Defending Television

edwardspoonhands:

It has come to my attention that my video implying that television has become kinda horrible has become, apparently, my most controversial video since I made a light-hearted video about September 11th.

This was a bit of a surprise to me, since I figured that Nerdfighters would be mostly on board with me bashing TV since, y’know, they’re online video people…right?

Well…not entirely. There are plenty of comments from people who don’t like cable, already cancelled cable, are planning on canceling cable, etc. But as I go through the comments, I see a lot of folks who are intelligently arguing that cable is great and I’m a whiny granny with anger problems.

I’m less interested in the individual arguments, than the source of them…but let’s go through a few first:

I / MY DAD / BROTHER / MOM WORKS FOR A CABLE COMPANY
I don’t want anyone to lose their job, but corporations are not charities. I’m not going to give them $2000 a year for a crappy service so that people can keep their jobs. 

IF WE DON’T WATCH TV GOOD SHOWS WILL DIE
There are lots of much worse things that I am more worried about than whether Community continues to be a TV show. Yeah, it’s great, I love it, but there are bigger fish to fry. 

MY LAPTOP IS TINY AND UNCOMFORTABLE TO WATCH FOR HOURS ON END
This is kinda my point…I actually don’t think we should spend as much time vegging in front of the TV. If I don’t want to eat a whole bag of chips…I don’t buy a whole bag of chips. If I don’t want to waste 5 years of my life watching advertisements, I don’t allow them into my house. I find that computer-based video keeps me much more active and engaged and able to do more cool, fun, interesting things.

BUT…PROFESSIONAL SPORTS!!
Yeah…OK…I’ll give you that one. If you care about sports, cable is probably cheaper and healthier than going to sports bars. Of course, I don’t care about sports, so I’m good.

BUT I NEED TO SEE XXXX WHEN IT AIRS IMMEDIATELY!
Interestingly, this was almost always written about a network show. It’s interesting that people are unaware that network television station are available in HD for free almost everywhere. It’s somehow the best kept secret in the world. Those channels are not cable…THEY ARE FREE!

DIGITAL CABLE IS A GREAT INTERFACE AND YOU’RE A POO HEAD
I’m sorry but you’re wrong. I may have griped a bit more than I should have about certain things, but it’s a crappy interace and anyone who hasn’t been using it every day of the last five years can clearly see that.

BUT I LIVE IN AUS / NZ / CA / UK. IT’S DIFFERENT HERE
Sorry!

—— 

In the end, what’s most interesting to me is that this is controversial at all. People spend a huge amount of time watching television and I think, deep down, we’re all somewhat ashamed of it. We know we could be reading, talking to family, creating, thinking, playing, being alive. 

But instead we’re caring about fake people living fake lives that are more interesting than our lives by virtue of the very fact that THEY AREN’T WATCHING TELEVISION.

That kind of self-loathing (and, don’t get me wrong, I watch an average of about 2 hours of TV a day, so I feel it too) can lead to a lot of hair-trigger rationalization. Disliking yourself also makes you lash out at others that are attacking the things that you dislike about yourself. I tried to make this video, as much as possible, about the service of cable, not about the content, not about the practice of watching television.

But, in the end, my true colors shine through. I think our country suffers because of excess television watching. I think we’ve become more boring, more bored, more lazy, more depressed, and more fat because of TV.

I think some television is good entertainment and legitimate. I think some TV even makes you think (Colbert, Louis CK, Daily Show, Dr Who, etc.) But most TV is designed to turn you off as soon as you turn it on. A temporary relief from whatever thing has been bothering you which will (of course) come rushing back onto you as soon as you push the “off” button. 

TV is a huge part of our lives. Many of us spend more time with our televisions than we do with our families. And so it’s no simple task to say “I quit” or “I’m cutting down!” The easiest way for me to cut down, as I said above, is to not let it into my house. I still have Netflix and Hulu…so I’m still under the spell. 

But for a procrastinator like me, having 130 streaming cable channels available at all time would be like John living with Papa John’s in his back yard. I can’t do it…it would kill me.