Well, here I am, representative of John Q. Public. I like television. I take it for exactly what it is – entertainment and information. I know a lot of it is pap but I do enjoy what I watch. I learn things when I watch documentaries or the Learning channel and I laugh at some sit-coms – some really good sit-coms can bring tears of laughter to my eyes. And please don’t say, “you could be reading a good book, or studying something”. I do that too. I read all the time. I can have two or three books running at a time, plus National Geo and the daily Gazette. Bettering yourself and entertaining yourself are not mutually exclusive.

It really riles me when people look down on this medium. In everything, you have to filter out the unnecessary (or the bad) and stick with what works for you.

During our ice storm two years ago we were quite happy to have the television giving us an update as to how each region was doing, who needed help, and where we could do our part to help. Some people were completely isolated and their relatives had to rely on the television to tell them that help had been dispatched to the region and that their relatives were going to be all right.

When the first men landed on the moon, I saw it on television. When my country remained intact after our last vote on separation in Québec, I saw that on television too, and I cried tears of joy.

Don’t put something down just because some of it is bad. You might miss out on all the good parts.