Anti-Television Snobbery

One of my greatest pet peeves in life are people who feel television is beneath them. These are the people who, when you inquire if they saw something on TV, reply with a condescending tone, "I don't watch TV." My response to this is typically, "Fuck You, you closed minded, myopic asshole."

For some reason it seems to be okay for this kind of arrogance in our society. To me people who make these kind of statements are the same as those who proudly proclaim that they haven't read a book since high school. Television, like books, film, radio and the Internet, are just another form of media, a way of communicating thoughts and ideas. And just like in all those other forms of media, the content on your television can range from the ridiculous to the sublime. There's just as much trash in the publishing industry, the airwaves are full of talk radio I find offensive, and let's not forget the overwhelming amount of crap on the web. But just because there's all these things out there not to my taste, doesn't mean I write off the entire medium.

Those who dismiss TV in it's entirety seem to me to be small, insecure individuals trying to convince themselves of their intellectual superiority. When all it really does is highlight their own ignorance. If you're really interested in improving yourself, wouldn't you want as many tools as possible at your disposal to do so? Why would you want to limit the sources of information you can draw from?

In this increasingly complex world, does it really matter where you get your information or entertainment anymore?

I have yet to hear a compelling argument against television, I'd love to hear one, but frankly, I don't think it exists.