A familiar situation — if you mention any relevant name in the company, there will definitely be someone who asks with aplomb: “Who is this?”
They scold a media person or praise them — someone right there, asks and proudly looks around, demonstrating how indifferent he is to the named politician, musician, writer, actor or businessman.
It would seem that if you are not oriented in modern culture, is it worth it to brag about it? Moreover, now everyone has Yandex or Google at their disposal — use them, and the abysses will open to you. You may find that award-winning books are often worth reading despite their outrageous popularity.
Or let’s take another pole — say, the television reality show «Dom-2». Yes, I’m not looking. But if I pretend to be unaware of its existence and that it is watched by thousands (sincerely I hope not millions), it will be ordinary snobbery.
Once I found Sergei Minaev’s novel «Duhless», which seems to many to be the epitome of literary vulgarity, in a Very Intelligent Bookstore. I bought this book, fully enjoying the irony of the staff: “Maybe you also want Media Sapiens by the same author?” No I do not want to. But I am sincerely interested in reading a book that has sold 300 copies in order to form my own opinion and understand what others find in it.
However, are the «ignorant» always driven by arrogance and the desire to be «not like everyone else» — even if contrary to the truth and common sense? I think no. Quite often, people defend their right not to know as the last bastion between themselves and the imperfections of the world around them. “Yes, the media is full of vulgarity and deceit, but I close my eyes and it all disappears for me.
I live in my own country, where there are no TV shows, no scary news, no dirty money, no deceitful politicians. However, by shutting ourselves off from reality, we put ourselves in a vulnerable position: the “rest of the world” can burst into our lives suddenly and cruelly, and we, in our escapism, will not be ready to meet it. Moreover, by refusing to deal with the phenomena of mass culture and denying the very fact of knowing them, we risk missing a lot of interesting things: thus, trying to solve the mystery of the popularity of a vulgar TV show or novel, we get a chance to understand a lot about our time, about our compatriots, and ultimately finally about themselves. In other words, participating in a common hobby is optional. But it’s worth being aware.