It's an interesting aspect of British culture that not taking yourself seriously is often seen as of more importance than actual talent or success.

On the lunchtime news here, there was coverage of a local girl who's won a gold in Delhi. Her secret of success? Regular curries. Not natural talent honed by long hours of expert coaching and practice, funnily enough. Likewise Bruno. Middling boxer, but can laugh at himself. Thus alright.

Or Status Quo. Three-chord pub rockers of limited repertoire. But they do a fantastic amount for charidee, and have a self-deprecating cameo on Corrie. What guys!

In a way I like this. We like our heroes to have feet of clay, to be grounded in reality. We don't deify them or pretend that they are anything less than human. In a way this plays into the celeb 'myth' peddled by the X Factor and the like - that anyone can get the break and become famous; but it also leads to a paradox in which we are told to dream of the celeb lifestyle, while constantly being shown just how normal and common these celebs are. Almost "They may be richer, more famous, more glamorous than you, but they're still shit".

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Ten seconds... the pain begins.

Fifteen seconds... you can't breathe.

Twenty seconds... you give up and turn off the Jeremy Vine show.

You simply have to look at the cricket, and the difference between the attitudes to Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff.

Kevin Pietersen is a world class player, one of the greatest players ever to wear an England shirt, is very professional in his attitude to training, playing etc. and is generally viewed with disdain by a lot of England fans.

Andrew Flintoff was a good player, a great one on his day, but nothing like as consistently good as KP, spent most of his time chugging beer, eating kebabs and getting stuck on pedalos in the Carribean, and was widely loved. See also: Ian Botham.

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"Even when you're a super-computer with an IQ of 2000 it's brown trousers time."

Reclaiming "methinks" for the nation

Latest blog post - 2011 - a review (updated 07/10)

Would that be the Kevin Pietersen who couldn't hod a catch in the 05 Ashes (Though he scored a few runs to compensate),
and is now struggling to score runs.

Just my opinion, but Flintoff and Botham both had the magic to win a game.
The ability to conjure 6 overs of unplayable bowling and demolish an innings.

It's extremely hard for a batsman to deliver that kind of devastation in a short package.
Partly because the skipper can whistle up his killer bowled when the time demands,
and partly because batting is more of a shared activity than bowling.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not disparaging the achievements of Botham and Flintoff, but they weren't as good for as consistently long a time as Pietersen has been.

KP's dropped catches actually endeared him a bit to the fans, then he became more professional and the liking fell away.

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"Even when you're a super-computer with an IQ of 2000 it's brown trousers time."

Reclaiming "methinks" for the nation

Latest blog post - 2011 - a review (updated 07/10)

Exactly that - sums it up very well, I think.

Mind you, when it comes to modern culture I'm just ignorant...

As someone wiser than me said of football, we like players who can play like "continentals" without living like one.

Botham's back injury did for him as a bowler, and he never managed to improve his batting to make up for it. Whether that was for want of trying, I don't know.

I agree - it's always nicer to see someone who flukes it a bit rather than goes mental at it. And probably healthier for them (and the people who look up to them) too.

Which might explain the appeal of The Apprentice - nothing like watching ultra-egos be made to look like imbeciles each week - and why occasionally when certain sportsmen (*cough* John Terry *cough*) get brought down because they can't do whatever they like and get away with it, it's quite gratifying.

There's nothing wrong with being ignorant, so long as you're not belligerent about it. Or in other words...

I don't know = Fine
I don't know and I'm proud of this = Cunt

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"Even when you're a super-computer with an IQ of 2000 it's brown trousers time."

Reclaiming "methinks" for the nation

Latest blog post - 2011 - a review (updated 07/10)

Or the flip side: I admit I don't know much about classical music. But from what I do know, I know I prefer more modern music on the whole. To a reasonable person, that's an expression of personal taste. To a mailite, I'm an uncultured idiot because what I like doesn't = what they like.

See also: comedy, clothing styles, writing style, technology, food/drink...

Also:

I don't know, I'm proud of this, but from my position of ignorance I'm still going to tell you you're an idiot for disagreeing with me = Peter Hitchens

See also: people who proudly claim they never read books, who seem to be under the impression this marks them out as maverick freethinkers whose experience in the School of Hard Knocks and the University of Life trumps all else.

In fact decry all knowledge, understanding or expertise on the same basis.

Teachers = childminders/Trots
Administrators = pen pushers
Police = shirkers

Anything they don't understand = useless waste of time.

Any job they don't understand, and does not involve heavy lifting = non-job.

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Ten seconds... the pain begins.

Fifteen seconds... you can't breathe.

Twenty seconds... you give up and turn off the Jeremy Vine show.

I once shared a house with a die-hard and rather unchristian (in general attitude) Evangelical Christian. She told me, totally off the cuff and at the end of a very long and hard day's work (for me - she seemed to do nothing and live off her parents' money) as I came in, that I spent so much time reading books and listening to the radio that I had no opinions or thoughts of my own, and was just regurgitating the thoughts of others, as opposed to her.

I pointed out the irony in her statement, especially coming from a bible-basher like her. She started to cry at that point and said I was a horrible bully. Sorry to say I didn't feel guilty at all.

_________________
Ten seconds... the pain begins.

Fifteen seconds... you can't breathe.

Twenty seconds... you give up and turn off the Jeremy Vine show.

Speak You're Branes has an excellent post on this subject

http://ifyoulikeitsomuchwhydontyougoliv ... than-thee/