I wonder how many young *women* have migrated from network television to cable offerings, as the linked article states young men have. (Young men's TV viewing overall hasn't dropped, according the article, merely their preference for network TV, what used to be called The Big Three.)

I've known for a while that student bodies at American universities have become disproportionately female, while the real value of a college degree has dropped. _Pace_ mainstream feminists, I don't believe devaluation of the degree due to sexism is the prime culprit. Sadly, I think it speaks to a disdain for freedom and a desire for social controls among too many of my own sex. I wouldn't be surprised if many young men, watching the Culture Wars on campus from afar, have decided, "Who needs that shit?"

Similarly, the conventional wisdom might be that young men prefer Comedy Central, for example, because it offers more T&A, such as "The Man Show," or raunchy humor, such as "South Park." That might be true in part, but it misses the bigger picture, that young men are drifting to entertainment options that they enjoy, not that some cultural or political elite tells them they *should* enjoy. If "South Park" were only toilet jokes with no underlying social critique — largely libertarian in nature — I doubt it would have lasted as long as it has.

I truly hope it is *not* the case that the majority of young American women would rather watch some soporific hugfest like "Oprah" or "The View" than something with freshness and bite.