My father hated radio and could not wait for television to be invented so he could hate that too.

De Vries’s line is a compact comic portrait of reflexive contrarianism: the father’s dislike is not tied to any particular medium so much as to the very fact of mass entertainment and technological novelty. The joke turns on anticipation—he “could not wait” for the next invention, not to enjoy it, but to extend his disapproval—suggesting a temperament that feeds on complaint and defines itself by resistance. It also satirizes generational suspicion of new media (radio, then television), implying that such hostility can become a habitual posture rather than a reasoned critique. The humor is affectionate but sharp, exposing how negativity can outpace experience.