It's fashionable to bash television these days

It's fashionable to bash television these days, particularly during TV Turn-off Week.

But this annual tradition of shunning the appliance usually inspires me to declare my undying love for TV.

It's a hard case to make for loving TV, especially when you consider all the bilge that it spews and the hours of time it sucks away. It reminds me of the time a few years ago when I contemplated trying to persuade Northland Cable to carry the video music channel MTV.

When I went to build my case, I realized I didn't have one. I couldn't argue its artistic merits with a straight face. That and I don't really like MTV.

But the toehold argument I cling to when it comes to TV is the fact that without it, I would never have seen the Miracle on Ice during the 1980 Winter Olympics, man landing on the moon and pretty much every other historic event this country has experienced. It has also showed me parts of the world I might never get to see.

There aren't too many, if any, theaters showing Cool Hand Luke, Citizen Kane or Caddyshack, either.

I'm a pretty active guy year-round, so I don't feel too guilty when I bask in the warming glow of TV and fondle the remote, especially when it's too dark or nasty to do anything fun outside.

Even Kim Woodruff, the city of Sandpoint's recreation director, cops to watching a little TV, and his list of daily activities probably makes mine look like that of a shut-in.

But Woodruff watches TV on his on terms, rather than reflexively clicking on the tube and letting the hours drift away.

It goes to show that there is a healthy way of looking at TV.

Keith Kinnaird is a reporter and the Daily Bee's news editor.