Our presuppositions are totally missing each other here, which makes debating the specifics as frustrating as you’ve experienced.

You ask me what I’m doing to distract kids from t.v., as if t.v., by its very nature, were a trap I needed to coax kids away from. But I regard t.v., at its very nature, just like I do blogs, books, free speech, movies, music, and a free-standing block of marble: totally innocuous.

Both personally and professionally, however rarely t.v. comes up, I push kids and friends towards shows that are interesting, thought-provoking, inspiring, and entertaining, shows that do more than just flatter their viewer, that do more than just pander to their viewer’s presuppositions of the world, shows that breach the realm of art. (If we can describe books, music, movies, and sculpture as “art” but not t.v. then I’ll need “art” defined for me.)

Even more enthusiastically than that, though, I push kids towards moderation, towards a varied life which includes education, recreation, exercise, and, yeah, entertainment.

From your comments, I gather you see t.v. standing opposite these goals (while, presumably, blogs, books, movies, and music do not). Or perhaps you think t.v. can achieve those goals but isn’t worth the cost of all these students sitting on their barcaloungers watching hours of junk every day. You’ve also mentioned a dissatisfaction that t.v. isn’t educational, which strikes me a bit like complaining that an apple isn’t an orange.

Anyway, our base suppositions are so far out of sync, our not finding common ground on this won’t surprise me. At the very least, you’ve gotta know that my friends and I are e-mailing, positively abuzz over this issue. We’re excited like I’ve rarely seen us by the vast potential of any medium to edify its audience. T.V., in particular, is undergoing an audience-driven renaissance (c.f. the Jericho nuts campaign) . We all think this is an exciting time to be alive and the more communication mediums at the party the better.

The conversation here has since grown to include several other participants, with motivations and convictions varying. With my most recent comment, I wanted to suss out the underlying motivation for exterminating an entire medium (which seems to be Jim’s position).

So fine, let’s try this another way. Just so I’m straight: we’re all, like, lose t.v. because America (in general) and our students (in particular) waste too much time in front of it and what time they spend is pretty unedifying.

Am I clear on that? That’s the rationale?

No. It’s not. I was not making a political statement (aside from my original google trends bad joke about the trends i took the screenshot of).

My whole deal about television has nothing to do with anyone else but me. Here’s the deal.

1. I spent too many years on the couch watching way too much tv.

2. I can’t handle tv. That’s my deal and my problem.

3. I feel convicted when I watch tv.

4. Therefore I don’t watch tv. You’ll fuss at me for “dipping into Christian parlance” but that’s my base. For me, just me.

Look, tv is not inherently bad. This is not a medium-is-the-message discussion. This is just my thing. We as a family do better without it.

And truth be told, I can’t afford it anyway and antennas don’t work. So unless someone wants to fork out for cable, the entire deal is moot.

Please understand that this is just my deal, and I was never making any kind of broad statement about our kids spending too much time there, etc. There is no slippery slope here, sir, and I really don’t think I’m a snob.

So fine, let’s try this another way. Just so I’m straight: we’re all, like, lose t.v. because America (in general) and our students (in particular) waste too much time in front of it and what time they spend is pretty unedifying.

Am I clear on that? That’s the rationale?

So what else do we get rid of? Movies? Summer blockbusters? Music that talks about killing cops? Violent video games? Bloggers who threaten other bloggers? Free speech? Who decides? You? Me? The government?

Y’all don’t seem to realize the slippery slope you’re standing on, which would be merely provocative if you were my old college roommate and we were knocking back Blue Ribbons on adirondack chairs. But y’all are educators and you’re burying your heads on one of the coolest opportunities we have to preach some moderation, to play a part in the redemption of corrupt forms.

Y’all are taking yourselves out of the game and I’ve got only swells of pity for that.