Recently, a few of my buds got into one of those ever-present diaryland wars. Ok, mini-war. The subject? Buffy the Vampire Slayer and how much of a loser someone must be to cry over the end of the show.

To start, I adore that show with every ounce of my being. I cried during the last episode. Anyone remotely attached to those characters would. Anyone with a little bit of humanity and emotional maturity would. It isn't unnatural. I will miss that show along with the rest of the die-hards, not least of which because great shows rarely premiere on television.

So, it all started because Meg recently posted about how much the show meant to her and how she will miss it so. People posted in her guestbook that they felt the same. Then Scanzilla came along and posted to the effect of, "there will be reruns, it's just a show, get over it." Now, he claims he did not mean to sound as harsh as he did, but nevertheless, people got offended and started posting in his guestbook. Then Bunny got involved and they all had a little catfight right here in diaryland.

Scanzilla's argument, and the satirical post he later made, was that it is television, it is not real and basically that Meg and others were over-identifying.

My question is this: Who says there is such a thing as over-identifying? Why is it ok to identify so much with music, or a book, even some movies, but not television? Why shouldn't good television garner the same respect as other forms of media? I can elite my snobby self up with the rest of them, but I know good TV when I see it. Buffy is good TV. Even Scan recognizes that. So why,then, is Meg labelled a loser for finding deep meaning in the show and growing just by watching it, but had she read Tolstoy, people would have applauded her?

Now, I could understand his arguments better had she been weeping over the end of Spongebob Squarepants, just as I would be the first to mock someone who found the meaning of life in a pop-up book. Buffy, however, is no Spongebob, just as Tolstoy is no pop-up. If the medium contains deep thoughts, so to speak, who are we to mock just because it comes in the easiest medium to mock?

I have long been part of cult followings. As a rabid Radiohead devotee, I am no stranger to people mocking my over-identification and overly emotional state when listening to their music. Radiohead, however, is extremely well respected, even by many people who do not necessarily like their style of music. Yet Buffy fans have always taken flack from pretty much anyone who has never watched the show or given it a chance.

It all comes back to the title and the fact it isn't on HBO, doesn't it? If this was an HBO original series, it would have been hailed by everyone, not just critics. Alas, Buffy put the WB on the map, though, so people write it off as Dawson's Creek lite. That, coupled with the fact that it is a television program and not a book or music, means that it is way too easy to mock. Why? Seriously, why? Just because TV has a lot of crap on it? Has anyone LISTENED to the radio lately, or been to a bookstore?

Every medium has its fair share of mindless garbage. When someone finds the one gem amidst all the garbage and relates to it, we shouldn't write them off as loons just because it isn't our preferred type of multi-media.

One last thing - there were, of course, many insults flung about referencing TV watchers getting off their fat, lazy asses and finding meaning in their life. I ask you, what is it you do when listening to music, or reading a book? Generally, people are sitting on their fat, lazy asses. Funnier still is that in order to type out the most hypocritical of insults, said insulter must be sitting on their fat, lazy ass. Again, I ask, why is it acceptable to mock TV viewers and not other forms of media?

It comes down to this - people are a bunch of hypocrites. They use every single opportunity they can to prove this. Unfortunately, most are not intelligent enough to realize how hypocritical they are being when they fling their insults at everyone else, while sitting in their chair, munching on their chips, and watching whatever program it is they DO like.

Edited to add: We all know it is "just a show." That is not the point. The point is that it is a wonderful show that meant a whole lot to many wonderful people. We also know there are reruns. Also not the point. We will miss the NEW clever insights into life and pop culture, not the old ones. All us psychos who cannot determine the difference between reality and TV already have our DVD copies anyway.