Your indoctrination continues
Helen & Harry Highwater rip the TV show Judging Amy a new one. Sample quote:
The producers of Judging Amy abhor freedom. That’s the subtext, virtually every week.
The show revolves around a juvenile court judge (Amy Brenneman) who’s always looking our for the children, and her mother, Maxine (Tyne Daly), a career child-welfare monitor who’s also always looking out for the children. Brenneman’s the star, but the show’s more ominous subplots and Message-with-a-capital-M often revolve around Maxine.
She’s *always* nosing around in other people’s family matters — it’s her job, and she’s really dedicated to doing her job. Charlize Theron got rave reviews for playing a “Monster”, but this woman is a much more believable, everyday monster.
I think something similar of cop dramas on TV. They relay the message that it’s OK to violate civil liberties so long as the cops get their man. I addressed that here in this note to David Caruso. Side-note: What an odd coincidence that that post has a link to the ACLU card that summarizes your rights when detained I mentioned over at Mr. Wage’s site?
And since our kids aren’t being taught their rights, what’s the future going to look like?
February 18th, 2004 at 10:38 pm
Something I noticed when I used to watch commercial TV: on Law & Order the DA when played by Michael Moriarty was interested in justice within established law, but since the role has been taken over by Sam Waterston the DA is after “justice” any way he can get it, and twisting the law into tortured shapes – to employ statutes in ways never envisioned by their authors – has been his character’s modus operandi.
It’s frightening, really.
February 19th, 2004 at 9:08 am
You ever notice how often an “investigator” on CSI tends to swab someones mouth without a court order to get DNA? Its a running joke when the girlfriend and myself watch the Miami/Vegas version.
🙂