We have network television. That permits me hours of reality shows, murder dramas, hospital shows, laugh-tracked half hour comedies and expose-obsessed news programs. The hours I have spent drooling on myself is embarrassing. But I have developed a new theory.

Newspeople strive to present shocking stories to the public. Should we know about them, possibly. Do we need to know about them in exclusive 2 hour specials repeated over 2-3 weeks? Of course not.

Tonight I saw a little on the pretty blonde Florida teacher who had an affair in her first year of marriage with a fourteen year old boy. She’s gotten a lot of press and it’s probably my absolute stubbornness NOT to give her attention that I cannot remember her name. She insisted that through a variety of reasons, she had never developed the psyche of an adult.

“How come you never learned that it was wrong? That there are certain things you do not do, you do not do in a civilized society?” — Debi Newberry, Grosse Pointe Blank

I know a lot of people whose parents neglected them in one way or another. And yes, I know it is traumatic; I have my own minor demons from time to time. I also know it can be incredibly difficult to bypass them. But somewhere, in the quiet that remains in the place of a missing parent or role model some other kind of influence takes hold and I really have to question why people never realized what they did, do or will do is wrong.

And for some of those confused aggressors/victims, however you want to look at them, I wonder if their disapproved acts are not somehow glorified by either the attention or what appears to be a growing popularity of their addiction. With the internet, but especially with network exposes, sexual predators get air time. They get press. Attention.

How much subversive attention do we need to give people with problems before it starts appearing like we’re glorifying them?

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006 @ 9:44 pm Deep Thoughts, Rant, TV
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