Well, it is, apparently, TV Turnoff week this week. I guess I missed the memo, because I've been watching TV this week. I have noticed a trend the last few years wherein it has become cool to bash TV and those who watch it, and to take great pride in the claim that one does not even watch TV. Indeed, whenever some pseudointellectual type wants to feel proud of him- or herself, he or she will smugly point out that he or she "never watches TV." The implication is that anyone who does is a lesser being who is worthy of contempt, and severely lacking in the "I Have a Life" department. Indeed, the point of the TV Turnoff week web site is that we should turn off the TV and pick up a book or go outside.
Now, I love reading books -- I read with an almost pathological devotion and voracity. I also enjoy going outside to do stuff. But, in addition to those activities, I also like to watch some TV. Not every waking second of my life, mind you, but there are (gasp!) TV shows I like to watch. I don't think this makes me a bad person, and I think I have ample evidence to counter any suggestions that my TV watching is indicative of some lack of intellectual abilities on my part. Granted, there's a lot of , to use the technical term, "stupid shit" on TV. On the other hand, there's a lot of stupid shit in print, too. Indeed, there is stupid shit to be found in every medium to which we have access. Just as there are books, films, and activities that are intellectually stimulating and/or worthy of attention, so too are there TV shows that are intellectually stimulating or otherwise worthy of attention. Not only that, but, at least in my case, I work in a very intellectually demanding field, and, frankly, it's nice to rest my brain on some, well, stupid shit. I mean, athletes take a break from physically strenuous activity, and I like to take breaks from intellectually strenuous activity. Plus, really, even most of the stupid shit I like is, on some level, somewhat intelligent or witty.
The problem here, really, is balance. Watching TV all the time is bad, but then, it's bad to do anything ALL the time, whether it's working, watching TV, drinking, reading, driving, shopping, whatever. I like to watch TV, but that doesn't mean that all I do is work and watch TV. I also enjoy reading, writing, the great outdoors (especially in the spring), and all kinds of other things. If I want to catch The Sopranos or the West Wing, then, dammit, I should be able to do so.
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