lives", then you've lost me.)

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

16:41 / 18.02.02

Rev Jesse: "Who the hell is Victoria Beckham?"
Christ, I envy you.
(See, sometimes ignorance is GOOD!)
btw I saw a really bad photo of her yesterday during the "lip-ring" phase... and bugger me if she didn't look EXACTLY like Ian Astbury of the Cult!!!

Seriously... I'm old-fashioned when it comes to this stuff, maybe... I wouldn't necessarily turn someone into Soylent Green for never having read a book, but I'd probably make a disgusted face at them.
And Rothkoid... anything wrong with Buffy reruns? Eh? EH?

Less searchable M0rd4nt

18:23 / 18.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Moominstoat:
Rev Jesse: "Who the hell is Victoria Beckham?"
Christ, I envy you.

And how.

22:00 / 18.02.02

It certainly falls into the "deeply eccentric" category to have never read a book. It reminds me of a woman I talked to who had never been to the zoo, and really had no desire to go at any time in her life. She'd grown up in middle America, and had honestly never been to a zoo.

As someone who reads on average a book a day, I find it flabbergasting that any person in the Western world could have not read a book once by accident if nothing else.

Then again, I've neither slept with David Beckham nor made an international pop jingle, so I suppose we've all got things missing from the experience part of our CVs.

Tuna Ghost: Pratt knot hero

23:16 / 18.02.02

Not sure how to respond to this...

If it were a case of her boasting that "books aren't neccessary! I've never read a single one, and look where I am now", I'd just laugh and change the channel because apparently no one in the UK likes this girl and "where I am now" means "I'm a living joke". Which is not to say that reading a book would change all that.

If it were a case of her merely stating that she hadn't gotten around to reading a book yet, or even "I don't have the time to read a book. I'm busy trying not to be hated by everyone in Britain", well, hey, that's fine. There were plenty of Zen Masters that were illiterate 'till the day they died. Granted, that was a different time, but apparently you don't need to be educated reading-wise to be an enlightened individual.

As far as the "intellectual elitism" here goes, I'd say it was a reaction to someone percieved to be boasting of their ignorance, which may or may not be the case. And some got overzealous. Big deal.

The Damned Yankee

14:45 / 19.02.02

Maybe it's because I was only tangentially aware of the Spice Girls, but I'm drawing a complete blank on what Posh looked like. I can dredge up painful memories of the rest, though: Scary Spice - yep, Baby Spice - sure, Sporty Spice - uh-huh, Whatever-the-hell-Gerri-Halliwell-was Spice - absolutely, but Posh Spice? No clue. From where I'm sitting, she's the most forgettable member of a "band" that was largely forgettable to begin with.

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:53 / 19.02.02

So you're boasting of your ignorance, then?

pointless and uncalled for

15:00 / 19.02.02

In this case I think it can be argued that ignorance is bliss.

I think that it should be mandatory for retention of any English related qualification that one book from the New York Times top 100 be read every two years.

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

15:04 / 19.02.02

Yes. As most English qualifications depend on a familiarity with bestsellers.

Good job we're so much cleverer and learned than Posh Spice, innit?

pointless and uncalled for

15:13 / 19.02.02

I was figuring that out of the 100 books there you would find something that you would like and that everything on there would be at least of GCSE standard writing. Plus it adds a degree of continued variance. It's less an issue of familiarity and more to do with a guarantee of minimum standard of quality and content. If I said one book then it could successfully be argued that reading a Spot book would meet the criteria. Inclusion of the list as condition to the criteria would deter soft option completion and also make the criteria viable.

Thus your attack on my minor proposition falls a little flat doesn't it?

17:23 / 19.02.02

i think the most objectional thing about posh's comment is the effect it might have on people wh take her seriously. i understand none of those are here on this board... i imagine, if they exist at all, they are 14 years old girls. implying to 14 year old girls that not reading is sexy, hip, fun, makes you cool, makes you rich, is another mark for posh getting mulched.

think how cool it would be if the brittaney's of the world were up there being like, "math fucking rocks! radical theories about antholpology is cool! learning about the history of islam really makes me hot! i'm so glad that in my position of power, i get exposed to new and interesting ideas all the time!" now wouldn't that be nice?

18:22 / 19.02.02

quote:i imagine, if they exist at all, they are 14 years old girls. implying to 14 year old girls that not reading is sexy, hip, fun, makes you cool, makes you rich, is another mark for posh getting mulched.

I have a feeling that posh will not make much of a difference. There's a pervasive anti-intellectual culture in this country which she may be contributing to, but she's just as much of a victim.

Fuck, that sounds snobby and patronising doesn't it... no wonder people hate intellectuals.

09:13 / 20.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Logos:
Then again, I've neither slept with David Beckham nor made an international pop jingle

Well, she's apparently done the first one; the second's still eluding her.

Boil her down for glue, I say. INTELLECTUALSNOBPATROLGO!

23:37 / 28.04.04

golly.
maybe she shoulda read a book..!

Keith, like a scientist

02:19 / 29.04.04

people who have never read a book boggle me in the same way that people who have never seen a Star Wars movie do. Or the Simpsons. I know someone at work. It explains a lot.

08:49 / 29.04.04

What was that Todd McFarlane quote? "I don't think if I read books I'll hinder me, but I don't not think if I don't not read books it'll not help not hinder me."
Or something.
Grud on a greenie, Todd, maybe if you read a book it'd help your sentence structure, you burnt-out assclown.
Fortunately, I had my gun. Advantageous!

lonely as a cloud...

10:57 / 29.04.04

Whole thing reminds me of a Bill Hicks sketch...Bill sitting in a waffle house, reading a book. Waitress walks over to him and asks "What you readin' for?" Bill launches into an amusing spiel, ending with the fact that his main reason for reading was "So I don't end up as a damn waffle waitress!".
Ah, bless 'im, he's sorely missed...

11:00 / 29.04.04

Looks like we got ourselves a reader

11:06 / 29.04.04

So, OK, you've never read a book. What's the first book you should read?

11:24 / 29.04.04

One of my mates has only read two books - these being Bukowski's "Post Office" and Marianne Faithful's autobiography. Not bad choices, I suppose. And he's still a nice lad.

Christoph_Chicken

12:20 / 29.04.04

"Danny the Champion of the world" by Mr Roald Dahl. That's a great introduction to the world of books.

12:27 / 29.04.04

Quickly followed by 'The Twits'.

12:47 / 29.04.04

Perhaps we should club together and send Posh Spice a book token.

12:49 / 29.04.04

To be honest any Roald Dahl book will do fine, though I personally would lean towards "Matilda" due to the heroine's pro-book stance.
I do find the possibility of someone actually making it into adulthood without having read a book very difficult to understand, and also deserving of a certain amount of pity, though not in Victoria Beckham's case.

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:06 / 29.04.04

And he's still a nice lad.

Probably a prole, though, eh? Probably has a shitty service job or something, which is always people's own fault for not educating themselves, because if they did then they could be a radical subversive comedian.

13:32 / 29.04.04

Oh Flyboy. You're like a caricature of yourself.

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:39 / 29.04.04

What on earth do you mean? I just wanted to correct Illmatic, who seems to have missed the point of this thread, which is to collectively congratulate ourselves for being cleverer than Posh Spice and waitresses (but not Bill Hicks - nobody will ever be as clever as Bill - why was he taken from us, God, why?).

13:46 / 29.04.04

I'm not rushing to Posh's defence but I don't think books are necessarily worthier than any other form of media.

(If you don't believe me, try reading the George Best auto-biography The Good, the Bad and the Bubbly.)

13:48 / 29.04.04

Not only a prole Flyboy, but currently, a dole prole, taking the taxpayers money away from libray services. Still, he's only got himself to blame.

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:52 / 29.04.04

Gosh, throw in asking nice middle class people for the occasional 10p - or as I like to call it, "emotional mugging" - and you've got the kind of person there ought to be laws against. Perhaps we can make a sigil with the intent of having some new laws made.

13:53 / 29.04.04

Kosmonaut: Maybe books aren't any worthier than other media, but if someone said they hadn't ever seen a film all the way through would you not find it a little odd?

Christoph_Chicken

14:42 / 29.04.04

My family make comments such as "Read a lot of books, don't you?"

They have never shown any interests in reading, and, although they have probably read somewhere on the slimmer side of one hundred books, they are quite happy.

Myself and my brother have had a similar education, upbringing and opportunities. And yet, he is simply not interested in books or anything involving thought, study or application. He spends his time collecting DVD's and listening to 'nu' bands. I on the other hand, have read a book a week for most of my life, and hold interests in literature, thought, application, study, creativity etc.

Is it simply a mind set thing? Was I dropped as a child?

Of my extended family (numbering into thirty or forty individuals) I am considered strange, and their interests rarely go beyond low paid jobs, beer and the opposite sex.

Has anyone else ever experienced this?

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