Hate….is it ALWAYS bad? and I think I hate my television.

Hate, it’s a weird thing. Some people say to never hate. I have always generally agreed with this notion. That is until I started thinking about hate in relation to positive things in my own life. I think it is possible that there is positive hate and negative hate. I would further argue that the majority of hate lands on the negative side, but I believe positive hate exists. TV is a wonderful example of this.

I used to be very typical in my TV watching habits. Many hours of my life have been spent staring at the television. My Mom did limit my TV watching when I was young, but as I got older, I governed the TV habits on my own. I can remember siting around with friends during the summer, just sitting, for hours a day, watching TV. Fast forward to living in apartments. My place, my choice, my time. My TV watching certainly did not slow. That is until Mel and I bought our house. Something changed.

Several things changed during our move concerning TV. First, we  got Verizon Fios, so we got a DVR, but we only got local channels. So we are limited to the standard 6, 8 12, etc. channels. Second, we have a house and oh yeah, were planning a wedding. So we are certainly busy, but we still have free time. And when we have free time, watching TV has become annoying. The jokes are funny, the drama is good, but it lasts only as long as the program. Then I look up and realized I just wasted time doing NOTHING. Then I think to myself ” I hate TV”. I swear I really am beginning to develop hatred for it. Quality programming has something to do with it. I just finished fast forwarding through some old “America’s Got Talent” episodes and what a piece of crap that is. The opening dramatic sequence lasted over seven minutes. Seven minutes of nothing but recaps and dramatic footage of the f’ing judges narrated by Jerry Springer. Who needs to see that? 

I do miss one channel, dearly, Discovery Channel is great. Not everything is worth watching, but I actually got stuff out of Mythbusters, Man vs. Wild, and the like. Why have the big 4 networks totally abandoned anything remotely educational in favor of wall to wall coverage of Paris Hilton getting out of jail and the next big reality show? By the way, I read CNN dropped Michael Moore to offer up a Paris Hilton interview instead. I’m not saying Michael Moore is the BEST example, but I am much more interested in hearing about his new movie SiCKO, than I am to hear about how hard it was for her highness to spend a few days in the clank.

So I think I hate TV. Just like I hate smoking. And I did that for more years than I care to confess. I am so happy to be a non-smoker and I owe that to my developed hatred for cigarettes. So why not hate TV in the same way. If the hate only improves ones life, is it necessarily bad?

I don’t think so. 

-Kamen