[Chickensoup]

The best thing one can do is turn off cable and choose your entertainment and not expect to be educated by your tv unless you download content yourself.

[driftless2]

I don't educate myself by the tv...I read a lot, all of it non-fiction. I was simply pointing out the fallacy in many conservatives argument that if you have a choice between a competitive medium (cable) vs. a supposedly non-competitive medium (public tv), you will get quality programming with the competitive medium.

That doesn't work in reality, because although there are some cable or even network shows that are good or excellent, the majority of the programming is driven by the tastes of the low information viewers i.e. the dullards. It's like going to a restaurant where the choices on the menu are determined by little kids or teenagers...pizza, fatty food, macaroni and cheese, etc. And you get to choose what kind of rotten food you want to eat. Some choices, huh?

Incidentally, I rarely watch PBS anymore because since they allowed viewers to determine what shows they put on, most of the viewing is awful. PBS occasionally puts on outstanding shows, but let's face it, the tastes of the average American in entertainment is terrible.