When people - I'm talking about me, here - talk about guilty pleasures, we pretend that the said pleasure is bad, but we are really trying to convince you that the said pleasure is good. When we say Oh! my guilty pleasure is watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer, we are really saying, If you don't like Buffy, either you haven't seen it or you are stupid. But:
when I watch NFL season - and game, and, even, team - promos, I love them and that is more than sort of embarrassing. I know that the ads are childish, almost prurient, complete bullshit: the low voice, the slo-mo, the hyper-dramatic music: (:again?) it is all so unbelievably sleazy. The promos are all sizzle and no steak. This ad? promo? video, for a - WTF - political candidate just fits in so well. In a way, it just seems so logical to selling a candidate as a commodity. >
Here is a 49er promo, but I don't think it is as good - maybe too many facts)
Interesting. I know this not your main point above, but I think of my Buffy pleasure as a guilty pleasure in that I love the show and that is more than embarrassing. I know that the show simplifies complex ideas, is almost prurient, and some would say complete bullshit: it is all so unbelievably sleazy. And - I love it. That said, I don't have a charge on whether other people like it. I understand that many people don't like it. It doesn't work for them. Its _my_ guilty pleasure because it appeals to me. That doesnt mean it needs to appeal to others. So I take exception to the notion that one's guilty pleasure is something that should be shared by others. To me it is a expression of individuality. In fact, I might not like Buffy so much if it was a blockbuster hit.
The dream of a fair and just society, however, is a fantasy that I cherish and it may be childish, but I don't feel guilty about it. It is a pleasure I want to share with, indeed impose on, the world. That and other values I hold dear (a decent education for all, fair wages, government helping us realize our shared community values, to name a few) are things that I find myself believing should be embraced by others just as I embrace them.
Hope the knee is doing well - hang in there!
Posted by: Richard | January 28, 2011 at 12:24 AM
Richard
I may have hit a nerve here - I do think we are saying the same thing with different examples. I - apparently - have a much higher regard for Buffy than you do and, when I say that it is a guilty pleasure, I don't really mean it. I do have a pretty low regard for NFL promos and - while my guilty pleasure is watching them - I have very little desire to convince somebody else to watch them.
I don't see that having a dream for a fair and just society is childish. Lot of people have died for it and I don't consider them children.
Posted by: steve | January 28, 2011 at 04:59 PM