Assignment 5: For the Love and Hate of Television

     Television often gets a bad rap, being given names like "the opiate of the masses" and "the idiot box." This confuses me, however, as I believe it to be as valid a source of entertainment as any other medium. The detractors that are applied to TV as a whole are found in every other source of entertainment as well. Yes, there are terrible TV shows about stupid topics. Yes, advertisers spend copious amounts of money to sell products to television viewers, and  yes, there is violence on TV. Examples of all of these, however,  can just as easily be found in books, movies, music, comics, and video games. For every Jersey Shore there is a live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender movie, for every 2 minute commercial break, there is a comic book that is half advertisement, and for every explosion on Breaking Bad, Aragorn decapitates a thousand orcs.
     I believe that the majority of the negative reputation of television comes from a pretentious, holier-than-thou standpoint based off of its widespread availability and popularity, and that some people may need to hop down off of their high horses.