Outstanding update! I was just explaining this as my POV the other night but I struggled getting my point across. Primarily because I've mostly checked out of the narrative/The Script™ and just focused on the immediacy and reality of local meatspace. But it always drags us back in, doesn't it.
I greatly appreciate these updates. Living in the backwoods for over a decade with no regular access to television or streaming, I became totally out of touch with the news-of-the-day and pop culture. Even now that we're slightly closer to "civilization" I didn't reacquire the habit, and often have no idea what people are talking about when they go one about the latest Thing That So-and-So Said About Such-and-Such. Your format allows me to capture the meta-information without having to wade through the stuff. Thank you.
Also, why is it that when you tell Those People (tm) "I don't watch TV and don't know what you're talking about" they feel compelled to tell me in excruciating detail? Is it that they can't recognize a non-NPC and feel the need to update my brain-module with the latest drivel?
As a non-TV watcher, I think it’s too far outside the base code to process. There are only greater or lesser amounts. “None” is a mythic figurative. First-time visitors went through the “you don’t have a tv package at all?” dance numerous times. Had to see it to accept it even superficially.
Can’t recognize non-NPC is basically it. They have a range of reactions they use for everyone. It’s all they know, so can’t “see” anything more - like Flatland and 3D. You can see the sclerotic limits and conversation feels like confinement to the kiddie table. I hate to use a watching an ant farm metaphor, but … Anyhow [viscerally hating TV for multiple integrated reasons] can’t register as actionable thought. Best they can do is [didn’t see it]. And given that screen is social coin and lubricant all in one, anyone who missed the latest instalment is burning to know what happened.
Consider that this cycle can bedazzle for literally a century in some cases. NPC isn’t hyperbole.
Truly. I've been observing types and tropes for the last several years due to my farmers' market-based business. There is nothing new under the sun, and the punters' conversation falls neatly into containers so predictable that I'm astonished.
For example, the "do you have a storefront?" people, because my business apparently resembles a fictional business featured in a popular TV show, and they want to take selfies in my real-life equivalent non-existent store to show off to the gang back home.
There are so many other examples I could go on for days. Your substack and Band articles have given me a semiotic shorthand to describe what I'm observing without having to come up with the conceptual language myself. It's a great help.
Public facing activity will do it. Smart Bandling was commenting the other day on how [in bold italics] dim they are. And that understanding NPC isn’t metaphorical is both liberating & unsettling.
Outstanding update! I was just explaining this as my POV the other night but I struggled getting my point across. Primarily because I've mostly checked out of the narrative/The Script™ and just focused on the immediacy and reality of local meatspace. But it always drags us back in, doesn't it.
It’s so tiresome. If I read one more thing about that bloated liar’s supposed strategic mastery the eye twitch might become permanent.
Sometimes it's Punch's turn and sometimes it's Judy's turn.
The guy running both of them never changes.
Tracking it lays the trajectory out clearly for those with eyes to see.
Yes. My comment was not intended as a criticism of the OP.
I greatly appreciate these updates. Living in the backwoods for over a decade with no regular access to television or streaming, I became totally out of touch with the news-of-the-day and pop culture. Even now that we're slightly closer to "civilization" I didn't reacquire the habit, and often have no idea what people are talking about when they go one about the latest Thing That So-and-So Said About Such-and-Such. Your format allows me to capture the meta-information without having to wade through the stuff. Thank you.
Also, why is it that when you tell Those People (tm) "I don't watch TV and don't know what you're talking about" they feel compelled to tell me in excruciating detail? Is it that they can't recognize a non-NPC and feel the need to update my brain-module with the latest drivel?
As a non-TV watcher, I think it’s too far outside the base code to process. There are only greater or lesser amounts. “None” is a mythic figurative. First-time visitors went through the “you don’t have a tv package at all?” dance numerous times. Had to see it to accept it even superficially.
Can’t recognize non-NPC is basically it. They have a range of reactions they use for everyone. It’s all they know, so can’t “see” anything more - like Flatland and 3D. You can see the sclerotic limits and conversation feels like confinement to the kiddie table. I hate to use a watching an ant farm metaphor, but … Anyhow [viscerally hating TV for multiple integrated reasons] can’t register as actionable thought. Best they can do is [didn’t see it]. And given that screen is social coin and lubricant all in one, anyone who missed the latest instalment is burning to know what happened.
Consider that this cycle can bedazzle for literally a century in some cases. NPC isn’t hyperbole.
Truly. I've been observing types and tropes for the last several years due to my farmers' market-based business. There is nothing new under the sun, and the punters' conversation falls neatly into containers so predictable that I'm astonished.
For example, the "do you have a storefront?" people, because my business apparently resembles a fictional business featured in a popular TV show, and they want to take selfies in my real-life equivalent non-existent store to show off to the gang back home.
There are so many other examples I could go on for days. Your substack and Band articles have given me a semiotic shorthand to describe what I'm observing without having to come up with the conceptual language myself. It's a great help.
Public facing activity will do it. Smart Bandling was commenting the other day on how [in bold italics] dim they are. And that understanding NPC isn’t metaphorical is both liberating & unsettling.
Glad to help.