"Eric Takabayashi" <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote in message 
news:4210A33D.E98CA565@yahoo.co.jp...
> ... ask why people would argue against
> the existence of stupidity in Japanese programming.

Actually I don't understand what people mean when they say a TV programme is 
"stupid" or talk about "the existence of stupidity in Japanese programming". 
Indiscriminate application of the word "stupid" to Japanese television shows 
a limited articulacy and perhaps indicates much more about the  intellectual 
level of the people applying it than the programmes they are commenting on.

Do the people who label TV programmes as "stupid" mean the contents are 
trivial, or banal, or that only a limited amount of intellectual effort is 
required to understand them? Or do they mean that the people who make the 
programme are incompetent, or inadequate? Do they mean that the programme is 
boring? Do they mean that the TV programmes don't deal with any serious 
issues, that they're too lightweight? Do they mean that the programme is 
factually incorrect? Do they mean that watching the programme is a waste of 
time, because the programme is so lacking in entertainment? Do they mean 
that the performers on Japanese TV are stupid? If so, who is stupid and why? 
Do they mean that the programmes are fake? Which programmes, and why do they 
believe this? Or do they mean the programmes are made with a different 
cultural perspective, or a different sense of humour, than their own, and 
thus are "stupid"? Do they find the programmes repetitive, uninspired, 
formulaic?

Let's all try to say something more articulate than "Japanese TV is stupid", 
in case we who rashly label the entire output of Japanese TV as such, end up 
looking far more stupid than the thing we're seeking to criticise.

Bye for now.